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Exanimat lentus fpectator, fedulus inflat:

Sic leve, fic parvum eft, animum quod laudis avarum Subruit, ac reficit: valeat res ludicra, fi me

Palma negata macrum, donata reducit opimum.

a

Saepe etiam audacem fugat hoc terretque poetam ;

Quod numero plures, virtute et honore minores,

b

Indocti, ftolidique, et depugnare parati

Si difcordet eques, media inter carmina poscunt Auturfum aut pugiles: his nam plebecula gaudet. Verum equitis quoque jam migravit ab aure voluptas Omnis, ad incertos oculos, et gaudia vana.

Quatuor aut plures aulaea premuntur in horas;

e

Dum fugiunt equitum turmae, peditumque catervae:

Mox trahitur manibus regum fortuna retortis ;

NOTES.

The metaphor is fine, but inferior to the Original, in many respects.

ventofo gloria curru,

has a happy air of ridicule heightened by its allufion to the Roman Triumph. It has a great beauty too, taken in a more serious light, as reprefenting the Poet a Slave to Fame or Glory,

Quem tulit ad fcenam-Gloria.

With what a fhifting gale your courfe you ply,
For ever funk too low, or born too high!
Who pants for glory finds but short repose,
A breath revives him, or a breath o'erthrows.
- Farewell the ftage! if just as thrives the play,
The filly bard grows fat, or falls away.

There still remains, to mortify a Wit,
The many-headed Monster of the Pit:

A fenfelefs, worthless, and unhonour'd croud;
Who, to difturb their betters mighty proud,

b

C

d

300

305

310

Clatt'ring their sticks before ten lines are spoke,
Call for the Farce, the Bear, or the Black-joke.
What dear delight to Britons Farce affords !
Ever the taste of Mobs, but now & of Lords;
(Tafte, that eternal wanderer, which flies
From heads to ears, and now from ears to eyes.)
The Play ftands still; damn action and discourse,
Back fly the fcenes, and enter foot and horfe; 315
Pageants on pageants, in long order drawn,

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Peers, Heralds, Bishops, Ermin, Gold and Lawn;

NOTES.

as was the custom in their triumphs. In other refpects it has the preference. It is more juft. For a Poet makes his first entrance on the ftage not, immediately, to Triumph, but to try his Fortune. However,

Who pants for Glory, etc. is much fuperior to the Original.

VER. 313. From heads to ears, and now from ears to eyes.] From Plays to Operas, and from Operas to Pantomines.

Effeda feftinant, pilenta, petorrita, naves;
Captivum portatur ebur, captiva Corinthus.
f Si foret in terris, rideret Democritus; feu
Diverfum confufa genus panthera camelo,
Sive elephas albus vulgi converteret ora.
Spectaret populum ludis attentius ipfis,

Ut fibi praebentem mimo fpectacula plura:
Scriptores autem narrare putaret afello

h

Fabellam furdo. nam quae i pervincere voces
Evaluere fonum, referunt quem noftra theatra?
* Garganum mugire putes nemus, aut mare Tufcum.
Tanto cum ftrepitu ludi fpectantur, et artes,
1 Divitiaeque peregrinae: quibus m oblitus actor
Cum ftetit in fcena, concurrit dextera laevae.
Dixit adhuc aliquid? nil fane. Quid placet ergo?
" Lana Tarentino violas imitata veneno.

Ac ne forte putes me, quae facere ipfe recufem,
Cum recte tractent alii, laudare maligne ;

NOTES.

VER. 319. Old Edward's Armour beams on Cibber's breaft.] The Coronation of Henry VIII. and Queen Anne Boleyn, in which the Playhoufes vied with each other to reprefent all the pomp of a Coronation. In this noble

The Champion too! and, to complete the jest,
Old Edward's Armour beams on Cibber's breast.
With laughter fure Democritus had dy'd,

f

Had he beheld an Audience gape fo wide.
Let Bear or Elephant be e'er so white,
The people, fure, the people are the fight!
Ah lucklefsh Poet! ftretch thy lungs and roar,
That Bear or Elephant fhall heed thee more;

i

While all its throats the Gallery extends,

And all the Thunder of the Pit afcends!

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Loud as the Wolves, on Orcas' stormy steep,
Howl to the roarings of the Northern deep.
Such is the fhout, the long-applauding note,

At Quin's high plume, or Oldfield's ' petticoat;
Or when from Court a birth-day fuit bestow'd,
Sinks them loft Actor in the tawdry load.
Booth enters-hark! the Universal peal!

"But has he spoken?" Not a fyllable.

320

325

330

335

What shook the stage, and made the people stare?
"Cato's long Wig, flow'r'd gown, and lacquer'd chair.
Yet left you think I railly more than teach,
Or praise malignly Arts I cannot reach,

NOTES.

contention, the Armour of one of the Kings of England was borrowed from the Tower, to drefs the Champion. P. VER. 328. Orcas' ftormy steep.] The fartheft Northern Promontory of Scotland, oppofite to the Orcades. P.

Ille per extentum funem mihi poffe videtur

Ire poeta; meum qui pectus inaniter angit,

Irritat, mulcet, falfis terroribus implet,

Ut magus; et modo me Thebis, modo ponit Athenis.

> Verum age, et his, qui fe lectori credere malunt,

Quam fpectatoris faftidia ferre superbi,

Curam impende brevem: fi munus Apolline dignum

Vis complere libris; et vatibus addere calcar,

Ut ftudio majore petant Helicona virentem.

* Multa quidem nobis facimus mala faepe poetae,

(Ut vineta egomet caedam mea) cum tibi librum • Solicito damus, aut fesso: cum laedimur, 'unum

NOTES.

VER. 347. To Thebes, to Athens, etc.] i. e. is equally knowing in the manners of the most different people; and has the kill to employ thofe manners with decorum.

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