Next pleas'd his Excellence a town to batter;

(Its name I know not, and 'tis no great matter,) 45 "Go on, my Friend, (he cry'd,) feeyonder walls! "Advance and conquer! go where glory calls! "More honours, more rewards, attend the brave." Don't you remember what reply he gave?

D'ye think me, noble Gen'ral, fuch a fot?
"Let him take caftles who has ne'er a groat.”
f Bred up at home, full early I begun,

To read in Greek the wrath of Peleus' fon.
Befides, my Father taught me from a lad,
The better art to know the good from bad :
(And little fure imported to remove,

To hunt for Truth in Maudlin's learned grove.)
But knottier points we knew not half so well,
Depriv'd us foon of our paternal Cell;

NOTES.

50

55

And

VER. 55. The better art] Dacier interprets the words, curvo dignofcere rectum, the study of geometry. This Warton thinks abfurd. Sée note below.

VER. 55. The better art to know the good from bad] Our Poet miftook, as many have done before and fince his time, the true meaning of his author:

Scilicèt ut poffem curvo dignofcere rectum,

Atque inter filvas Academi quærere verum :

that is, to distinguish a right line from a curve for geometry was the indifpenfable introduction to the philofophy of the Academic fchool. Creech was our Poet's guide:

And taught me how to fep'rate bad from good. And the reader, who will make the comparison, will discover various obligations throughout these imitations to that translator. WAKEFIELD.

VER. 57. in Maudlin's learned grove.] He had a partiality for this college in Oxford, in which he had spent many agreeable days with his friend Mr. Digby, who provided rooms for him at that College. WARTON.

23

Atque inter filvas Academi quærere verum.
Dura fed emovêre loco me tempora grato;
Civilifque rudem belli tulit æftus in arma,
Cafaris Augufti non refponfura lacertis.
Unde fimul primùm me dimifere Philippi,
Decifis humilem pennis, inopemque paterni
Et laris et fundi, paupertas impulit audax

Ut verfus facerem : fed, quod non defit, habentem,
Quæ poterunt unquam fatis expurgare cicuta,
Ni melius dormire putem, quam scribere versus ?
* Singula de nobis anni prædantur euntes;
Eripuere jocas, venerem, convivia, ludum;

NOTES.

Tendunt

VER. 60. by fuff'rers thought unjufl,] By orders from government for the removal of Papilts 'to a certain diftance from the metropolis. WAKEFIELD,

VER. 63. mighty WILLIAM's] Horace ufes fome very artful and apologetical terms, in the Original, in fpeaking of the part he had taken against Auguftus. Dura tempora-belli æftus civilis-Augufti lacertis-dimifere - decifis pennis-for being totally plundered. WARTON.

VER. 64. For Right Hereditary] Admirable as these lines are, yet, from the nature of the fubject, they cannot be so interesting as the events in Horace's life; the inconveniency Pope laboured under from being a papift, and fubject to penal laws, are not fo ftriking as Horace's being taken from Athens by Brutus; and having the command of a Roman legion given to him; being prefent at the battle of Philippi; and lofing all his property for his attachment to Brutus and his republican friends. Dacier, like a true Frenchman, imagines, that a want of proper officers induced Brutus to give Horace this command in the army. Did he not recollect or know, that great numbers of young Romans, of spirit and ability, flocked to the standard of Brutus, and appeared forward in fupporting the great caufe of liberty? WARTON.

And certain Laws, by fuff 'rers thought unjust, 60
Deny'd all posts of profit or of trust :

Hopes after hopes of pious Papifts fail'd,
While mighty WILLIAM's thund'ring arm prevail'd.
For Right Hereditary taxʼd and fin’d,

He ftuck to poverty with peace of mind;
And me, the Mufes help'd to undergo it;
Convict a Papist he, and I a Poet.

But, (thanks to Homer,) fince I live and thrive,
Indebted to no Prince or Peer alive,

Sure I fhould want the care of ten Monroes,

If I would fcribble, rather than repofe.

