Seen him I have, but in his happier hour Of Social Pleasure, ill-exchang'd for Pow'r; NOTES. 30 Seen VER. 27. Go fee Sir ROBERT] We must not judge of this minister's character from the Differtation on Parties, nor from the eloquent Philippics, for eloquent they were, uttered against him in both Houses of Parliament. Hume has drawn his portrait with candour and impartiality. And fome of his moft vehement antagonists, particularly the great Lord Chatham, lived to allow the merits of that long and pacific ministry, which fo much extended the commerce, and confequently enlarged the riches of this country. VER. 29. Seen him I have, &c.] This, and other strokes of commendation in the following poem, as well as his regard to Sir Robert Walpole on all occafions, were in acknowledgment of a certain fervice he had done a friend of Mr. Pope's at his folicitation. Our Poet, when he was about seventeen, had a very ill fever in the country; which it was feared would end fatally. In this condition he wrote to Southcot, a Priest of his acquaintance, then in town, to take his last leave of him. Southcot, with great affection and folicitude, applied to Dr. Radcliffe for his advice. And not content with that, he rode down poft to Mr. Pope, who was then an hundred miles from London, with the Doctor's directions; which had the defired effect. A long time after this, Southcot, who had an interest in the Court of France, writing to a common acquaintance in England, informed him that there was a good abbey void near Avignon, which he had credit enough to get, were it not from an apprehenfion that his promotion would give umbrage to the English Court; to which he (Southcot) by his intrigues in the Pretender's fervice, was become very obnoxious. The perfon to whom this was written happening to acquaint Mr. Pope with the cafe, he immediately wrote a pleasant letter to Sir R. Walpole in the Priest's behalf: He acquainted the Minister with the grounds of his folicitation, and begged that this embargo, for his Mr. P.'s fake, might be taken off; for that he was indebted to Southcot for his life; which debt muft needs be difcharged either here or in purgatory. The Minifter received the application favourably, and with much good-nature wrote to his brother, then in France, to remove the obftruction. In con sequence Seen him, uncumber'd with the venal tribe, He does not think me what he thinks mankind. NOTES. Come, fequence of which Southcot got the abbey. Mr. Pope ever after retained a grateful fenfe of his civility. W. To the account given in this note may be added, that in gratitude for this favour conferred on his friend, Pope presented to Mr. Horatio Walpole, afterwards Lord Walpole, a fet of his Works in quarto, richly bound; which are now in the library at Wolterton. VER. 31. Seen him, uncumber'd] These two verses were originally in the Poem, though omitted in all the first editions. VER. 34. He does not think me] In former Editions, He thinks me Poet of no venal kind. P. VER. 34. What he thinks mankind.] This request appears fomewhat abfurd: but not more fo than the principle it refers to. That great Minister, it seems, thought all mankind Rogues; and that every one had his price. It was ufually given as a proof of his penetration, and extensive knowledge of the world. Others perhaps would think it the mark of a bounded capacity; which, from a few of Rochefoucault's maxims, and the corrupt practice of thofe he commonly converfed with, would thus boldly pronounce upon the character of his Species. It is certain, that a Keeper of Newgate, who fhould make the fame conclufion, would be heartily laughed at. W. If Walpole really thought fo ill of mankind, which may be doubted, it may remind us of what Suetonius fays of Nero, c. 29. "Ex nonnullis comperi, perfuaffiffimum habuiffe eum, neminem hominum pudicum effe; verùm plerofque diffimulare vitium, calliditate obtegere." When Pulteney and the Patriots had resolved not to oppose Sir Robert's famous Excife fcheme, as really thinking it a wife, expeditious, and certain method of collecting the Revenue, Lord Bolingbroke went round to them all, in a great hurry, and carneftly told them they must oppofe it, unless they wifhed Sir Robert to be Minifter for ever. "The wifer any measure Come, come, at all I laugh he laughs, no doubt 36 F. Why, yes: with Scripture still you may be free; A Horse-laugh, if you please, at Honefty; NOTES. A Joke is," added he, "the more those that are in opposition, and out of place, fhould oppose it; a foolish scheme falls to the ground of itfelf." Just before Atterbury went into exile, a large fine dropt to him as Dean of Weftminster, but he could have no right to receive it, without the feal being fet to the lease in a full chapter. Sir Robert Walpole earnestly inquired, if a chapter could not be held in the tower, that the Bishop might receive the benefit of this fine. A chapter