EPISTLE I.

To AUGUSTUS.

W

Hile you, great Patron of Mankind! a fuftain The balanc'd World, and open all the Main; Your Country, chief, in Arms abroad defend, At home, with Morals, Arts, and Laws amend; How fhall the Mufe, from fuch a Monarch, fteal 5 An hour, and not defraud the Public Weal?

• Edward and Henry, now the Boaft of Fame,
And virtuous Alfred, a more facred Name,
After a Life of gen'rous Toils endur'd,
The Gaul subdu❜d, or Property fecur'd,
Ambition humbled, mighty Cities ftorm'd,
Or Laws eftablish'd, and the world reform'd ;
• Clos'd their long Glories with a figh, to find
Th' unwilling Gratitude of bafe mankind!
All human Virtue, to its latest breath,

f Finds Envy never conquer'd, but by Death.
NOTES.

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but to those who civilized mankind. The imitation wants this grace; and, for a very obvious reafon, could not aim at it.

VER. 13. Clos'd their long Glories with a figh,] The expreffion is extremely beautiful; and the ploravert judiciously placed.

VIR. 16. Finds envy never conquer'd, etc.] It hath been

8 Urit enim fulgore fuo, qui praegravat artes

Infra fe pofitas: extinctus amabitur idem.

h Praefenti tibi maturos largimur honores,

i Jurandafque tuum per numen ponimus aras, * Nil oriturum alias, nil ortum tale fatentes. Sed tuus hoc populus fapiens et juftus in uno, *Te noftris ducibus, te Graiis anteferendo,

Caetera nequaquam fimili ratione modoque

NOTES.

the common practice of those amongst us, who have diftinguished themselves in the learned world, to ascribe the ill treatment they meet with, from thofe they endeavour to oblige, to fo bad a caufe as envy. But furely without reafon; for we find our Countrymen of the fame candid difpofition which Socrates, in the Euthypbro of Plato, afcribes to the Athenians of his time, They are well content (fays he) to allow the Pretenfions of reputed eminence; it is only when a man will write, and prefume to give a proof of it, that they begin to grow angry. And how readily do we allow the reputation of eminence, in all the Arts, to thofe whofe modefty has made them decline giving us a fpecimen of it in any. A temper furely very diftant from envy. We ought not then to afcribe that violent ferment good men are apt to work themselves into, and the ftruggle they make to fupprefs the reputation

1.

The great Alcides, ev'ry Labour past,
Had ftill this Monster to fubdue at laft.
8 Sure fate of all, beneath whose rising ray
Each ftar of meaner merit fades away!
Opprefs'd we feel the beam directly beat,
Thofe Suns of Glory please not till they fet.
To thee, the World its present homage pays,
The Harveft early, but mature the praise:
Great Friend of LIBERTY! in Kings a Name
Above all Greek, above all Roman Fame*:
Whofe Word is Truth, as facred and rever'd,
i As Heav'n's own Oracles from Altars heard.
Wonder of Kings! like whom, to mortal eyes
* None e'er has rifen, and none' e'er shall rife.
Just in one instance, be it yet confeft
Your People, Sir, are partial in the reft:

NOTES.

of him who pretends to give a proof of what they are fo willing to take for granted, to any thing but an eager concern for the public welfare. This, nothing better fecures than the early damping that dangerous thing, Popularity; which when joined to what is as eafily abused, great Talents, may be productive of, one does not know what, mifchief. SCRIBL.

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VER. 17. The great Alcides,] This inftance has not the fame grace here as in the original, where it comes in well after thofe of Romulus, Bacchus, Caftor, and Pollux, tho' aukwardly after Edward and Henry. But it was for the fake of the beautiful thought in the next line; which, yet, does not equal the force of his original.

Aeftimat; et, nifi quae terris femota fuifque
Temporibus defuncta videt, faftidit et odit:
' Sic fautor veterum, ut tabulas peccare vetantes
Quas bis quinque viri fanxerunt, foedera regum,
Vel Gabiis vel cum rigidis aequata Sabinis,
Pontificum libros, annofa volumina Vatum,
m Dictitet Albano Mufas in monte locutas.

Si, quia Graecorum funt antiquiffima quaeque
Scripta vel optima, Romani penfantur eadem
Scriptores trutina; non eft quod multa loquamur:
Nil intra eft oleam, nil extra eft in nuce duri.
Venimus ad fummum fortunae: pingimus, atque
Pfallimus, et luctamur Achivis doctius unctiș,
Si meliora dies, ut vina, poemata reddit ;

Scire velim, chartis pretium quotus arroget annus.
Scriptor ab hinc annos centum qui decidit, inter
Perfectos veterefque referri debet, an inter
Viles atque novos? excludat jurgia finis,

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NOTES.

VER. 38. And beaftly Skelton, etc.] Skelton, Poet Lau reat to Hen. VIII. a volume of whofe verfes has been lately reprinted, confifting almoft wholly of ribaldry, obfcenity, and fcurrilous language. P.

Foes to all living worth except your own,
And Advocates for folly dead and gone.
Authors, like coins, grow dear as they grow old; 35

It is the ruft we value, not the gold.

1 Chaucer's worft ribaldry is learn'd by rote,

And beaftly Skelton Heads of houfes quote:
One likes no language but the Faery Queen;
A Scot will fight for Chrift's Kirk o' the Green; 40
And each true Briton is to Ben so civil,

m He fwears the Mufes met him at the Devil,

Tho' juftly" Greece her eldest fons admires, Why should not We be wifer than our fires? In ev'ry Public virtue we excell;

O

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We build, we paint, we fing, we dance as well,
And P learned Athens to our art must stoop,
Could fhe behold us tumbling thro' a hoop.

If Time improve our Wit as well as Wine,
Say at what age a Poet grows divine?
Shall we, or fhall we not, account him fo,
Who dy'd, perhaps, an hundred years ago?
End all difpute; and fix the year precise
When British bards begin t' immortalize?

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NOTES.

VER. 40. Chrift's Kirk o' the Green ;] A Ballad made by a King of Scotland. P.

VER. 42. met him at the Devil] The Devil Tavern, where Ben Johnson held his Poetical Club.

P.