'Est mihi purgatam crebrò qui personet aurem; Solve 'senescentem maturè sanus equum, ne Peccet ad extremum ridendus, et ilia ducat. Nunc itaque et versus, et cætera ludicra pono: Quid verum atque decens curo et rogo, et omnis in hoc sum: *Condo, et compono, quæ mox depromere possim. Ac ne fortè roges, 'quo me duce, quo Lare tuter: Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri, "Quò me cunque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes. Nunc agilis fio, et mersor "civilibus undis, Virtutis veræ custos, rigidusque satelles: NOTES. Ver. 15. Lest stiff] He has excelled Boileau's imitation of these verses, Ep. 10. v. 44. And indeed Boileau himself is excelled by an old French poet, whom he has frequently imitated, that is, Le Fresnaie Vauquelin, whose Poems were published 1612. Vauquelin says, that he profited much by reading the Satires of Ariosto; he also wrote an Art of Poetry; one of his best pieces is an imitation of Horace's Trebatius, being a dialogue between himself and the Chancellor of France. Warton. Ver. 16. You limp, like Blackmore on a Lord Mayor's horse.] The fame of this heavy Poet, however problematical elsewhere, was universally received in the city of London. His versification is here exactly described: stiff, and not strong; stately, and yet dull, like the sober and slow-paced animal generally employed to mount the Lord Mayor: and therefore here humorously opposed to Pegasus. Pope. Ver. 26. And house with Montaigne now, or now with Locke:] i. e. Chuse either an active or a contemplative life, as is most fitted to the season and circumstances. For he regarded these writers as the best schools to form a man for the world; or to give him a knowledge of himself; Montaigne excelling in his observations on social and civil life; and Locke, in developing the faculties, and explaining the operations of the human mind. Warburton. 'A voice there is, that whispers in my ear, ('Tis reason's voice, which sometimes one can hear,) "Friend Pope! be prudent; let your 'Muse take breath, And never gallop Pegasus to death; Lest stiff and stately, void of fire or force, 15 You limp, like Blackmore on a Lord Mayor's horse." Farewell then "verse, and love, and every toy, The rhymes and rattles of the man or boy; What 'right, what true, what fit we justly call, Let this be all my care-for this is all: To lay this harvest up, and hoard with haste Sworn to no master, of no sect am I; 20 25 As drives the "storm, at any door I knock, Mix with the world, and battle for the state, NOTES. 30 Ver. 29. Free as young Lyttelton,] A just, and not overcharged encomium, on an excellent man, who had always served his friends with warmth, (witness his kindness to Thomson,) and his country with activity and zeal. His Poems and Dialogues of the Dead are written with elegance and ease; his observations on the Conversion of St. Paul, with clearness and closeness of reasoning; and his History of Henry II. with accuracy and knowledge of those early times and of the English Constitution; and which was com piled from a laborious search into authentic documents, and the records lodged in the Tower and at the Rolls. A little before he died, Nunc in Aristippi furtim præcepta relabor, NOTES. died, he told me, that he had determined to throw out of the collection of all his works, which was then to be published, his first juvenile performance, the Persian Letters, written 1735, in imitation of those of his friend Montesquieu, whom he had known and admired in England, in which he said there were principles and remarks that he wished to retract and alter. I told him, that notwithstanding his caution, the booksellers, as in fact they have done, would preserve and insert these letters. Another little piece, written also in his early youth, does him much honour; the Observations on the Life of Tully; in which, perhaps, a more dispassionate and impartial character of Tully is exhibited than in the panegyrical volumes of Middleton. Warton. Warton has paid a just tribute of applause to Lyttelton. Lyttelton consulted Pope about his Pastorals. As it elucidates Pope's concern in his young friend's Poems, the reader, perhaps, will excuse my inserting an original letter from Lyttelton to Dodington, on this subject. "Dear Sir, Hagley, November 24, 1731. "The approbation you express of my verses, and the praise you bestow, cannot but be extremely pleasing to me, as they are the effects of a friendship upon which I set so high a value. When I sent my Pastorals to Mr. Pope, I desired him to make any corrections he should judge proper, and accordingly he has favoured me with some alterations, which I beg you will give yourself the trouble of inserting in your copy. At the end of the first page, after this line: 'When now the setting sun less fiercely burn'd;' be pleased to add the two following: 'Blue vapours rose along the mazy rills, And light's last blushes tinged the distant hills.' In Omnis Aristippum decuit color, et status, et res. Pope. + Four Pastorals by Lord Lyttelton, published in Dodsley's collection. Sometimes with Aristippus, or St. Paul, NOTES. In the second, read the following lines thus: 'Auspicious Pan, the monarch of the plain, For him each blooming sister of the lawn.' "In the third, instead of And fills with frantic pains, &c.' 'And blackens each fair image in our breast.' "Again, instead of Pleased by not studying, &c.' 'He pleased, because he studied not to please.' Perhaps, too, the verses would run better, if, instead of 'A town with spiring towers is crown'd;' you were to put, with spiring turrets crown'd;' but then the verb 'is' must be understood. "I do not know whether you will not have reason to think I am too solicitous about those trifles, by my giving you the trouble to alter them; but I would have them appear in as good a dress as possible, for fear of their being a disgrace to the persons I have addressed them to. My father and mother desire their compliI am, with great respect and truth, your most obliged "G. LYTTELTON." humble servant, Bowles. I have admitted this as a circumstance connected with literature and with Pope. Ver. 31. Aristippus, or St. Paul,] There is an impropriety and indecorum, in joining the name of the most profligate parasite of the court of Dionysius, with that of an Apostle. In a few lines before, the name of Montaigne is not sufficiently contrasted by the name of Locke; the place required that two philosophers, holding very different tenets, should have been introduced. Hobbes might have been opposed to Hutcheson. I know not why he omitted a strong sentiment that follows immediately: "Et mihi res, non me rebus, subjungere conor;" which line Corneille took for his motto. Warton. Ut nox longa, quibus mentitur amica; diesque Lenta videtur opus debentibus; ut piger annus Pupillis, quos dura premit custodia matrum : Sic mihi tarda 'fluunt ingrataque tempora, quæ spem Consiliumque morantur agendi gnaviter 'id, quod "Non possis oculo quantum contendere Lynceus; Fervet Avaritiâ, miseroque cupidine pectus? Sunt verba et voces, quibus hunc lenire dolorem Possis, et magnam morbi deponere partem. NOTES. Ver. 51. I'll do what Mead] Mr. Pope highly esteemed and loved this worthy man; whose unaffected humanity and benevolence have stifled much of that envy which his eminence in his profession would otherwise 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 says: "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. 51. Cheselden] Of the friendship which Pope entertained for Cheselden, many instances appear in his correspondence. "Pray," says Swift in a letter to Pope, "put me out of fear as soon as you can, about that report of your illness, and let me know who this Cheselden is, that hath so lately sprung up in your favour." |
