Have you not feen, at Guild-hall's narrow pafs, Two Aldermen dispute it with an Ass? 105 And Peers give way, exalted as they are, * Go, lofty Poet! and in such a croud, Sing thy fonorous verfe-but not aloud. Alas! to Grotto's and to Groves we run, 'To ease and filence, ev'ry Mufe's fon: Blackmore himself, for any grand effort, Would drink and doze at Tooting or Earl's-Court. How fhall I rhime in this eternal roar? 110 How match the bards whom none e'er match'd before? The boys flock round him, and the people ftare: } And here, while town, and court, and city roars, With mobs, and duns, and foldiers, at their doors; NOTES. where the intemperance of Poets is not the obvious, but the Secret meaning. For Bacchus was the patron of the Drama as well as of the Bottle; and fleep was courted for inspiration, as well as to relieve a debauch. Ibid. Tooting-Earl's Court] Two villages within a few miles of London. P. VER. 124. With mobs, and duns, and foldiers at their Verba lyrae motura fonum connectere digner? Frater erat Romae confulti rhetor; ut alter Alterius fermone meros audiret honores: Gracchus ut hic illi foret, huic ut Mucius ille. Quî minus argutos vexat furor ifte poetas? "Carmina compono, hic elegos; mirabile visu, Caelatumque novem Mufis opus. afpice primum, Quanto cum faftu, quanto molimine circumfpectemus vacuam Romanis vatibus aedem. Mox etiam (fi forte vacas) fequere, et procul audi, Quid ferat, et quare fibi nectat uterque coronam. Caedimur, et totidem plagis confumimus hoftem, NOTES, doors;] The licence, luxury, and mutiny of an opulent city are not ill defcribed. It VER. 132. And book his head at Murray, as a Wit.] is the filly confolation of blockheads in all profeffions, that he, whom Nature has formed to excell, does it not by his fuperior knowledge, but his wit; and fo they keep themselves in countenance as not fairly outdone, but only out-witted. Shall I, in London, act this idle part? Compofing fongs, for Fools to get by heart? m The Temple late two brother Serjeants faw, Who deem'd each other Oracles of Law; With equal talents, thefe congenial fouls 125 One lull'd th' Exchequer, and one stunn'd the Rolls; Each had a gravity would make you split, And shook his head at Murray, as a Wit. 131 " 'Twas, Sir, your law"--and "Sir, your eloquence" "Yours, Cowper's manner-and yours, Talbot's "fense. " Thus we difpofe of all poetic merit, 135 Yours Milton's genius, and mine Homer's fpirit. "Let me be Horace, and be Ovid you: NOTES. 140 VER. 139. Merlin's Cave,] In the Royal Gardens at Richmond. By this it fhould feem as if the collection of poetry, in that place, was not to our Author's tafte. VER. 140. But Stephen] Mr. Stephen Duck, a modest and worthy man, who had the honour (which many, who thought themselves his betters in poetry, had not) of being esteemed by Mr. Pope. Lento Samnites ad lumina prima duello. • Ridentur mala qui componunt carmina: ve rum Gaudent fcribentes, et fe venerantur, et ultro, NOTES. VER. 167. Command old words, that long have flept, to wake] The imagery is here very fublime. It turns the Poet to a Magician evoking the dead from their fepulchres, "Or, I'm content, allow me Dryden's ftrains, 145 150 • În vain, bad Rhimers all mankind reject, They treat themselves with moft profound refpect; 'Tis to small purpose that you hold your tongue, 155 Each prais'd within, is happy all day long, But how feverely with themselves proceed The men, who write such Verse as we can read? 165 Nay tho' at Court (perhaps) it may find grace: NOTES. Et mugire folum, manefque exire fepulchris. Horace has not the fame force, Proferet in lucem speciesa vocabula rerum. |