in the back ground; and he had a flanding Army, against any open attempts of the Pretender. With this policy, and with thefe armies, Sir Robert Walpole faved the state.

Upon the whole, this Imitation is highly polished and pointed; but the reader muft fmile at Pope's impartial glafs, when he contemplates the picture which he, with fo much complacency, has exhibited of himself.

1

THE SECOND SATIRE

OF THE

SECOND BOOK OF HORACE.

SATIRA II.

'Q'

UÆ virtus et quanta, boni, fit vivere parvo, (Nec meus hic fermo; fed quæ præcepit Ofellus, Rufticus, abnormis Sapiens, craffáque Minerva,) Difcite, non inter lances menfaque nitentes ; Cum ftupet infanis acies fulgoribus, et cum Acclinis falfis animus meliora recufat:

d

• Verum hic impranfi mecum difquirite. Cur hoc?
Dicam, fi potero. male verum examinat omnis
Corruptus judex. Leporem fectatus, equove
Laffus ab indomito; vel (fi Romana fatigat
Militia affuetum Græcari) feu pila velox,
Molliter aufterum ftudio fallente laborem ;
Seu te difcus agit, pete cedentem aëra disco:

NOTES.

Cum

VER. 2. To live on little] This difcourfe in praise of temperance lofes much of its grace and propriety by being put into the mouth of a person of a much higher rank in life than the honeft countryman Ofellus; whofe patrimony had been seized by Augustus, and given to one of his foldiers named Umbrenus, and whom, perhaps, Horace recommended to the Emperor, by making him the chief fpeaker in this very fatire. We may imagine that a difcourfe on temperance from Horace raised a laugh among the · courtiers of Auguftus; and we fee he could not venture to deliver it in his own perfon.

This Imitation of Pope is not equal to moft of his others.

WARTON.

VER. 9. BETHEL] The fame to whom feveral of Mr. Pope's Letters are addreffed.

WARBURTON.

SATIRE II.

TO MR. BETHEL.

WHAT,
AT, and how great, the Virtue and the Art
To live on little with a chearful heart;
'(A doctrine fage, but truly none of mine ;)
Let's talk, my friends, but talk before we dine.

C

e

Not when a gilt Buffet's reflected pride
Turns you from found Philofophy afide;
Not when from plate to plate your eye-balls roll,
And the brain dances to the mantling bowl.

5

Hear BETHEL's Sermon, one not vers'd in schools, But strong in fenfe, and wife without the rules. 10

d

h

Go work, hunt, exercife! (he thus began,)

Then fcorn a homely dinner, if you can.

Your

NOTES.

VER. 11. Go work, hunt,] These fix following lines are much inferior to the original, in which the mention of many particular exercises gives it a pleafing variety. The fixth and seventh lines in Horace are nervous and itrong. The third in Pope is languid and wordy, which renders foris eft promus. Defendens, and latrantem, and caro, and pinguem, and album, are all of them very expreffive epithets: And the allufion to Socrates's constant exercise, tu pulmentaria, &c. ought not to have been omitted. Pope's two last lines in this paffage are very exceptionable. We are informed by Mr. Stuart, in his Athens, that the honey of Hymettus, even to this time, continues to be in vogue; and that the feraglio of the Grand Seignor is ferved with a ftated quantity of it yearly.

WARTON.

H 3

i

Cum labor extulerit faftidia; ficcus, inanis,
Sperne cibum vilem: nifi Hymettia mella Falerno,
Ne biberis, diluta. foris eft promus, et atrum
Defendens pifces hiemat mare: cum fale panis
Latrantem ftomachum bene leniet. unde putas, aut
Quî partum? non in caro nidore voluptas
Summa, fed in teipfo eft. tu pulmentaria quære
Sudando. pinguem vitiis albumque neque oftrea,
Nec fcarus, aut poterit peregrina juvare lagoïs.

* Vix tamen eripiam, pofito pavone, velis quin
Hoc potius quam gallina tergere palatum;
Corruptus vanis rerum : quia veneat auro
Rara avis, et picta pandat spectacula cauda :
Tamquam ad rem attineat quidquam. Num vefceris

ista,

Quam laudas, pluma? coctove num adeft honor idem?
Carne tamen quamvis diftat nihil hac, magis illa;
Imparibus formis deceptum te patet, esto.
Unde datum fentis, lupus hic, Tiberinus, an alto
*Captus hiet? pontefne inter jactatus, an amnis
Oftia fub Tufci? laudas, infane, trilibrem

1

Mullum; in fingula quem minuas plumenta neceffe eft. Ducit te fpecies, video. quo pertinet ergo

Proceros odiffe lupos ? quia fcilicet illis

Majorem natura modum dedit, his breve pondus.
Jejunus raro ftomachus vulgaria temnit..

Porrectum

NOTES.

VER. 18. before a ben ;] He might have inferted the original word peacocks, as many of our English epicures are fond of them. Q. Hortenfius had the honour of being the first Roman that in

troduced