Perhaps, by its own ruins fav'd from flame, 15
Some bury'd marble half preserves a name;
That Name the learn'd with fierce disputes pursue,
And give to Titus old Vefpafian's due.

Ambition figh'd: She found it vain to trust The faithlefs Column and the crumbling Buft: Huge moles, whofe fhadow stretch'd from shore to

fhore,

21

Their ruins perisk'd, and their place no more!
Convinc'd, the now contracts her vast design,
And all her Triumphs fhrink into a Coin.
A narrow orb each crouded conqueft keeps, 25
Beneath her Palm here fad Judæa weeps.
Now scantier limits the proud Arch confine,
And scarce are seen the proftrate Nile or Rhine;
A small Euphrates thro' the piece is roll'd,
And little Eagles wave their wings in gold.

NOTES.

39

VER. 18. And give to Titus old Vefpafian's due.] A fine infinuation of the entire want of Tafte in Antiquaries; whofe ignorance of Characters misleads them, (fupported only by a name) against Reafon and Hiftory.

VER. 25. A narrow Orb each crowded Conqueft keeps,] A ridicule on the pompous title of Orbis Romanus, which the Romans gave to their empire.

VER. 27. the proud Arch] i. e. The triumphal Arch, which was generally an enormous mass of building.

35

The Medal, faithful to its charge of fame, Thro' climes and ages bears each form and name: In one short view fubjected to our eye Gods, Emp❜rors, Heroes, Sages, Beauties, lie, With fharpen'd fight pale Antiquaries pore, Th'infcription value, but the ruft adore. This the blue varnish, that the green endears, The facred ruft of twice ten hundred years! To gain Pescennius one employs his Schemes, One grafps a Cecrops in ecftatic dreams. Poor Vadius, long with learned fpleen devour'd, Can tafte no pleasure fince his Shield was scour'd: And Curio, restless by the Fair-one's fide, Sighs for an Otho, and neglects his bride.

40

Theirs is the Vanity, the Learning thine: 45 Touch'd by thy hand, again Rome's glories fhine; Her Gods, and god-like Heroes rife to view, And all her faded garlands bloom a-new.

VARIATIONS.

VER. 35. With fharpen'd fight pale Antiquaries pore,] Microfcopic glaffes, invented by philofophers to discover the beauties in the minuter works of nature, ridiculously applied by Antiquaries, to detect the cheats of counterfeit medals.

VER. 37. This the blue varnish, that the green endears,] i. e. This a collector of filver; That, of brafs coins.

VER. 41. Poor Vadius,] See his hiftory, and that of his Shield, in the Memoirs of Scriblerus.

Nor blufh, these studies thy regard engage;
These pleas'd the Fathers of poetic rage;
The verse and sculpture bore an equal part,
And Art reflected images to Art.

50

55

Oh when shall Britain, confcious of her claim, Stand emulous of Greek and Roman fame? In living medals fee her wars enroll'd, And vanquish'd realms fupply recording gold? Here, rifing bold, the Patriot's honest face; There Warriors frowning in historic brass: Then future ages with delight shall see

How Plato's, Bacon's, Newton's looks agree; 60

NOTES.

VER. 49. Nor blush, these Studies thy regard engage ;] A fenfelefs affectation which fome writers of eminence have betrayed; who when fortune, or their talents have raised them to a condition to do without those arts, for which only they gained our efteem, have pretended to think letters below their Character. This falfe fhame M. Voltaire has very well, and with proper indignation, expofed in his account of Mr. Congreve: "He had one Defect, which was, his entertaining too "mean an Idea of his first Profeffion, (that of a Writer) tho' "'twas to this he ow'd his Fame and Fortune. He spoke of "his Works as of Trifles that were beneath him; and hinted “to me in our first Converfation, that I should vifit him upon "no other foot than that of a Gentleman, who led a Life of “ plainness and simplicity. I answer'd, that, had he been so "unfortunate as to be a mere Gentleman, I fhould never "have come to fee him; and I was very much disgusted at "fo unseasonable a piece of vanity." Letters concerning the English Nation, xix.

VER. 53. Oh when shall Britain, &c.] A compliment to one of Mr. Addison's papers in the Spectator, on this fubject.

Or in fair feries laurell'd Bards be shown,

A Virgil there, and here an Addifon.

Then fhall thy CRAGGS (and let me call him mine) On the caft ore, another Pollio, shine;

With aspect open shall erect his head,

65

And round the orb in lasting notes be read, Statesman, yet friend to Truth! of foul fincere, "In action faithful, and in honour clear; "Who broke no promife, ferv'd no private end, "Who gain'd no title, and who loft no friend; "Ennobled by himself, by all approv'd, "And prais'd, unenvy'd, by the Muse he lov❜d.

NOTES.

VER. 67. "Statefman, yet friend to truth, &c] It should be remembered that this poem was written to be printed before Mr. Addifon's difcourfe on Medals, in which there is the following cenfure of long legends upon coins: "The first "fault I find with a modern legend is its diffufiveness. You "have fometimes the whole fide of a medal over-run with it. "One would fancy the Author had a defign of being Cicero"nian but it is not only the tedioufnefs of thefe infcrip❝tions that I find fault with; fuppofing them of a moderate "length, why must they be in verfe? We should be furprized "to fee the title of a serious book in rhyme."- Dial. iii.

VER. ult. And prais'd, unenvy'd, by the Mufe he lov'd.] It was not likely that men acting in fo different fpheres as were thofe of Mr. Craggs and Mr. Pope, fhould have their friendfhip difturbed by Envy. We muft fuppofe then that fome circumstances in the friendship of Mr. Pope and Mr. Addison are hinted at in this place.