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; 35
The only diff'rence is, I dare laugh out.

F. Why yes: with Scripture still you may be free;
A Horse laugh, if you please, at Honesty ;
A Joke on Jekyl, or fome odd Old Whig
Who never chang's his Principle, or Wig:

40
A Patriot is a Fool in ev'ry age,
Whom all Lord Chamberlains allow the Stage :
These nothing hurts; they keep their Fashion still,
And wear their strange old Virtue, as they will.
If any ask you,

66 Who's the Man, so near 45
“ His Prince, that writés in Verse, and has his ear?"
Why, answer, LYTTLETON, and I'll engage
The worthy Youth shall ne'er be in a rage :

Nores. originally in the poem, though omitted in all the first editions. P.

VER. 37. Why yes : with Scripture fill you may be free ;] Thus the Man commonly called Mother Osborn, who was in the Minister'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 Joseph Jekyl, Mafter of the Rolls, a true Whig in his principles, and a man of the utmost probity. He sometimes voted against the Court, which drew upon him the laugh here deicribed of One who bestowed it equally upon Religion and Honesty. He died a few months after the publication of this poem. P.

Ver. 43. These nothing hurts ;] i, e, offends.
VER. 47. Iby, answer, Lyttleton,] George Lyttelton,

But were his Verses vile, his Whisper base,
You'd quickly find him in Lord Fanny's case.

50
Sejanus, Wolsey, hurt not honest FLEURY,
But well may put some Statesman in a fury.

Laugh then at any, but at Fools or Foes ;
These
you but anger, and you

mend not those.
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 jest,
Sets half the world, God knows, against the rest;
Did not the Sneer of more impartial men
At Sense and Virtue, balance all agen.

бо
Judicious Wits spread wide the Ridicule,
And charitably comfort Knave and Fool.

P. Dear Sir, forgive the Prejudice of Youth: Adieu Distinction, Satire, Warmth, and Truth!

56

Notes.

Secretary to the Prince of Wales, distinguished both for his writings and speeches in the spirit of Liberiy. P.

VER. 51. Sejanus, Wolsey, ] The one the wicked miniIter of Tiberius ; the other, of Henry VIII. The writers against the Court ulually bestowed these and other odious names on the Minister, without distinction, and in the most injurious manner.

See Dial. IL. * 137. P. Ibid. Fleury,] Cardinal: and Minister to Louis XV, It was a Patriot fashion, at that time, to cry up his wisdom and honesty. P.

Come, harmless Characters that no one hit; 65
Come, Henley's Oratory, Osborn's Wit!
The Honey dropping from Favonio's tongue,
The Flow’rs of Bubo, and the Flow of Y--Ag!
The gracious Due of Pulpit Eloquence,
And all the well-whipt Cream of Courtly Sense, 70
That First was H-vy's, F-'s next, and then
The S-te's, and then H-vy's once agen.
O come, that easy Ciceronian style,
So Latin, yet so English all the while,
As, tho' the Pride of Middleton and Bland,

75
All Boys may read, and Girls may understand!
Then might I sing, without the least offence,
And all I sung should be the Nation's Sense ;
Or teach the melancholy Muse to mourn,
Hang the fad Verfe on CAROLINA's Urn, 80

Notes. Ver. 66. Henley -- Ofoorn,] See them in their places in the Dunciad, P.

VER. 69. The gracious Dew] Alludes to some court fermons, and florid panegyrical ipeeches ; particularly one very full of puerilities and flatteries ; which afterwards got into an address in the same pretty style ; and was lastly ferved up in an Epitaph, between Latin and English, publithed by its author. P.

VER. 76. All Boys may read, and Girls may understand! ] i, e. full of school-book phrases and Anglicisms.

VER. 78, Nation's Sense;] The cant of Politics at that time.

VBR. 89. Carolina] Queen confort to King George II.

And hail her passage to the Realms of Rest,
All Parts perform’d, and all her Children blest !
So - Satire is no more - I feel it die
No Gazetteer more innocent than I
And let, a God's-name, ev'ry Fool and Knave 85
Be grac'd thro' Life, and flatter'd in his Grave.

F. Why fo? if Satire knows its Time and Place,
You still may lash the greatest- in Disgrace :
For Merit will by turns forsake them all;
Would you know when ! exactly when they fall. 90
But let all Satire in all Changes spare
Immortal S-k, and grave De

re.

Notes,

She died in 1737. Her death gave occasion, as is observed above, to many indiscreet and mean performances unworthy of her memory, whole last moments manifested the utmost courage and resolution. P.

How highly our Poet thought of that truly great perfonage may be seen by one of his letters to Mr. Allen, written at that time; in which, amongit others, equally refpectful, are the following words: “The Queen thewed,

by the confession of all about her, the utmost firmness " and temper to her last moments, and through the course “ of great torments. What character historians will al“ low her, I do not know; but all her domestic servants, " and those nearest her, give her the best teftimony, that 4 of sincere tears.'

VER. 92. Immortal Sk, and grave Demate!] A title given that Lord by King James II. He was of the Bed. chamber to King William ; he was so to King George I. he was fo to King George II. This Lord was very kilful

3

Silent and soft, as Saints remove to Heav'n,
All Tyes diffolv'd, and ev'ry Sin forgiv'n,
These may some gentle ministerial Wing

95
Receive, and place for ever near a King !
There, where no Passion, Pride, or Shame transport,
Lull’d with the sweet Nepenthe of a Court;

Notes. in all the forms of the House, in which he discharged himself with great gravity. P.

VEŘ. 97. There, where 110 Paffon, etc.] The excellent writer De l'Esprit des Loix gives the following character of the Spirit of Courts, and the Principle of Monarchies :

Qu'on lise ce que les Historiens de tous les tems ont dit " sur la Cour des Monarques ; qu'on se rapelle les con66 versations des hommes de tous les Païs sur le miserable “ caractère des COURTISANS; ce ne sont point des choses “ de speculation, mais d'une triste expérience. L'ambi6. tion dans l'oisiveté, la bassesse dans l'orgueil, le defir de

s'enrichir sans travail, l'averfion pour la vérité ; la fla

terie, la trahison, la perfidie, l'abandon de tous ses " engagemens, le mepris des devoirs du Citoyen, la crainte “ de la vertu du Prince, l'esperance de ses foiblesses, et

plus, que tout cela, LE RIDICULE PERPETUEL JETTE SUR LA VERTU, font, je crois, le Caractère de la plu. part des Courtisans marqué dans tous les lieux et dans

tous les tems. Or il est très mal-aisé que les Principaux "s d'un Etat soient malhonnêtes-gens, et que les inferieurs

soient gens-de-bien, que ceux-là soyent trompeurs, & " que ceux-ci consentent à n'être que dupes. Que fi dans "lé Peuple il se trouve quelque malheureux honnête

homme, le Cardinal de Richelieu dans son Testament

politique infinue, qu'un Monarque doit se garder de s'en “ Tervir. Tant-il est vrai que la Vertu n'est pas le ressort “ de ce Gouvernment."

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