"Oldfield with more than Harpy throat endu'd, 25
Cries, “Send me, Gods! a whole Hog barbecu'd!"
Oh blast it," South winds! till a stench exhale
Rank as the ripeness of a rabbit's tail.

By what Criterion do ye eat, d'ye think,

If this is priz'd for sweetness, that for stink?
When the tir'd glutton labours through a treat,
He finds no relifh in the fweetest meat,

30

He calls for fomething bitter, fomething four,
And the rich feast concludes extremely poor:
Cheap eggs, and herbs, and olives still we fee; 35
Thus much is left of old Simplicity!

The Robin-red-breast till of late had reft,

And children facred held a Martin's neft,

Till Becaficos fold fo dev’lish dear

To one that was, or would have been, a Peer.
Let me extol a Cat, on oysters fed,
I'll have a party at the Bedford-head;

40

Or e'en to crack live Crawfish recommend
I'd never doubt at Court to make a friend.

NOTES.

VER. 41. Let me extol] To dine upon a cat fattened with oyfters, and to crack live crawfish, is infinitely more pleasant and ridiculous than to eat mergos affos. But then the words, extol and recommend, fall far below edixerit, give out a decree. So Virgil, Geor. iii. line 295. does not advise, but raises his subject, by saying, Incipiens ftatutis edico”

66

In the lines above, 37 and 38, he has dextrously fubftituted for the ftork two birds that among us are vulgarly held to be facred. Semp. Rufus first taught the Romans to eat ftorks, for which he loft the prætorship.

VER. 42. Bedford head;] A famous Eating-house.

WARTON.

POPE.

t

' Sordidus a tenui victus distabit, Ofello Judice: nam fruftra vitium vitaveris iftud, $ Avidienus

Si te alio pravus detorferis.

* Cui Canis ex vero ductum cognomen adhæret, Quinquennes oleas eft, et fylveftria corna;

Ac, nifi mutatum, parcit defundere vinum; et
Cujus odorem olei nequeas perferre (licebit
Ille repotia, natales, aliofque dierum

W

Feftos albatus celebret) cornu ipfe bilibri

X

Caulibus inftillat, veteris non parcus aceti.

Quali igitur vicu fapiens utetur, et horum Utrum imitabitur? hac urget lupus, hac canis, aiunt. › Mundus erit, qua non offendat fordibus, atque In neutram partem cultus mifer. * Hic neque fervis Albutî fenis exemplo, dum munia didit,

a

Savus erit; nec fit ut fimplex Nævius, unctam Convivis præbebit aquam: vitium hoc quoque mag

num.

Accipe nunc, victus tenuis quæ quantaque fecum Afferat. In primis valeas bene; nam variæ res Ut noceant homini, credas, memor illius escæ,

NOTES.

Quæ

VER. 50. For him you'll call a dog,] Warburton obferves, “that Pope had the art of giving wit and dignity to Billingfgate!"

Vra. 55 But on fome lucky] Much heightened and improved on the original, by two fuch fuppofed occafions of the unnatural festivity and joy of a true mifer. The 68th line is useless and redundant.

WARTON.

'Tis yet in vain, I own, to keep a pother About one vice, and fall into the other: Between Excefs and Famine lies a mean;

Plain, but not fordid; tho' not splendid, clean.

S

t

Avidien, or his Wife, (no matter which,
For him you'll call a dog, and her a bitch,)
Sell their presented partridges, and fruits,
And humbly live on rabbits and on roots:
"One half-pint bottle ferves them both to dine,
And is at once their vinegar and wine.

W

But on fome lucky day (as when they found

45

A loft Bank-bill, or heard their Son was drown'd) At fuch a feast, old vinegar to sparè,

Is what two fouls fo gen'rous cannot bear :
Oil, tho' it stink, they drop by drop impart,
But fowse the cabbage with a bounteous heart.

50

55

бо ' He knows to live, who keeps the middle state, And neither leans on this fide, nor on that;

a

pay,

Nor ftops, for one bad cork, his butler's
Swears, like Albutius, a good cook away;
Nor lets, like Nævius, ev'ry error pass,
The mufty wine, foul cloth, or greafy glass.

