For hung with deadly fins I fee the wall,
And lin❜d with giants deadlier than 'em all:
Each man an Afkapart, of firength to tofs
For quoits, both Temple-bar and Charing-crofs.
Scar'd at the grizly forms, I fweat, I fly,
And fhake all o'er, like a difcover'd spy.
Courts are too much for wits fo weak as mine:
Charge them with heav'n's artill'ry, bold divine!
From fuch alone the great rebukes endure,
Whofe fatire's facred, and whofe rage fecure.
'Tis mine to wash a few light ftains, but theirs
To deluge fin, and drown a court in tears.
Howe'er what's now Apocrypha, my
Wit
In time to come, may pafs for Holy Writ.

Go, through the great chamber (why is it hung
With the feven deadly fins) being among
Thofe Askaparts, men big enough to throw
Charing-crofs for a bar, nien that do know
No token of worth, but queens man, and fine
Living; barrels of beef, flaggons of wine
Ffhook like a fpied fpie- preachers which are
Seas of wit and arts, you can, then dare,
Drown the fins of this place, but as for me
Which ain but a fcant brook, enough thall be
To wash the ftains away: Although I yet
(With Maccabees modefty) the known merit
Of my work leffen, yet fome wife men fhall,
I hope, eftcem my writs canonical,

NOTES.

* A giant famous in romances.

275

279

285

EPILOGUE

Ver 274. For hung with deadly fins] The room hung with old tapetry, reprefenting the feven deadly fins.

TO THE

SATIRES.

IN TWO DIALOGUES.

Written in MDCC XXXVIII.

Fr.

NOT

DIALOGUE I.

OT twice a twelvemonth you appear in print, And when it comes, the court fee nothing in't.

You grow correct, that once with rapture writ,
And are, befides, too moral for a wit.

Decay of parts, alas! we all must feel

Why now,

this moment, don't I fee you fteal? 'Tis all from Horace; Horace long before ye

Said, "Tories call'd him Whig, and Whigs a Tory;" And taught his Romans, in much better metre,

L 2
NOTES.

"To

Ver. 1. Not tavice a twelvemonth, &c. Thefe two lines are from Ho race; and the only lines that are fo in the whole poem; being meant to give a handle to that which follows in the character of an impertinent cenfurer.

'Tis all from Horace; etc.

After ver. 2. in the MS.

VARIATIONS.

You don't, I hope, pretend to quit the trade,
Because you think your reputation made:
Like good of whom so much was faid.
That when his name was up, he lay abed.
Come, coine, refresh us with a livelier fong,
Or like you'll lie abed too long.
P. Sir, what I write, fhould be correctly writ
F. Correct! 'tis what no genius can admit.
Belides, you grow too moral for a wit.

"To laugh at fools who put their truft in Peter.
But Horace, Sir, was delicate, was nice;
Bubo obferves, he lafh'd no fort of vice:
Horace would fay, Sir Billy ferv'd the Crown,
Blunt could do bus'nefs, H-ggins knew the town ;
In Sappho touch the failings of the fex,

In rev'rend bishops note fome mall neglects,
And own, the Spaniard did a waggish thing,
Who cropt our ears, and fent them to the king.
His fly, polite, infinuating ftyle

Could please at court, and make AUGUSTUS fmile :
An artful manager, that crept between

His friend and fhame, and was a kind of fcreen.
But 'faith your very friends will foon be fore;
Patriots there are, who wish you'd jeft no more-
And where's the glory? 'twill be only thought
The Great Man never offer'd you a groat.
Go fee Sir ROBERT-

P. See Sir ROBERT!-hum-
And never laugh-for all my life to come?
Seen him I have, but in his happier hour

NOTES.

ΙΟ

15

21

25

Of

Ver. 12. Bubo obferves.] Some guilty perfon very fond of making fuch an obfervation.

Ver. 14. H-gins] Formerly Jailor of the Fleet-prifon, enriched himfelf by many exactions, for which he was tried and expelled.

Ver. 18. Who crupt our ears] Said to be executed by the captain of a Spanish thip on one Jenkins a captain of an Englith one. He cut off his ears, and bid him carry them to the King his mafter.

Ver. 22. Screen.]

"Omne vafër vitium ridenti Flaccus amico
"Tangit, et admiffus circum præcordia ludit."

PERS.

Ibid. Screen.] A metaphor peculiarly appropriated to a certain perfon in

power.

Ver. 24. Patriots there are, &c.] This appellation was generally given to thofe in oppofition to the court.. (which our author hints at) had views too mean and interested to deThough fome of them ferve that name.

Ver. 26. The great man] A phrafe, by common ufe, appropriated. to the first ninifter.

