T. Ter uncti Tranfnanto Tiberim, fomno quibus eft opus alto; Irriguumve mero fub noctem corpus habento. * Aut, fr tantus amor fcribendi te rapit, aude For concifenefs, when it is clear (as in this place) gives the highoft grace to elegance of expreffion. But what follows is as much above the Original, as this falls fhort of it. VER. 23. What? like Sir Richard, &c.] Mr. Molyneux, a great Mathematician and Philofopher, had a high opinion of Sir Richard Blackmore's poetic vein. All our English poets, except Milton (fays he, in a letter to Mr. Locke) have been mere I nod in company, I wake at night, your life. F. You could not do a worse thing for 15 Hartshorn, or fomething that fhall close your eyes. 20 * Or, if you needs muft write, write CAESAR's Praise, h You'll gain at least a Knighthood, or the Bays. i P. What? like Sir Richard, rumbling, rough, and fierce, With ARMS, and GEORGE and BRUNSWICK crowd the verfe, Rend with tremendous found your ears afunder, 25 With Gun, Drum, Trumpet, Blunderbufs, and Thunder? Or nobly wild, with Budgel's fire and force, Paint Angels trembling round his falling Horfe? k F. Then all your Mufe's fofter art difplay, Let CAROLINA Smooth the tuneful lay, 30 ballad-makers in comparison of bim. And Mr. Locke, in anfwer to this obfervation, replies, I find, with pleasure, a firange baranony throughout, between your Thoughts and mine. Just fo a Roman awyer, and a Greek Hiftorian, thought of the poetry of Cicero. But these being judgments made by men out of their own profeffion, are little regarded. And Pope and Juvenal will make Blackmore and Tully pass for Poetafters to the world's end. VER. 28. falling Horfe?] The horse on which his Majesty H. Haud mihi deero, Cum res ipfa feret:nifi dextro tempore, Flacei m T. Quanto rectius hoc, quam trifti lædere verfu Pantolabum fcurram, Nomentanumve nepotem? Cum fibi quifque timet, quamquam eft intactus, et odit. H. Quid faciam? faltat Milonius, ut femel icto Acceffit fervor capiti, numerufque lucernis. Caftor gaudet equis; ovo prognatus eodem, Pugnis. quot capitum vivunt, totidem ftudiorum Millia. me pedibus delectat claudere verba, charged at the battle of Oudenard; when the Pretender, and the Princes of the blood of France, fled before him. VER. 39. Abufe the City's best good men in metre] The best good Man, a City phrafe for the richeft. Metre-not used here, purely to help the verse, but to fhew what it is a citizen esteems the greatest aggravation of the offence. VER. 41. What should ail them?] Horace hints at one reafon, that each fears his own turn may be next; his imitator gives another, and with more art, a reafon which infinuates, that his very lenity, in ufing feigned names, increases the number of his Enemies. VER. 50. Like in all else, as one Egg to another.] This has neither the juftness nor elegance of ovo prognatus eodem. Lull with AMELIA's liquid name the Nine, And fweetly flow thro' all the Royal Line. 1 P. Alas! few verfes touch their nicer ear; They scarce can bear their Laureate twice a year; And justly CAESAR fcorns the Poet's lays, It is to Hiftory he trufts for Praise. F. m Better be Cibber, I'll maintain it still, Than ridicule all Tafte, blafpheme Quadrille, And laugh at Peers that put trust in Peter. hate you. 35 40 P. What should ail them? F. A hundred fmart in Timon and in Balaam: The fewer ftill you name, you wound the more; Bond is but once, but Harpax is a score. P. Each mortal has his pleasure: none deny 45 Scarfdale his bottle, Darty his Ham-pye; Ridotta fips and dances, till fhe fee The doubling Luftres dance as fast as she; PF loves the Senate, Hockley-hole his brother, 9 I love to pour out all myself, as plain As downright SHIPPEN, or as old Montagne: 50 For tho' it may appear odd, that those who come from the fame Egg fhould have tempers and purfuits directly contrary; yet there is nothing ftrange, that two Brothers, alike in all things elfe, fhould have different amusements. VER. 52. As downright Shippen, or as old Montagne:] They had this, indeed, in common, to ufe great liberties of fpeech, and to profefs faying what they thought. Montagne had many Lucili ritu, noftrûm melioris utroque. Ille velut fidis arcana fodalibus olim Credebat libris; neque, fi male gefferat, ufquam Decurrens alio, neque fi bene: quo fit, ut omnis Votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella Vita fenis. fequor hunc, anceps: Lucanus an Appulus, [Nam Venufinus arat finem fub utrumque colonus, f qualities, that had gained him the love and esteem of his Readers: The other had one, which always gained him the favourable attention of his Hearers. For as a celebrated Roman Orator obferves, "Maledicit INERUDITUS apertius et faepius, cum "periculo etiam fuo. Affert et ifta res OPINIONEM, quia libentiffime homines audiunt ea quae dicere ipfi noluiffent." VER. 6. the medium must be clear.] Allufion to a fountain of limpid water, thro' which the contents of the bottom are difcovered. This thought affifted him in the easy and happy change of the metaphor in the following line. VER. 63. My head and beart thus flowing thro' my quill,] Inferior to the Original: Ille velut fidis arcana fodalibus olim Credebat libris, etc, |