Gave it, as ransom; but as fidlers, still,
Though they be paid to be gone, yet needs will
Thrust one more jig upon you: so did he
With his long complimented thanks vex me,
But he is gone, thanks to his needy want,
And the Prerogative of my Crown; scant
His thanks were ended, when I (which did see
All the Court fill'd with more strange things than he)
Ran from thence with such, or more haste than one
Who fears more actions, doth haste from prison.
At home in wholesome solitariness

My piteous soul began the wretchedness

Of suitors at court to mourn, and a trance

Like his, who dreamt he saw hell, did advance
Itself o'er me: such men as he saw there

I saw at court, and worse and more. Low fear
Becomes the guilty, not th' accuser: Then,
Shall I, none's slave, of highborn or rais'd men
Fear frowns; and my mistress Truth, betray thee
For th' huffing, bragart, puft nobility?

NOTES.

piece. But such a frigid objection ought to vanish before so much excellence.

Ver. 192. Not Dante dreaming] It is only within a few years that the merits of this great and original Poet were attended to, and made known in this country. And this seems to be owing to a translation of the very pathetic story of Count Ugolino; to the judicious and spirited summary given of this poem, in the 31st section of the History of English Poetry; and to Mr. Hayley's elegant translation of three cantos of the Inferno. Notwithstanding the feeble and tasteless attacks of Voltaire, real judges will ever think that it abounds in many strokes of the true sublime, and the pathetic, though mixed with the strongest traits of the satiric. With what vigour and vehemence has he

Where Contemplation prunes her ruffled wings,
And the free soul looks down to pity Kings!
There sober thought pursu'd th' amusing theme,
Till Fancy colour'd it, and form'd a Dream.
A Vision hermits can to Hell transport,

And forc'd ev'n me to see the damn'd at Court.
Not Dante dreaming all th' infernal state
Beheld such scenes of envy, sin, and hate.
Base Fear becomes the guilty, not the free;
Suits Tyrants, Plunderers, but suits not me:
Shall I, the Terror of this sinful town,
Care, if a liv'ry'd Lord or smile or frown?
Who cannot flatter, and detest who can,
Tremble before a noble Serving-man?

NOTES.

190

195

justly lashed the profligacy, the tyranny, and the corruptions, of the Church of Rome, being one of the very first writers that called her the Great Harlot in the Apocalypse, canto 19, of the Inferno. Nor has he been less severe on cruel and despotic princes; and in one place makes Hugh Capet confess that his father was a butcher: Figliuol d' un Beccajo di Parigi. Purgat. canto 20, and own himself the cause and origin of much mischief to Christendom:

I suoi radici de la mala pianta,

Che la terra Christiana tutta aduggià,

Si che buon frutto rado se ne schianta.

I only just add, that Mr. Addison appears not to have read Dante, from his never once referring to him in his Criticisms on Milton, who was such an admirer and imitator of this great Italian Poet. Algarotti justly laments the loss of an inestimable treasure, a copy of Dante, which Michael Angelo had enriched with designs drawn with his pen, on the margin of each leaf. Dante was justly styled, Il poeta dell' evidenza.

These first stanzas of the 24th canto of the Inferno, printed in Dodsley's Museum, No. 2, page 57, is by Mr. Spence. Voltaire absurdly calls Il Inferno, "Ce Salmigondis.".

No, no, thou which since yesterday hast been,
Almost about the whole world, hast thou seen,
O Sun, in all thy journey, vanity,

Such as swells the bladder of our court? I
Think he which made your Waxen* garden, and
Transported it from Italy, to stand

With us at London, flouts our Courtiers; for
Just such gay painted things, which no sap, nor
Taste have in them, ours are; and natural
Some of the stocks are † ; their fruits bastard all:
'Tis ten a Clock and past; all whom the mues,
Baloun, or tennis, diet, or the stews

Had all the morning held, now the second
Time made ready, that day, in flocks are found
In the Presence, and I (God pardon me)
As fresh and sweet their Apparels be, as be
Their fields they sold to buy them. For a king
Those hose are, cry the flatterers; and bring
Them next week to the theatre to sell.

Wants reach all states: me seems they do as well
At stage, as courts; all are players. Whoe er looks
(For themselves dare not go) o'er Cheapside books,
Shall find their wardrobes inventory. Now
The Ladies come. As pirates (which do know

NOTES.

A show of the Italian Garden in Waxwork, in the time of King James the First. W.

ti. e. of wood. W.

Ver. 206. Court in wax !] A famous show of the Court of France in Waxwork.

P.

Ver. 213. At Fig's, at White's,] White's was a noted gaminghouse: Fig's, a Prize-fighter's Academy, where the young Nobi

200

205

O my fair mistress, Truth! shall I quit thee
For huffing, braggart, puff'd Nobility?
Thou, who since yesterday hast roll'd o'er all
The busy, idle blockheads of the ball,
Hast thou, oh Sun! beheld an emptier sort,
Than such as swell this bladder of a court?
Now pox on those who shew a Court in wax!
It ought to bring all Courtiers on their backs;
Such painted puppets! such a varnish'd race
Of hollow gewgaws, only dress and face!
Such waxen noses, stately staring things-
No wonder some folks bow, and think them Kings.
See where the British youth, engag'd no more
At Fig's, at White's, with felons, or a whore,
Pay their last duty to the Court, and come
All fresh and fragrant to the drawing-room;
In hues as gay, and odours as divine,

210

215

As the fair fields they sold to look so fine. "That's Velvet for a King!" the flatt'rer swears: 'Tis true, for ten days hence 'twill be King Lear's.

NOTES.

lity received instruction in those days: it was also customary for the Nobility and Gentry to visit the condemned criminals in Newgate. P.

Ver. 218. That's Velvet] Much superior to the Original in brevity and elegance: the next line is a stricture on the act for licensing plays, which about this time occasioned great debates in the House of Lords, and a very spirited and remarkable speech of Lord Chesterfield in behalf of play-writers:-" Wit," said he, " my Lords, is the property of those who have it; and very often the only property they have. Thank Heaven, my Lords, we are otherwise provided for." The first play that was prohibited by this act, was Gustavus Vasa, by Brooke; the next was the Edward and Eleonora of Thomson.

That there came weak ships fraught with Cutchanel)
The men board them; and praise (as they think) well,
Their beauties; they the mens wits; both are bought.
Why good wits ne'er wear scarlet gowns, I thought
This cause, These men, mens wits for speeches buy,
And women buy all red which scarlets dye.
He call'd her beauty lime-twigs, her hair net :
She fears her drugs ill lay'd, her hair loose set.
Would not Heraclitus laugh to see Macrine
From hat to shoe, himself at door refine,
As if the Presence were a Mosque and lift
His skirts and hose, and call his clothes to shrift,
Making them confess not only mortal

Great stains and holes in them, but venial
Feathers and dust, wherewith they fornicate:
And then by Durer's rules survey the state
Of his each limb, and with strings the odds tries
Of his neck to his leg, and waste to thighs.

NOTES.

Ver. 220. our stage give rules,] Alluding to the Authority of the Lord Chamberlain. W.

Ver. 227. Like frigates fraught] Here is a very close resemblance to the picture of Dalilah, in Samson Agonistes:

With all her bravery on, and tackle trim,
Sails filled, and streamers waving?"

Ver. 240. by Durer's rules,] The best Painter Germany ever produced; he was patronised and beloved by Maximilian I. and by Charles V. and, what was of more consequence to an artist, by Raphael himself, who sent him several designs, and his own portrait. He formed himself on no other painter, had a manner