Detrabere et pellem, nitidus qua quifque per ora.

Cederet, introrsum turpis; num Laelius, et qui

Duxit ab oppreffa meritum Carthagine nomen,

VER. 97. W berber the darker'd room-Or wbitex'd walk) This is only a wanton joke upon the terms of his Original

Quisquis erit vitae color. Ver. 104. Will club their Tefters, &c.] The image is exceeding humourous, and, at the same time, betrays the injustice of their resentment in the very circumftance of their indulging it; as it shews the Poet had said no more of their avarice, tban what was true. Our Author's abundance of Wit has made his readers backward in acknowledging his talent for Humour. But the veins are equally rich; and the one flows with ease, and the other is always placed with propriety.

Ver. 105.-120. What? arm'd for Virtue, etc.] This is aot only superior to Horace, but equal to any thing in himself.

VER. 110. Lights of the Cburcb, or Guardians of the Laws ? Because juft Satire is an useful supplement to the sanctions of Law and Religion ; and has, therefore, a claim to the protection of those who preside in the adminiftration either of church or date.

Whether the darkend room to muse invite,
Or whiten'd wall provoke the kew'r to writes
In durance, exile, Bedlam, or the Mint,
*Like Lee or Budgell, I will rhyme and print. 100

F. Alas young man! your days can ne'er be long,
In Aow'r of age you perish for a fong!
Plumas and Directors, Shylock and his wife,
Will club their Testers, now, to take your

life! P. - What? arm'd for Virtue when I point the pen, Brand the bold front of shameless guilty men; 106 Dash the proud Gamester in his gilded Car; Bare the mean Heart that lurks beneath a Star; Can there be wanting, to defend Her cause, Lights of the Church, or Guardians of the Laws? Could pension'd Boileau lath in honest strain Flatt'rers and Bigots ev'n in Louis' reign? Could Laureate Dryden Pimp and Fry'r engage, Yet neither Charles nor James be in a rage? And I nat' ftrip the gilding off a Knave, 115 Unplac'd, unpension’d, no man's heir, or slave?

III

VER. III. Could peafion'd Baileau-mCould Laureate Dryden] It was Horace's purpose to compliment the former times, and therefore he gives the virtuous examples of Scipio and Lælius; it was. Ms. Pope's, to satirize the present, and therefore he gives the vicious examples of Louis, Charles, and James. Either way the instances are equally pertinent; but in the latter they have rather greater force. Only the line,

Uni æquus virtuti atque ejus amicis, loses something of its spirit in the imitation; for the amici, rea ferred to, were Scipio and Lælius.

Ingenió ofenfi ? aut laeso dolaere Metello,
Famosisque Lupo cooperto versibus ? atqui
Primores populi arripuit populumque tributim;
Scilicet & UNÍ A EQUUS VIRTUTI ATQUE E JUS

AMICIS.
Quin ubi fé a vulgo en scena it fecreta remorant
Virtus Scipiadae et mitis fapientia Laeli,
Nugari cum illo, et discincti ludere, donec
Decoqueretur õlus, soliti.

Quidquid sut ego, quamvis
Infra Lucili cenfum, ingeniumque ; tamen me
i Cum magnis vixiffe invita fatebitur usque
Invidia ; et fragili quaerens illidere dentem,
Offendet folido:

VER. 129. And Hi, whose lightning, etc.] Charles Mordaunt Earl of Peterborow, who in the year 1705 took Barcelona, and in the winter following with only 280 horse and goo foot enterprized and accomplished the Conquest of Valentia.

VER. 133. Envy must own, etc.) Horace makes the point of honour to confift fimply in his living familarly with the Great,

I will, or perish in the gen'rous cause:
Hear this, and tremble! you, who 'scape the Laws.
Yes, while I live, no rich or noble knave
Shall walk the World, in credit, to his grave. 120
8 To VIRTUE ONLY and her FRIENDS a FRIEND,
The World beside may murmur, or commend.
Know, all the diftant din that world can keep,
Rolls o'er my Grotto, and but fooths my sleep.
b There, my retreat the best Companions grace, 125
Chiefs out of war, and Statesmen out of place.
There St. John mingles with my friendly bowl
The Feast of Reason and the Flow of soul:
And He, whose lightning pierc'd th'Iberian Lines,
Now forms my Quincunx, and now ranks my Vines,
Or tames the Genius of the stubborn plain, 131
Almost as quickly as he conquer'd Spain.
i

Envy must own, I live among the Great,
No Pimp of pleasure, and no Spy of fate,
With eyes that pry not, tongue that n'er repeats,135
Fond to spread friendships, but to cover heats;
To help who want, to forward who excel;
This, all who know me, know; who love me, tell :

Cum magnis vixiffe invita fatebitur usque

Invidia.. Our poet, more nobly, in his living with them on the footing of an honest man. He prided himself in this fuperiority, 18 appears from the following words, in a letter to Dr. Swift, is To " have pleased great men, according to Horace, is a praise; but “ not to have hattered them, and yet not have displeased s them, is a greater," Let, vit, Jan. 12, 1723.

VoL, IV,

* nisi quid tu, docte Trebati, Diffentis.

T. 'Equidem nihil hinc diffingere poffum. Sed tamen ut nonitus caveas, ne forte negoti Incutiat tibi quid fanctarum inscitia legum :

“. Și mala condiderit in quem quis carmina, jus eft Judiciumque."

H. Efto, fiquis "mala. fed bona fi quis Judice condiderit laudatus CAESARE ? fi quis Opprobriis dignum laceraverit, integer ipse? T. Solventur risu tabulæ : tu missus abibis.

m

VER, 146. A man was bang'd, &c] Si mala condiderit-A great French Lawyer explains this matter very truly. “ L'Ariof stocratie est le Gouvernement qui proscrit les plus les Ouvrages “ satiriques. Les Magistrats y font de petits souverains, qui ne « sont pas assez grands pour mepriser les injures. Si dans la “ Monarchie quelque trait va contre le Monarque, il est fi haut " que le trait n'arrive point jusqu'à lui; une Seigneur Aristocra• stique en est percé de part en part. Aussi les Decemvirs, qui “ formoient une Aristocratie, punirent-ils de mort les Ecrits " Satiriques.” De L'Esprit des Loix, L. xii. c. 13.

VER. 150. Libels and Satires ! lawless things indeed! But grave Epifles, etc.). The legal objection is here more juftly and decently taken off than in the Original. Horace evades the force of it with a quibble,

Efto, fiquis mala; sed 'bona fi quis. But the Imitator's grave Epißles fhew the satire to be a serious reproof, and therefore juftifiable; which the integer ipse of the Original does not : for however this might plead in mitigation of the offence, nothing but their being grave Epifles could juftify the attack.

VER, 152, F, Indeed ?] Hor.