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No zealous Paftor blame a failing Spouse,
Without a staring Reason on his brows?
And each Blafphemer quite efcape 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 fhould be yours
Mine, as a Foe profefs'd to falfe Pretence,

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

20.1

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 :

206

Safe from the Bar, the Pulpit, and the Throne, 210 Yet touch'd and fham'd by Ridicule alone.

!

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 Mufe may give thee, but the Gods muft guide:

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

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 foam'd by Ridicule alone.] The Paf hions are given us to awaken and fupport Virtue. But they frequently betray their truft, and go over to the Interests of Vice. Ridicule, when employed in the cause of Virtue, fhames and brings them back to their duty. Hence the ufe and importance of Satire. VER. 214. To all but Heav'n-directed hands] "The Citizen (fays Plato, in his fifth book of Laws) who does no injury to "any one, without question, merits our esteem. He who, not content with being barely juft himself, oppofes the course of in

216

220

Rev'rent I touch thee! but with honest zeal;
To roufe the Watchmen of the public Weal,
To Virtue's work provoke the tardy Hall,
And goad the Prelate flumb'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 Lordship fings,
All that makes Saints of Queens, and Gods of Kings,
All, all but Truth, drops dead-born from the Press,
Like the laft Gazette, or the last Addrefs.

224

When black Ambition ftains a public Cause, A Monarch's Sword when mad Vain-glory draws, Not Waller's Wreath can hide the Nation's Scar, 230 Not Boileau turn the Feather to a Star.

"juftice, by profecuting it before the Magistrate, merits our efteem " vaftly more. The first difcharges the duty of a fingle Citizen : the aber 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."

VER. 222. Cobwebs] Weak and flight fophiftry against virtues 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 his Ode

VARIATION 5.

After ver. 227. in the MS.

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 so well,
How chanc'd ye nod, when luckless 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!

Not fo, when diadem'd with rays divine,
Touch'd with the Flame that breaks from Virtue's Shrine,
Her Prieftefs Mufe forbids the Good to die,
And opes the Temple of Eternity.

There, other Trophies deck the truly brave,
Than fuch as Anftis cafts into the Grave;
Far other Stars than * and ** wear,

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240

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 conferr'd by Kings;
Let Flatt'ry fick'ning fee the Incense rife,
Sweet to the World, and grateful to the Skies :
Truth guards the Poet, fanctifies the line,
And makes immortal, Verfe as mean as mine.

245

250

Yes, the laft Pen for Freedom let me draw, When Truth stands trembling on the edge of Law; Here, laft of Britons! let your names be read; Are none, none living? let me praise the Dead, And for that Cause which made your Fathers fhine, Fall by the Votes of their degen'rate Line.

on Namur; where (to ufe his own words) "il a fait un Aftre de "la Plume blanche que le Roy porte ordinairement a fon Chapeau,

et qui eft en effet une efpece de Comete, fatale à nos ennemis.' VER. 137. Anftis] The chief Herald at Arms. It is the custom, at the funeral of great Peers, to caft into the grave the broken ftaves and enfigns of honour.

VER. 239. Stair;] John Dalrymple Earl of Stair, Knight of the Thiftle; ferved in all the wars under the Duke of Marlborough ;

and afterwards as Ambaffador 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 falfe measures of King James II. The other as firmly attached to the caufe of that King. Both acting out of principle, and equally men of honour and virtue.

F. Alas! alas! pray end what you' began, And write next winter more Essays on Man.

255

VER. 255.] This was the laft poem of the kind printed by our author, with a refolution to publish no more; but to enter thus, in the most plain and folemn manner he could, a fort of PROTEST against that infuperable corruption and depravity of manners, which he had been so unhappy as to live to fee. Could he have hoped to have amended any, he had continued thofe attacks: but bad men were grown fo fhamelefs and fo powerful, that Ridicule was become as unfafe as it was ineffectual. The Poem raifed him, as he knew it would, fome enemies; but he had reason to be fatisfied with the approbation of good men, and the testimony of his own confcience.

VARIATION S.

VER. ult. in the MS.

Quit, quit these themes, and write Effays on Man.

ON RECEIVING

FROM THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

The Lady FRANCES SHIRLEY

A STANDISH AND TWO PENS.

ES, I beheld th' Athenian Queen

YES,

Defcend in all her fober charms; "And take (the faid, and fmil'd ferene) "Take at this hand celeftial arms.

"Secure the radiant weapons wield;
"This golden lance fhall guard Defert,
And if a Vice dares keep the field,
"This fteel fall ftab it to the heart."

Aw'd on my bended knees I fell,
Receiv'd.the weapons of the sky;

And dipt them in the fable Well,
The Fount of Fame or Infamy.

What Well? what Weapon? (Flavia cries) "A ftandish, fteel, and golden pen! "It came from Bertrand's, not the skies;

"I gave it you to write again.

The Lady Frances Shirley] A Lady whofe great Merit Mr. Pope took a real pleasure in celebrating.

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