65

"Now hear what bleffings Temperance can bring: (Thus faid our Friend, and what he said I fing :) "First Health: the stomach (cramm'd from ev'ry dish,

A tomb of boil'd and roast, and flesh and fish,
Where bile, and wind, and phlegm, and acid jar,
And all the man is one intestine war)

NOTES.

70

Remembers

VER. 72. one inteftine war] Dr. Warton fays, "It is in the original, tumultum ; a metaphor used by Hippocrates." It is of

very

с

Quæ fimplex olim tibi federit. at fimul affis
Mifcueris elixa, fimul conchylia turdis;

Dulcia fe in bilem vertent, ftomachoque tumultum
Lenta feret pituita. Vides, ut pallidus omnis
Cœna defurgat dubia? quin corpus onuftum
Hefternis vitiis animum quoque prægravat una,
Atque affigit humo divinæ particulam auræ.
g Alter, ubi dicto citius curata fopori

h

Membra dedit, vegetus præfcripta ad munia furgit. Hic tamen ad melius poterit tranfcurrere quondam; Sive diem feftum rediens advexerit annus,

Seu recreare volet tenuatum corpus: ubique

Accedent anni, et tractari mollius ætas

i

Imbecilla volet. Tibi quidnam accedet ad istam

Quam

NOTES.

very little confequence to whom Horace was indebted for the metaphor, for the whole description is offenfive, and the fimile, if ufed by Hippocrates, fitter for him, than for an elegant Poet.

VER. 76. Rife from] A ftrange inftance of falfe grammar and false English, in ufing rife for rifes. Such a mistake in an inferior writer would not have been worth notice. I cannot forbear adding a note of much humour with which the History of English Poetry is enlivened; vol. iii. p. 204. "In an old dietarie for the clergy, by Cranmer, an archbishop is allowed to have two swans, or two capons in a dish; a bishop, two; an archbishop, fix blackbirds at once; a bishop, five; a dean, four; an archdeacon, two. If a dean has four difhes in the first course, he is not afterwards to have cuftards or fritters. An archbishop may have fix fnipes; an archdeacon, only two. A canon refidentiary is to have a fwan only on Sunday. A rector of fixteen marks, only three blackbirds in a week." WARTON.

VER. 79, 80. The Soul fubfides, and wickedly inclipes To feem but mortal, ev'n in found Divines.] Horace was an Epicurean, and laughed at the immortality of the

foul

e

Remembers oft the School-boy's fimple fare,

The temp❜rate fleeps, and spirits light as air.

76

f How pale, each Worshipful and Rev'rend guest Rife from a Clergy, or a City feast! What life in all that ample body, say? What heav'nly particle inspires the clay? The Soul fubfides, and wickedly inclines To feem but mortal, ev'n in found Divines.

80

On morning wings how active springs the Mind

That leaves the load of yesterday behind?

How eafy ev'ry labour it pursues?

How coming to the Poet ev'ry Mufe?

"Not but we may exceed, fome holy time,

85

Or tir'd in fearch of Truth, or fearch of Rhyme;

Ill health fome juft indulgence may engage,

i

And more the fickness of long life, Old age:

For fainting Age what cordial drop remains,

If our intemp'rate Youth the veffel drains?

99

NOTES.

Our

foul. And therefore, to render the doctrine more ridiculous, defcribes that languor of the mind proceeding from intemperance, on the idea, and in the terms of Plato,

46

affigit humo divinæ particulam auræ.” To this, his ridicule is pointed. Our Poet, with more fobriety and judgment, has turn'd the Ridicule, from the doctrine, which he believed, upon thofe Preachers of it, whofe feasts and compotations in Taverns did not edify him: and fo has added surprising humour and spirit to the eafy elegance of the original.

WARBURTON.

VER. 80. To feem but mortal,] Affigit humi is heightened by the ." ev'n in found Divines."

WARTON.

VER. 81. On morning wings, Sc.] Much happier and nobler than the original.

WARBURTON.