FHayman inv. et del, C.Grignion fculp Shut, shut the Door, good John fatigud I said Tye up the Knocker, say I'm sick, I'm dead. Op: to Arbuthnot. And now the Poem, which holds fo much of the DRAMA, and opens with all the disorder and vexation that every kind of impertinence and flander could occafion, concludes with the utmost calmness and ferenity, in the retired enjoyment of all the tender offices of FRIENDSHIP and PIETY [ 388. to the end.] EPISTLE to Dr. ARBUTHNOT, BEING THE PROLOGUE TO THE SATIRE S. P.SHUT HUT, shut the door, good John! fatigu'd Tye up the knocker, fay I'm fick, I'm dead, NOTES. 5 VER. 1. Shut, but the door, good John !] John Searl, his old and faithful fervant: whom he has remembered, under that character, in his Will. What walls can guard me, or what shades can hide? Is there a Parfon, much be-mus'd in beer, 15 A maudlin Poetess, a rhyming Peer, A Clerk, foredoom'd his father's foul to cross, VARIATIONS. After y 20. in the MS. Is there a Bard in durance? turn them free, Is there a Prentice, having feen two plays, Who would do fomething in his Semptrefs' praise- VER. 12. Ev'n Sunday fhines no Sabbath-day to me.] The beauty of this line arifes from the figurative terms of the predicate alluding to the fubject. A fecret, in elegant expreffion, which our Author often practifed. VER. 13. Mint.] A place to which infolvent debtors retired, to enjoy an illegal protection, which they were there fuffered to afford one another, from the perfecution of their creditors. Arthur, whofe giddy fon neglects the Laws, Imputes to me and my damn'd works the cause: Poor Cornus fees his frantic wife elope, And curses Wit, and Poetry, and Pope. 25 Friend to my Life! (which did not you prolong, The world had wanted many an idle fong) What Drop or Noftrum can this plague remove? Or which muft end me, a Fool's wrath or love? 30 A dire dilemma! either way I'm sped. If foes, they write, if friends, they read me dead. Seiz'd and ty'd down to judge, how wretched I! Who can't be filent, and who will not lye: To laugh, were want of goodness and of grace, 35 And to be grave, exceeds all Pow'r of face. I fit with fad civility, I read With honest anguish, and an aching head; VARIATIONS. VER. 29. in the 1ft Ed. Dear Doctor, tell me, is not this a curfe? NOTES. VER. 23. Arthur,] Arthur Moore, Efq. VER. 33. Seiz'd and tỷ'd down to judge,] Alluding to the fcene in the Plain- Dealer, where Oldfox gags, and ties down the Widow, to hear his well-pen'd flanzas. VER. 38. honeft anguish,] i. e. undiffembled. Ibid. an aching head;] Alluding to the diforder he was then fo conftantly afflicted with. |