To W-le guilty of some venial sin;
What's that to you who ne'er was out nor in?

}

171

The Priest whose Flattery be-dropt the Crown, How hurt he you! he only stain'd the Gown. 165 And how did, pray, the florid Youth offend, Whose Speech you took, and gave it to a Friend ? P. Faith, it imports not much from whom it came; Whoever borrow'd, could not be to blame, Since the whole House did afterwards the fame. Let Courtly Wits to Wits afford supply, As Hog to Hog in huts of Westphaly; If one, thro' Nature's Bounty or his Lord's, Has what the frugal, dirty foil affords, From him the next receives it, thick or thin, As pure a mess almost as it came in, The blessed benefit, not there confin'd, Drops to the third, who nuzzles close behind; From tail to mouth, they feed and they carouse:

The last full fairly gives it to the House.

F. This filthy fimile, this beastly line

Quite turns my stomach

175

180

P. So does Flatt'ry mine;

And all your courtly Civet-cats can vent,

Perfume to you, to me is Excrement.

VER. 164. The Priest, etc.] Spoken not of any particular priest, but of many priests.

VER. 166. And bow did, etc.] This feems to allude to a com

plaint made ver. 71. of the preceding Dialogue.

185

190

But hear me further - Japhet, 'tis agreed,
Writ not, and Chartres scarce could write or read,
In all the Courts of Pindus guiltless quite;
But Pens can forge, my Friend, that cannot write;
And must no Egg in Japhet's face be thrown,
Because the Deed he forg'd was not my own?
Must never Patriot then declaim at Gin,
Unless, good man! he has been fairly in?
No zealous Pastor blame a failing Spouse,
Without a staring Reason on his brows?
And each Blafphemer quite escape the rod,
Because the insult's not on Man, but God?
Afk you what Provocation I have had?
The strong Antipathy of Good to Bad.
When Truth or Virtue an Affront endures,

195

201

Th' Affront is mine, my friend, and should be yours.
Mine, as a Foe profess'd to false Pretence,
Who think a Coxcomb's Honour like his Sense;
Mine, as a Friend to ev'ry worthy mind;
And mine as Man, who feel for all mankind.
F. You're strangely proud.

VARIATIONS,

VER. 185. in the MS.

I grant it, Sir; and further, 'tis agreed,

Japhet writ not, and Chartres scarce could read.

VER. 185. Japhet - Chartres) See the Epistle to Lord Bathurst.

VER. 204. And mine as Man, who feel for all mankind.] From Terence: "Homo fum: humani nihil a me alienum puto."

66

P. So proud, I am no Slave:

So impudent, I own myself no knave:
So odd, my Country's Ruin makes me grave.
Yes, I am proud; I must be proud to fee

206

}

Men not afraid of God, afraid of me :

Safe from the Bar, the Pulpit, and the Throne,
Yet touch'd and sham'd by Ridicule alone.

211

O facred weapon! left for Truth's defence, Sole Dread of Folly, Vice, and Insolence! To all but Heav'n-directed hands deny'd,

The Muse may give thee, but the Gods must guide:

Rev'rent I touch thee! but with honest zeal;

To rouse the Watchmen of the public Weal,

216

VER. 208. Yes, I am proud; etc.] In this ironical exultation the Poet infinuates a subject of the deepest humiliation.

VER. 211. Yet touch'd and sham'd by Ridicule alone.] The Passions are given us to awaken and support Virtue. But they frequently betray their truft, and go over to the interests of Vice. Ridicule, when employed in the cause of Virtue, shames and brings them back to their duty. Hence the use and importance of Satire.

VER. 214. To all but Heav'n-directed bands] "The Citizen " (says Plato, in his fifth book of Laws) who does no injury to

any one, without question, merits our esteem. He, who, "not content with being barely just himself, opposes the "course of injustice, by profecuting it before the Magiftrate, " merits our esteem vastly more. The first discharges the duty " of a fingle Citizen: but the other does the office of a Body. "But he whose zeal stops not here, but proceeds to ASSIST "THE MAGISTRATE IN PUNISHING is the most valuable

blessing of Society. This is the PERFECT CITIZEN, to "whom we should adjudge the prize of Virtue,"

220

To Virtue's work provoke the tardy Hall,
And goad the Prelate slumb'ring in his Stall.
Ye tinsel Insects! whom a Court maintains,
That counts your Beauties only by your Stains,
Spin all your Cobwebs o'er the Eye of Day!
The Muse's wing shall bruth you all away:
All his Grace preaches, all his Lordship fings, 224
All that makes Saints of Queens, and Gods of Kings.
All, all but Trauth, drops dead-born from the Prefs,.
Like the last Gazette, or the last Address.

When black Ambition stains a public Caufe,
A Monarch's Sword when mad Vain-glory draws,
Not Waller's Wreath can hide the Nation's Scar,
Nor Boileau turn the Feather to a Star.

After ver. 227. in the MS.

Where's now the Star that lighted Charles to rife?
-With that which follow'd Julius to the skies.
Angels, that watch'd the Royal Oak fo well,
How chanc'd ye nod, when luckless Sorel fell?
Hence, lying miracles! reduc'd fo low
As to the regal-touch, and papal-toe;
Hence haughty Edgar's title to the Main,

Britain's to France, and thine to India, Spain!

238

:

VER. 222. Cobrwebs] Weak and flight fophiftry against virtue and honour. Thin colours over vice, as unable to hide the light of Truth, as cobwebs to shade the fun.

VER. 228. Wben black Ambition etc.) The cafe of Cromwell in the civil war of England; and (ver. 229.) of Louis XIV. in his conquest of the Low Countries.

VER. 231. Nor Boileau turn the Feather to a Star.] See his Ode on Namur; where (to use his own words)" il a fait w

Not so, when diadem'd with rays divine,

Touch'd with the Flame that breaks from Virtue's

Shrine,

Her Priestess Muse forbids the Good to die,
And opes the Temple of Eternity.

235

There, other Trophies deck the truly brave,
Than such as Anstis casts into the Grave;
Far other Stars than * and * * wear,
And may descend to Mordington from STAIR:
(Such as on HoUGH's unfully'd Mitre shine,
Or beam, good DIGBY, from a heart like thine)
Let Envy howl, while Heav'n's whole Chorus sings,
And bark at Honour not confer'd by Kings;
Let Flatt'ry fick'ning see the Incenfe rise,

240

Sweet to the World, and grateful to the Skies: 245
Truth guards the Poet, sanctifies the line,
And makes immortal, Verse as mean as mine.

"Aftre de la Plume blanche que le Roy porte ordinairement à "fon Chapeau, et qui est en effet une espece de Comete, "fatale a nos ennemis."

VER. 237. Anftis] The chief Herald at arms. It is the custom, at the funeral of great peers, to cast into the grave the broken staves and ensigns of honour.

VER. 239. Stair;) John Dalrymple Earl of Stair, Knight of the Thistle; served in all the wars under the Duke of Marlborough; and afterwards as Embaffador in France.

VER. 240, 241. Hough and Digby] Dr. John Hough Bishop of Wercefter, and the Lord Digby. The one an afferter of the Church of England in opposition to the false measures of King James II. The other as firmly attached to the cause of that King. Both acting out of principle, and equally men of honour and virtue.