'Eft mihi purgatam crebro qui perfonet aurem ; g Solve fenefcentem mature fanus equum, ne Peccet ad extremum ridendus, et ilia ducat. Nunc itaque et verfus, et cætera ludicra pono: Quid verum atque decens, curo et rogó, et omnis in hoc fum: *Condo, et compono, quæ mox depromere poffim. Ac ne forte roges, 'quo me duce, quo Lare tuter : Nullius addictus jurare in verba magiftri, "Quo me cunque rapit tempeftas, deferor hofpes. Nunc agilis fio, et merfor "civilibus undis, NOTES. Virtutis fecond book, from the year thirty-one to thirty-three; next, the Epodes, in his thirty-fourth and fifth year; next, the first book of his Odes, in three years, from his thirty-fixth to his thirtyeighth year; the second book in the two next years; then, the first book of the Epiftles, in his forty-fixth and feventh year; next to that, the fourth book of his Odes, in his forty-ninth year: laftly, the Art of Poetry, and fecond book of the Epiftles, to which an exact date cannot be affigned. VER. 10. Ev'n in BRUNSWICK's caufe.] In the former Editions it was Britain's caufe. But the terms are fynonimous. W. VER. 15. Left fif] He has excelled Boileau's imitation of thefe verses, Ep. 10. v. 44. And indeed Boileau himself is excelled by an old French Poet, whom he has frequently imitated, that is, Le Frefnaie Vauquelin, whofe Poems were published 1612. Vauquelin fays, that he profited much by reading the Satires of Ariofto; he also wrote an Art of Poetry; one of his best pieces is an imitation of Horace's Trebatius, being a dialogue be tween himself and the Chancellor of France. VER. 16. You limp, like Blackmore on a Lord Mayor's horse.] The fame of this heavy Poet, however problematical elsewhere, was A voice there is, that whispers in my ear, II ('Tis Reason's voice, which sometimes one can hear,) "Friend Pope! be prudent, let your Muse take "breath, "And never gallop Pegafus to death; "Left ftiff, and ftately, void of fire or force, 15 "You limp, like Blackmore on a Lord Mayor's "horfe." Farewell then Verfe, and Love, and ev'ry 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: k To lay this harvest up, and hoard with haste But ask not, to what 'Doctors I apply? Sworn to no Master, of no Sect am I: m As drives the storm, at any door I knock: 20 25 And house with Montagne now, or now with Locke. Sometimes a "Patriot, active in debate, Mix with the World, and battle for the State, NOTES. Free was univerfally received in the City of London. His verfification is here exactly defcribed; ftiff, and not ftrong; ftately, and yet dull, like the fober and flow-paced animal generally employed to mount the Lord Mayor: and therefore here humorously opposed to Pegasus. P. VER. 26. And boufe with Montagne now, or now with Locke.] i. e. Chufe either an active or a contemplative life, as is moft fitted to the season and circumftances. For he regarded these Writers as the best Schools to form a man for the world; or to give him a knowledge of himself: Montagne excelling in his obfervations on focial and civil life; and Locke, in developing the faculties, and explaining the operations of the human mind. W. * Virtutis veræ cuftos, rigidufque fatelles: จ Ut nox longa, quibus mentitur amica; diefque Lenta videtur opus debentibus: ut piger annus Pupillis, quos dura premit cuftodia matrum: Æque neglectum pueris, fenibufque nocebit. * Omnis Aristippum decuit color, et status, et res. Reftat, P. NOTES. VER. 29. Free as young Lyttelton,] A juft, and not overcharged encomium, on an excellent man, who had always ferved 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 obfervations on the Converfion of St. Paul, with clearnefs and closeness of reasoning; and his Hiftory of Henry II. with accuracy and knowledge of those early times and of the English Constitution; and which was compiled from a laborious search into authentic documents, and the records lodged in the Tower and at the Rolls. A little before he 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 Perfian Letters, written 1735, in imitation of those of his friend Montefquieu, 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 preferve and infert these letters. Another little piece, written alfo in his early youth, does him much honour: the Obfervations Free as young Lyttelton, her caufe pursue, 30 34 Long, as to him who works for Debt, the day, Long as the Night to her whofe Love's away, The eldest is a fool, the youngest wise. 40 Which done, the poorest can no wants endure; 45 And which not done, the richest must be poor. NOTES. Late Obfervations on the Life of Tully, in which, perhaps, a more difpaffionate and impartial character of Tully is exhibited than in the panegyrical volumes of Middleton. VER. 31. Ariflippus, or St. Paul,] There is an impropriety and indecorum, in joining the name of the moft profligate parafite of the court of Dionyfius, with that of an Apoftle. 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 opposed 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. VER. 45. Can no wants endure;] i. e. Can want nothing: badly expreffed. W. 'Reftat, ut his ego me ipfe regam "folerque ele mentis: "Non poffis oculo quantum contendere Lynceus; X Laudis amore tumes? Sunt certa piacula, quæ te Ter pure lecto poterunt recreare libello. d Invidus, iracundus, iners, vinofus, amator; e Virtus eft, vitium fugere; et fapientia prima, Stultitia caruiffe. vides, quæ 'maxima credis NOTES. Effe pro VER. 51. I'll do what Mead] Mr. Pope highly esteemed and loved this worthy man; whofe unaffected humanity and benevolence have ftifled much of that envy which his eminence in his feffion would otherwife have drawn out. Speaking of his obligations to this great Phyfician 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 beft friends, as well as the most learned men I know." W. The fame may with strict justice be faid of Heberden, Baker, and Warren. VER. 61. Be furious,] Horace, in his ufual artful way, glanced at his own frailties and weaknesses, as he frequently does in the four laft epithets of the 38th verfe in the original. As to envy, he had not a grain of it in his nature: and in verse 100 of the ori ginal, he laughs at his own paffion for building. Diruit, |