Jam satis est. At tu quantumvis tolle. Benignè.
Non invisa feres pueris munuscula parvis.
Tam teneor dono, quàm si dimittar onustus.
Ut libet : hæc porcis hodie comedenda relinques.
Prodigus et stultus donat quæ spernit et odit :
Hæc seges ingratos tulit, et feret omnibus annis.
Vir bonus et sapiens, dignis ait esse paratum, ,
Nec tamen ignorat, quid distent æra lupinis.
Dignum præstabo me, etiam pro laude merentis.
Quòd si me noles usquam discedere; reddes
Forte latus, nigros angustå fronte capillos :
Reddes dulce loqui: reddes ridere decorum, et
Inter vina fugam Cynaræ mærere protervæ.

Fortè per angustam tenuis vulpecula rimam

NOTES.

Ver. 45. the lively eye,] It is said, that Pope's eyes were remarkably expressive. He seems often in his writings to keep this in mind; but the passage is very unequal to the closeness and pleasing painting of the original. Perhaps four lines never were so well expressed, as forming a delineation or accurate portrait of the Roman bard. We see-the" forte latus," " nigros angustă fronte

—the capillos ;" the " dulce loqui,” and “ ridere decorum.” The words of the first line set the person of Horace immediately before us, and nothing can be so characteristic of his style in his Epistles, as the words DULCE LÒQUI; RIDERE DECORUM.

Bowles. The lines of Pope are perhaps in no respect inferior to those of Horace; and the

“ laugh'd down many a summer sun,

And kept you up so oft till one," is more sprightly, as well as more decent than the

Inter vina fugam Cynaræ, &c. Ver. 50. As when Belinda] A compliment he pays himself and the public on his Rape of the Lock.

Warburton.

66

Pray take them, Sir.-Enough's a feast:
Eat some, and pocket up the rest.”—
What, rob your boys? those pretty rogues!
"No, Sir, you'll leave them to the hogs."
Thus fools with compliments besiege ye,
Contriving never to oblige ye.
Scatter your favours on a fop,
Ingratitude's the certain crop;
And 'tis but just, I'll tell ye wherefore,
You give the things you never care for.
A wise man always is or should

Be mighty ready to do good;
But makes a difference in his thought
Betwixt a guinea and a groat.

Now this I'll say, you'll find in me,
A safe companion, and a free;
But if you'd have me always near—
A word, pray, in your honour's ear.
I hope it is your resolution
To give me back my constitution!
The sprightly wit, the lively eye,
The engaging smile, the gaiety,
That laugh'd down many a summer sun,
And kept you up so oft till one;
And all that voluntary vein,

As when Belinda raised my strain.
A weasel once made shift to slink

25

30

35

40

45

50

Repserat in cumeram frumenti; pastaque, rursus Ire foras pleno tendebat corpore

frustrà. Cui mustela procul, Si vis, ait, effugere istinc, Macra cavum repetes arctum, quem macra subîsti. Hâc ego si compellor imagine, cuncta resigno; Nec somnum plebis laudo satur altilium, nec Otia divitiis Arabum liberrima muto. Sæpe verecundum laudasti; Rexque, Paterque Audîsti coràm, nec verbo parciùs absens : Inspice, si possum donata reponere lætus.

Parvum parva decent. Mihi jam non regia Roma, Sed vacuum Tibur placet, aut imbelle Tarentum. Strenuus et fortis, causisque Philippus agendis

, Clarus, &c.

NOTES.

deed in that difficult art of telling a story well, of which the story of Philippus, “Strenuus et fortis," &c. is a master-piece. We are in no one respect so very inferior to the French as in our fables; we have no La Fontaine. The fables of Gay, esteemed our best, are written in a pure and neat style, but have not much nature or humour. Horace's mice are inimitable. The long introductions to the fables of Gay's second volume of fables read like political pamphlets.

Warton. Ver. 67. Craggs and Child,] Mr. Craggs gave him some SouthSea subscriptions. He was so indifferent about them as to neglect making any benefit of them. He used to say, it was a satisfaction to him that he did not grow rich, as he might have done, by the public calamity.

Warburton.

55

60

65

But having amply stuff'd his skin,
Could not get out as he got in:
Which one belonging to the house
('Twas not a man, it was a mouse)
Observing, cried, “ You 'scape not so;
Lean as you came, Sir, you must go."

Sir, you may spare your application,
I'm no such beast, nor his relation;
Nor one that temperance advance,
Cramm'd to the throat with Ortolans :
Extremely ready to resign
All that may make me none of mine.
South-sea subscriptions take who please,
Leave me but liberty and ease.
'Twas what I said to Craggs and Child,
Who praised my modesty, and smiled.
Give me, I cried, (enough for me)
My bread and independency !
So bought an annual rent or two,
And lived—just as you see I do;
Near fifty, and without a wife,
I trust that sinking fund, my life.
Can I retrench? Yes, mighty well,
Shrink back to my paternal cell,
A little house, with trees a-row,
And, like its master, very low;
There died my father, no'man's debtor,
And there I'll die, nor worse nor better.
To set this matter full before

ye, Our old friend Swift will tell his story.

· Harley, the nation's great support," But you may read it; I stop short.

70

75

80

SATIRA VI.

Hoc erat in votis: modus agri non ita magnus,
Hortus ubi, et tecto vicinus jugis aquæ fons,
Et paulum silvæ super his foret. Auctiùs, atque
Dî meliùs fecere. Bene est: nil ampliùs oro,
Maiâ nate, nisi ut propria hæc mihi munera faxis.
Si neque majorem feci ratione malâ rem,
Nec sum facturus vitio culpâve minorem :

Si veneror stultus nihil horum; O si angulus ille
Proximus accedat, qui nunc denormat agellum!
O si urnam argenti fors quà mihi monstret! ut illi,
Thesauro invento qui mercenarius, agrum
Illum ipsum mercatus, aravit, dives amico

NOTES.

Ver. 22. And to be kept in my right wits;] An apprehension of the loss of intellect gave the Dean great uneasiness through life. Some hereditary expectation, or some peculiarity of feeling, I presume, occasioned a perpetual anticipation of that sad event, which at length befel him. Pope's part of the imitation begins at verse 125, but I cannot accede to Warburton's opinion, that his portion of the performance is executed with more dexterity than that of Swift, who is unexceptionably excellent, and preserves with most happy accommodation the playful urbanity of his author. There are indeed several strokes in the more humorous passages of Pope's division, after Swift's best manner; but the following seems to me the most successful:

Tells all their names, lays down the law:
"Que ça est bon! Ah goutez ça!
That jelly's rich, this malmsey healing:
Pray dip your whiskers and your tail in !"

Wakefield.