Not proud, nor fervile; be one poet's praife.
That, if he pleas'd, he pleas'd by manly ways:
That flattery, ev'n to kings, he held a fhame,
And thought a lie in verte or profe the fame;
That not in fancy's maze he wander'd long,
But ftoop'd to truth, and moraliz'd his fong:
That not for fame, but virtue's better end,
He flood the furious foe, the timid friend,
The damning critic, half-approving wit,
The coxcomb hit, or fearing to be hit;
Laugh'd at the lofs of friends he never had,
The dull, the proud, the wicked, and the mad;
The diftant threats of vengeance on his head,
The blow unfelt, the tear he never fhed;
The tale reviv'd, the fie so oft o'erthrown,
Th' imputed trafh, and dulness not his own;
The morals blacken'd when the writings 'fcape,
The libel'd perfon, and the pictur'd shape;
Abule, on all he lov'd, or lov'd him, spread,
A friend in exile, or a father dead;
The whiiper, that, to greatness still too near,
Perhaps, yet vibrates on his fovereign's ear-
Welcome for thee, fair virtue! all the past:
For thee, fair virtue welcome ev'n the laft!
4. But why infult the poor, affront the great? P. A knave's a knave, to me, in every ftate: 361 Alike my scorn, if he fucceed or fail. Sporus at court, or Japhet in a jail; A hireling fcribbler, or a hireling peer, Knight of the poft corrupt, or of the shire; If on a pillory, or near a throne, He gain his prince's ear, or lofe his own.
Let the two Curlis of town and court, abuse 380
His father, mother, body, foul, and muse.
Yet why that father held it for a rule,
It was a fin to call our neighbour fool:
That harmless mother thought no wife a whore:
Hear this, and spare his family, James Moore!
Unfpotted names, and memorable long!
If there be force in virtue, or in fong.
Of gentle blood (part fhed in honour's caufe,
While yet in Britain honour had applause)
Each parent fprung-d. What, fortune, pray?-
P. Their own,
And better got, than Beftia's from the throne.
Born to no pride, inheriting no ftrife,
Nor marrying difcord in a noble wife,
Stranger to civil and religious rage,
The good man walk'd innoxious through his
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O friend! may each domeftic blifs be thine!
Be no unpleafing melancholy mine:
Me, let the tender office long engage.
To rock the cradle of repofing age,
With lenient arts extend a mother's breath, 410 370 Make languor fmile, and smooth the bed of death, Explore the thought, explain the afking eye, And keep a while one parent from the sky! On cares like thefe if length of days attend, May Heaven, to blefs thofe days, preferve my friend,
Yet foft by nature, more a dupe than wit, Sappho can tell you how this man was bit: This dreaded fat rift Dennis will confefs For to his pride, but friend to his diftrefs: So humble, he has knock'd at Tibbald's door, Has drunk with Cibber, nay, has rhym'd for Moor. Pull ten years flander'd, did he once reply? Three thousand funs went down on Welfted's lie. To please his mistress one afpers'd his life; He lafh'd him not, but let her be his wife : Let Budgell charge low Grub-street on his quill, And write whate'er he pleas d, except his will;
Preferve him focial, cheerful, and ferene,
And just as rich as when he ferv'd a queen!
A. Whether that bleflings be deny'd or given,
Thus far was right, the reft belongs to Heaven.
VARIATIONS.
Ver. 368, in the MS.
Once, and but once, his heedlefs youth was bit,
And lik'd that dangerous thing, a female wit;
Safe as he thought, though all the prudent chid;
He writ no hbels, but my lady did :
Great odds in amorous or poctic game,
Where woman's is the fin, and men's the shame.
After vcr. 405, in the MS. And of myself, too, fomething muft I fay! Take then this verfe, the trifle of a day. And if it live, it lives but to commend The man whofe heart has ne'er forgot a friend, Or head, an author; critic, yet polite, And friend to learning, yet too wife to write.
