Would he oblige me? let me only find,
He does not think me what he thinks mankind.
Come, come, at all I laugh he laughs, no doubt ;

35 The only diff'rence is, I dare laugh out.

F. Why yes: with Scripture still you may be free; A Horse-laugh, if you please, at Honesty ; A Joke on Jekyl, or some odd Old Whig Who never chang'd his Principle, or Wig: 40 A Patriot is a Fool in ev'ry age, Whom all Lord Chamberlains allow the Stage : These nothing hurts; they keep their Fashion ftill, And wear their strange old Virtue, as they will.

If any ask you, “ Who's the Man, so near 45 *« His Prince, that writes in Verse, and has his ear?” Why, answer, LYTTLETON, and I'R engage The worthy Youth Ihall ne'er be in a rage :

Notes. originally in the poem, though omitted in all the first editions. P.

VER. 37. Why ges : with Scripture fill you may be free ;] Thus the Man coinmonly called Mother Oforn, who was in the Minister's pay, and wrote Journals; for one Paper in behalf of Sir Robert, had frequently two against J. C.

Ver. 39. A Foke on Jekyl,] Sir Joseph Jekyl, Mafter of the Rolls, a true Whig in his principles, and a man of the utmost probity. He sometimes voted against the Court, which drew upon him the laugh here delcribed of One who bestowed it equally upon Religion and Honesty. He died a few months after the publication of this poem. P.

VER. 43. These nothing hurts ;], i. e, offends,
VER. 47. W by, answer, Lyttleton) George Lyttelton,

These you

But were his Verses vile, his Whisper base,
You'd quickly find him in Lord Fanny's cafe.

50
Sejanus, Wolfey, hurt not honeft FLEURY,
But well may put fome Statesman in a fury.
Laugh then at any, but at Fools or Foes;

but
anger,

and
you

mend not those. Laugh at your friends, and, if your Friends are fore, So much the better, you may laugh the more.

56 To Vice and Folly to confine the jest, Sets half the world, God knows, against the rest; Did not the Sneer of more impartial men At Sense and Virtut, balance all agen.

60 Judicious Wits spread wide the Ridicule, And charitably comfort Knave and Fool.

P. Dear Sir, forgive the Prejudice of Youth: Adieu Distinction, Satire, Warmth, and Truth !

Secretary to, the Prince of Wales, diftinguished both for his writings and speeches in the spirit of Liberty. P.

VER. 51. Sejanus, Wolfey] The one the wicked minifer of Tiberius ; the other, of Henry VIII. « The writers against the Coart usually bestowed these and other odious names on the Minister, without distinction, and in the moft injurious manner. See Dial. II. x 137: P.

Ibid. Fleury,] Cardinal: and Minister to Louis XV. It was a Patriot fashion, at that time, to cry up

his wisdom and honesty. P.

Come, harmless Characters that no one hit; 65
Come, Henley's Oratory, Osborn's Wit!
The Honey dropping from Favonio's tongue,
The Flow'rs of Bubo, and the Flow of Y-ng!
The gracious Due of Pulpit Eloquence,
And all the well-whipt Cream of Courtly Sense, 70
That First was H-vy's, F—'s next, and then
The S-te's, and then H-vy's once agen.
O come, that eafy Ciceronian style,
So Latin, yet so English all the while,
As, tho' the Pride of Middleton and Bland,

75
All Boys may read, and Girls may understand !
Then might I sing, without the least offence,
And all I sung should be the Nation's Sense;
Or teach the melancholy Muse to mourn,
Hang the fad Verse on CAROLINA's Urn, 80

NoTEs. Ver. 66. Henley - Ofoorn,] See them in their places in the Dunciad. P.

Ver. 69. The gracious Dew] Alludes to some court fermons, and florid panegyrical Ipeeches ; particularly one very full of puerilities and flatteries ; which afterwards got into an address in the same pretty tyle ; and was lastly lerved up in an Epitaph, between Latin and English, pub. lifhed by its author. P.

VER: 76. All Boys may read, and Girls may understand! ] i. e. full of school-book phrafos and Anglicisms.

Ver. 78. Nation's Sense ;] The cant of Politics at that time.

VBR. 80. Carolina] Queen consort to King George H.

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And hail her passage to the Realms of Rest,
All Parts perform’d, and all her Children bleft !
So Satire is no more I feel it die
No Gazetteer more innocent than I
And let, a God's-name, ev'ry Fool and Knaye

85 Be grac'd thro' Life, and Aatter'd in his Grave.

F. Why so ? if Satire knows its Time and Place,
You still may lalh the greatest— in Disgrace :
For Merit will by turns forsake them all ;
Would you know when ! exactly when they fall. 90
But let all Satire in all Changes spare
Immortal S-k, and grave De

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re.

Nores.

She died in 1737. Her death gave occasion, as is observed above, to many indiscreet and mean performances unworthy of her memory, whose last moments manifefted the utmost courage and resolution. P.

How highly our Poet thought of that truly great personage may be seen by one of his letters to Mr. Allen, written at that time ; in which, amongit others, equally refpectful, are the following words : “ The Queen shewed, « by the confession of all about her, the atmott firmness " and temper to her last moments, and through the course

of great torments. What character historians will al“ low her, I do not know ; but all her domestic servants, “ and those nearest her, give her the best teftimony, that 66 of fincere tears."

VER. 92. Immortal S-k, and grave De-re!) A title given that Lord by King James IŤ. He was of the Bed. chamber to King William ; he was so to King George I. ho was so to King George II. This Lord was very kilful

Silent and soft, as Saints remove to Heav'n,
All Tyes diffolvid, and ev'ry Sin forgiv'ng,
These may some gentle ministerial Wing

95
Receive, and place for ever near a King !
There, where no Paffion, Pride, or Shame transport,
Lull'd with the sweet Nepenthe of a Court;

Notes. in all the forms of the House, in which he discharged himself with great gravity. P.

VER. 97. There, where no Pasion, etc.] The excellent writer De l'Esprit des Loix gives the following character of the Spirit of Courts, and the Principle of Monarchies :

Qu'on lise ce que les Historiens de tous les tems ont dit “ sur la Cour des Monarques ; qu'on se rapelle les con « versations des hommes de tous les Païs sur le miserable “ caractère des COURTISANS; ce ne sont point des choses « de speculation, mais d'une triste expérience. L'ambi“ tion dans l'oisiveté, la baffesse dans l'orgueil, le desir de “ s'enrichir sans travail, l'aversion pour la vérité; la fa" terie, la trahison, la perfidie, l'abandon de tous les

engagemens, le mepris des devoirs du Citoyen, la crainte “ de la vertu du Prince, l'esperance de ses foiblesses, et

plus, que tout cela, LE RIDICULE PERPETUEL JETTĘ SUR LA VERTU, font, je crois, le Caractère de la plu

part des Courtisans marqué dans tous les lieux et dans “ tous les tems. Or il est très mal-aisé que les Principaux “ d’un Etat soient malhonnêtes-gens, et que les inferieurs • soient gens-de-bien, que ceux-là soyent trompeurs, &

que ceux-ci consentent à n'être que dupes. Que fi dans “ le Peuple il se trouve quelque malheureux honnête“ homme, le Cardinal de Richelieu dans son Teftament

politique insinue, qu'un Monarque doit se garder de s'en “ servir. Tant-il eit vrai que la Vertu n'et pas le reffort - de ce Gouvernment.'

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