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To either India fee the Merchant fly,
Scar'd at the spectre of pale Poverty!
See him, with pains of body, pangs of foul,.
Burn through the Tropic, freeze beneath the Pole!
Wilt thou do nothing for a nobler end,
Nothing, to make Philofophy thy friend?
To stop thy foolish views, thy long defires,
And ease thy heart of all that it admires ?
g
Here, Wisdom calls: "Seek Virtue first, be bold!
"As Gold to Silver, Virtue is to Gold."
There, London's voice: "Get Money, Money ftill!
"And then let Virtue follow, if she will.' 80
This, this the faving doctrine, preach'd to all,
From low St. James's up to high St. Paul;
From him whofe " quills ftand quiver'd at his ear,
To him who notches fticks at Weftminster.

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m

70

75

concifenefs, has, before he was aware, fallen into this abfürd meaning.

VER. 82. From low St. James's up to bigh St. Paul,] i. e. This is a doctrine in which both Whigs and Tories agree.

VER. 83. From him whofe quills ftand quiver'd at his ear,] They who do not take the delicacy of this fatire, may think the figure of ftanding quiver'd, extremely hard and quaint; but it has an exquifite beauty, infinuating that the pen of a Scrivener is as ready as the quill of a porcupine, and as fatal as the shafts of a Parthian.-Quiver'd at his ear, which defcribes the position it is ufually found in, alludes to the cuftom of the American canibals, who make ufe of their hair (tied in a knot on the top. of their heads) for a quiver for their poison'd arrows.

VER. 84. notches fticks] Exchequer Tallies.

Eft animus tibi, funt mores, eft lingua fidefque:

Sed quadringentis fex septem millia defint,

• Plebs eris. Pat pueri ludentes, Rex eris, aiunt,

Si recte facies. Hic murus aheneus efto,

I

Nil confcire fibi, nulla pallefcere culpa.

Rofcia, die fodes, melior lex, an puerorum eft

Naenia, quae regnum recte facientibus offert,

Et maribus Curiis et decantata Camillis?

Ifne tibi melius fuadet, qui,

"Rem facias; rem,

VER. 95. Be this thy Screen, and this thy Wall of Brass;]

Hic murus aheneus efto.

Dacier laughs at an able Critic, who was fcandalized, that the antient Scholiafts had not explained what Horace meant by wall of brass; for, fays Dacier, "Chacun se fait des difficulter "à fa mode, & demande des remarques proportionnées à fon "goût:" he then fets himself in good earnest about this impor

66

Barnard" in fpirit, fenfe, and truth abounds; 85 Pray then, what wants he?" Fourfcore thoufand

pounds;

r

A penfion, or fuch Harnefs for a flave

O

As Bug now has, and Dorimant would have.
Barnard, thou art a Cit, with all thy worth;
But Bug and D*1, Their Honours, and fo forth. 90
Yet ev'ry P child another fong will fing,
"Virtue, brave boys! 'tis Virtue makes a King."
True, conscious Honour is to feel no fin,
He's arm'd without that's innocent within;
Be this thy Screen, and this thy Wall of Brafs; 95
Compar'd to this a Minister's an Afs.

१

And fay, to which shall our applaufe belong, This new Court jargon, or the good old fong? The modern language of corrupted Peers, Or what was spoke at CRESSY and POITIERS? 100 ↑ Who counfels beft? who whispers, "Be but great, "With Praise or Infamy leave that to fate;

S

tant inquiry; and, by a paffage in Vegetius, luckily discovers, that it signified an old veteran armed cap-a-pie in brafs, and PLACED TO COVER HIS FELLOW. Our Poet has happily ferved himself of this impertinence to convey a very finé ftroke of fatire.

VER. 97. And say, etc.] These four lines greatly superior to any thing in the Original.

"Si poffis, recte; fi non, quocunque modo rem."

Ut propius fpectes lacrymofa poemata Pupi!

An, w qui fortunae te refponfare fuperbae

W

Liberum et erectum, praefens hortatur et aptat?

y Quod fi me Populus Romanus forte roget, cur Non, ut porticibus, fic judiciis fruar îfdem;

Nec fequar aut fugiam, quae diligit ipfe vel odit :

Olim quod vulpes aegroto cauta leoni

Refpondit, referam: Quia me veftigia terrent
Omnia te adverfum fpectantia, nulla retrorfum.

b Belua multorum es capitum. nam quid fequar,

aut quem?

VER. 117. Full many a Beaft goes in, but none come out.] This expreffion is used for the joke's fake; but it hurts his moral; which is, that they come out beafts. He fhould here have ftuck to the terms of his Original, veftigia omnia te adverfum Spectantia.

VER. 118. Adieu to Virtue, etc.] These two lines are intended

"Get Place and Wealth, if poffible, with grace; "If not, by any means get Wealth and Place. For what? to have a Box where Eunuchs fing, 105 And foremost in the Circle eye a King. Or " he, who bids thee face with steady view

t

}

110

Proud Fortune, and look shallow Greatness thro':
And," while he bids thee, fets th' Example too?
If fuch a Doctrine, in St. James's air,
Shou'd chance to make the well-dreft Rabble ftare;
If honeft S* z take scandal at a Spark,
That lefs admires the Palace than the Park:
Faith I fhall give the answer a Reynard gave:
"I cannot like, dread Sir, your Royal Cave: 115
"Because I fee, by all the tracks about,

Z

"Full many a Beast goes in, but none come out."
Adieu to Virtue, if you're once a Slave:
Send her to Court, you fend her to her grave.
Well, if a King's a Lion, at the leaft
The People are a many-headed Beast:
Can they direct what measures to pursue,
Who know themselves fo little what to do?

b

120

for the application or moral of a fable, which needed no explaining; fo that, they impair the grace of it, at beft, inferior to his Original. For Horace fpeaks of the common people, Populus Romanus, to whom one of fop's Fables was properly addressed: but, this is too fimple a method of conveying truth to the welldreft Rabble of St. James's.