Seen him, uncumber'd with the Venal tribe, He does not think me what he thinks mankind. NOTES. Come, VER. 29. Seen him I have, &c.] This, and other ftrokes of commendation in the following poem, as well as his regard to Sir Robert Walpole on all occafions, were in acknowledgment of a certain service he had done a friend of Mr. Pope's at his folicitation. Our Poet, when he was about feventeen, had a very ill fever in the country; which, it was feared, would end fatally. In this condition he wrote to Southcot, a Prieft of his acquaintance, then in town, to take his laft leave of him. Southcot, with great affection and folicitude, applied to Dr. Radcliffe for his advice. And not content with that, he rode down post to Mr. Pope, who was then an hundred miles from London, with the Doctor's directions; which had the defired effect. A long time after this, Southcot, who had an intereft in the Court of France, writing to a common acquaintance in England, informed him that there was a good abbey void near Avignon, which he had credit enough to get, were it not from an apprehenfion that his promotion would give umbrage to the English Court; to which he (Southcot) by his intrigues in the Pretender's service, was become very obnoxious. The perfon to whom this was written happening to acquaint Mr. Pope with the cafe, he immediately wrote a pleasant letter to Sir R. Walpole in the Prieft's behalf: He acquainted the Minifter with the grounds of his folicitation, and begged that this embargo, for his, Mr. P.'s fake, might be taken off; for that he was indebted to Southcot for his life; which debt muft needs be difcharged either here or in purgatory. The Minifter received the application favourably, and with much good-nature wrote to his brother, then in France, to remove the obftruction. In confe. quence of which Southcot got the abbey. Mr. Pope ever after retained a grateful fenfe of his civility. WARBURTON. To the account given in this note may be added, that in gratitude for this favour conferred on his friend, Pope presented to Mr. Horatio Walpole, afterwards Lord Walpole, a fet of his Works in quarto, richly bound; which are now in the library at Wolterton. WARTON. 36 F. Why, Come, come, at all I laugh he laughs, no doubt The only diff'rence is, I dare laugh out. NOTES. VER. 31. Seen him, uncumber'd] These two verfes were originally in the Poem, though omitted in all the first editions. Porɛ. VER. 34. He does not think me] In former Editions, He thinks me Poet of no venal kind. WARTON. VER. 34. what he thinks mankind.] This request appears fomewhat abfurd: but not more so than the principle it refers to. That great Minister, it feems, thought all mankind Rogues; and that every one had his price. It was, ufually given as a proof of his penetration, and extenfive knowledge of the world. Others perhaps would think it the mark of a bounded capacity; which, from a few of Rochefoucault's maxims, and the corrupt practice of thofe he commonly converfed with, would thus boldly pronounce upon the character of his Species. It is certain, that a Keeper of Newgate, who fhould make the fame conclufion, would be heartily laughed at. WARBURTON. Juft before Atterbury went into exile, a large fine dropt to him as Dean of Westminster, but he could have no right to receive it, without the feal being fet to the leafe in a full chapter. Sir Robert Walpole earnestly inquired, if a chapter could not be held in the Tower, that the Bishop might receive the benefit of this fine. A chapter was accordingly there held, and the Bishop received a thousand pounds for his fhare of the fine. This anecdote, which is well authenticated, does great credit to the liberality and good temper of Sir Robert Walpole. WARTON. The circumftance, concerning which fo much has been faid, that Sir Robert confidered every one as equally venal, and that all had their price, is fatisfactorily explained by Mr. Coxe: Although it is not poffible to juftify him entirely, yet this part of his conduct has been greatly exaggerated. The political axiom attributed to him, that all men have their price, and which has been so often repeated in verfe and profe, was perverted by leaving out the word those. Flowery oratory he despised; he afcribed to the interested views of themselves or their relatives, the declaration of the pretended Patriots, of whom he faid, "All F. Why, yes: with Scripture ftill you may be free; A Horfe-laugh, if you please, at Honesty; A Joke on JEKYL, or fome odd Old Whig Who never chang'd his Principle, or Wig: 40 Whom all Lord Chamberlains allow the Stage: NOTES. 