Tus occafion of publishing these Imitations was the clamour raised on fome of my epiftles. An answer from Horace was both more full, and of more dignity, than any I could have made in my own perfon; and the example of much greater freedom in fo eminent a divine as Dr. Donne, feemed a proof with what indignation and contempt a Christian may treat vice or folly, in ever fo low, or ever fo high a station. Both these authors were acceptable to the Princes and Minifters under whom they lived. The fatires of Dr. Donne I verfified, at the defire of the Earl of Oxford while he was Lord Treasurer, and of the Duke of Shrewsbury, who had been Secretary of State : neither of whom looked upon a fatire on vicious courts as any reflection on those they ferved in. And indeed there is not in the world a greater error, than that which fools are fo apt to fall into, and knaves with good reason to encourage, the mistaking a fatirist for a libeller; whereas to a true fatirift nothing is so odious as a libeller, for the fame reafon as to a man truly virtuous, nothing is fo hateful as a hypocrite.
"Uni acquus Virtuti atque ejus Amicis."
P. THERE are (I scarce can think it, but am told)
(a) There are, to whom my fatire feems too bold:
Scarce to wife Peter complaifant enough,
And something faid of Chartres much too rough.
(b) The lines are weak, another's pleas'd to fay,
Lord Fanny fpins a thousand such a day,
Timorous by nature, of the rich in awe,
(6) I come to council learned in the law:
You'll give me, like a friend both fage and free,
Advice; and (as you use) without a fee.
F. (d) I'd write no more.
P. Not write? but then I think,
(e) And for my foul I cannot fleep a wink.
I nod in company, I wake at night,
Fools rush into my head, and so I write.
7. You could not do a worfe thing for your
Why, if the nights seem tedious-take a wife :
Mille die verfus deduci poffe. () Trebati,
Quid faciam praefcribe.
T. (d) Quiefcas.
(4) SUNT quibus in Satira videar nimis acer, et Oninino verfus ?
Optimum erat: (e) verum nequeo dormire.
Or rather truly, if your point be rest, Lettuce and cowflip wine; "Probatum eft." But talk with Celfus, Celfus will advise Hartfhorn, or fomething that shall close your eyes, (g) Or, if you needs muft write, write Cæfar's praife,
(6) You'll gain at least a knighthood, or the bays. P. What? like Sir (i) Richard, rumbling, rough, and fierce,
With arms and George and Brunswick crowd the verse,
Rend with tremendous found your ears afunder, With gun, drum, trumpet, blunderbufs, and thunder?
Or nobly wild, with Budgell's fire and force,
Paint angels trembling round his falling horse?
F. (4) Then all your mule's fofter art display,
Let Carolina smooth the tuneful lay,
Lull with Amelia's liquid name the Nine,
And fweetly flow through all the royal line.
P. (1) Alas few verfes touch their nicer ear;
They scarce can bear their laureate twice a year;
And justly Cæfar fcorns the poet's lays,
It is to history he trufts for praife.
F. (m) Better be Cibber, I'll maintain it still, Than ridicule ali taste, blafpheme quadrille, Abuse the city's best good men in metre, And laugh at peers that put their trust in Peter. (a) Ev'n thofe you touch not, hate you.
P. What fhould ail 'em?
P. A hundred smart in limon and in Balaam : The fewer ftill you name, you wound the more; Bord is but one, but Harpax is a score.
P. (0) Each mortal has his picature: none Scarfdale his bottle, Darty his ham pie! Ridetta fips and dances, till fhe fee The doubling luftres dance as fast as she; (P) Floves the fenate, Hockleyhole his broLike in all elfe, as one egg to another.
Tranfnanto Tiberim, fomno quibus eft opus alto; Inguumve mero fub noctem corpus habento.
(g) Aut fi tantus amor fcribendi te rapit, aude Cactaris invicta res dicere, (b) multa laborum Praemia laturus.
H. Cupidum, Pater optime, vires Deficiunt: (i, neque enim quivis horrentia pilis Agmina, nec fracta pereuntes cufpide Gallos, Aut labentis equo defcribat vulnera Parthi.
T. (4) Attamen et juftum poteras et fcribere fortem,
Scipiadam ut fapiens Lucilius.
H. Haud mihi deero,
Cam res ipfa feret: (1) nifi dextro tempore, Flacci Verba per attentam non ibunt Caefaris aurem : Cui male fi palpere, recalcitrat undique tatus. Tm) Quanto rectius hoc, quam trifti laedere verfu Pantolatum fcurram, Nomentanumve nepotem? (*) Cum fibi quifque timet, quainquam eft intactus, et odit.
H.) Quid faciam? faltat Milenius, ut femel icto Acceffit fervor capiti, numcrufque lucernis. ) Caftor gaudet equis; ovo prognatus eodem,
(9) I love to pour out all myself, as plain As downright Shippen, or as old Montange: In them, as certain to be lov'd as feen,
The foul food forth, nor kept a thought within;
In me what spots (for spots I have) appear,
Will prove at leaft the medium must be clear.