65

79

3 Years following years, fteal fomething ev'ry day, At last they steal us from ourselves away;

In one our Frolics, one Amusements end,
In one a Mistress drops, in one a Friend;

NOTES.

75

This

VER. 69. Indebted to no Prince or Peer alive,] Indeed, it would be very hard upon Authors, if the fubfcribing for a book, which does honour to one's age and country, and confequently reflects back part of it on the Subscribers, should be esteemed a debt or obligation. WARBURTON,

VER. 70. Monroes,] Dr. Monroe, Phyfician to Bedlam Hofpital. WARBURTON. VER. 73. At last they feal us from ourselves away;] i. e. Time changes all our paffions, appetites, and inclinations.

WARBURTON,

VER. 74. In one our Frolics,] These two lines are languid in comparison of the brevity of the Original;

Tendunt extorquere poëmata. quid faciam vis?

Denique non omnes eadem mirantur amantque. Carmine tu gaudes: his delectatur iambis ; Ille Bioneis fermonibus, et fale nigro. Tres mihi convivæ propè diffentire videntur, Pofcentes vario multum diverfa palato.

Quid dem? quid non dem ? renuis quod tu, jubet alter:

Quod petis, id fane est invifum acidumque duobus.

i

Præter cætera me Romæne poëmata censes Scribere poffe, inter tot curas, totque labores?

Hic fponfum vocat, hic auditum fcripta, relictis

NOTES.

Omnibus

and verfe 85 is too quaint and proverbial. Alfo in verse 88, inftead of the fingle word, præterea, he has given a whole line. But, on the other hand, the verfes 90 and 91, are very forcible.

WARTON.

VER. 83. and that Pindaric lays?] Of our modern Lyric Poetry, the English is Pindaric, and the Latin, Horatian. The firft is like boiled meats, of different taftes and flavours, but all infipid: The other, like the fame meats potted, all of one fpicey tafte, and equally high-flavoured. The reafon is, the English odemakers, only imitate Pindar's fenfe; whereas the Latin employ the very words of Horace. WARBURTON.

The note on this paffage concerning our common modern lyric poetry, was written fome years before Gray had fo effectually vindicated this fpecies of poetry from the objections here made to it. WARTON.

VER. 87 Oldfield--Dartineuf ] Two celebrated gluttons.-This inftance adds a beauty to the whole paffage, as intimating that the demand for verfe is only a fpecies of luxury. WARBURTON,

But it does not appear to be at all intimated.

WARTON'

VER. 87. Dartineuf detefts.] Dartineuf has been mentioned before.

"Darty his Ham pie."

Pope tires one by perpetually introducing the fame people.

This fubtle Thief of life, this paltry Time,
What will it leave me, if it fnatch my rhyme?
If ev'ry wheel of that unweary'd Mill,

That turn'd ten thousand verfes, now ftands ftill?

h

But after all, what would you have me do? 80 When out of twenty I can please not two;

When this Heroics only deigns to praise,
Sharp Satire that, and that Pindaric lays?
One likes the Pheasant's wing, and one the leg;
The vulgar boil, the learned roast an egg;
Hard task to hit the palate of fuch guests,
When Oldfield loves, what Dartiñeuf detests.

grace,

'But grant I may relapfe, for want of Again to rhyme; can London be the place? Who there his Mufe, or felf, or foul attends,

85

90

In crowds, and courts, law, bus'ness, feasts, and

friends?

My counsel fends to execute a deed:

A Poet begs me I will hear him read:

In

NOTES.

VER. 93. A Poet begs, &c.] Many are the poets who could not do justice to their works by reading them with propriety. Corneille, Dryden, and Thomson, were remarkably bad readers. On the contrary, Virgil, Racine, and Boileau, and above all Nat Lee, were most excellent reciters. Juft reading is an uncommon talent. The Duke de la Rochefoucault would never become a member of the French Academy, left he should expose himself by his pronunciation of the speech neceffary on that occafion. I had once the pleasure of hearing Quin read the Second Book of Milton, with marvellous propriety and harmony. And the late Mr. Henderson excelled in recitation. WARTON.