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Mutavit mentem populus levis, het calet uno

Scribendi ftudio: puerique patrefque severi

Fronde comas vincti coenant, et carmina dictant.

Ipfe ego, qui nullos me affirmo fcribere verfus,

Invenior Parthis mendacior; et prius orto

Sole vigil, calamum et chartas et fcrinia pofco.

* Navem agere ignarus navis timet: abrotonum aegro

Non audet, nifi qui didicit, dare: quod medicorum est,

Promittunt medici: tractant fabrilia fabri:

Scribimus indocti doctique poemata passim.

" Hic error tamen et levis haec infania, quantas

NOTES.

VER. 180. to bew our Wit.] The force of this confifts in the ambiguity.-To fhew how conftant we are to our refolutions-or, to fhew what fine verfes we can make.

VER. 181. He ferv'd etc.] To the fimple elegance of the original, the Poet has here added great spirit and vi

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170

Now times are chang'd, and one 1 Poetic Itch
Has feiz'd the Court and City, poor and rich:
Sons, Sires, and Grandfires, all will wear the bays,
Our Wives read Milton, and our Daughters Plays,
To Theatres, and to Rehearsals throng,
And all our Grace at table is a Song.
1, who fo oft renounce the Mufes, lye,
Not's felf e'er tells more Fibs than I;
When fick of Mufe, our follies we deplore,
And promise our best Friends to rhyme no more;
We wake next morning in a raging fit,

And call for pen and ink to fhow our Wit.

175

180

* He ferv'd a 'Prenticeship, who fets up fhop; Ward try'd on Puppies, and the Poor, his Drop; Ev'n' Radcliff's Doctors travel first to France, Nor dare to practise till they've learn'd to dance. Who builds a Bridge that never drove a pile? 185 (Should Ripley venture, all the world would smile) But those who cannot write, and those who can, All rhyme, and scrawl, and scribble, to a man. Yet, Sir, reflect, the mifchief is not great;

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These Madmen never hurt the Church or State: 190

NOTES.

vacity, without departing from the fidelity of a translation.

VER. 182. Ward] A famous Empiric, whofe Pill and Drop had feveral furprizing effects, and were one of the principal fubjects of writing and converfation at this

time.

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Non temere eft animus: ? verfus amat, hoc ftudet

unum ;

Detrimenta, fugas fervorum, incendią ridet ;

Non fraudem focio, puerove incogitat ullam

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Pupillo; vivit filiquis, et pane fecundo ;

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• Militiae quanquam piger et malus, utilis urbi;

Si das hoc, parvis quoque rebus magna juvari.

Os tenerum pueri balbumque poeta figurat ;

NOTES.

VER. 201. Of little ufe, etc.] There is a poignancy in the following verles, which the original did not aim at, affect.

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VER. 204. And (tho' no Soldier)] Horace had not acquitted himself much to his credit in this capacity (non bene reli&a parmula) in the battle of Philippi. It is manifeft he alludes to himself, in this whole account of a Peet's character; but with an intermixture of irony; Vi

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Allow him but his plaything of a Pen,

He ne'er rebels, or plots, like other men:

9 Flight of Cafhiers, or Mobs, he'll never mind; 195 And knows no loffes while the Muse is kind.

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200

To cheat a Friend, or Ward, he leaves to Peter;
The good man heaps up nothing but mere metre,
Enjoys his Garden and his book in quiet;
And then-a perfect Hermit in his diet.
Of little use the Man you may fuppofe,
Who fays in verse what others fay in prose;
Yet let me show, a Poet's of fome weight,
And ( tho' no Soldier) ufeful to the State.
▾ What will a Child learn fooner than a fong?
What better teach a Foreigner the tongue ?
What's long or fhort, each accent where to place,
And speak in public with fome fort of grace.
I scarce can think him fuch a worthless thing,
Unless he praise fome Monster of a King;
NOTES.

205

210

vit filiquis et pane fecundo has a relation to his Epicurifm; Os tenerum pueri, is ridicule: The nobler office of a Poet follows, Torquet ab obfcoenis - Mox etiam pectus - Recte facta refert, etc. which the Imitator has apply'd where he thinks it more due than to himself. He hopes to be pardoned, if, as he is fincerely inclined to praise what deferves to be praised, he arraigns what deferves to be arraigned, in the 210, 211, and 212th Verfes. P.

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VER. 226. the Idiot and the Poor.] A foundation for the maintenance of Idiots, and a fund for affitting the Poor, by lending fmall fums of money on demand.

P.

VER. 229. Not but there are, etc.] Nothing can be more truly humourous or witty than all that follows to Yet the noble fobriety of the original, or, at leaft, the appearance of fobriety, which is the fame thing here, is of a tafte vaftly fuperior to it.

240.

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