Till Peter's keys some christen'd Jove adorn, And Pan to Moses lends his Pagan horn: See graceless Venus to a virgin turn'd, Or Phidias broken, and Apelles burn'd! 'Behold yon isle, by palmers, pilgrims trod, Men bearded, bald, cowl'd, uncowl'd, shod, unshod, [thers, Peel'd, patch'd, and piebald, linsey-woolsey broGrave mummers! sleeveless some, and shirtless others. seen That once was Britain-Happy! had she 117 Now look through Fate! behold the scene she draws! 127 'What aids, what armies, to assert her cause! IMITATIONS. 117 118 Happy!- 'Et fortunatam, si nunquam armenta fuissent.' 127 129 Now look through Fate! See all her progeny, &c.] VIRG. Ecl. VI. 'Nunc age, Dardaniam prolem quæ deinde sequatur Illustres animas, nostrumque in nomen ituras, VIRG. En. VI. As Berecynthia, while her offspring vie '3' And her Parnassus glancing o'er at once, 'Mark first that youth who takes the foremost place, 139 And thrusts his person full into your face, 'A second see, by meeker manners known, And modest as the maid that sips alone; From the strong fate of drams if thou get free, Another Durfey, Ward! shall sing in thee. IMITATIONS. 131 As Berecynthia, &c.] 'Felix prole virûm: qualis Berecynthia mater 139 Mark first that youth, &c.] VIRG. En. VI. Ille, vides? pura juvenis qui nititur hasta, VIRG. En. VI. 141 With all thy father's virtues bless'd, be born!] A manner of expression used by Virgil, Ecl. vIII. 'Nascere, præque diem veniens age, Lucifer.'As also that of patriis virtutibus, Ecl. IV. 145 From the strong fate of drams if thou get free.] si qua fata aspera rumpas, Tu Marcellus eris!' VIRG. En. VI. 145 Thee shall each alehouse, thee each gillhouse mourn, 147 And answering ginshops sourer sighs return. 'Jacob, the scourge of grammar, mark with awe: 149 Nor less revere him, blunderbuss of law. 150 REMARKS. 149 Jacob.] This gentleman is a son of a considerable maltster of Romsey, in Hampshire, and bred to the law under a very eminent attorney: who, between his more laborious studies, has diverted himself with poetry. He is a great admirer of poets and their works, which has occasioned him to try his genius that way.-He has writ in prose the Lives of the Poets, Essays, and a great many law books, Accomplished Conveyancer, Modern Justice, &c.' Giles Jacob of himself, Lives of Poets, vol. i. He very grossly, and unprovoked, abused in that book the author's friend, Mr. Gay. W. 152 Horneck-Roome.] These two were virulent party writers, worthily coupled together, and, one would think, prophetically; since, after the publishing of this piece, the former dying, the latter succeeded him in honour and employment. The first was Philip Horneck, author of a Billingsgate paper called the High German Doctor. Edward Roome was son of an undertaker for funerals in Fleet-street, and writ some of the papers called Pasquin, where, by malicious inuendoes, he endeavoured to represent our author guilty of malevolent practices with a great man then under prosecution of parliament. Of this man was made the following epigram: IMITATIONS. 147 Thee shall each alehouse, &c.] 'Te nemus Anguitiæ, vitrea te Fucinus unda, Virgil again, Ecl. x. 150 VIRG. Æn. VII. etiam lauri, etiam flevere myricæ,' &c. 'duo fulmina belli Scipiadas, cladem Libyæ!' VIRG. Æn. VI. Lo sneering Goode, half malice and half whim, 153 A fiend in glee, ridiculously grim. Each cygnet sweet, of Bath and Tunbridge race, Whose tuneful whistling makes the waters pass: Each songster, riddler, every nameless name, All crowd, who foremost shall be damn'd to fame. Some strain in rhyme: the Muses, on their racks, Scream like the winding of ten thousand jacks: Some free from rhyme or reason, rule or check, Break Priscian's head, and Pegasus's neck; Down, down they larum, with impetuous whirl, The Pindars, and the Miltons of a Curl. 'Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls, 165 And makes night hideous-Answer him, ye owls! 166 REMARKS. You ask why Roome diverts you with his jokes, The jest is lost unless he prints his face. Popple was the author of some vile plays and pamphlets. He published abuses on our author in a paper called The Prompter. 153 W. Goode.] An ill-natured critic, who writ a satire on our author, called The Mock Æsop, and many anonymous libels in newspapers, for hire. 165 W. - Ralph.] James Ralph, a name inserted after the first editions, not known to our author till he writ a swearing piece called Sawney, very abusive of Dr. Swift, Mr. Gay, and himself. These lines alluded to a thing of his entitled Night, a poem. This low writer attended his own works with panegyrics in the Journals, and once in particular praised himself highly above Mr. Addison, in wretched remarks upon that author's account of English Poets printed in a London JourIMITATIONS. 166 And makes night hideous—] Visit thus the glimpses of the moon, SHAKS. 'Sense, speech, and measure, living tongues and dead, Let all give way-and Morris may be read. Ah, Dennis! Gildon, ah! what ill-starr'd rage Divides a friendship long confirm'd by age? Blockheads with reason wicked wits abhor, But fool with fool is barbarous civil war. Embrace, embrace, my sons! be foes no more! *77 Nor glad vile poets with true critics' gore. 'Behold yon pair, in strict embraces join'd; 179 How like in manners, and how like in mind! REMARKS. nal, Sept. 17, 1728. He was wholly illiterate, and knew no language, not even French. Being advised to read the rules of dramatic poetry before he began a play, he smiled, and replied, Shakspeare writ without rules.' He ended at last in the common sink of all such writers, a political newspaper, to which he was recommended by his friend Arnall, and received a small pittance for pay. W. IMITATIONS. 169 Flow, Welsted, flow! &c.] Parody on Denham. Cooper's Hill: 'O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream My great example, as it is my theme: Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull: 177 Embrace, embrace, my sons! be foes no more!] Ne tanta animis assuescite bella, |