The Wit of Cheats, the Courage of a Whore, 165 At Crimes that 'scape, or triumph o'er the Law: Yet may this Verse (if such a Verse remain) Show, there was one who held it in difdain. NOTES. VER. 165. The Wit of Cheats, the Courage of a WhoreAre what ten thousand envy and adore:]—And no wonder, for the Wit of Cheats being the evasion of Juftice, and the Cow age of a Where the contempt of reputation; thefe emancipate men from the two tyrannical restraints upon free fpirits, fear of punishment, and dread of shame. SCRIBL. EPILOGUE TO THE SA TIRES. FR. 'T Written in MDCCXXXVIII. DIALOGUE II. IS all a Libel-Paxton (Sir) will fay. And for that very cause I print to-day. Vice with fuch Giant ftrides comes on amain, Feign what I will, and paint it e'er so strong, Somes rifing Genius fins up to my Song. NOTES. 5 VER. 1. Paxton] Late follicitor to the Treasury. VER. 8. Feign what I will, &c.] The Poet has here introduced an oblique apology for himfelf with great art. You attack perfonal characters, fay his enemies. No, replies he, I paint merely from my invention; and then, to prevent a likeness, I aggravate the features. But alas ! F. Yet none but you by Name the guilty lash; Ev'n Guthry faves half Newgate by a Dash. II Spare then the Person, and expose the Vice. P. How, Sir! not damn the Sharper, but the Dice? 16 Come on then, Satire! gen'ral, unconfin'd, P. Why that's the thing you bid me not to do. P. See, now I keep the Secret, and not you! The bribing Statesman-F. Hold, too high you go. P: The brib'd Elector-F. There you ftoop too low. NOTES. 25 the growth of vice is fo monftrously fudden, that it rises up to a refemblance before I can get from the prefs. VER. 11. Ev'n Guthry] The Ordinary of Newgate, who publishes the Memoirs of the Malefactors, and is often prevailed upon to be fo tender of their reputation, as to fet down no more than the initials of their name. P. VER. 13. How, Sir! not damn the Sharper! but the D'ce?] It is pity that the liveliness of the reply cannot excufe the bad realoning: The dice, though they rhyme to vice, can never ftand for it; which his argument requires they fhould do, P. I fain would please you, if I knew with what; Tell me, which Knave is lawful Game, which not? Muft great Offenders, once escap'd the Crown, Like Royal Harts, be never more run down? Admit your Law to spare the Knight requires, As beasts of Nature may we hunt the Squires? 31 Suppose I cenfure-you know what I meanTo fave a Bishop, may I name a Dean? NOTES. For dice are only the inftruments of fraud; but the question is not, whether the inftrument, but whether the act committed by it, should be expofed, instead of the perfon. VER. 26. I fain would pleafe you, if I knew with what; Tell me, which Knave is lawful Game, which not?] I have observed, that our Author has invented, and introduced into his writings, a new fpecies of the jublime, by heightening it with wit. There is a fpecies of eloquen.e in his works (of which thefe lines are an inftance) almost as peculiar to him; which he has produced by employing the fimpleft and tritest phrases to prevent ftiffness; and yet, by a fupreme effort of his art, giving them the dignity of the most felect. Quintilian was fo fenfible of the luftre which this throws upon true eloquence, under a masterly direction, and at the fame time, of the prejudices against it, from the difficulty of fucceeding in it; that he says, Utinam―et verba in ufu quotidiano pofita minus timeremus. VER. 29. Like Royal Harts, &c.] Alluding to the old Game laws; when our Kings spent all the time they could fpare from human flaughter, in Woods and Forests. VER. 31. As beafs of Nature may we hunt the Squires?] The expreffion is rough, like the fubject, but without reflection: For if beafts of Nature, then not beafts of their own making; a fault too frequently objected to country Squires. However, the Latin is nobler; Ferae naturae, Things uncivilized, and free. Ferae, as the Critics fay, being from the Hebrew, Pere, Afinus filveftris. SCRIBL. F. A Dean, Sir? No: his Fortune is not made, You hurt a man that's rifing in the Trade. 35 P. If not the Tradefman who fet up to-day, Much lefs the 'Prentice who to-morrow may. Down, down, proud Satire! tho' a realm be fpoil'd, 40 Arraign no mightier Thief than wretched Wild; 46 Scarce hurts the Lawyer, but undoes the Scribe. Then better fure it Charity becomes To tax Directors, who (thank God) have Plums; NOTES. VER. 35. You hurt a man that's rifing in the Trade.] For, as the reafonable De la Bruyere obferves, Qui ne fait être un "ERASME, doit penfer à être Evêque.” SCRIBL. VFR. 39. wretched Wild,] Jonathan Wild, a famous Thief, and Thief-Impeacher, who was at laft caught in his own train and hanged. P. VER. 42. for the love of Vice!] We must confider the Poet as here directing his discourse to a follower of the new system of Politics and Religion, That private vices are public benefits. |