To W-le guilty of fome venial fin;

What's that to you who ne'er was out nor in?

165

The Priest whofe Flattery be-dropt the Crown, How hurt he you! he only ftain'd the Gown. And how did, pray, the florid Youth offend, Whose Speech you took, and gave it to a Friend? P. Faith, it imports not much from whom it came; Whoever borrow'd, could not be to blame, Since the whole Houfe did afterwards the fame. Let Courtly Wits to Wits afford fupply,

171

As Hog to Hog in huts of Weftphaly;

If one, thro' Nature's Bounty or his Lord's,
Has what the frugal, dirty foil affords,

From him the next receives it, thick or thin,

175

As pure a mess almost as it came in,

The blessed benefit, not there confin'd,

Drops to the third, who nuzzles close behind;
From tail to mouth, they feed and they carouse:
The laft full fairly gives it to the House.

F. This filthy fimile, this beastly line
Quite turns my ftomach-

P. So does Flatt'ry mine;

And all your courtly Civet-cats can vent,

Perfume to you, to me is Excrement.

180

V2R. 164. The Prieft, etc.] Spoken not of any particular prieft, but of many priests.

VER. 166. And bow did, etc.] This feems to allude to a com plaint made ver. 71. of the preceding Dialogue.

185

But hear me further-Japhet, 'tis agreed,
Writ not, and Chartres fcarce could write or read,
In all the Courts of Pindus guiltless quite;

190

But Pens can forge, my Friend, that cannot write; And must no Egg in Japhet's face be thrown, Because the Deed he forg'd was not my own? = Muft never Patriot then declaim at Gin, Unless, good man! he has been fairly in? No zealous Paftor blame a failing Spouse, Without a flaring Reason on his brows? And each Blafphemer quite escape the rod, Because the infult's not on Man, but God?

Afk you what Provocation I have had ? The ftrong Antipathy of Good to Bad. When Truth or Virtue an Affront endures,

195

Th' Affront is mine, my friend, and should be yours.
Mine, as a Foe profess'd to false Pretence,

Who think a Coxcomb's Honour like his Senfe;
Mine, as a Friend to ev'ry worthy mind;
And mine as Man, who feel for all mankind.
F. You're ftrangely proud.

VARIATIONS,

VER. 185. in the MS.

I grant it, Sir; and further, 'tis agreed,

Japhet writ not, and Chartres fcarce could read.

201

VER. 185. Japhet Chartres] See the Epiftle to Lord

Bathurst.

VER. 204. And mine as Man, who feel for all mankind.] From Terence: "Homo fum: humani nihil a me alienum

206

P. So proud, I am no Slave:

So impudent, I own myself no knave:

So odd, my Country's Ruin makes me grave.
Yes, I am proud; I must be proud to fee
Men not afraid of God, afraid of me :
Safe from the Bar, the Pulpit, and the Throne,
Yet touch'd and fham'd by Ridicule alone.

211

O facred weapon! left for Truth's defence, Sole Dread of Folly, Vice, and Infolence! To all but Heav'n-directed hands deny'd, The Muse may give thee, but the Gods must guide: Rev'rent I touch thee! but with honeft zeal; To roufe the Watchmen of the public Weal,

216

VER. 208. Yes, I am proud; etc.] In this ironical exultation the Poet infinuates a fubject of the deepest humiliation.

VER. 211. Yet touch'd and sham'd by Ridicule alone.] The Paffions are given us to awaken and fupport Virtue. But they frequently betray their truft, and go over to the interefts of Vice. Ridicule, when employed in the cause of Virtue, shames and brings them back to their duty. Hence the use and importance of Satire.

VER. 214. To all but Heav'n-directed bands] "The Citizen "(fays Plato, in his fifth book of Laws) who does no injury to 66 any one, without queftion, merits our esteem. He, who, "not content with being barely just himself, opposes the "courfe of injuftice, by profecuting it before the Magiftrate, "merits our esteem vaftly more. The first difcharges the duty ❝ of a fingle Citizen: but the other does the office of a Body. "But he whofe zeal ftops not here, but proceeds to ASSIST

THE MAGISTRATE IN PUNISHING is the most valuable "bleffing of Society. This is the PERFECT CITIZEN, to whom we should adjudge the prize of Virtue,"

220

To Virtue's work provoke the tardy Hall,
And goad the Prelate dumb'ring in his Stall
Ye tinfel Infects! whom a Court maintains,
That counts your Beauties only by your Stains,
Spin all your Cobwebs o'er the Eye of Day!
The Mufe's wing fhall brush you all away:
All his Grace preaches, all his Lordfhip fings, zz4
All that makes Saints of Queens, and Gods of Kings,
All, all but Truth, drops dead-born from the Prefs,.
Like the laft Gazette, or the laft Addrefs.

When black Ambition ftains a public Caufe,
A Monarch's Sword when mad Vain-glory draws,
Not Waller's Wreath can hide the Nation's Scar,
Nor Boileau turn the Feather to a Star.

231

VARIATIONS.

3

After ver. 227. in the MS.

1

Where's now the Star that lighted Charles to rife?
-With that which follow'd Julius to the skies.
Angels, that watch'd the Royal Oak fo well,
How chanc'd ye nod, when lacklefs Sorel fell?
Hence, lying miracles! reduc'd fo low
As to the regal-touch, and papal-toe ;
Hence haughty Edgar's title to the Main,

Britain's to France, and thine to India, Spain?

VER. 222. Cobwebs] Weak and flight fophiftry againf virtue and honour. Thin colours over vice, as unable to hide the light of Truth, as cobwebs to fhade the fun.

VER. 228. When black Ambition etc.] The cafe of Cromwell in the civil war of England; and (ver. 229.) of Louis XIV. in his conqueft of the Low Countries.

VER. 231. Nor Boileau turn the Feather to a Star.] See bis Ode on Namur; where (to ufe his own words) "il a fait a

Not fo, when diadem'd with rays divine, Touch'd with the Flame that breaks from Virtue's

Shrine,

Her Priestess Muse forbids the Good to die,
And opes the Temple of Eternity.

235

There, other Trophies deck the truly brave,
Than fuch as Anftis cafts into the Grave;
Far other Stars than * and * * wear,
And may defcend to Mordington from STAIR:
(Such as on HOUGH's unfully'd Mitre shine,
Or beam, good DIGBY, from a heart like thine)
Let Envy howl, while Heav'n's whole Chorus fings,
And bark at Honour not confer'd by Kings;

Let Flatt'ry fick'ning fee the Incense rise,

240

Sweet to the World, and grateful to the Skies: 245 Truth guards the Poet, fanctifies the line,

And makes immortal, Verse as mean as mine.

"Aftre de la Plume blanche que le Roy porte ordinairement à "fon Chapeau, et qui eft en effet une espece de Comete, "fatale a nos ennemis."

VIR. 237. Anftis] The chief Herald at arms. It is the cuftom, at the funeral of great peers, to caft into the grave the broken ftaves and enfigns of honour.

VIR. 239. Stair;] John Dalrymple Earl of Stair, Knight of the Thiftle; ferved in all the wars under the Duke of Marlborough; and afterwards as Embaffador in France.

VER. 240, 241. Hough and Digby] Dr. John Hough Bishop of Worcester, and the Lord Digby. The one an affertor of the Church of England in oppofition to the false measures of King James II. The other as firmly attached to the cause of that King. Both acting out of principle, and equally men of honour and virtue.