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EPISTLE

VI.

To Mr. MURRA Y.

or to admire, is all the Art I know,

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To make men happy, and to keep them fo.” (Plain Truth, dear MURRAY, needs no flow'rs of fpeech, So take it in the very words of Creech.)

This Vault of Air, this congregated Ball, Self-center'd Sun, and Stars that run and fall,

EPISTOLA VI.

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IL admirari, prope res eft una, Numici,
Solaque quae poffit facere et fervare beatum.
Hunc folem, et ftellas, et decedentia certis

NOTE S

VER. 3. dear MURRAY,] This Piece is the moft finished of all his imitations, and executed in the high manner the Italian Painters call con amore. By which they mean, the exertion of that principle, which puts the faculties on the ftretch, and produces the fupreme degree of excellence. For the Poet had all the warmth of affection for the great Lawyer to whom it is addreffed : and, indeed, no man ever more deferved to have a Poet for bis friend. In the obtaining of which, as neither Vanity, Party, nor Fear, had any fhare: fo he supported his title to it by all the offices of true Friendship.

VER. 4. Creech.] From whose translation of Horace the two firft es are taken.

VER. 6. Stars that rife and fall,] The Original is,

decedentia certis

Tempora momentis,

which words fimply and literally fignify the change of feafons But this change being confidered as an object of admiration, his imitator has judiciously expressed it in the more fublime figurative

terms of

Stars that rife and fall;

by whofe courfes the feafons are marked and distinguished,

There are, my Friend! whofe philofophic eyes.
Look thro' and truft the Ruler with his fkies,
To him commit the hour, the day, the year,
And view this dreadful All without a fear.

Admire we then what Earth's low entrails hold,
Arabian hores, or Indian feas infold;

All the mad trade of Fools and Slaves for Gold?
Or f Popularity? or Stars and Strings?
The Mob's applaufes, or the gifts of Kings?
Say with what eyes we ought at Courts to gaze,
And pay the Great our homage of Amaze?

If weak the pleasure that from these can spring, The fear to want them is as weak a thing: Whether we dread, or whether we defire, In either cafe, believe me, we admire ; Whether we i joy or grieve, the fame the curfe, Surpriz'd at better, or furpriz'd at worse.

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Tempora momentis, funt qui formidine nulla
Imbuti fpectent. d quid cenfes, munera terrae ?
Quid, maris extremos Arabas e ditantis et Indos?
Ludicra, quid, plaufus, et amici dona Quiritis?
Quo fpectanda modo, & quo fenfu credis et ore?

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h Qui timet his adverfa, fere miratur eodem Quo cupiens pacto: pavor eft utrobique moleftus: Improvifa fimul fpecies exterret utrumque :

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i Gaudeat, an doleat; cupiat, metuatne; quid ad rem,

NOTE S.

VER. 8. truft the Ruler with bis fkies-To him commit the hour,] Our Author, in thefe imitations, has been all along careful to correct the loofe morals, and abfurd divinity of his Original.

VER. 22. Whether we joy or grieve, the fame the curfe,-Surpriz'd at better, or furpriz'd at worse.] The elegance of this is fuperior to the Original. The curfe is the fame (fays he) whether we joy or grieve. Why fo? Becaufe, in either cafe, the man is Surprized, hurried off, and led away captive.

Thus good or bad, to one extreme betray

Th' unbalanc'd Mind, and snatch the Man away; 25
Fork Virtue's felf may too much zeal be had;
The worst of Madmen is a Saint run mad.
Go then, and if you can, admire the state
Of beaming diamonds, and reflected plate;
Procure a TASTE to double the furprize,
And gaze on Parian Charms with learned eyes:
Be ftruck with bright Brocade, or Tyrian Dye,
Our Birthday Nobles' splendid Livery.

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If not fo pleas'd, at Council-board rejoice,
To fee their Judgments hang upon thy Voice;

Si, quidquid vidit melius pejufve sua spe,
Defixis oculis, animoque et corpore torpet?
* Infani fapiens nomen ferat, aequus iniqui;
Ultra quam fatis eft, virtutem fi petat ipfam.

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I nunc, argentum et marmor m vetus, aeraque et artes Sufpice; cum gemmis " Tyrios mirare colores: Gaude, quod fpectant oculi te mille loquentem:

NOTE S.

(The good or bad to one extreme betray

Th' unbalanc'd Mind, and fnatch the Man away.)

This happy advantage, in the imitation, arises from the ambiguity of the word furprize.

VER. 30. Procure a TASTE to double the furprize,] This is one of thofe fuperior touches that most ennoble a perfect piece. He fpeaks here of false tafte, as appears by his directions how to get it, and how to use it when got. Procure a tafte, fays he. That is, of the Virtuofi; whofe fcience you are to buy for that purpose: for true taffe, which is from nature, comes of itself. And how are you to ufe it? Not to cure you of that bane of life, admiration, but to raife and inflame it, by doubling your furprize. And this a falfe tate will always do; there being none fo given to raptures as the Virtucfo Tribe: whereas the Man of true Tafte finds but a few things to approve and thofe he approves with moderation..

From P morn to night, at Senate, Rolls, and Hall,
Plead much, read more, dine late, or not at all.
But wherefore all this labour, all this ftrife?
For Fame, for Riches, for a noble Wife?
Shall One whom Nature, Learning, Birth confpir'd
To form, not to admire but be admir'd,

Sigh, while his Chloe, blind to Wit and Worth,
Weds the rich Dulness of some Son of earth?
Yet Time ennobles, or degrades each Line;

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It brighten'd CRAGGS's, and may darken thine: 45
And what is Fame? the Meaneft have their day,
The Greatest can but blaze, and pafs away.
Grac❜d as thou art, with all the Pow'r of Words,
So known, fo honour'd, at the House of Lords:
Confpicuous Scene! another yet is nigh,
(More filent far) where Kings and Poets lie;
Where MURRAY (long enough his Country's pride)

Shall be no more than TULLY or than HYDE!

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Gnavus mane forum, et vefpertinus pete tectum;
Ne plus frumenti dotalibus emetat agris
Mutus, et (indignum; quod fit pejoribus ortus)
t Hic tibi fit potius, quam tu mirabilis illi.

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Quicquid fub terra eft, in apricum proferet aetas ; Defodiet, condetque nitentia. t cum bene notum Porticus Agrippae, et via te confpexerit Appî; Ire tamen reftat, Numa " quo devenit et Ancus.

NOTE S.

VER. 53. TULLY, HYDE !] Equal to either, in the miniftry of his profeffion; and fuperior to both where the parallel fails: TULLY's brightest talents were frequently tarnished by Vanity and Fear; and HYDE's most virtuous purposes perverted and defeated by faperftitious notions concerning the divine origin of Government, and the unlimited obedience of the People.

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