For wanton Nature forms the human Mind,
Still fond of Wonders, and to Change inclin'd

Plain Senfe we fly, ftrange Nonsense to pursue,
And leave old Follies, but to grafp at New;

One hour we court, what we the next refufe,

And loath to morrow, what to day we chufe:

Now we are grave, then gay.

Joy,

;

185

-now wing'd with

Then funk in Grief- and all we know not why.

Ꭰ

Format enim natura priùs nos intus ad omnem
Fortunarum habitum; Juvat aut impellit ad iram

The

VER. 182. For wanton Nature.] Egregious are the Blunders of all our Commentators on the following Lines; erroneously taking them in a literal Senfe, they have ftigmatis'd them as a virulent Invective on human Nature. Groundless and abfurd! Is not the whole Poem an Irony? Ought not these Lines therefore to be conftru'd by the rule of Reverse, and doth not our Bard, then, in this place, fing loudly in Laud of his Fellow-Creatures, and bold forth the prefent fpotlefs Generation, as replete with Honour, Integrity, Prudence, Generofity, and a long & cætera of Vertues? In this Light we doubt not but thefe Verfes will be lock'd on by every well-difpos'd good-natur'd Reader, and to the Truth of which we trust he will readily accord.

The Things we hunt, are Pleasure, Wealth, and

Fame,

But a wrong Scent still cheats us of the Game;

For different Objects, different Aims excite,

190

And still we think the last Opinion right:

To Craft, Deceit, and Selfishness inclin❜d,

We never let the Face betray the Mind;

195

But then look faireft, when we mean moft Ill,

And Syrens like we only smile to kill :

By Interest sway'd, each Word is full of Art,
And still the Tongue runs counter to the Heart.

(17) From all restraint your Characters set free, 200 Nor, with their Fortune, make their Words agree. We hate a Piece where Truth and Nature meet,

Scorn what is real, but enjoy deceit ;

Aut ad humum moerore gravi deducit, & angit: Poft effert animi motus interperte Linguá. (17) Si dicentis erunt fortunis abfona dicta,

And always give the most Applause to those,
Who on our very Senfes most impose.

205

(18) Take then no Pains resemblance to purfue,"

Give us but fomething very strange, and new,

"Twill entertain the more- that 'tis not true.

If great Sir Robert's Character you'd feign,
Describe him mean, revengeful, thoughtless, vain ; 2 10
A thousand monftrous Accufations bring,

False to his Friends, his Country, and his King.

Ungraceful giving, in refufing Sour,

An Wolfey in, a Cat'line out of Power;

The Church's downfall, and the State's Disease, 215

A Turk, a Jew, a Fiend, a

what you please.

No

D 2

Romani tollent Equites peditefque cachinnum.
(18) Aut famam fequere, aut fibi convenientia finge
Scriptor. Honoratum fi forté reponis Achillem,
Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer,

Jura neget fibi nata, nihil non arroget armis ;

Make weekly Patriots free from Envy feem,

And publick Good their Thought, as well as Theme.

Call Dorset vain, firm Wilmington a Tool,

Cooper a Churl, and Dodington a Fool.

Make Chesterfield nor witty, nor polite,

Argile unable or to speak, or fight.

Wager the Just from Vertue's Paths elope,
And Montagu a downright Misantrope.

220

Talbot, the Boaft and Bleffing of the Age!

225

VER. 199. Mifantrope.] Man-hater, a Character the most contrary imaginable to that of the noble Perfonage to whom it is here apply'd; whofe fingular Humanity and Candor, cannot fail of calling down npon him juch Appellations as this from the Harlequin Authors of the Bathos.

No Orphan Voice fhould grateful Pæans raise,
Nor Widow'd Hands be lifted in his Praife;

But Partial, Proud, Ambitious, be defcrib'd,

By Paffion govern'd, and by Interest brib'd.

230

(19) But if fome untry'd Story you would chufe,

And in new Characters employ your Mufe;

Draw each be fure as monftrous as you can,

235

Something betwixt a Chartres and a Man.

True to it felf let no one Image be,

Nor the Beginning with the End agree;

From first to last write on without Design,

And give us fome new Wonder in each Line. 240

J

(19) Si quid inexpertum fcenæ committis, & audes Perfonam formare novam; fervetur ad imum Qualis ab incæpto procefferit, & fibi conftet,

(20) 'Tis