Sometimes with Ariftippus, or St. Paul, P And win my way by yielding to the tide. 34 9 Long, as to him who works for Debt, the day, Long as the Night to her whofe Love's away, Long as the Year's dull circle seems to run, When the brisk Minor pants for Twenty-one: So flow th' unprofitable moments roll, That lock up all the Functions of my foul; That keep me from myfelf; and still delay Life's inftant business to a future day: r That talk, which as we follow, or despise, The eldeft is a fool, the youngest wife. Which done, the pooreft can no wants endure; 45 And which not done, the richest must be poor. S t Late as it is, I put myself to school, And feel fome" comfort, not to be a fool. "Weak tho' I am of limb, and fhort of fight, Far from a Lynx, and not a Giant quite; 40 50 I'll NOTES. VFR. 31. Arifippus, or St. Paul,] There is an impropriety and indecorum, in joining the name of the molt profligate parafite of the court of Dionyfius, with that of an Apostle. In a few lines before, the name of Montagne is not fufficiently contrafted by the name of Locke; the place required that two philofophers, holding very different tenets, fhould have been introduced. Hobbes might have been oppofed to Hutchefon. I know not why he omitted a ftrong fentiment that follows immediately, "Et mihi res, non me rebus fubjungere conor;" Ver 20. which line Corneille took for his motto. WARTON. VER. 45. can no wants endure :] i. e. Can want nothing: badly expreffed. WARBURTON. Non tamen idcirco contemnas lippus inungi : Ꮓ Fervet Avaritia, miferoque cupidine pectus? Sunt verba et voces, quibus hunc lenire dolorem Poffes, et magnam morbi deponere partem. Laudis amore tumes? Sunt certa piacula, quæ te pure lecto poterunt recreare libello. Ter с d ↳ Invidus, iracundus, iners, vinofus, © amator; Nemo adeo ferus eft, ut non mitefcere poffit, Si modo culturæ patientem commodet aurem. Virtus eft, vitium fugere; et fapientia prima, Stultitia caruiffe. vides, quæ maxima credis Effe mala, exiguum cenfum, turpemque repulfam, Quanto devites animi, capitifque labore. f Impiger a NOTES. VER. 51. I'll do what Mead] Mr. Pope highly efteemed and loved this worthy man; whofe unaffected humanity and benevolence have ftifled much of that envy which his eminence in his profeffion would otherwife have drawn out. Speaking of his obligations to this great Physician and others of the Faculty, in a Letter to Mr. Allen, about a month before his death, he fays, "There is no end of my kind treatment from the Faculty. They are in general the most amiable companions, and the best friends, as well as the most learned men I know." WARBURTON. VER. 65. to abhor;-more.] Dr King informed me that these were two of the rhymes to which Swift, who was scrupulously exact in this respect, used to object, as he frequently did to fome others in Pope; and particularly to two in the Effay on Criticism, Verse 37. where delight is made to rhyme to wit; and to many in his Homer. WARTON. I'll do what Mead and Chefelden advise, To keep these limbs, and to preserve these eyes. go back, is fomewhat to advance, Not to X And men must walk at least before they dance. ' Say, does thy blood rebel, thy bofom move With wretched Av'rice, or as wretched Love? Know, there are Words, and Spells, which can control Between the Fits this Fever of the Soul; 1; Know, there are Rhymes, which fresh and fresh apply'd Will cure the arrant'ft Puppy of his Pride. Be' furious, envious, flothful, mad, or drunk, Slave to a Wife, or Vaffal to a Punk, A Switz, a High-dutch, or a Low-dutch Bear; All that we ask is but a patient Ear. e 'Tis the first Virtue, Vices to abhor; с a d 3 55 60 65 And the first Wisdom, to be Fool no more. Wilt 70 NOTES. VER. 70. Scar'd at the Spectre] Pope has given life to the image, and added terror to the fimple expreffion, Pauperiem. Bolingbroke tranflated this paffage in Horace, in about twenty-fix lines, and fent them to Swift in a letter, dated March 16, 1719. poor performance. Pope has omitted the Olympian games. But a WARTON. Impiger extremos curris mercator ad Indos, Per mare pauperiem fugiens, per faxa, per ignes: Ne cures ea, quæ ftulte miraris et optas, h Difcere, et audire, et meliori credere non vis? Quis circum pagos et circum compita pugnax Magna coronari contemnat Olympia, cui fpes, Cui fit conditio dulcis fine pulvere palma ? “ i Vilius eft auro argentum, virtutibus aurum. "O cives, cives! * quærenda pecunia primum eft; "Virtus poft nummos:" hæc ' Janus fummus ab ime Perdocet hæc recinunt juvenes dictata fenefque, Lævo fufpenfi loculos tabulamque lacerto. Eft animus tibi, funt mores, eft lingua, fidefque: Sed quadringentis fex feptem millia defint, n NOTES. Plebs VER. 77. Here, Wisdom calls, &c.] All from hence to Ver. 110, is a pretty clofe tranflation; but in general done with fo masterly a fpirit, that the Original, though one of the most finish. ed paffages in Horace, looks only like the imitation of it. WARBURTON. VER. 78. As Gold to Silver, Virtue is to Gold.] This perhaps is the most faulty line in the whole collection. The Original is, “Vilius eft auro argentum, virtutibus aurum ;” which only fays, That as Silver is of lefs value than Gold, fo Gold is of lefs value than Virtue: in which fimple inferiority, and not the proportion of it, is implied. For it was as contrary to the Author's purpose, as it is to common fenfe, to suppose, that virtue was but just as much better than gold, as gold is better than filver. Yet Mr. Pope, too attentive to his conflant obje& concifenefs, has, before he was aware, fallen into this abfurd meaning. However, this and many other inaccuracies in his works had been corrected, had he lived; as many, that now first appear in this edition, were actually corrected a little before his death. o Wilt thou do nothing for a nobler end, m 75 n Barnard in " fpirit, fenfe, and truth abounds; 85 "Pray then, what wants he?" Fourfcore thousand pounds; A Penfion, NOTES. And here I cannot but do juftice to one of his many good qualities, a very rare one, indeed, and what none but a truly great genius can afford to indulge; I mean his extreme readiness, and unfeigned pleasure, in acknowledging his mistakes: this, with an impatience to reform them, he poffeffed in a greater degree, and with lefs affectation, than any man I ever knew. WARBURTON. WARBURTON. VER. 84. notches fiicks] Exchequer Tallies. VER. 85. Barnard in fpirit, fenfe, and truth abounds;] Sir John Barnard. It was the Poet's purpose to say, that this great Man (who does fo much honour to his Country) had a fine genius, improved and put in ufe by a true understanding; and both, under the guidance of an integrity superior to all the temptations of intereft, honours, or any meaner paffion. Many events, fince the paying this tribute to his virtue, have fhewn how much, and how particularly it was due to him. WARBURTON. VER. 85. Barnard] Sir John Barnard, Knight, was born at Reading, and brought up at a school at Wandfworth in Surry; his parents were Quakers. In 1703, he quitted the Society of Quakers, was received into the church by Compton, bishop of London, and continued a member of it. VOL. IV. K |
