140

But ancient friends (tho' poor, or out of play)
That touch my bell, I cannot turn away.
'Tis true, no a Turbots dignify my boards,
But gudgeons, flounders, what my Thames affords:
To Hounflow-heath I point and Banfted-down,

Thence comes your mutton, and thefe chicks my own;
From yon old walnut-tree a fhow'r fhall fall; 145
And grapes, long ling'ring on my only wall,
And figs from ftandard and espalier join;
The dev'l is in you if you cannot dine;

150

Then chearful healths (your Mistress shall have place)
And, what's more rare, a Poet shall say Grace.
Fortune not much of humbling me can boaft:
Tho' double tax'd, how little have I loft?
My Life's amufements have been just the fame
Before, and after d Standing Armies came.

Ac mihi feu z longum poft tempus venerat hofpes,
Sive operum vacuo gratus conviva per imbrem
Vicinus ; bene erat, non pifcibus urbe petitis,
Sed pulio atque hoedo: tum a penfilis uva fecundas
Et nux ornabat menfas, cum duplice ficu.
Poft hoc ludus erat cuppá ludare magiftra:
Ac venerata Ceres, ita culmo furgeret alto,
Explicuit vino contractae feria frontis.

Saeviat atque novos moveat Fortuna tumultus ! Quantum hinc imminuet? quanto aut ego parcius,

aut vos,

O pueri, nituiftis, ut hoc novus incola venit?

My lands are fold, my father's houfe is gone;
I'll hire anothers; is not that my own,

155

And your's my friends? thro' whose free-op'ning gate
None comes too early, none departs too late;
(For I who hold fage Homer's rule the beft,
Welcome the coming, fpeed the going gucft.)

160

165

Pray heav'n it laft! (cries SwIFT!) as you go, on; "I wish to God this houfe had been your own: "Pity to build, without a fon or wife; "Why, you'll enjoy it only all your life. Well if the ufe be mine, can it concern one, Whether the name belong to Pope or Vernon? What's Property? dear Swift! you fee it alter From you to me, from me to f Peter Walter; Or, in a mortgage, prove a Lawyer's fhare;

e

Or, in a jointure, vanish from the heir;

Or in pure fequity (the cafe not clear)
The Chanc'ry takes your rents for twenty year:
At beft it falls to fome & ungracious fon,
Who cries, 66 My father's damn'd, and all's

my

170

own."

175

h Shades, that to Bacon could retreat afford,
Become the portion of a booby Lord;
And Hemfly, once proud Buckingham's delight,
Slides to a Scriv❜ner or a city Knight.

Nam propriae telluris herum natura neque illum,
Nec me, nec quemquam ftatuit. nos expulit ille;
Illum aut f nequities aut & vafri infcitia juris,
Proftremum expellet certe h vivacior heres.

VER. 177. proud Buckingham's, etc.] Villiers Duke of Buckingham.

i Let lands and houses have what lords they will, Let Us be fix'd, and our own masters still.

i Nunc ager Umbreni fub nomine, nuper Ofelli
Distus erat: nulli proprius; fed cedit in usum
Nunc mihi, nunc alii. quocirca vivite fortes,
Fortiaque adverfis opponite pectora rebus.

k

180

BOOK I. of HORACE.

EPISTLE I

To L. BOLINGBROKE.

ST. JOHN, whofe love indulg'd my labours paft, Matures my present, and fhall bound my laft! Why will you break the Sabbath of my days? Now fick alike of Envy and of Praise.

b

Public too long, ah let me hide my Age!
See Modeft Cibber now has left the Stage:

ત

Our Gen'rals now, retired to their Estates,

Hang their old Trophies o'er the Garden gates,
In Life's cool Ev'ning fatiate of Applaufe,

Not fond of bleeding, ev'n in BRUNSWICK's caufe.

Prima dite mihi, fumma dicende camena, b Spectatum fatis, et donatum jam rude, quaeris, Maecenas, iterum antiquo me includere ludo. Non eadem eft actas, non mens. Veianius, armis Herculis ad poftem fixis, latet abditus agro; Ne populum extrema toties exoret arena.

5

f A voice there is, that whispers in my ear, II ('Tis Reafon's voice, which fometimes one can hear) "Friend Pope! be prudent, let your Mufe take "breath,

"And never gallop Pegasus to death;

"Left ftiff, and ftately, void of fire or force,

15

"You limp, like Blackmore on a Lord Mayor's

"horfe."

Farewell then Verfe and Love, and ev'ry Toy, The Rhymes and Rattles of the Man or Boy; What i right, what true, what fit we justly call, Let this be all my care-for this is All: To lay this harveft up, and hoard with hafte What ev'ry day will want, and most the last. But afk not to what Doctors I apply? Sworn to no Mafter, of no Se&t am I:

20

As drives them storm, at any door I knock :

25

And houfe with Montagne now, or now with Locke,

Sometimes a Patriot active in debate,

Mix with the World, and battle for the State,

f Eft mihi purgatam crebro qui perfonet aurem; Solve & fenefcentem mature fanas equum, ne Peccet ad extremum ridendus, et ilia ducat. Nunc itaque et verfus, et caetera ludicra pono: Quid i verum atque decens, curo et rogo, et omnis in

hoc fum:

* Condo, et compono, quæ mox depromere poffim. Ac ne forte roges, quo me duce, quo Lare tuter: Nullius addictus jurare in verba magiftri,

Quo me cunque rapit tempeftas deferor hofpes. Nunc agilis fio, et merfor n civilibus undis.