THE TRANSLATOR.* OZELL, at Sanger's call invoked his Muse, 5 Nor had the gentle satire caused complaining, Had not sage Rowe pronounced it entertaining. How great must be the judgment of that writer, 10 Who the Plain Dealer' damns, and prints the 'Biter!' * Egbert Sanger served his apprenticeship with Jacob Tonson, and succeeded Bernard Lintot in his shop at Middle Temple gate, Fleet-street. Lintot printed Ozell's Translation of Perrault's Characters,' and Sanger his Translation of Boileau's Lutrin,' recommended by Mr. Rowe, anno 1709.Warton. THE LOOKING GLASS. ON MRS. PULTENEY.* WITH SCornful mien, and various toss of air, 5 10 * Anna Maria Gumley, daughter of John Gumley, of Isleworth, was married to Pulteney, who received with her a very large fortune. Her father gained his fortune by a glass manufactory; on which circumstance, though hitherto unexplained, the force and elegance of this severe but pleasing composition turns. Those lines were suppressed, as Pope afterwards received great civilities from Pulteney.-Bowles. A FAREWELL TO LONDON. 1715. DEAR, damn'd, distracting town, farewell! Thy fools no more I'll teaze; To drink and droll be Rowe allow'd Farewell, Arbuthnot's raillery And Garth, the best good christian he, Although he knows it not. Lintot, farewell! thy bard must go: Farewell, unhappy Tonson! 5 10 Heaven gives thee, for thy loss of Rowe, 15 Lean Philips and fat Johnson. Why should I stay? Both parties rage; The wits in envious feuds engage; And Homer, damn him! calls The love of arts lies cold and dead And not one Muse, of all he fed, My friends, by turns, my friends confound; Betray, and are betray'd; Poor Yrs sold for fifty pounds, And B―ll is a jade. Why make I friendships with the great, Solicitous for other ends, Though fond of dear repose; Luxurious lobster-nights, farewell, Adieu to all but Gay alone, Whose soul, sincere and free, Loves all mankind, but flatters none, And so may starve with me. 26 PROLOGUE, DESIGNED FOR MR. D'URFEY'S LAST PLAY.* GROWN old in rhyme, 'twere barbarous to discard Damnation follows death in other men; 5 10 You modern wits, should each man bring his claim, Have desperate debentures on your fame; If all your debts to Greece and Rome were paid. * Poor Tom D'Urfey, who stood the force of so much wit, was a playwright and song-writer: he appears to have been an inoffensive, good-humored, thoughtless character; and was endured and laughed at by Dryden and by Steele, who recommended his benefit nights to the attention of the public, through the medium of the Tatler and Guardian; and at length by Pope, who, in a spirit betwixt contempt and charity, wrote a prologue for his last play.-Sir Walter Scott. |