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That not in Fancy's maze he wander'd long,
But ftoop'd to Truth, and moraliz'd his fong:
That not for Fame, but Virtue's better end,
He stood the furious foe, the timid friend,
The damning critic, half approving wit,
The coxcomb hit, or fearing to be hit;
Laugh'd at the lofs of friends he never had,

The dull, the proud, the wicked, and the mad;
The diftant threats of vengeance on his head,

The blow unfelt, the tear he never shed;
The tale reviv'd, the lye fo oft o'erthrown,
Th' imputed trash, and dulness not his own;

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NOTES.

340

345

350

preaux. I never saw so amiable an imagination, fo gentle graces, fo great variety, fo much wit, and so "refined knowledge of the world, as in this little perform"ance." MS. Let. Oct. 15, 1726.

VER. R. 341. But foop'd to Truth] The term is from falconry; and the allufion to one of those untamed birds of fpirit, which fometimes wantons at large in airy circles before it regards, or floops to, its prey.

VER. 350. the lye fo oft oe'rthrown] As, that he received fubfcriptions for Shakespear, that he fet his name to Mr. Broome's verfes, &c. which, tho' publicly dif proved were nevertheless shamelessly repeated in the Libels, and even in that called the Nobleman's Epifile. P.

VER. 351. Th' imputed trash] Such as profane Pfalms, Court-Poems, and other fcandalous things, printed in his Name by Curl and others.

P.

The morals blacken'd when the writings scape,
The libel'd perfon, and the pictur'd shape;
Abuse, on all he lov'd, or lov'd him, spread,
A friend in exile, or a father, dead;

355

The whisper, that to greatness still too near,
Perhaps, yet vibrates on his Sov'REIGN's ear-
Welcome for thee, fair Virtue! all the paft:
For thee, fair Virtue! welcome ev'n the last!
A. But why infult the poor, affront the great? 360
P. A knave's a knave, to me, in ev'ry ftate:

Alike my scorn, if he fucceed or fail,
Sporus at court, or Japhet in a jail,

A hireling fcribler, or a hireling peer,
Knight of the poft corrupt, or of the fhire;
If on a Pillory, or near a Throne,

He gain his Prince's ear, or lose his own.

NOTES.

365

VER. 354. Abuse, on all he lov'd, or lov'd him, Spread.] Namely on the Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Burlington, Lord Bathurft, Lord Bolingbroke, Bishop Atterbury, Dr. Swift, Dr. Arbuthnot, Mr. Gay, his Friends, his Parents, and his very Nurfe, afperfed in printed papers, by James Moore, G. Ducket, L. Welfted, Tho. Bentley, and other obfcure perfons.

P.

VER. 359. For thee, fair Virtue! welcome ev'n the laft!] This line is remarkable for presenting us with the most amiable image of fteady Virtue, mixed with a modest concern for his being forced to undergo the severest proofs of his love for it, which was the being thought hardly of by his SOVEREIGN.

Yet foft by nature, more a dupe than wit,

Sappho can tell you how this man was bit:
This dreaded Satʼrift Dennis will confefs

Foe to his pride, but friend to his distress:

So humble, he has knock'd at Tibbald's door,

Has drunk with Cibber, nay has rhym'd for Moor.
Full ten years flander'd, did he once reply?
Three thousand funs went down on Welfted's lye.

VARIATIONS.

VER. 368. in the MS.

Once, and but once, his heedless youth was bit,
And lik'd that dang'rous thing, a female wit:
Safe as he thought, tho' all the prudent chid;

He writ no Libels, but my Lady did :

Great odds in am'rous or poetic game,

Where Woman's is the fin, and Man's the fhame.

NOTES.

370

VER. 374. ten years] It was fo long after many libels before the Author of the Dunciad published that poem, till when, he never writ a word in anfwer to the many fcurrilities and falfehoods concerning him.

P.

VER. 375. Welfted's Lye.] This man had the impudence to tell in print, that Mr. P. had occafioned a Lady's death, and to name a perfon he never heard of. He also publifh'd that he libell'd the Duke of Chandos; with whom (it was added) that he had lived in familiarity, and received from him a prefent of five hundred pounds: the falfehood of both which is known to his Grace. Mr. P. never received any prefent, farther than the fubfcription for Homer, from him, or from Any great Man whatsoever. P.

To please a Mistress one afpers'd his life;
He lash'd him not, but let her be his wife:
Let Budgel charge low Grubstreet on his quill,
And write whate'er he pleas'd, except his Will;
Let the two Curls of Town and Court, abuse
His father, mother, body, foul, and muse.

NOTES.

376

380

VER. 378. Let Budgel] Budgel, in a weekly pamphlet called the Bee, beftowed much abuse on him, in the imagination that he writ fome things about the Laft Will of Dr. Tindal, in the Grubftreet Journal; a Paper wherein he never had the leaft hand, direction, or supervisal, nor the least knowledge of its Author.

P.

VER. 379 except his Will] Alluding to Tindal's Will: by which, and other indirect practices, Budgell, to the exclufion of the next heir, a nephew, got to himfelf almost the whole fortune of a man entirely unrelated to him.

VER. 381. His father, mother, &c.] In fome of Curl's and other pamphlets, Mr. Pope's father was faid to be a Mechanic, a Hatter, a Farmer, nay a Bankrupt. But, what is ftranger, a Nobleman (if fuch a Reflection could be thought to come from a Nobleman) had dropt an allufion to that pitiful untruth, in a paper called an Epiftle to a Doctor of Divinity: And the following line,

Hard as thy Heart, and as thy Birth obfcure,

had fallen from a like Courtly pen, in certain Verfes to the Imitation of Horace. Mr. Pope's Father was of a Gentleman's Family in Oxfordshire, the head of which was the Earl of Downe, whofe fole Heiress married the Earl of Lindsey-His mother was the daughter of William Turnor, Efq. of York: She had three brothers, one of whom was killed, another died in the fervice of King Charles; the eldeft following his fortunes, and becoming

Yet why? that Father held it for a rule,

It was a fin to call our neighbour fool:

That harmless Mother thought no wife a whore:
Hear this, and spare his family, James Moore!
Unfpotted names, and memorable long!

If there be force in Virtue, or in Song.

386

Of gentle blood (part shed in Honour's cause, While yet in Britain Honour had applause) Each parent fprung-A. What fortune, pray?-P. Their own,

And better got, than Beftia's from the throne.

Born to no Pride, inheriting no Strife,

Nor marrying Discord in a noble wife,

Stranger to civil and religious rage,

390

The good man walk'd innoxious thro' his age. 395

NOTES.

a general officer in Spain, left her what eftate remained after the fequeftrations and forfeitures of her familyMr. Pope died in 1717, aged 75; She in 1733, aged 93, a very few weeks after this poem was finished. The following infcription was placed by their fon on their Monument in the parish of Twickenham, in Middle fex,

D. O. M.

ALEXANDRO. POPE. VIRO. INNOCVO. PROBO. PIO.
QUI. VIXIT. ANNOS. LXXV. OB. MDCCXVII.

ET. EDITHAE. CONIVGI. INCVLPABILI.
PIENTISSIMAE. QVAE. VIXIT. ANNOS.
XCIII. OB. MDCCXXXIII.

PARENTIBVS. BENEMERENTIBVS. FILIVS. FECIT.

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