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Thou gav'st that ripeness, which so soon began,
And ceas'd so soon, he ne'er was boy nor man.
Through school and college, thy kind cloud o'er-cast,
Safe and unseen the young Æneas past:
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Thence bursting glorious, all at once let down,
Stunn'd with his giddy larum half the town.
Intrepid then, o'er seas and lands he flew:
Europe he saw, and Europe saw him too.
There all thy gifts and graces we display,
Thou, only thou, directing all our way:
To where the Seine, obsequious as she runs,
Pours at great Bourbon's feet her silken sons;
Or Tyber, now no longer Roman, rolls,
Vain of Italian arts, Italian souls;

To happy convents, bosom'd deep in vines,
Where slumber abbots, purple as their wines:

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Ver. 286. the blessing of a rake.] Scriblerus is here much at a loss to find out what this blessing should be. He is sometimes tempted to imagine it might be the marrying a great fortune: but this again, for the vulgarity of it, he rejects, as something uncommon seemed to be prayed for: and after many strange conceits, not at all to the honour of the fair sex, he at length rests in this, that it was, that her son might pass for a wit; in which opinion he fortifies himself by ver. 316, where the orator, speaking of his pupil, says, that he

Intrigu'd with glory, and with spirit whor'd,

which seems to insinuate that her prayer was heard. Here the good scholiast, as, indeed, every where else, lays open the very soul of modern criticism, while he makes his own ignorance of a poetical expression hold open the door to much erudition and learned conjecture: the blessing of a rake signifying no more than that he might be a rake; the effects of a thing for the thing itself, a common figure. The

To isles of fragrance, lily-silver'd vales,
Diffusing languor in the panting gales:
To lands of singing, or of dancing slaves,
Love-whisp'ring woods, and lute-resounding waves,
But chief her shrine where naked Venus keeps,
And Cupids ride the lion of the deeps;

Where, eas'd of fleets, the Adriatic main

Wafts the smooth eunuch and enamour'd swain.
Led by my hand, he saunter'd Europe round, 311
And gather'd ev'ry vice on Christian ground;
Saw ev'ry court, heard ev'ry king declare
His royal sense, of op'ras or the fair;
The stews and palace equally explor'd,
Intrigu'd with glory, and with spirit whor'd ;
Try'd all hors d'œuvres, all liqueurs defin'd,
Judicious drank, and greatly-daring din'd ;
Dropt the dull lumber of the Latin store,
Spoil'd his own language, and acquir'd no more;
All classic learning lost on classic ground;
And last turn'd air, the echo of a sound;

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careful mother only wished her son might be a rake, as well knowing that its attendant blessings would follow of course.

Ver. 307. But chief, &c.] These two lines, in their force of imagery and colouring, emulate and equal the pencil of Rubens.

Ver. 308. And Cupids ride the lion of the deeps ;] The winged lion, the arms of Venice. This republic heretofore the most considerable in Europe, for her naval force and the extent of her commerce; now illustrious for her carnivals.

Ver. 318. greatly-daring din'd ;] It being, indeed, no small risque to eat through those extraordinary compositions, whose disguised ingredients are ge nerally unknown to the guests, and highly inflam matory and unwholesome,

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See now, half cur'd, and perfectly well-bred,
With nothing but a solo in his head;

As much estate, and principle, and wit,

As Jansen, Fleetwood, Cibber shall think fit;
Stol'n from a duel, follow'd by a nun,

And if a borough choose him, not undone;

See, to my country happy I restore

This glorious youth, and add one Venus more. 330 Her too receive (for her my soul adores),

So may the sons of sons of sons of whores

Prop thine, O empress! like each neighbour throne,
And make a long posterity thy own.

