In Palace-yard at nine you'll find me there
At ten for certain, Sir, in Bloomfb'ry fquare-
Before the Lords at twelve my Cause comes on-
There's a Rehearsal, Sir, exact at one.—
"Oh but a Wit can study in the streets,
"And raise his mind above the mob he meets."
Not quite fo well however as one ought;
A hackney coach may chance to spoil a thought;
And then a nodding beam, or pig of lead,
God knows, may hurt the very ableft head.
Have you not feen, at Guildhall's narrow pass,
Two Aldermen dispute it with an Afs?
And Peers give way, exalted as they are,
Ev'n to their own S-r-v--nce in a Car?
k Go, lofty Poet! and in fuch a croud,
Sing thy fonorous verfe-but not aloud.
Alas! to Grotto's and to Groves we run,
To ease and filence, ev'ry Mufe's fon :
Blackmore himself, for any grand effort,
Would drink and doze at Tooting or Earl's-Court. How shall I rhyme in this eternal roar?
How match the bards whom none e'er match'd be
'The Man, who stretch'd in Ifis' calm retreat, To books and study gives fev'n years compleat,
well as of the Bottle: and fleep was courted for inspiration, as well as to relieve a debauch.
Ibid. Tooting---Earl's-Court.] Two villages within a few miles of London.
Plerumque, et rifu populum quatit; hic ego rerum
Fluctibus in mediis, et tempeftatibus urbis,
Verba lyrae motura fonum connectere digner?
m Frater erat Romae confulti rhetor; ut alter
Alterius fermone meros audiret honores:
Gracchus ut hic illi, foret huic ut Mucius ille.
Qui minus argutos vexat furor ifte poetas ?
" Carmina compono, hic elegos; mirabile vifu,
Caelatumque novem Mufis opus. afpice primum,
Quanto cum faftu, quanto molimine circum-
'pectemus vacuam Romanis vatibus aedem.
Mox etiam (fi forte vacas) fequere, et procul audi,
Quid ferat, et quare fibi nectat uterque coronam.
Caedimur et totidem plagis confumimus hoftem,
Lento Samnites ad lumina prima duello.
Difcedo Alcaeus puncto illius; ille meo quis?
Quis, nifi Callimachus ? fi plus adpofcere vifus :
VER. 131. And shook his head at Murray, as a Wit.] It is the filly confolation of blockheads in all profeffions, that he, whom nature has formed to excell, does it not by his fuperior knowledge, but his wit: and fo they keep themselves in countenance as not fairly outdone, but only out-witted.
See! ftrow'd with learned duft, his night-cap cn,
He walks, an object new beneath the fun!
The boys flock round him, and the people stare:
So ftiff, fo mute! fome flatue you would swear,
Stept from its pedestal to take the air!
And here, while town, and court, and city roars,
With mobs, and duns, and foldiers, at their doors;
Shall I, in London, act this idle part?
Compofing fongs, for Fools to get by heart?
The Temple late two brother Sergeants faw,
Who deem'd each other Oracles of Law; With equal talents, these congenial fouls One lull'd th' Exchequer, and one stunn'd the Rolls; Each had a gravity would make you split, And shook his head at Murray, as a Wit. ""Twas, Sir, your law"--and "Sir, your eloquence." "Yours, Cowper's manner-and yours, Talbot's fenfe, " Thus we dispose of all poetic merit,
Yours Milton's genius, and mine Homer's fpirit.
Call Tibbald Shakespear, and he'll fyear the Nine,
Dear Cibber! never match'd one Qde of thine.
Lord! how we ftrut thro' Merlin's Cave, to fee
No Poets there, but Stephen, you and me.
Walk with respect behind, while we at ease
Weave laurel Crowns, and take what names we pleafe,
My dear Tibullus !" if that will not do,
"Let me be Horace, and be Ovid you :
Fit Mimnermus, et optivo cognomine crefcit.
Multa fero, ut placem genus irritabile vatum,
Cum fcribo, et fupplex populi fuffragia capto:
Idem, finitis ftudiis, et mente recepta,
Obturem patulas impune legentibus aures.
• Ridentur mala qui componunt carmina: verum
Gaudent fcribentes, et fe venerantur, et ultro,
Si taceas, laudant; quidquid fcripfere, beati.
At qui legitimum cupiet feciffe poema,
Cum tabulis animum cenforis fumet honefti :
Audebit quaecunque parum fplendoris habebunt,
Et fine pondere erunt, et honore indigna ferentur,
Verba movere loco; quamvis invita recedant,
Et verfentur adhuc intra penetralia Vestae :
• Obfcurata diu populo bonus eruet, atque
Proferet in lucem fpeciofa vocabula rerum,
Quae prifcis memorata Catonibus atque Cethegis,
Nunc fitus informis premit et deferta vetuftas ::
Adfcifet nova, quae genitor produxerit ufus:
VER. 159. not a word they spare,--That wants or force, or light, or weight, or care,] Force and light refpec figurative expreffion; and fignify, that it be such as awakes the imagination, and be taken from obvious fubjects; for without the first quality it will want force; without the other, light.
"Or, I'm content, allow me Dryden's ftrains, 145 "And you fhall rife up Otway for your pains.' Much do I fuffer, much, to keep in peace This jealous, wafpish, wrong-head, rhyming race; And much muft flatter, if the whim should bite To court applaufe by printing what I write : But let the fit pafs o'er, I'm wife enough, ftop my ears to their confounded stuff.
In vain, bad Rhymers all mankind reject,
They treat themselves with moft profound refpect; 'Tis to small purpose that you hold your tongue, 155 Each prais'd within, is happy all day long:
But how feverely with themselves proceed
The men, who write fuch Verse as we can read?
Their own ftrict Judges, not a word they spare,
That wants or force, or light, or weight, or care,
Howe'er unwillingly it quits its place,
161
Nay tho' at Court (perhaps) it may find grace :
Such they'll degrade; and fometimes, in its ftead,
P In downright charity revive the dead!
Mark where a bold expreffive phrase appears,
Bright thro' the rubbish of fome hundred years;
Command old words that long have flept, to wake,
Words, that wife Bacon, or brave Rawleigh fpake;
Weight and care respect literal expression, the first marking out the character of the verb: the other of the noun; and fignify, that in every propofition, the attribute should be important, and the subject precife.
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