Have you not seen, at Guild-hall's narrow pass,
Two Aldermen dispute it with an Ass?

105 And Peers give way, exalted as they are, Ev’n to their own S-r-v--nce in a Car?

k Go, lofty Poet! and in such a croud, Sing thy sonorous verse--but not aloud, Alas! to Grotto's and to Groves we run, IIO To ease and filence, ev'ry Muse's fon : Blackmore himself, for any grand effort, Would drink and doze at Tooting or Earl's-Court. How Ihall I rhime in this eternal roar? How match the bards whom none.c'er match'd before? | The Man, who, ftretch'd in Ifys' calm retreat, 116 To books and study gives sey'n years compleat, See! strow'd with learned dust, his night-cap on, He walks, an object new beneath the fun! The boys flock round him, and the people ftare: So ftiff, fo mute! fome ftatue you would swear, Stept from its pedestal to take the air ! And here, while town, and court, and city roars, With mobs, and duns, and soldiers, 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 Jeep was courted for inspiraa tion, 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 soldiers at their

Verba lyrae motura fonum connecterc digner ?

im Frater erat Romae consulti rhetor ; ut alter

Alterius fermone meros audiret honores :

Gracchus ut hic illi foret, huic ut Mucius ille.

Quî minus argutos vexat furor iste poetas ?

* Carmina compono, hic clegos; mirabile visu,

Caelatumque novem Mufis opus. aspice primum,

Quanto cum faftu, quanto molimine circum

spectemus vacuam Romanis vatibus aedem.

Mox etiam (fi forte vacas) fequere, et procul audi,

Quid ferat; et quare fibi nectat uterque coronam.

Cacdimur, et totidem plagis confumimus hoftem,

NOTES. doors ;] The licence, luxury, and mutiny of an opulent city are not ill described.

VER. 132. And fook bis bead at Murray, as a Wit.] It is the filly confolation of blockheads in all professions

, that he, whom Nature has formed to excell, does it not by his superior knowledge, but his wit; and so they keep themselves in countenance as not fairly outdone, but only out-witted.

Shall I, in London, act this idle part?

125 Composing songs, for Fools to get by heart?

m The Temple late two brother Serjeants saw,
Who deem'd each other Oracles of Law;
With equal talents, these congenial souls
One lull'd th’ Exchequer, and one stunnid the Rolls ;
Each had a gravity would make you split, 131
And shook his head at Murray, as a Wit.
“ 'Twas, Sir, your law"--and “ Sir, your eloquence”
“ Yours, Cowper's manner-and yours, Talbot's

" sense.
Thus we dispose of all poetic merit,

135
Yours Milton's genius, and mine Homer's fpirit.
Call Tibbald Shakespear, and he'll swear the Ninc,
Dear Cibber! never match'd one Ode of thine.
Lord ! how we strut thro' Merlin's Cave, to see
No Poets there, but Stephen, you, and me.

140
Walk with respect behind, while we at ease
Weave laurel Crowns, and take what names we please.

My dear Tibullus !” if that will not do,
“ Let me be Horace, and be Ovid you:

Notes.
VBR. 139. Merlin's Cave,) In the Royal Gardens at
Richmond. By this it should seem as if the collection of
.poetry, in that place, was not to our Author's taste.

VER. 140. But Siephen) Mr. Stepben 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.
Discedo Alcaeus puncto illius ; ille meo quis ?
Quis, nisi Callimachus ? fi plus adpofcere visus;
Fit Mimnermus, et optivo cognomine crescit.
Multa fero, ut placem genus irritabile vatum,
Cum fcribo, et supplex populi fuffragia capto:
Idem, finitis ftudiis, et mente recepta,
Obturem patulas impune legentibus aures.

• Ridentur mala qúi componunt carmina': ve

rum

Gaudent scribentes, et se venerantur; et ultro,
Si taceas, laudant; quidquid scripfere, beati.
At qui legitimum cupiet feciffe poema,
Cum tabulis animum cenforis fumet honefti:
Audebit quaecunque parem fplendoris habebunt,
Et fine pondere erunt, et honore indigna ferentur,
Verba movere loco; quamvis invita recedant,
Et versentur adhuc intra penetralia Vestae:
p Obscurata diu populo bonus eruet, atque
Proferet in lucem fpeciofa vocabula rerum,
Quae priscis memorata Catonibus atque Cethegis,
Nunc fitus informis premit et deserta vetuftas :

Notes.

Ver. 167. Command old words, that long have fept, 10 wake] The imagery is here very sublime. It turns the Poet to a Magician evoking the dead from their sepulchres,

" Or, I'm content, allow me Dryden's ftrains, 145
“ And you shall rise up Otway for your pains."
Much do I suffer, much, to keep in peace
This jealous, waspilh, wrong-head, rhiming race;
And much muft flatter, if the whim should bite
To court applause by printing what I write: 150
But let the Fit pass o'er, I'm wise enough,
To stop my ears to their confounded stuff.

In vain, bad Rhimers all mankind reject,
They treat themselves with most profound respect;
'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 ?
Their own strict Judges, not a word they spare
That wants or force, or light, or weight, or care, 160
Howe'er unwillingly it quits its place,
Nay tho’ at Court (perhaps) it may find grace :
Such they'll degrade; and sometimes, in its stead,
P In downright charity revive the dead;
Mark where a bold expressive phrase appears, 165
Bright thro' the rubbish of some hundred years;
Command old words that long have flept, to wake,
Words, that wise Bacon, or brave Rawleigh (pake;

Nores.
Et mugire folum, mantfque exire fepulchris.
Horace has not the same force,

Proferet in lucem Speciofa vocabula rerum.