Or if your life be one continued Treat,
If P to live well means nothing but to eat ;
Up, up! cries Gluttony, 'tis break of day,
Go drive the Deer, and drag the finny-prey;
With hounds and horns go hunt an Appetite-
So 9 Ruffel did, but could not eat at night,
Call'd happy Dog! the Beggar at his door,

And envy'd Thirst and Hunger to the Poor.

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Or fhall we ev'ry Decency confound,

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115

120

Thro' Taverns, Stews, and Bagnio's take our round,
Go dine with Chartres, in each Vice out-do
SK-l's lewd Cargo, or Ty-y's Crew,
From Latian Syrens, French Circæan Feasts,
Return well travell'd, and transform'd to Beafts,
Or for a titled Punk, or foreign Flame,

t

Renounce our Country, and degrade our Name?

If, after all, we must with Wilmot own,
The Cordial Drop of Life is Love alour,
And SWIFT cry wifely, "Vive la Bagatelle!"
The Man that loves and laughs, muft fure do well.

Sip bene qui coenat, bene vivit; lucet: eamus
Quo ducit gula: pifcemur, venemur,, ut 9 olim.
Gargilius: qui mane plagas, vanebula, fervos,
Differtum tranfire forum populumque jubebat,
Unus ut e multis populo fpectante referret.
Emtum mulus aprum. crudi, tumidique lavemur,
Quid deceat, quid non, obliti; Caerite cera
Digni; remigium vitiofum Ithacenfis Ulyffei;
Cui potior patria fuit interdicta voluptas.

u

S

t

Si, Minnermus uti cenfet, fiue amore jocifque
VER. 127. Wilmot.] Earl of Rochester.

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W

Adieu-if this advice appear the worst, E'en take the Counsel which I gave you first: Or better Precepts if you can impart,

Why do, I'll follow them with all my heart.

Nil eft jucundum; vivas in amore jocifque. w Vive vale. fi quid novifti rectius iftis, Candidus imperti; fi non, his utere mecuni...

THE

First Epistle of the Second Book

OF

HOR

A CE.

T

Advertisement.

H E Reflections of Horace, and the Judgments paft in his Epiftle to Auguftus, feem'd fo feafonable to the prefent Times, that I could not help applying them to the ufe of my own Country. The Author thought them confiderable enough to addrefs them to his Prince; whom he paints with all the great and good qualities of a Monarch, upon whom the Romans depended for the Encreafe of an absolute Empire. But to make the Poem entirely Englifh, I was willing to add one or two of those. which contribute to the Happiness of a Free People, more confiftent with the Welfare of our

and are

Neighbours.

The Epiftle will fhew the learned World to have fallen into Two mistakes: one, that Auguflus was a Patron of Poets in general; whereas he not only prohibited all but the Best Writers to name him, but recommended that Care even to the Civil MagiAtrate; Admonebat Fraetores, ne paterentur Nomen fuum obfolefiere, &c. The other, that this Piece was

only a general Difcourfe of Poetry; wehreas it was an Apology of the Poets, in order to render Auguflus more their Patron. Horace here pleads the Caufe of his Cotemporaries, firft against the Tafle of the Town, whofe humour it was to magnify the Authors of the preceeding Age; fecondly, against the Court and Nobility, who encouraged only the Writers for the Theatre; and laftly against the Emperor himself, who had conceived them of little Ufe to the Government. He fhews (by a View of the Progress of Learning, and the Change of Tafte among the Romans) that the Introduction of the Polite Arts of Greece had given the Writers of his Time great advantages over their Predeceffors; that their Morals were much improved, and the licence of thofe ancient Poets reftrained that Satire and Comedy were become more juft and ufeful; that whatever extravagance were left on the Stage were owing to the Ill Tafe of the Nobility; that Poets, under due Regulations, were in many refpects useful to the State; and concludes, that it was upon them the Emperor himself muft depend for his Fame with Pofterity.

We may farther learn from this Epiftle, that Horace made his Court to this Great Prince by writing with a decent Freedom toward him, with a juft Contempt of his low Flatterers, and with a manly Regard to his own Character.

EPISTLE I.

To AUGUSTUS.

W

Hile you, great Patron of Mankind! a sustain
The balanc'd World, and open all the Main;
Your Country, chief in Arms, abroad defend,
At Home, with Morals, Arts, and Laws amend;
How shall the Mufe, from fuch a Monarch, fteal 5
An hour, and not defraud the Public Weal?

Edward and Henry, now the Boast of Fame,
And virtuous Alfred, a more d facred Name,
After a Life of gen'rous toils endur'd,
The Gaul fubdu'd, or Property fecur'd,
Ambition humbled, mighty cities ftorm'd,

Or Laws establish'd, and the world reform'd;

Cum tot a fuftineas et tanta negotia folus, Res Italas armis tuteris, moribus ornes,

b

Legibus emendes; in publica commoda peccem,
Si longa fermone morer tua tempora, Caefar.

Romulus, et Liber pater, et cum Caftore Pollux, Poft ingentia facta, Deorum in templa recepti,

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