P. - What ? arm'd for Virtue when I point the pen, Brand the bold front of shameless guilty men ; 106 Dash the proud Gamester in his gilded Car; Bare the mean Heart that lurks beneath a Star; Can there be wanting, to defend her cause, Lights of the Church, or Guardians of the Laws! 110 Could pension'd Boileau lash in honest strain Flatt'rers and Bigots ev’n in Louis' reign? Could Laureate Dryden Pimp and Fry's engage, Yet neither Charles nor James be in à rage ? And I not ' ftrip the gilding off a Knave, 115 Unplac'd, unpension’d, no man's heir, or flave ? I will, or perish in the gen’rous cause: Hear this, and tremble ! you, who 'scape the Laws. Yes, while I live, no rich or noble knave Shall walk the World, in credit, to his grave. 120 8 To VIRTUE ONLY and HER FRIENDS A FRIEND, The World befide may murmur, or commend. Know, all the distant din that world can keep, Rolls o'er my Grotto, and but fooths my sleep. NOTES. and Laelius ; it'was Mr. Pope's, to satirize the present, and therefore he gives the vicious examples of Louis, Charles, and James. Either way the inttances are equally pertinent; but in the latter they have rather greater force. Only the line, Uni aequus virtuti atque ejus amicis, loses something of its spirit in the imitation ; for the amici, referred to, were Scipio and Laelius. b Quin ubi se a vulgo et scena in secreta remorant Quidquid fum ego, quamvis Infra Lucili censum, ingeniumque; tamen me k nisi quid tu, doett Trebati, Diffentis. T. 'Equidem nihil hinc diffingere poffum. Sed tamen ut monitus caveas, ne forte negoti Incutiat tibi quid fanctarum inscitia legum: m « Si mala condiderit in quem quis carmina, jus eft Notes. Ver. 129. And He, whose lightning, etc.) Charles Mordaunt Earl of Peterborow, who in the year 1705 took Barcelona, and in the winter following with only 208 II. h There, my retreat the best Companions grace, 125 i Envy must own, I live among the Great, 140 F. ' Your Plea is good; but still I say, beware! 145 Notes, "horse and goo foot enterprized and accomplished the Con P. queft of Valentia. " Judiciumque.” H. Efto, fiquis * mala. sed bona fi quis Judice condiderit laudatus CAESARE ? fi quis Opprobriis dignum laceraverit, integer ipse? T. • Solventur risu tabulae : tu missus abibis, NOTES VER. 150. Libels and Satires ! lawlefs things indeed! But grave Epifles, &c.] The legal objection is here more juftly and decently taken off than in the Original. Ho. race evades the force of it with a quibble, Efo, fiquis mala ; fed bona f quis. But the Imitator's grave Epifles fhew the fatire to be a serious reproof, and therefore juftifiable; which the intes ger ipse of the Original does not: for however this might plead in mitigation of the offence, nothing but their being grave Epifles could juftify the attack. Ver. 152. F. Indeed?] Hor, Solventur risu tabulae. See Libels, Satires-here you have it-read. P. " Libels and Satires ! lawless things indeed! 150 But grave Epiftles, bringing Vice to light, Such as a King might read, a Bishop write, Such as Sir ROBERT would approve F. Indeed ? The Case is alter'dm-you may then proceed ; 155 • In such a cause the Plaintiff will be hiss'd, My Lords the Judges laugh, and you're dismiss’d. Notes. Some Critics tell us, it is want of taste to put this line in the mouth of Trebatius. But our Poet confutes this censure, by Thewing how well the sense of it agrees to his Friend's character. The Lawyer is cautious and fearful ; but as soon as Sir Robert, the Patron both of Law and Gospel, is mentioned as approving them, he changes his note, and, in the language of old Plouden, owns, the Cafe is altered. Now was it not as natural, when Horace had given a hint that Auguftus himself supported him, for Trebatius, a Court Advocate, who had been long a Client to him and his Uncle, to confess the Cafe was altered? |