EPISTLE VI. To Mr. MURRA Y. or to admire, is all the Art I know, To make men happy, and to keep them fo.” (Plain Truth, dear MURRAY, needs no flow'rs of fpeech, So take it in the very words of Creech.) This Vault of Air, this congregated Ball, Self-center'd Sun, and Stars that run and fall, EPISTOLA VI. IL admirari, prope res eft una, Numici, NOTE S VER. 3. dear MURRAY,] This Piece is the moft finished of all his imitations, and executed in the high manner the Italian Painters call con amore. By which they mean, the exertion of that principle, which puts the faculties on the ftretch, and produces the fupreme degree of excellence. For the Poet had all the warmth of affection for the great Lawyer to whom it is addreffed : and, indeed, no man ever more deferved to have a Poet for bis friend. In the obtaining of which, as neither Vanity, Party, nor Fear, had any fhare: fo he supported his title to it by all the offices of true Friendship. VER. 4. Creech.] From whose translation of Horace the two firft es are taken. VER. 6. Stars that rife and fall,] The Original is, decedentia certis Tempora momentis, which words fimply and literally fignify the change of feafons But this change being confidered as an object of admiration, his imitator has judiciously expressed it in the more fublime figurative terms of Stars that rife and fall; by whofe courfes the feafons are marked and distinguished, There are, my Friend! whofe philofophic eyes. Admire we then what Earth's low entrails hold, All the mad trade of Fools and Slaves for Gold? If weak the pleasure that from these can spring, The fear to want them is as weak a thing: Whether we dread, or whether we defire, In either cafe, believe me, we admire ; Whether we i joy or grieve, the fame the curfe, Surpriz'd at better, or furpriz'd at worse. с Tempora momentis, funt qui formidine nulla f h Qui timet his adverfa, fere miratur eodem Quo cupiens pacto: pavor eft utrobique moleftus: Improvifa fimul fpecies exterret utrumque : 10 15 20 i Gaudeat, an doleat; cupiat, metuatne; quid ad rem, NOTE S. VER. 8. truft the Ruler with bis fkies-To him commit the hour,] Our Author, in thefe imitations, has been all along careful to correct the loofe morals, and abfurd divinity of his Original. VER. 22. Whether we joy or grieve, the fame the curfe,-Surpriz'd at better, or furpriz'd at worse.] The elegance of this is fuperior to the Original. The curfe is the fame (fays he) whether we joy or grieve. Why fo? Becaufe, in either cafe, the man is Surprized, hurried off, and led away captive. Thus good or bad, to one extreme betray Th' unbalanc'd Mind, and snatch the Man away; 25 If not fo pleas'd, at Council-board rejoice, Si, quidquid vidit melius pejufve sua spe, 30 35 I nunc, argentum et marmor m vetus, aeraque et artes Sufpice; cum gemmis " Tyrios mirare colores: Gaude, quod fpectant oculi te mille loquentem: NOTE S. (The good or bad to one extreme betray Th' unbalanc'd Mind, and fnatch the Man away.) This happy advantage, in the imitation, arises from the ambiguity of the word furprize. VER. 30. Procure a TASTE to double the furprize,] This is one of thofe fuperior touches that most ennoble a perfect piece. He fpeaks here of false tafte, as appears by his directions how to get it, and how to use it when got. Procure a tafte, fays he. That is, of the Virtuofi; whofe fcience you are to buy for that purpose: for true taffe, which is from nature, comes of itself. And how are you to ufe it? Not to cure you of that bane of life, admiration, but to raife and inflame it, by doubling your furprize. And this a falfe tate will always do; there being none fo given to raptures as the Virtucfo Tribe: whereas the Man of true Tafte finds but a few things to approve and thofe he approves with moderation.. From P morn to night, at Senate, Rolls, and Hall, Sigh, while his Chloe, blind to Wit and Worth, 4I It brighten'd CRAGGS's, and may darken thine: 45 Shall be no more than TULLY or than HYDE! 50 Gnavus mane forum, et vefpertinus pete tectum; 5 Quicquid fub terra eft, in apricum proferet aetas ; Defodiet, condetque nitentia. t cum bene notum Porticus Agrippae, et via te confpexerit Appî; Ire tamen reftat, Numa " quo devenit et Ancus. NOTE S. VER. 53. TULLY, HYDE !] Equal to either, in the miniftry of his profeffion; and fuperior to both where the parallel fails: TULLY's brightest talents were frequently tarnished by Vanity and Fear; and HYDE's most virtuous purposes perverted and defeated by faperftitious notions concerning the divine origin of Government, and the unlimited obedience of the People. |