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Then from the Mint walks forth the Man of rhyme, Happy! to catch me, juft at Dinner-time.

Is there a Parfon, much be-mus'd in beer,
A maudlin Poetefs, a rhyming Peer,

A Clerk, foredoom'd his father's foul to cross,
Who pens a Stanza when he should engross?
Is there, who, lock'd from ink and paper, fcrawls
With defp'rate charcoal round his darken'd walls?
All fly to TwIT'NAM, and in humble ftrain
Apply to me, to keep them mad or vain.
Arthur, whofe giddy fon neglects the Laws,
Imputes to me and my damn'd works the caufe:
Poor Cornus fees his frantic wife elope,
And curfes Wit, and Poetry, and Pope.

15

20

25.

Friend to my Life! (which did not you prolong, The world had wanted many an idle fong)

VARIATIONS.

After zo. in the MS.

Is there a bard in durance ? turn them free,
With all their brandish'd reams they run to me:
Is there a Prentice, having feen two plays,
Who would do fomething in his Semptrefs' praife-

NOTES.

VER. 13. Mint] A place to which infolvent debtors retired, to enjoy an illegal protection they were there fuffered to afford one another, from the perfecution of their creditors.

VER. 23. Arthur,] Arthur Moore, Efq;

What Drop or Noftrum can this plague remove?
Or which must end me, a Fool's wrath or love? 30
A dire dilemma! either way I'm fped,

If foes, they write, if friends, they read me dead.
Seiz'd and ty'd down to judge, how wretched I!
Who can't be filent, and who will not lye:

To laugh, were want of goodness and of grace, 35 And to be grave, exceeds all Pow'r of face.

I fit with fad civility, I read

With honest anguish, and an aching head;
And drop at last, but in unwilling ears,

39

This faving counsel, "Keep your piece nine years.' Nine years! cries he, who high in Drury-lane, Lull'd by foft Zephyrs thro' the broken pane, Rhymes ere he wakes, and prints before Term ends, Oblig'd by hunger, and requeft of friends:

VARIATIONS.

VER. 29. in the 1st Ed.

Dear Doctor, tell me, is not this a curfe? Say, is their anger, or their friendship worse?

NOTES.

VER. 33. Seiz'd and ty'd down to judge,] Alluding to the fcene in the Plain-Dealer, where Oldfox gags, and ties down the Widow, to hear his well-pen'd fianzas.

VER. 38 boneft anguish,] i. e. undiffembled.

Ibid. an aching head;] Alluding to the disorder he was then fo conftantly afflicted with.

VER. 43. Rhymes ere be wakes,] A pleafant allufion to those words of Milton,

Dictates to me flumb'ring, or inspires
Eafy my unpremeditated Verfe.

50

"The piece, you think, is incorrect? why take it, 45 "I'm all fubmiffion, what you'd have it, make it." Three things another's modeft wishes bound, My Friendship, and a Prologue, and ten pound. Pitholeon fends to me: "You know his Grace, I want a Patron; ask him for a Place.” Pitholeon libell'd me- " but here's a letter "Informs you, Sir, 'twas when he knew no better. "Dare you refuse him? Curl invites to dine, "He'll write a Journal, or he'll turn Divine." Blefs me! a packet." "Tis a ftranger fues, "A Virgin Tragedy, an Orphan Muse." If I diflike it, "Furies, death and rage!" If I approve, There (thank my stars) my whole commiffion ends, The Play'rs and I are, luckily, no friends.

"Commend it to the Stage."

VARIATIONS.

VER. 53. in the MS.

If you refufe, he goes, as fates incline, To plague Sir Robert, or to turn Divine. VER. 60. in the former Edd.

Cibber and I are luckily no friends.

NOTES.

55

60

VER. 49. Pitholeon] The name taken from a foolish Poet of Rhodes, who pretended much to Greek. Schol. in Horat. 1. i. Dr. Bentley pretends, that this Pitholeon libelled Cæfar alfo. See notes on Hor. Sat. 10. 1. i.

P.

Fir'd that the house reject him, "'Sdeath I'll print it, "And fhame the fools-Your int'reft, Sir, with

Lintot."

Lintot, dull rogue! will think your price too much :
"Not, Sir, if you revise it, and retouch."
All my demurs but double his attacks;

At laft he whispers, "Do; and we go fnacks."
Glad of a quarrel, ftrait I clap the door,

Sir, let me fee your works and you no more.
"Tis fung, when Midas' Ears began to spring,
(Midas, a facred person and a King)

His very Minister who spy'd them first,

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70

(Some fay his Queen) was forc'd to speak, or burft. And is not mine, my friend, a forer cafe,

When ev'ry coxcomb perks them in my face?
Á. Good friend forbear! you deal in dang'rous things.
I'd never name Queens, Minifters, or Kings;

Keep close to Ears, and those let afses prick,

76

'Tis nothing-P. Nothing? if they bite and kick? Out with it, DUNCIAD! let the secret pass, That fecret to each fool, that he's an Ass:

NOTES.

80

VER. 72. Queen] The ftory is told, by fome, of his Barber, but by Chaucer of his Queen. See Wife of Bath's Tale in Dryden's Fables.

VER. 80. That fecret to each fool, that he's an Afs:] i. e. that his ears (his marks of folly) are visible.

The truth once told (and wherefore fhould we lie ?) The Queen of Midas flept, and fo may I.

You think this cruel? take it for a rule, No creature fmarts fo little as a fool.

90

Let peals of laughter, Codrus! round thee break, 85
Thou unconcern'd canst hear the mighty crack:
Pit, box, and gall'ry in convulfions hurl'd,
Thou ftand'ft unshook amidst a bursting world.
Who fhames a Scribler? break one cobweb thro',
He fpins the flight, felf-pleafing thread anew:
Deftroy his fib or fophiftry, in vain,
The creature's at his dirty work again,
Thron'd in the centre of his thin designs,
Proud of a vaft extent of flimzy lines!
Whom have I hurt? has Poet yet, or Peer,
Loft the arch'd eye-brow, or Parnaffian fneer?
And has not Colly ftill his lord, and whore?
His butchers Henley, his free-masons Moor?
Does not one table Bavius ftill admit?
Still to one Bishop Philips feem a wit?

NOTES.

VER. 88. Alluding to Horace,

Si fractus illabatur orbis,

Impavidum ferient ruine.

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100

P.

VER. 96. arch'd eye-brow,] The eye-brow is raised in

the expreffion of infolent contempt.

VER. 98. free-mafons Moor ?] He was of this fociety, and frequently headed their proceffions.

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