45 Why, of "All thofe men have their price," and in the event many them juftified his obfervation *." Memoirs of Sir R. W. page 250. VER. 37. Why, yes: with Scripture, &c.] A feribler, whofe only chance for reputation is the falling in with the fafhion, is apt to employ this infamous expedient for the prefervation of a tranfitory name.. But a true Genius could not do a foolisher thing, or fooner defeat his own aim. The fage Boileau used to fay on this occafion, "Une ouvrage fevere peut bien plaire aux libertins; mais une ouvrage trop libre ne plaira jamais aux per- ̧ fonnes feveres WARBURTON. VER. 37 Why, yes: with Scripture fill you may be free';] Thus the Man, commonly called Mother Ofborne (who was in the Minifter's pay, and wrote Coffee-house Journals) for one Paper in behalf of Sir Robert, had frequently two against J. C. WARBURTON. VER. 39. A Joke on JEKYL,] Sir Joseph Jekyl, Master of the Rolls, a true Whig in his principles, and a man of the utmoft probity. He fometimes voted against the Court, which drew upon him the laugh here described of ONE who bestowed it equally upon Religion and Honesty. He died a few months after the publication of this Poem. POPE. *From Lord Orford, and the late Lord John Cavendish. Why, anfwer, LYTTELTON, and I'll engage NOTES. 50 Laugh ·VER. 47. Why, anfwer, LYTTELTON,] George Lyttelton, Secretary to the Prince of Wales, diftinguished both for his writings and fpeeches in the spirit of liberty. POPE. VER. 51. Sejanus,] This profligate minifter prevailed on the Senate to order a book of Crematius Cordus, in praise of Brutus and Caffius, to be burnt. This prohibition naturally increased the circulation of the work. "Libros cremandos," fays Tacitus, " cenfuere patres; fed manferunt occultati, etenim punitis ingeniis, glifcit auctoritas." "The punishing of wits enhances their authority," fays Lord Bacon; " and a forbidden writing is thought to be a certain fpark of truth, that flies up in the faces of them who feek to tread it out." WARTON. VER. 51. Sejanus, Wolfey,] The one the wicked minister of Tiberius; the other of Henry VIII. The writers against the Court ufually bestowed these and other odious names on the Minifter, without diftinction, and in the most injurious manner. See Dial. II. ver. 137. POPE. VER. 51. FLEURY,] Cardinal; and Minifter to Louis XV. It was a Patriot-fashion, at that time, to cry up his wifdom and honesty. POPE. VER. 51. boneft FLEURY,] Fontenelle who had been acquainted with the Cardinal before his ministry, vifiting him and finding him in his usual serenity and gaiety of temper, faid to him, “ Is it poffible that your Eminence ftill continues to be happy?" The fhort Billets which the Cardinal wrote to Fontenelle, and which are preserved in the 11th Vol. of his Works, are full of wit, elegance, and pleasantry. A curious account is given of the rife and fortunes of Cardinal Fleury, in the first volume of St. Simon's Memoirs. WARTON. Laugh then at any, but at Fools or Foes; Thefe you but anger, and you mend not those. Laugh at your Friends, and, if your Friends are fore, So much the better, you may laugh the more. Sets half the world, God knows, against the rest; At Senfe and Virtue, balance all agen. Judicious Wits spread wide the Ridicule, P. Dear Sir, forgive the Prejudice of Youth: 55 60 65 And all the well-whipt Cream of Courtly Senfe, 70 NOTES. That VER. 66 Henley-Ofborn,] See them in their places in the Dunciad. POPE. VER. 68. The Flow'rs of Bubo, and the Flow of Young!] Sir William Young. We cannot, now, conceive the reafon of Pope's coupling fo constantly, as he does, the names of Bubo, and Sir William Young.-We have "The first lampoon, Sir Will or Bubo makes.” I have thought it poffible he might here mean Dr. Young, to whom Dodington (Bubo) was a kind and conftant Friend. VER 69. The gracious Dew] Alludes to fome Court fermons, and florid panegyrical fpeeches; particularly one very full of puerilities and flatteries; which afterwards got into an addrefs in the fame pretty ftyle; and was laftly ferved up in an Epitaph, between Latin and English, publifhed by its author. POPE. |