50

Next pleased his Excellence a town to batter; (Its name I know not, and 'tis no great matter;) 45 "Go on, my friend, (he cried,) see yonder walls! Advance and conquer! go where glory calls! More honours, more rewards, attend the brave." Don't you remember what reply he gave? "D'ye think me, noble general, such a sot.? Let him take castles who has ne'er a groat." 'Bred up at home, full early'I begun, To read in Greek the wrath of Peleus' son. Besides, my father taught me from a lad, The better art to know the good from bad: And little sure imported to remove,

To hunt for truth in Maudlin's learned grove.

NOTES.

55

cumstance has a happier application in the Imitation than in the Original; and properly introduces the 68th verse. Warton. Ver. 55. The better art] Dacier interprets the words, curvo dignoscere rectum, the study of geometry, which is rather absurd,

Warton.

Ver. 55. The better art to know the good from bad:] Our Poet mistook, as many have done before and since his time, the true meaning of his author :

Scilicet ut possem curvo dignoscere rectum,

Atque inter silvas Academi quærere verum :

that is, to distinguish a right line from a curve: for geometry was the indispensable introduction to the philosophy of the academic school. Creech was our Poet's guide:

And taught me how to separate bad from good. And the reader, who will make the comparison, will discover various obligations throughout these Imitations to that translator. Wakefield.

Ver. 57. in Maudlin's learned grove.] He had a partiality for this college in Oxford, in which he had spent many agreeable days with his friend Mr. Digby, who provided rooms for him at that college. Warton.

Atque inter silvas Academi quærere verum.
Dura sed emovêre loco me tempora grato;
Civilisque rudem belli tulit æstus in arma,
Cæsaris Augusti non responsura lacertis.
Unde simul primùm me dimisere Philippi,
Decisis humilem pennis, inopemque paterni
Et laris et fundi; paupertas impulit audax
Ut versus facerem : sed, quod non desit, habentem,
Quæ poterunt unquam satis expurgare cicuta,
Ni melius dormire putem quàm scribere versus ?
Singula de nobis apni prædantur euntes:
Eripuere jocos, venerem, convivia, ludum:

NOTES.

Ver. 60. by sufferers thought unjust,] By orders from government for the removal of Papists to a certain distance from the metropolis. Wakefield.

Ver. 63. mighty WILLIAM's] Horace uses some very artful and apologetical terms, in the original, în speaking of the part he had taken against Augustus. Dura tempora-belli æstus civilis-Augusti lacertis-dimisere-decisis pennis-for being totally plundered. Warton.

Ver. 64. For Right Hereditary] Admirable as these lines are, yet, from the nature of the subject, they cannot be so interesting as the events in Horace's life. The inconveniency Pope laboured under from being a Papist, and subject to penal laws, are not so striking as Horace's being taken from Athens by Brutus; and having the command of a Roman legion given to him; being present at the battle of Philippi; and losing all his property for his attachment to Brutus and his republican friends. Dacier, like a true Frenchman, imagines, that a want of proper officers induced Brutus to give Horace this command in the army. Did he not recollect or know, that great numbers of young Romans, of spirit and ability, flocked to the standard of Brutus, and appeared forward in supporting the great cause of liberty?

Warton.

Ver. 69. Indebted to no prince or peer alive,] Indeed, it would

be

But knottier points we knew not half so well,
Deprived us soon of our paternal cell;

And certain laws, by sufferers thought unjust, 60
Denied all posts of profit or of trust :

Hopes after hopes of pious Papists fail'd,
While mighty WILLIAM's thundering arm prevail'd.
For Right Hereditary tax'd and fined,

He stuck to poverty with peace of mind;
And me, the Muses help to undergo it;
Convict a Papist he, and I a poet.

But, (thanks to Homer,) since I live and thrive,
Indebted to no prince or peer alive,

Sure I should want the care of ten Monroes,
If I would scribble, rather than repose.

65

70

'Years following years, steal something every day, At last they steal us from ourselves away; In one our frolics, one amusements end, In one a mistress drops, in one a friend;

NOTES.