In this impartial glafs, my mute intends
Fair to expofe myfelf, my foes, my friends;
Publish the prefent age; but where my text
Is vice too high, referve it for the next;
My foes fhall with my life a longer date,
And every friend the lefs lament my fate.
My head and heart thus flowing through my quill,
(r) Verfeman or profeman, term me what you
will,
Papift or Proteftant, or both between,
Like good Erafmus in an honest mean,
In moderation placing all my glory,
While Tories call me Whig, and Whigs a Tory.
(s) Satire 's my weapon, but I'm too difcreet
To run a-muck, and tilt ar all I meet;
(t) I only wear it in a land of Hectors,
Thieves, fupercargoes, fharpers, and directors.
(z) Save but our army and let Jove incruft
Swords, pikes, and guns, with everlaiting rust!
(v) Peace is my dear delight-not Fleury's
But touch me, and no minifter fo fore.
Whoe'er offends, at fome unlucky time
(x) Slides into verfe, and hitches in a rhyme,
Sacred to ridicule his whole life long,
And the fad burden of fome merry fong.
(y) Slander or poifon dread from Delia's rage;
Hard words or hanging, i. your judge be Page.
From furious Sappho icarce a milder fate,
P-x'd by her love, or libell'd by her hate.
Pugnis. quot capitum vivunt, totidem ftudiorum
Millia. (q) me pedibus delectat claudere verba,
Lucili ritu, noftrum melioris utroque.
Ille velut fidis arcana fodalibus olim
Credebat libris; neque, fi male gellcrat, ufquam,
Ducurrens alio, neque fi bene; quo fit, ut omnis
Votiva pateat veluti defcripta tabella
Vita fenis. fequor hunc, (7) Lucanus an Appulus,
[Nam Venulinus arat finem fub utrumque colonus, Miffus ad hoc, pulfis (vetus eft ut fama) Sabellis; Quo ne per vacuum Romano incurreret hoftis; Sive quod Appula gens, feu quod Lucania bellum Incuteret violenta] () fed hic ftylus haud petet
Quemquam animantem, et me veluti cuftodiet enfis
Vagina tectus, quem cur deftringere coner, (1) Tutus ab inteftis latronibus? () O pater et
Jupiter, ut pereat pofitum rubigine telum,
Nec quifquam noceat (~) cupido mihi pacis ! at ille,
Qui me commôrit, (melius non rangere, clamo)
(x) Fiebit, et infignis tota cantabitur urbe.
(y) Cervius iratus leges minitatur et urnam; Canidia Albut, quibus cft inimica, venenum, Grande malum Turius, fi quid fe judice certes:
(z) Its proper power to hurt, each creature feels; Bulls aim their horns, and affes lift their heels; 'Tis a bear's talent not to kick, but hug; And no man wonders he's not stung by pug. (a) So drink with Walters, or with Chartres eat, They'll never poifon you, they'll only cheat.
(6) Then, learned Sir! (to cut the matter fhort)
Whate'er my fate, or well or ill at court;
Whether old-age, with faint but cheerful ray,
Attends to gild the evening of my day,
Or death's black wing already be difplay'd,
To wrap me in the univerfal fhade;
Whether the darken'd room to muse invite,
Or whiten'd wall provoke the fkewer to write :
In durance, exile, bedlam, or the miut,
(e) Like Lee or Budgell, I will rhyme and print, F. (d) Alas, young man! your days can ne'er be long,
In flower of age you perifh for a fong!
Plums and directors, Shylock and his wife,
Will club their tefters, now, to take your life!
P. (e) What? arm'd for virtue when I point the pen,
Brand the bold front of fhameless guilty men ;
Dafh the proud gamefter in his gilded car;
Bare the mean heart that lurks beneath a star;
Can there be wanting, to defend her cause,
Lights of the church, or guardians of the laws?
Could penfion'd Boileau lafh in honeft ftrain
Flatterers and bigots ev'n in Louis' reign?
Could laurcate Dryden Pimp and Friar engage,
Yet neither Charles nor James be in a rage?
And I not (ƒ) ftrip the gilding off a knave,
Unplac'd, unpenfion', no man's heir or flave?
