Offence; (once in Efteem enough to have the following Character :)

To queftion your Empire has dar'd;
But Men of Discerning,

Have thought that in Learning,
To yield to a Lady was hard.

II.

Impertinent Schools,

With mufty dull Rules,

Have Reading to Females deny'd,
So Papifts refuse

The BIBLE to use,

Left Flocks fhould be wife as their Guide.

III.

'Twas a WOMAN at first,
(Indeed the was curst)

In Knowledge that tafted Delight;

And Sages agree,

That Laws fhou'd decree,

To the firft Poffeffor the Right.

IV.

Then bravely, fair Dame,

Refume the old Claim,

Which to your whole Sex does belong;
And let.MEN receive,

From a Second bright EVE,

The Knowledge of Right and of Wrong.

VOL. II.

O

V.

V...

But if the First EVE
Hard Doom did receive,

When only One Apple had fhe,
What a Punishment new,

Shall be found out for you,

Who, tafting, have robb'd the whole Tree.

But (fuch is the Uncertainty of all Things) now from one Step of Diflike and Difguft to another, there was a total Misunderstanding between Mr. Pope and her; and as fhe took all Occafions to infinuate Things to the World difadvantagious to Mr. Pope, that he did not understand Greek, but was forc❜d to hire Perfons to tranflate Homer, and then have no farther Labour than to put it into Rhyme; that he was a Man of an unquiet Spirit and dangerous Converfation; that he was a Tool for Rome, and a great many other Reports, the bafer for being falfe; fo he, on the other Hand, (as 'twas reported to her) gave himself great Liberties about her; and great Mockery was made, and much loud Laughter, at the Story of a Vifit, it was pretended the faid Lady was permitted to make to the Seraglio, when her Hufband was Ambaffador at the Porte. It is certain, let the Tale arife from whence it will, it was very fcandalous, neither can we think (if true) that it could poffibly have ever come to their Knowledge; for it is to be thought, that the Lady, for the Sake of her own Fame, would never have divulg'd fo ftrange a Secret; seeing that the World afforded no Remedy for the one Act, and the other flight Injury of being obliged to conform to the Cuftom of the East, a little Time would repair. However, as most Stories of the like Nature do, it gained Credit, and

moft

moft prodigiously exasperated the Lady, who neglected no Opportunity of raifing whoever she could against Mr. Pope and his Writings; imagining him the great Difperfer of this Tale, and, perhaps, he was not entirely clear. He, on the defenfive Part, flies to Horace and Dr. Donne, and imitates the former and modernizes the latter, which he introducés into the World by Advertisement :

THE
Twas the Clamour railed on fome of my Epiftless.

HE Occafion of publifhing thefe Imitations

An Anfwer from Horace was both more full, and of more Dignity, than any I could have made in my own Perfon; and the Example of fo much greater Freedom in fo eminent a Divine as Dr. Donne, feem'd a Proof with what Indignation and Contempt a Chriftian may treat Vice or Folly, in ever fo low, or ever fo high a Station. Both thefe Authors were acceptable to the Princes and Minifters under whom they lived: The Satires of Dr. Donne I verfify'd, at the Defire of the Earl of Oxford while he was Lord Treasurer, and of the Duke of Shrewsbury who had been Secretary of State; neither of whom look'd upon a Satire on vicious Courts as any Reflection on those they ferv'd in. And indeed there is not in the World a greater Error, than that which Fools are fo apt to fall into, and Knaves with good Reafon to encourage, the mistaking a Satyrift for a Libeller; whereas to a true Satyrift nothing is fo odious as a Libeller, for the fame Reason cas to a Man truly virtuous nothing is fo hateful as a Hypocrite:

In the first Satyr of Horace imitated, he vindicates himfelf, and fhows the Reafons why he writes fo feverely, and then declares, that, he would not spare even himfelf:

In this impartial Glafs, my Mufe intends
Fair to expofe myfelf, my Foes, my Friends;
Publifh the prefent Age, but where my Text
Is Vice too high, referve it to the next.

Peace is my dear Delight, not Fleury's more;
But touch me, and no Minifter so fore.
Whoe'er offends at fome unlucky Time,
Slides into Verfe and hitches into Rhyme;
Sacred to Ridicule his whole Life long,
And the fad Burthen of fome merry Song.

To this his Friend makes Anfwer, that it is dangerous, and that there are People who take Revenges upon fuch Occasions; infinuating, that a Sixpenny Drug may chance to cut him off in the Middle of a Song: To which he makes this bold and open Reply:

What? arm'd for Virtue when I point the Pen, Brand the bold Front of fhamelefs, guilty Men, Dafh the proud Gamefter in his gilded Car, Bare the mean Heart that lurks beneath a Star; Can there be wanting, to defend her Caufe, Lights of the Church, or Guardians of the Laws? Could penfion'd Boileau lafh in honeft Strain Flatt'rers and Bigots ev'n in Louis' Reign? Could Laureate Dryden Pimp and Fry'r engage, Yet neither Charles nor James fall in a Rage? And I not ftrip the Gilding off a Knave, Un-plac'd, un-penfion'd, no Man's Heir, or Slave? I will, or perifh in the gen'rous Caufe:

Hear this and tremble! you, who 'fcape the Laws. Yes, while I live, no rich or noble Knave >Shall walk in Peace, and Credit, to his Grave.

In this Satire, (though we point not out the Place, it being too harfh) the forenamed Lady of Quality and great Wit is faid to be ftruck at, or at least fhe imagined fo; for now, comes into the Publick: Verfes addrefs'd to the Imitator, of the first Satire of the Second Book of Horace, BY A LADY; where she takes a Fling at him about his Birth.

Hard as thy Heart, and as thy Birth obfcure. She, having taking it upon Truft, that Mr. Pope was meanly born; whereas, we have already prov'd him to be descended from genteel Families. But, this angry Lady let's nothing flip, that might any way contribute to the making Mr. Pope look mean and contemptible; the calls his Numbers crabbed, and makes a ftinging Reflection on the Badness of his Perfon.

}

Thine is but fuch an Image of his Pen, As thou thyfelf art of the Sons of Men: Where our own Species in Burlesque we trace, A Sign-poft Likeness of the noble Race; That is at once Refemblance and Disgrace. Horace can laugh, is delicate, is clear; You, only coarfely rail, or darkly fneer: His Stile is elegant, his Diction pure, Whilft none thy crabbed Numbers can endure. If he has Thorns, they all on Rofes grow; Thine like rude Thiftles, and mean Brambles fhow, With this Exception, that tho' rank the Soil, Weeds as they are, they feem produc'd by Toil. Satire fhould like a polifh'd Razor keen, Wound with a Touch, that's fcarcely felt or feen.

She keeps up her Spirit, and after having (as the thinks) lower'd his Pride pretty handsomely, the enIdeavours to infult him: