Who, tho' the House was up, delighted sate,
Heard, noted, answer'd, as in full debate:
In all but this, a man of sober life,
Fond of his Friend, and civil to his Wife;
Not quite a madman, tho' a pasty fell,
And much too wise to walk into a well.

190

Him, the damn'd Doctors and his Friends immur'd They bled, they cupp'd, they purg'd; in short, they

cur'd:

Whereat the gentleman began to stare

194

My Friends! he cried, p-x take you for your care;
That from a Patriot of distinguish'd note,
Have bled and purg'd me to a simple Vote.

my

'Well, on the whole, plain Prose must be
Wisdom (curse on it) will come soon or late.
There is a time when Poets will grow dull:
I'll e'en leave verses to the boys at school:
To rules of Poetry no more confin'd,
I'll learn to smooth and harmonize my Mind,
Teach ev'ry thought within its bounds to roll,

And keep the equal measure of the Soul.

Soon as I enter at my country door,

My mind resumes the thread it dropt before;

Thoughts, which at Hyde-park-corner I forgot,
Meet and rejoin me, in the pensive Grot.

fate:

200

205

NOTES.

Mais voulant de ses soins exiger le salaire,
Moi, vous payez? lui dit le bigot en colere,
Vous, dont l'art infernal, par des secrets maudits,

En me tirant d'erreur, m'oste du paradis ?"

Ver. 202. To rules of Poetry] These four lines are far superior to the Original, particularly the third and the fourth.

'Si tibi nulla sitim finiret copia lymphæ, Narrares medicis: quod quanto plura parasti, Tanto plura cupis, nulline fațerier audes?

"Si vulnus tibi monstrata radice vel herba
Non fieret levius, fugeres radice vel herba
Proficiente nihil curarier: audieras, cui
Rem Dî donarint, illi decedere pravam
Stultitiam; et, cum sis nihilo sapientior, ex quo
Plenior es, tamen uteris monitoribus îsdem?
At si divitiæ prudentem reddere possent,

Si cupidum timidumque minus te; nempe ruberes,
Viveret in terris te si quis avarior uno.

W

Si proprium est, quod quis libra mercatus et ære
est,

Quædam (si credis consultis) mancipat usus:
Qui te pascit ager, tuus est; et villicus Orbi,

NOTES.

Ver. 210. compliments apart,] This is languid and redundant; but the two preceding lines, hinting at what passed in his mind, on leaving London until he got to Twickenham, very pleasing. Feel the smart, ver. 217, is ill expressed.

Ver. 218. When golden Angels] These lines are undoubtedly good; but the introduction of the absurd practice of touching for the king's evil, and the satire on servile chaplains, seem forced.

Ver. 220. When servile Chaplains cry,] Dr. Kennet. W.

Ver. 229. If D*** lov'd] I have in vain searched for the name to whom this blank belongs. Of all sorts of writing, personal

There all alone, and compliments apart,

I ask these sober questions of my heart.

t

210

215

* If, when the more you drink, the more you crave, You tell the Doctor; when the more you have, The more you want, why not with equal ease Confess as well your Folly, as Disease? The heart resolves this matter in a trice, "Men only feel the Smart, but not the Vice." " When golden Angels cease to cure the Evil, You give all royal Witchcraft to the Devil : When servile Chaplains cry, that birth and place Endue a Peer with honour, truth, and grace, Look in that breast, most dirty D—! be fair, Say, can you find out one such lodger there? Yet still, not heeding what your heart can teach, You go to Church to hear these Flatt'rers preach. Indeed, could wealth bestow or wit or merit, 226 A grain of courage, or a spark of spirit,

The wisest man might blush, I must agree,

If D*** lov'd sixpence, more than he.

W

221

If there be truth in Law, and use can give 230 A Property, that's yours on which you live.

NOTES.

satire is not only the most unintelligible, but the most shortlived. How many of the characters to whom La Bruyere alludes are unknown; Theodas, is Santeuil; Menalcas, Count de Brancas.

It was a long time before it was understood that M. de la Rochefoucault, in his 71st maxim, meant to point out the Chevalier de Rohan: in his 342d maxim, the D. d'Espernon; and in his 393d, M. le Tellier; and in maxim 200, the narrow conversation of Boileau and Racine, who never talked on any subject but poetry and criticism. Three parts of Hudibras are become unintelligible.

Cum segetes occat tibi mox frumenta daturas,

Te dominum sentit.

*das nummos; accipis uvam, Pullos, ova, cadum temeti: nempe modo isto Paulatim mercaris agrum, fortasse trecentis, Aut etiam supra, nummorum millibus emptum. Quid refert, vivas numerato nuper, an olim?

Emptor Aricini quondam, Veientis et arvi, Emptum cœnat olus, quamvis aliter putat; emptis Sub noctem gelidam lignis calefactat ahenum. Sed vocat usque suum, qua populus adsita certis Limitibus vicina refigit jurgia: tanquam

*Sit proprium quidquam, puncto quod mobilis horæ, Nunc prece, nunc pretio, nunc vi, nunc morte su

prema,

Permutet dominos, et cedat in altera jura.

Sic, quia perpetuus nulli datur usus, at hæres Hæredem alterius, velut unda supervenit undam: Quid vici prosunt, aut horrea? quidve Calabris Saltibus adjecti Lucani; si metit Orcus

NOTES.

Ver. 232. Delightful Abs-court,] A farm over-against Hampton-Court.

Ver. 248. hang in Fortune's pow'r-Loose on the point of ev'ry wav'ring hour.] A modern idea (the magnetic needle) here supplied the Imitator with expression much superior to his Original. W.

Ver. 254. All vast possessions] The next ten lines are far superior to the Original, both for their poetry and philosophy; and for the artful introduction of the name of his excellent and amiable friend, Lord Bathurst.

Delightful Abs-court, if its fields afford

Their fruits to you, confesses you its lord:

X

All Worldly's hens, nay partridge, sold to town, His ven'son too, a guinea makes your own:

235

He bought at thousands, what with better wit
You purchase as you want, and bit by bit;
Now, or long since, what diff'rence will be found?
You pay a penny, and he paid a pound.

> Heathcote himself, and such large-acred men, Lords of fat E'sham, or of Lincoln fen,

Buy ev'ry stick of wood, that lends them heat,
Buy ev'ry Pullet they afford to eat.

241

Yet these are Weights, who fondly call their own
Half that the Dev'l o'erlooks from Lincoln town.
The Laws of God, as well as of the land,
Abhor, a Perpetuity should stand:

Estates have wings, and hang in Fortune's pow'r *Loose on the point of ev'ry wav'ring hour. Ready, by force, or of your own accord,

246

250

By sale, at least by death, to change their lord. Man? and for ever? wretch! what would'st thou have?

Heir urges heir, like wave impelling wave.

All vast possessions (just the same the case

Whether you call them Villa, Park, or Chase,) 255
Alas, my BATHURST! what will they avail?
Join Cotswood hills to Saperton's fair dale,
Let rising Granaries and Temples here,
There mingled farms and pyramids appear,
Link towns to towns with avenues of oak,
Enclose whole downs in walls, 'tis all a joke!

260