I will, or perish in the generous caufe:
Hear this, and tremble! you, who 'fcape the laws.
Yes, while I live, no rich or noble knave
Shall walk the world, in credit, to his grave.
(z) Ut, quo quifque valet, fufpectos terreat, utque Imperet hoc Natura potens, fic collige mecum. Dente lupus, cornu taurus petit; unde, nifi intus Monftratum? (a) Scaevae vivacem crede nepoti Matrem; nil faciet fceleris pia dextra (mirum ? Ut neque calce lupus quemquam, neque dento petit bos)
Sed mala tollet anum vitiato melle cicuta.
(b) Ne longum faciam: feu metranquilla fene&tus Epectat, feu mors atris circumvolat alis; Dives, inops; Romae, feu fors ita jufferit, exful; (e) Quifquis erit vitae, fcribam, color.
T. (d) O puer, ut fis Vitalis metuo; et majorum ne quis amicus Frigore te feriat.
H. (e) Quid? cum eft Lucilus aufus Primus in hunc operis componere carmina merem, (f) Detrahere et pellem, nitidus qua quifque per ora
Cederet, introrfum turpis; num Laelius, aut qui Duxit ab oppreffa meritum Carthagine nomen, Ingenio offenfi? aut laefo doluere Metello, Famofilque Lupo coperto verfibus? atqui Primores populi arripuit, populumque tributim ;
(g) To virtue only and her friends a friend,
The world befide may murmur, or commend,
Know, all the distant din that world can keep,
Rolls o'er my grotto, and but fooths my fleep.
(b)There, my retreat the best companions grace,
Chiefs out of war, and statesmen out of place.
There St. John mingles with my friendly bowl
The feaft of reafon and the flow of foul:
And he, whofe lightning pierc'd th' Iberian lines,
Now forms my quincunx, and now ranks my
vines;
Or tames the genius of the ftubborn plain,
Almost as quickly as he conquer'd Spain.
(i) Envy muft own, I live among the great,
No pimp of pleasure, and no spy of state!
With eyes that pry not, tongue that ne'er repeats;
Fond to spread friendships, but to cover heats;
To help who want, to forward who excel;
This, all who know me, know; who love me, tell;
And who unknown defame me, let them be
Scribblers or peers, alike are mob to me.
This is my plea, on this I rest my cause--
(4) What faith my council, learned in the laws?
F. (1) Your plea is good; but ftill I say, be-
Laws are explain'd by men-so have a care. It stands on record, that in Richard's times A man was hang'd for very honeft rhymes; (m) Confult the ftatute, " quart." I think, it is, "Edwardi fext." or "prim et quint. Eliz." See libels, fatires-here you have it-read.
P. (n) Libels and fatires! lawless things indeed! But brave epiftles, bringing vice to light, Such as a king might read, a bishop write, Such as Sir Robert would approve
(a) WHAT, and how great, the virtue and the art
To live on little with a cheerful heart;
(b) (A doctrine fage, but truly none of mine)
Let's talk, my friends, but talk (c) before we dine.
(4) Not when a gilt buffet's reflected pride
Turns you from found philofophy afide;
Not when from plate to plate your eye-balls roll,
And the brain dances to the mantling bowl.
Hear Bethel's fermon, one not vere'd in schools,
(e) But ftrong in fenfe, and wife without the rules.
(f) Go work, hunt, exercife: (he thus began)
Then fcorn a homely dinner, if you can.
Your wine lock'd up, your Butler ftroll'dabroad,
Or fifh deny'd (the river yet unthaw'd),
If then plain bread and milk will do the feat,
The pleasure lies in you, and not the meat.
(6) Preach as I please, I doubt our curious men
Will choose a pheasant still before a hen;
Yet hens of Guinea full as good I hold,
Except you eat the feathers green and gold.
(QUAE virtus et quanta, boni, fit vivere parvo,
(6) (Nec meus hic fermo : fed qua praecepit Ofel.
lus,
Rufticus, () abnormis Sapiens, craffaque Minerva)
Difcite, (d) non inter lances menfafque nitentes;
Cum ftupet infanis acies fulgoribus, et cum
Acclinis falfis animus meliora recufat:
() Verum hic impranfi mecum difquirite.