was accordingly there held, and the Bishop received a thousand pounds for his share of the fine. This anecdote, which is well authenticated, does great credit to the liberality and good temper of Sir Robert Walpole. VER. 37. Why, yes: with Scripture, &c.] A fcribler, whofe only chance for reputation is the falling in with the fashion, is apt to employ this infamous expedient for the preservation of a tranfitory name. But a true Genius could not do a foolisher thing, or fooner defeat his own aim. The fage Boileau used to say on this occafion, "Une ouvrage fevere peut bien plaire aux libertins; mais une ouvrage trop libre ne plaira jamais aux personnes feveres." W. VER. 37. Why, yes: with Scripture fiill you may be free;] Thus the Man, commonly called Mother Ofborne (who was in the Minifter's pay, and wrote Coffee-house Journals) for one Paper in behalf of Sir Robert, had frequently two against J. C. W. VER. 38. A horfe-laugh,] When the Abbé Terrai, Comptroller of the Finances in France, under Louis XV. was once informed that one of his oppreffive and iniquitous measures was univerfally condemned, he only replied coolly, "Who pretends that it is juft?"—an answer exactly suited to a Minister of a defpotic Prince. The Abbé had swallowed a proper dose of that useful nepenthe mentioned below at verfe 96. A Joke on JEKYL, or fome odd Old Whig Whom all Lord Chamberlains allow the Stage: These nothing hurts; they keep their Fashion still, And wear their strange old Virtue, as they will. If any ask you, "Who's the Man fo near 40 45 "His Prince, that writes in Verfe, and has his ear ?" NOTES. 50 Laugh VER. 39. A Joke on JEKYL,] Sir Joseph Jekyl, Master of the Rolls, a true Whig in his principles, and a man of the utmost probity. He fometimes voted against the Court, which drew upon him the laugh here defcribed of ONE who bestowed it equally upon Religion and Honefty. He died a few months after the publication of this Poem. P. VER. 39. Some odd Old Whig] Whofe principles are, or ought to be; "That the government of one, for the fake of one, is Tyranny; and fo is the Government of a few, for the fake of themfelves; but Government executed for the good of all, and with the confent of all, is Liberty." VER. 47. Why, answer, LYTTELTON,] George Lyttelton, Secretary to the Prince of Wales, distinguished both for his writings and fpeeches in the fpirit of liberty. P. VER. 51. Sejanus,] This profligate minifter prevailed on the Senate to order a book of Crematius Cordus, in praise of Brutus and Caffius, to be burnt. This prohibition naturally increased the circulation of the work. "Libros cremandos," fays Tacitus, " cenfuere 3 Laugh then at any, but at Fools or Foes; Thefe you but anger, and you mend not thofe. NOTES. Laugh "cenfuere patres; fed manferunt occultati, etenim punitis ingeniis, glifcit auctoritas." "The punishing of wits enhances their authority," fays Lord Bacon; "and a forbidden writing is thought to be a certain fpark of truth, that flies up in the faces of them who feek to tread it out." VER. 51. Sejanus, Wolfey,] The one the wicked minifter of Tiberius; the other of Henry VIII. The writers against the Court ufually beftowed these and other odious names on the Minifter, without distinction, and in the most injurious manner. See Dial. II. ver. 137. P. VER. 51. FLEURY,] Cardinal, and Minifter to Louis XV. It was a Patriot-fashion, at that time, to cry up his wisdom and honefty. P. VER. 51. Honeft FLEURY,] Fontenelle who had been acquainted with the Cardinal before his miniftry, vifiting him and finding him in his ufual ferenity and gaiety of temper, faid to him, "Is it poffible that your Eminence ftill continues to be happy?" The fhort Billets which the Cardinal wrote to Fontenelle, and which are preferved in the 11th Vol. of his Works, are full of wit, elegance, and pleasantry. A perfon who had feen many courts, and been acquainted with many minifters, fays, "I cannot refrain from combating the opinion, which fuppofes prodigious abilities, and a genius almost divine, in those who have governed Empires with fome degree of fuccefs. It is not a fuperior penetration that makes statesmen; it is their character. All men, how inconfiderable soever their share of fenfe may be, fee their own intereft nearly alike. A citizen of Bern or Amfterdam, in this respect, is equal to Sejanus, Ximenes, Buckingham, Richelieu, or Mazarine; but our own conduct, and our enterprizes, depend abfolutely on our own natural difpofitions; and our fuccefs depends upon fortune. A curious account is given of the rife and fortunes of Cardinal Fleury, in the first volume of St. Simon's Memoirs, by which it appears that it was with great difficulty Louis XIV. who thought the manners of Fleury, at that time, too diffipated for a grave ecclefiaftic, was prevailed on by the Archbishop of Paris, to give him the Bishopric of Frejus, his firft great preferment. |