75

be very hard upon authors, if the subscribing for a book, which does honour to one's age and country, and consequently reflects back part of it on the Subscribers, should be esteemed a debt or obligation.

Warburton.

Ver. 70. Monroes,] Dr. Monroe, Physician to Bedlam Hospital. Warburton.

Ver. 73. At last they steal us from ourselves away;] i. e. Time changes all our passions, appetites, and inclinations. Warburton. Ver. 74. In one our frolics,] These two lines are languid in comparison of the brevity of the original :

jocos, venerem, convivia, ludum;

Languid also is verse 80:

what would you

have me do?

and verse 85 is too quaint and proverbial. Also in ver. 88, in

stead

Tendunt extorquere poëmata. Quid faciam vis?
Denique non omnes eadem mirantur amantque.
Carmine tu gaudes: his delectatur iambis;
Ille Bioneis sermonibus, et sale nigro.
Tres mihi convivæ propè dissentire videntur,
Poscentes vario multùm diversa palato.

Quid dem? quid non dem? renuis tu, quod jubet alter:

Quod petis, id sanè est invisum acidumque duobus. 'Præter cætera, me Romane poëmata censes Scribere posse, inter tot curas, totque labores? Hic sponsum vocat, hic auditum scripta, relictis

NOTES.

stead of the single word, præterea, he has given a whole line. But, on the other hand, the verses 90 and 91 are very forcible.

Warton.

Ver. 83. and that Pindaric lays?] Of our modern lyric poetry, the English ís Pindaric, and the Latin, Horatian. The first is like boiled meats, of different tastes and flavours, but all insipid ; the other, like the same meats potted, all of one spicy taste, and equally high flavoured. The reason is, the English ode-makers only imitate Pindar's sense; whereas the Latin employ the very words of Horace. Warburton.

The note on this passage concerning our common modern lyric poetry, was written some years before Gray had so effectually vindicated this species of poetry from the objections here made to it. Warton.

Ver. 87. Oldfield-Dartineuf] Two celebrated gluttons.-This instance adds a beauty to the whole passage, as intimating that the demand for verse is only a species of luxury.

Warburton.

Warton.

But it does not appear to be at all intimated. Ver. 93. A poet begs, &c.] Many are the poets who could not do justice to their works by reading them with propriety. Corneille, Dryden, and Thomson, were remarkably bad readers. On the contrary, Virgil, Racine, and Boileau, and above all, Nat Lee,

were

This subtle thief of life, this paltry time,

What will it leave me, if it snatch my rhyme ?
If every wheel of that unwearied mill,

That turn'd ten thousand verses, now stands still?
"But after all, what would you have me do? 80
When out of twenty I can please not two;
When this Heroics only deigns to praise,
Sharp Satire that, and that Pindaric lays?
One likes the pheasant's wing, and one the leg;
The vulgar boil, the learned roast an egg;
Hard task to hit the palate of such guests,
When Oldfield loves what Dartineuf detests.

85

'But grant I may relapse, for want of grace, Again to rhyme; can London be the place? Who there his Muse, or self, or soul attends, 90 In crowds, and courts, law, business, feasts, and friends?

My counsel sends to execute a deed:

A poet begs me I will hear him read:

In Palace-yard at nine you'll find me there-
At ten for certain, Sir, in Bloomsbury-square- 95

NOTES.

were most excellent reciters. Just reading is an uncommon talent. The Duke de la Rochefoucault would never become a member of the French Academy, lest he should expose himself by his pronunciation of the speech necessary on that occasion. I had once the pleasure of hearing Quin read the Second Book of Milton, with marvellous propriety and harmony. And the late Mr. Henderson excelled in recitation. Warton.

Ver. 94. In Palace-yard] I am sorry he omitted, intervalla humanè commoda; which heightens the distress and inconvenience. In verse 101, a hackney-coach is better than, calidus redemptor. But verse 107, contains an image unnecessarily coarse and filthy.

And