(And little fure imported to remove, To hunt for Truth in Maudlin's learned grove.) And certain Laws, by fuff'rers thought unjust, Hopes after hopes of pious Papifts fail'd, While mighty WILLIAM's thund'ring arm prevail'd. But (thanks to Homer) fince I live and thrive, бо 65 Sure I should want the care of ten Monroes, If I would fcribble, rather than repose. 70 8 Years following years, steal something ev'ry day, At laft they steal us from ourselves away; Atque inter filvas Academi quaerere verum. NOTE S. VER. 70. Monroes,] Dr. Monroe, Phyfician to Bedlam Hospital. VER. 73. At laft they feal us from ourselves away;] i. e. Time changes all our paffions, appetites, and inclinations. In one our Frolics, one Amusements end, me do? That turn'd ten thousand verses, now stands still ? 1 But grant I may relapfe, for want of grace, Again to rhyme: can London be the place? Who there his Mufe, or felf, or foul attends, 75 80 85 90 In crowds, and courts, law, business, feasts, and friends? My counsel fends to execute a deed : A Poet begs me I will hear him read : Eripuere jocos, venerem, convivia, ludum; h Denique non omnes eadem mirantur amantque. Carmine tu gaudes: hic delectatur iambis ; Ille Bioneis fermonibus, et fale nigro. Tres mihi convivae prope diffentire videntur, Quid dem? quid non dem ? renuis quod tu, jubet alter: In Palace-yard at nine you'll find me there- Have you not feen, at Guildhall's narrow pass, * Go, lofty Poet! and in fuch a crowd, Would drink and doze at Tooting or Earl's-Court. Hic extremo in Aventino; vifendus uterque. "Verùm 95 ICO 105 116 "Purae funt plateae, nihil ut meditantibus obftet.” Feftinat calidus mulis gerulifque redemtor: Torquet nunc lapidem, nunc ingens machina tignum: Hac rabiofa fugit canis, hac lutulenta ruit fus. NOTE S. VER. 104. Have you not feen, etc.] The fatirical pleasantry of this image, and the humorous manner of representing it, raises the imitation, in this place, far above the original. VER. 113. Would drink and doze, etc.] This has not the delicacy, for it wants the elegant ambiguity, of How fhall I rhyme in this eternal roar? 119 How match the bards whom none e'er match'd before? The Temple late two brother Sergeants faw, 1 125 129 One lull'd th' Exchequer, and one ftunn'd the Rolls; Tu me inter ftrepitus nocturnos atque diurnos Plerumque, et rifu populum quatit; hic ego rerum m Frater erat Romae confulti rhetor; ut alter Alterius fermone meros audiret honores: NOTES. Rite cliens Bacchi, fomno gaudentis et umbra; where the intemperance of Poets is not the obvious, but the Secret meaning. For Bacchus was the patron of the Drama as well as of the Bottle and fleep was courted for infpiration, as well as to relieve a debauch. Ibid. Tooting-Earl's-Court.] Two villages within a few miles of London. Each had a gravity would make you split, And fhook 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 difpofe of all poetic merit, 135 140 Yours Milton's genius, and mine Homer's fpirit. Call Tibbald Shakespear, and he'll fwear the Nine, Dear Cibber! never match'd one Ode 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 please. "My dear Tibullus!" if that will not do, "Let me be Horace, and be Ovid you : "Or, I'm content, allow me Dryden's strains, "And you fhall rife up Otway for your pains." Gracchus ut hic illi foret, huic ut Mucius ille. Mox etiam (fi forte vacas) fequere, et procul audi, NOTE S. 145 VER. 132. And book his head at Murray, as a Wit.] It is the filly confolation of blockheads in all profeffions, that he, whom nature has formed to excel, does it not by his fuperior knowledge, but his wit and fo they keep themfelves in countenance as not fairly outdone, but only outwitted. |