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I bought them, shrouded in that living shrine, 385
And, at their fecond birth, they iffue mine.
Witness great Ammon! by whose horns I fwore,
(Reply'd foft Annius) this our paunch before
Still bears them, faithful; and that thus I eat,
Is to refund the Medals with the meat.
To prove me, Goddess! clear of all design,
Bid me with Pollio fup, as well as dine;
There all the Learn'd fhall at the labour ftand,
And Douglas lend his foft, obstetric hand.

390

The Goddess fmiling feem'd to give confent; 395 So back to Pollio, hand in hand they went.

Then thick as Locufts black ning all the ground, A tribe, with weeds and fhells fantastic crown'd,

REMARK S.

was ravished with the hope of poffeffing fo rare a treasure, he bargain'd with him on the fpot for the moft curious of them, and was to recover them at his own expence..

VER. 383. each Demi-God,] They are called so on their Coins.

VER. 387. Witness great Ammon!] Jupiter Ammon is called to witness, as the father of Alexander to whom those Kings fucceeded in the divifion of the Macedonian Empire, and whose Horns they wore on their Medals.

VER 394. Douglas] A Physician of great Learning and no lefs Tafte; above all curious in what related to Horace, of whom he collected every Edition, Tranflation, and Comment, to the number of feveral hundred volumes.

VER. 397. Then thick as locufts black’ning all the ground,] The fimilitude of Locufts does not refer more to the numbers than to the qualities of the Virtuofi: who not only devour and lay waste VOL. VI.

D

Each with fome wond'rous gift approach'd the

Pow'r,

A Neft, a Toad, a Fungus, or a Flow'r.

But far the foremost, two, with earnest zeal,
And aspect ardent to the Throne appeal.

400

The first thús open'd: Hear thy fuppliant's call,
Great Queen, and common Mother of us all!
Fair from its humble bed I rear'd this Flow'r, 405
Suckled, and chear'd, with air, and fun, and fhow'r.
Soft on the paper ruff its leaves I spread,

Bright with the gilded button tip its head.
Then thron'd in glass, and nam'd it CAROLINE:
Each maid cry'd, Charming! and each youth, Divine !

REMARK 3.

every tree, fhrub, and green leaf in their Course of experiments } but fuffer neither a mofs nor fungus to escape untouched.

SCRIBL. VER. 409. and nam'd it Caroline] It is a compliment which the Florists usually pay to Princes and great perfons, to give

IMITATIONS.

VER. 405. Fair from its humble bed, &c. named it Caroline! Each maid cry'd, charming! and each Youth, divine!

Now proftrate! dead! bebold that Caroline :

No Maid cries, charming! and no Youth divine!

These verses are tranflated from Catullus, Epith,

Ut flos in feptis fecretus nafcitur bortis,
Quam mulcent auræ, firmat Sol, educat imber,
Multi illum pueri, multæ optavere puellæ :
Idem quum tenui carptus defloruit ungui,
Nulli illum pueri, nullæ optávere puellæ, &n

411

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Did Nature's pencil ever blend fuch rays,
Such vary'd light in one promifcuous blaze?
Now proftrate! dead! behold that Caroline :
No maid cries, Charming! and no youth, Divine!
And lo the wretch! whofe vile, whose insect lust
Lay'd this gay daughter of the Spring in duft. 416
Oh punish him, or to th' Elyfian shades
Difmifs my foul, where no Carnation fades.

He ceas'd and wept. With innocence of mien,
Th' Accus'd ftood forth, and thus addrefs'd the
Queen.

Of all th' enamel'd race, whofe filv'ry wing
Waves to the tepid Zephyrs of the spring,

REMARKS.

420

their names to the most curious Flowers of their raifing: Some have been very jealous of vindicating this honour, but none more than that ambitious Gardiner, at Hammersmith, who caufed his Favourite to be painted on his Sign, with this infcription, This is My Queen Caroline.

VER. 418. Difmifs my foul, where no Carnation fades] It is a trite obfervation, that men have always placed the happiness of their fancied Elyfium in fomething they took moft delight in here. The joys of a Mahometan paradife confift in young mai dens, always virgins: Our modefter Votary warms his imagina, tion only with Carnations always in bloom; which, alluding, at the same time, to the perpetual spring of the old Elyfian fields,

IMITATIONS.

VER. 421. Of all th' enamel'd race,] The Poet feems to have an eye to Spenfer, Muiopotmos.

Of all the race of filver winged Flies
Which do poffefs the Empire of the Air.

Or fwims along the fluid atmosphere,

Once brightest fhin'd this child of Heat and Air.
I saw, and started from its vernal bow'r.

425

The rifing game, and chac'd from flow'r to flow'r.
It fled, I follow'd; now in hope, now pain;
It ftopt, I ftopt; it mov'd, I mov'd again.
At laft it fix'd, 'twas on what plant it pleas'd,
And where it fix'd, the beauteous bird I feiz'd: 430
Rofe or Carnation was below my care;
I meddle, Goddess! only in my sphere.
I tell the naked fact without disguise,
And, to excuse it, need but fhew the prize;
Whofe fpoils this paper offers to your eye,
Fair ev'n in death! this peerlefs Butterfly.

435

My fons! (she answer'd) both have done your parts: Live happy both, and long promote our arts. But hear a Mother, when she recommends

To

your

fraternal care, our fleeping friends.

440

REMARKS,

give an inimitable pleasantry, as well as decorum, to the conclufion of his Pray'r.

VER. 440. our fleeping friends,] Of whom see v. 345. above

IMITATIONS,

VER. 427, 428. It fled, I follow'd, &c.]

-I started back,

It started back; but pleas'd I foon return'd,
Pleas'd it return'd as foon-

Milton.

445

The common Soul, of Heaven's more frugal make,
Serves but to keep fools pert, and knaves awake:
A drowzy Watchman, that just gives a knock,
And breaks our reft, to tell us what's a clock
Yet by fome object ev'ry brain is stirr'd;
The dull may waken to a Humming-bird;
The most reclufe, difcreetly open'd, find
Congenial matter in the Cockle-kind;
The Mind, in Metaphyfics at a lofs,
May wander in a wilderness of Mofs;
The head that turns at fuper-lunar things,

Poiz'd with a tail, may fteer on Wilkins' wings.

VARIATIONS.

VER. 441. The common foul &c.] in the firft Edit. thus,
Of Souls the greater part, Heav'n's common make,
Serve but to keep fools pert, and knaves awake;
And moft but find that centinel of God,

A drowzy Watchman in the land of Nod,

REMARKS.

450

VER.444. And breaks our reft, to tell us what's a clock] i. e. When the feast of life is just over, calls us to think of breaking up; but never watches to prevent the disorders that happen in the heat of the entertainment.

VER. 450. a wilderness of Mofs;] Of which the Naturalifts count I can't tell how many hundred fpecies.

VER.452. Wilkins' wings.] One of the first Projectors of the Royal Society, who, among many enlarged and useful notions, entertain'd the extravagant hope of a poflibility to fly to the Moon; which has put fome volatile Genius's upon making wings for that purpose.

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