Sell their prefented partridges, and fruits, But on fome w lucky day (as when they found 55 Is what two fouls fo gen'rous cannot bear : бо " He knows to live, who keeps the middle ftate, f And neither leans on this fide, nor on that; Nora ftops, for one bad cork, his butler's pay, 65 C Now hear what bleffings Temperance can bring: (Thus faid our friend, and what he faid I fing) "First Health: the ftomach (cramm'd from ev'ry dish, A tomb of boil'd and roaft, and flesh and fish,.. 70 Where bile, and wind, and phlegm, and acid jar. And all the man is one inteftine war) Remembers oft the School-boy's fimple fare, The temp'rate fleeps, and fpirits light as air. 74 f How pale, each Worshipful and Rev'rend guest Rife from a Clergy, or a City feast! What life in all that ample body, say? * Alter, ubi dicto citius curata fopori Membra dedit, vegetus praefcripta ad munia furgit. h Hic tamen ad melius poterit tranfcurrere quondam; Sive diem feftum rediens advexerit annus, k Rancidum aprum antiqui laudabant: non quia nafus Illis nullus erat; fed, credo, hac mente, quod hofpes Tardius adveniens vitiatum commodius, quam Integrum edax dominus confumeret. 1 hos utinam inter Heroas natum tellus me prima tuliffet. "Das aliquid famae, quae carmine gratior aurem Occupet humanam? grandes rhombi, patinæque VER. 79, 80. The Soul fubfides, and wickedly inclines-To feem but mortal ev'n in found Divines.] Horace was an Epicurean, and laughed at the immortality of the foul. He therefore describes that languor of the mind proceeding from intemperance, on the idea, and in the Terms of Plato, affigit humo divinae particulam aurae. To this his ridicule is pointed. Our Poet, with more sobriety and judgment, has turned the ridicule, from the Doctrine, which he believed, upon thofe Preachers of it, whofe feafts and com The Soul fubfides, and wickedly inclines. To feem but mortal, ev'n in found Divines. ㄢ How eafy ev'ry labour it pursues ? How coming to the Poet ev'ry Mufe? "Not but we may exceed, fome holy time, Də 80 % On morning wings how active fprings the Mind That leaves the load of yesterday behind? 85 Or tir'd in fearch of Truth, or fearch of Rhyme; 90 k Our fathers prais'd rank Ven'fon. You fuppofe, And 'twas their point, I ween, to make it laft; 94 Why had not I in thofe good times my birth, 100 1 potations in Taverns did not edify him: and fo has added furprizing humour and fpirit to the easy elegance of the Original. VER. 81. On morning wings, etc.] Much happier and nobler than the original. VER. 86. Or tir'd in fearch of Truth, or fearch of Rhyme] A fine ridicule on the extravagance of human purfuits; where the moft trifling and most important concerns of life fucceed one n Grande ferunt una cum damno dedecus. adde Iratum patruum, vicinos, te tibi iniquum, Jure, inquit, Traufius iftis Jurgatur verbis: ego vectigalia magna, Divitiafque habeo tribus amplas regibus. 'Ergo, Quod fuperat, non eft melius quo infumere poffis, Cur eget indignus quifquam, te divite? quare *Templa ruunt antiqua Deûm? cur, improbe, caraç Non aliquid patriae tanto emetiris acervo? Uni nimirum tibi recte femper erunt res? VER. 117, 118. Ob Impudence of wealth! with all thy flore, How dar'ft thou let one worthy man be poor ?] Cur eget indignus quifquam, te divite? is here admirably paraphrased. And it is obfervable in these Imitations, that where our Poet keeps to the fentiments of Horace he rather piques himself in excelling the most finished touches of his Original, than in correcting or improving the more inferior parts. Of this elegance of ambition all his Writings bear fuch marks, that it gave countenance to an invidious imputation, as if his chief talent lay in copying finely. But if ever there was an inventive genius in Poetry it was Pope's. But his fancy was fo corrected by his judgment, and his imitation so spirited by his genius, that what he improved ftruck the vulgar eye more ftrongly than what he invented. VER. 122. As M**o's was, etc.] I think this light stroke of fatire ill placed; and hurts the dignity of the preceding morality. Horace was very serious, and properly so, when he said, cur, Improbe! carae Non aliquid patriae tanto emetiris acervo. He remembered, and hints with juft indignation, at thofe luxu rious Patricians of his old party; who, when they had agreed to establish a fund in the cause of Freedom, under the conduct 105 (For 'faith, Lord Fanny! you are in the wrong, O "In me 'tis noble, fuits my birth and state, 66 My wealth unwieldy, and my heap too great." Then, like the Sun, let' Bounty fpread her ray, 11g. And fhine that fuperfluity away. Oh Impudence of wealth! with all thy ftore, How dar'ft thou let one worthy man be poor? 1 Shall half the new-built churches round thee fall? Make Keys, build Bridges, or repair White-hall: Or to thy Country let that heap be lent, As M**o's was, but not at five per cent. 1 3 110 9" Right, cries his Lordship, for a rogue in need "To have a Tafte is infolence. indeed: of Brutus, could never be perfuaded to withdraw from their expenfive pleasures what was fufficient for the fupport of so greas a caufe. He had prepared his apology for this liberty, in the pres ceding line, where he pays a fine compliment to Auguftus: 3 quare Templa ruunt antiqua Deûm ? which oblique Panegyric the Imitator has very properly turned into a juft ftroke of fatire. |