Pleas'd, she accepts the hero and the dame,
Wraps in her veil, and frees from sense or shame.
Then look'd, and saw a lazy, lolling sort,
Unseen at church, at senate, or at court,

Of ever-listless loit'rers, that attend

No cause, no trust, no duty, and no friend,

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Ver. 324. With nothing but a solo in his head ;] With nothing but a solo? Why, if it be a solo, how should there be any thing else? Palpable tautology! Read boldly an opera, which is enough of conscience for such a head as has lost all its Latin.

BENTL.

Ver. 326. Jansen, Fleetwood, Cibber] Three very eminent persons, all managers of plays: who, though not governors by profession, had, each in his way, concerned themselves in the education of youth; and regulated their wits, their morals, or their finances, at that period of their age which is the most important, their entrance into the polite world. Of the last of these, and his talents for this end, see Book i. ver. 199, &c.

Ver. 331. Her too receive, &c.] This confirms what the learned Scriblerus advanced in his note on ver. 272, that the governor, as well as the pupil, had a particular interest in this lady.

Thee too, my Paridel! she mark'd thee there,
Stretch'd on the rack of a too easy chair,
And heard thy everlasting yawn confess
The pains and penalties of idleness.
She pity'd! but her pity only shed
Benigner influence on thy nodding head.
But Annius, crafty seer, with ebon wand,
And well-dissembled em'rald on his hand,*
False as his gems, and canker'd as his coins,
Came, cramm'd with capon, from where Pollio dines,
Soft as the wily fox is seen to creep,

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Where bask on suuny banks the simple sheep, Walk round and round, now prying here, now there, So he; but pious, whisper'd first his prayer:

'Grant, gracious goddess! grant me still to cheat, O may thy cloud still cover the deceit ! Thy choicer mists on this assembly shed, But pour them thickest on the noble head. So shall each youth, assisted by our eyes, See other Cæsars, other Homers rise; Through twilight ages hunt th' Athenian fowl, Which Chalcis gods, and mortals call an owl, Now see an Attys, now a Cecrops clear, Nay, Mahomet! the pigeon at thine ear:

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Ver. 341. Thee too, my Paridel !] The poet seems to speak of this young gentleman with great af fection. The name is taken from Spenser, who gives it to a wandering courtly 'squire, that travelled about for the same reason for which many young "squires are now fond of travelling, and especially to Paris.

Ver. 347. Annius,] The name taken from Annius, the monk of Viterbo, famous for many impositions and forgeries of ancient manuscripts and inscriptions, which he was prompted to by mere vanity, but our Annius had a more substantial motive.

Be rich in ancient brass, though not in gold,
And keep his Lares, though his house be sold;
To headless Phoebe his fair bride postpone,`
Honour a Syrian prince above his own;
Lord of an Otho, if I vouch it true;
Blest in one Niger, till he knows of two.'

370

Mummius o'erheard him; Mummius, fool-renown'd, Who like his Cheops stinks above the ground,

REMARKS.

Ver. 363. Attys and Cecrops] The first king of Athens, of whom it is hard to suppose any coins are extant; but not so improbable as what follows, that there should be any of Mahomet, who forbad all images; and the story of whose pigeon was a monkish fable. Nevertheless one of these Anniuses made a counterfeit medal of that impostor, now in the collection of a learned nobleman.

Ver. 371. Mummius] This name is not merely an allusion to the Mummius he was so fond of, but probably referred to the Roman general of that name, who burned Corinth, and committed the curious statues to the captain of a ship, assuring him, that if any were lost or broken, he should procure others to be made in their stead;' by which it should seem (whatever may be pretended) that Mummius was no virtuoso.

Ibid.--Fool-renown'd,] A compound epithet in the Greek manner, renowned by fools, or renowned for making fools.

Ver. 372. Cheops] A king of Egypt whose body was certainly to be known, as being buried alone in his pyramid, and is therefore more genuine than any of the Cleopatras. This royal mummy, being stolen by a wild Arab, was purchased by the consul of Alexandria, and transmitted to the museum of Mummius; for proof of which he brings a passage in Sandy's Travels, where that accurate and learned voyager assures us that he saw the sepulchre emp

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