Dicam, fi potero, male verum examinat omnis
Corruptus judex. (ƒ) Leporum fectatus, equove
Laffus ab indomito; vel (fi Romana fatigat
Militia affuetum graecari) feu pila velox,
Molliter aufterum ftudio fallente laborem ;
Seu te difcus agit, pete cedentem aëra difco:
Cam labor extulerit faftidia; ficcus, inanis,
Sperne cibum vilem: nifi Hymettia mella Falerno,
Ne biberis, diluta. (g) foris eft promus, et atrum
Defendens pifces hiemat mare: cum fale panis
Latrantem ftomachum bene leniet. unde putas, aut
Qui partum? non in caro nidore voluptas
Summa, fed in teipfo eft. tu pulmentaria quaere
Sudando. pinguem vitiis albumque neque oftrea,
Nec fcarus, aut poterit peregrina juvare lagoïs.
(6) Vix tamen eripiam, pofito pavone, velis quin
Hoc potius quam gallina tergere palatum ?
Corruptus vanis rerum: quia veneat auro
Rara avis, et picta pandat spectacula cauda:
Tamquam ad rem attineat quidquam. Num vef-
ceris ista,
Quam laudas, pluma? coctove num adeft honor
Carne tamen quamvis diftat nihil hac, magis illa;
Imparibus formis deceptum te patet, eflo.
Unde datum fentis, lupus hic, Tiberinus, an alto
(i) Of carps and mullets why prefer the great,
(Though cut in pieces ere my lord can eat)
Yet for fmall turbots fuch efteem profefs?
Because God made these large, the other lefs.
(k) Oldfield, with more than harpy throat endued,
Cries, "Send me, gods! a whole hog barbecued!"
Oh blast it, (/) fouth winds! till a french exhale
Rank as the ripeness of a rabbit's tail.
By what criterion do you eat, d'ye think,
If this is priz'd for sweetness, that for ftink?
When the tir'd glutton labours through a treat,
He finds no relish in the sweetest meat,
He calls for fomething bitter, fomething four,
And the rich feast concludes extremely poor :
(m) Cheap eggs, and herbs, and olives, ftill we fee;
Thus much is left of old fimplicity!
(n) The robin-red-breast till of late had reft,
And children facred held a martin's neft,
Till beccaficos fold fo dev'lish dear
To one that was, or would have been, a peer.
(0) Let me extol a cat, on oysters fed,
I'll have a party at the Bedford-head;
Or ev'n to crack live crawfith recommend;
I'd never doubt at court to make a friend.
(p) 'Tis yet in vain, I own, to keep a pother
About one vice, and fall into the other:
Between excefs and famine lies a mean;
Plain, but not fordid; though not fplendid, clean,
(4) Avidien, or his wife, (no matter which,
For him you'll call a (r) dog, and her a bitch)
Sell their prefented partridges, and fruits,
And humbly live on rabbits, and on roots:
(s) One half-pint bottle serves them both to dine,
And is at once their vinegar and wine.
Captus hiet? pontefne inter jactatus, an amnis
Oftia fub Tufci? (i) laudas, infane, trilibrem [eft.
Mullum; in fingula quem minuas pulmenta neceffe
Ducit te fpecies, video. quo pertinet ergo
Proceros odiffe lupos? quia fcilicet illis
Majorem natura modum dedit, his breve pondus.
Jejunus raro ftomachus vulgaria temnit.
(4) Porrectum magno magnum fpectare catino Vellem, ait Harpyiis gula digna rapacibus. At [quamquam
() Praefentes Auftri, coquite horum opfonia;
Putet aper rhombufque recens, mala copia quando
Acgrum follicitat ftomachum; cum rapula plenus
Atque acidas mavult inulas. (m) necdum omnis
abacta
Pauperies epulis regum: nam vilibus ovis
Nigrifque eft oleis hodie locus. Haud ita pridem
Galloni praeconis erat accipenfere menfa [bant?
Infamis. quid? tum rhombus minus aequora ale-
(n) Tutus erat rhombus, tutoque ciconia nido,
Donec vos auctor docuit praetorius. ergo
(0) Si quis nunc mergos fuaves edixerit affos,
Parebit parvi docilis Romana juventus.
(p) Sordidus a tenui victus diftabit, Ofello
Judice: nam fruftra vitium vitaveris iftud,
Si te alio pravus detorferis. (9) Avidienus,
(r) Cui Canis ex vero ductum cognomen adhaeret,
Quinquennes oleas eft, et fylveftria corna;
() Ac, nifi mutatum, parcit defundere vinum; et
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