Ver. 29. Seen him I have, &c.] This and other ftrokes of commendation in the following poem, as well as his regard to him on all occa fions, were in acknowledgment of a certain fervice the minifter had

Of focial pleafure, ill-exchang'd for pow'r;
Seen him, uncumber'd with the venal tribe,
Smile without art, and win without a bribe.
Would he oblige me? let me only find,

He does not think me what he thinks mankind."
Come, come, at all I laugh he laughs, no doubt;
The only diff'rence is, I dare laugh out.

30

35

F. Why yes: with fcripture ftill you may be free; A horfe-laugh, if you pleafe, at honefly: A joke on JEKYL, or fome odd Old Whig Who never chang'd his principle, or wig:

L 3

NOTES.

40

A patriot

dóne a prieft at Mr. Pope's folicitation. Our poet, when he was about feventeen, had a very ill fever in the country, which, it was feared, would end fatally. In this condition, he wrote to Southcot, a priest of his acquaintance, then in town, to take his laft leave of him. Southcot with great affection and folicitude applied to Dr. Radcliffe for his advice. And not content with that, he rode down poft, to Mr. Pope, who was then an hundred miles from London, with the Doctor's directions; which had the defired effect. A long time after this, Southcot, who had an intereft in the court of France, writing to a common acquaintance in England, informed him that there was a good abbey near Avignon, which he had credit enough to get, were it not from an apprehention that his promotion would give umbrage to the English court, to which he (Southcot) by his intrigues in the Pretender's fervice, was become very obnoxious. The perion to whom this was written happening to acquaintMr.Pope with the cafe,he immediately wrote to Sir Robert Walpole about it; begged that this embargo might be tak. en off; and acquainted him with the grounds of folicitation: That he was indebted to Southcot for his life, and he muft difcharge his obligation, either here or in purgatory. The minifter received the application favourably, and with much good nature wrote to his brother, then in France, to remove this obitruction. In confequence of which Southcot got the abbey. Mr. Pope ever after retained a grateul fenfe of his civility.

Ver. 31. Seen him uncumber'd] Thefe two verfes were originally in the poem, though omitted in all the first editions.

Ver. 37. why yes with feripture flill you may be free;] Thus the man commonly called Mother Ofborne, who was in the minifter's pay, and wrote journals; for one paper in behalf of Sir Robert, had frequently two against J. C...

Ver. 39. A joke on Jekyl;] Sir Jofeph Jekyl, mafter of the rolls, a true Waig in his principles,and a man of the utmolt probity. He fometimes voted again the court, which drew upon him the laugh here defcribed of ONE who beftowed it equally upon religion and honefty. He died a few months after the publication of this poem.

A patriot is a fool in ev'ry age,

45

Whom all Lord Chamberlains allow the ftage:
Thefe nothing hurts; they keep their fashion ftill,
And wear their ftrange old virtue, as they will.
If any afk you, "Who's the man, fo near
"His prince, that writes in verfe, and has his ear???
Why, answer, LYTTLETON, and I'll engage
The worthy youth fhall ne'er be in a rage:
But were his verfes vile, his whisper bafe,
You'd quickly find him in Lord Fanny's cafe.
Sejanus, Wolfey, hurt not honeft FLEURY,
But well may put fome statesmen in a fury.
Laugh then at any, but at fools or foes:
Thefe you but anger, and you mend not thofe.
Laugh at your friends, and, if your friends are fore,
So much the better, you may laugh the more.
To vice and folly to confine the jeft,

Sets half the world, God knows, againft the reft;
Did not the fneer of more impartial men
At Senfe and Virtue, balance all agen.
Judicious wits fpread wide the ridicule,
And charitably comfort knave and fool.

P. Dear Sir, forgive the prejudice of youth:
Adieu diftinction, fatire, warmth, and truth!
Come, harmless characters that no one hit;
Come Henley's oratory, Ofborne's wit!

NOTES.

50

56

60

65

The

Ver. 47. Why answer, Lyttleton,] George Lyttleton, fecretary to the Prince of Wales, diftinguished both for his writings and fpeeches in the fpirit of Liberty.

Ver. 51. Sjanus, Wolfey,] The one the wicked minifter of Tiberius; the other of Henry VIII. The writers against the Court ufually bef towed thefe and other odious names on the Minifter, without diftinction, and in the moft injurious manner. See Dial. ii. ver. 137.

Ibid. Flewy,] Cardinal, and minifter to Louis XV. It was a patriot fashion, at that time, to cry up his wifdom and honefty. Ver. 156. So much the better, you may laugh the more.

Their foreness being a clear indication of their wanting the frequent repetition of this difcipline.

Ver. 66. Henley-Ofborne,] See them in their places in the Dunclad.