Late as it is, I put myself to school, 50 To keep these limbs, and to preserve these eyes. Not to go back, is somewhat to advance, And men must walk at least before they dance. Say, does thy blood rebel, thy bosom move 55 Know, there are rhymes, which, fresh and fresh applied, Will cure the arrant'st puppy of his pride. 60 Slave to a wife, or vassal to a punk, A Switz, a High-Dutch, or a Low-Dutch bear; All that we ask is but a patient ear. 'Tis the first virtue, vices to abhor: 65 70 Wilt thou do nothing for a noble end, Nothing, to make philosophy thy friend? 75 And ease thy heart of all that it admires? 3 [Dr. Mead's name occurs frequently in Pope. He was then physician to the king, and he kept his high position in his profession till his death. Dr. Cheselden was a skilful and popular surgeon and anatomist "the most noted and most deserving man in the whole profession of chirurgery," as Pope, in a letter to Swift, describes him. He obtained much praise for an operation performed on a youth who had been blind from his birth: the operation was completely successful in giving sight to the youth, and an account of it which Cheselden drew up for the Philosophical Transactions is highly interesting. He was afterwards much employed as an oculist. This eminent surgeon attended Pope in his last illness. His own death took place in 1754.] Here Wisdom calls: "Seek Virtue first, be bold! 80 Barnard in spirit, sense, and truth abounds ;6 "Pray, then, what wants he?" Fourscore thousand pounds; A pension, or such harness for a slave As Bug now has, and Dorimant would have.7 Barnard, thou art a cit, with all thy worth; 85 But Bug and D*l, their honours, and so forth. 90 4 [An allusion to the Low Church opinions then prevalent at the Court at St. James's, and strongly patronized by Queen Caroline.] 5 [The Exchequer tallies. Payments used to be made into the Exchequer in coin by weight and tale (counting), and the sums engrossed upon parchment. Hence the office of Clerk of the Pells (pellis, a skin), who engrossed the bill upon parchment, and the Clerk of the Pipe, who tossed it down through a pipe or funnel to the court below. See the system described in Knight's London. The whole of this eumbrous machinery has been swept away.] 6 [Sir John Barnard, whom Chatham styled "the great commoner," was at this time Lord Mayor of London. He had been knighted some years before on occasion of presenting a congratulatory address from the city to her Majesty at Kensington. He represented the city in Parliament for forty years, and was an able, independent member. He had strenuously opposed Walpole's Excise Bill, and was mainly instrumental in defeating that minister; whence probably the warmth of Pope's eulogium. In 1749 Sir John became the father of the city, and his brother merchants erected a statue of him in the Royal Exchange. The death of this patriotic citizen took place in 1764, when he had attained to the age of seventy-nine. Sir John was a native of Reading in Berkshire, and was the son of Quaker parents. At the age of nineteen, as the result of study of the Scriptures, he renounced Quakerism, and was received into the church by Dr. Compton, Bishop of London.] 7 [Warton remarks, "It cannot now be discovered to whom these names belong-so soon does satire become unintelligible. The same may be said of verse 112." In the first edition the names are "Bestia and Bug." The latter may have meant Lord Hervey (the "bug with gilded wings" in the Prologue to the Satires) and Dorimant may stand for that venal but goodhumoured politician, Bubb Dodington. The circumstances and character in each case will apply. "D" was probably Delaval, the first lord of that name. Yet every child another song will sing, 95 And say, to which shall our applause belong, 100 105 And foremost in the circle eye a king. 110 Should chance to make the well-dressed rabble stare; If honest S*z 8 take scandal at a spark, That less admires the palace than the park : 115 Full many a beast goes in, but none come out." Well, if a king's a lion, at the least 120 The people are a many-headed beast: 8 [Augustus Schutz, "the elder of two sons of Baron Schutz, a German, who came over with George I., and settled his family in England. Augustus had been Equerry to George II., when Prince, and became Master of the Robes and Privy Purse to the king, with whom he was in great personal favour."-Note by Mr. Croker to Lord Hervey's Memoirs. Schutz seems to have been acquainted both with Pope and Martha Blount-no doubt through Mrs. Howard. Lord Hervey speaks of him as a dull courtier, and Pope's mention of him is to the same effect. He died in 1757.] Alike in nothing but one lust of gold, Just half the land would buy, and half be sold: 125 The rest, some farm the poor-box, some the pews; Some with fat bucks on childless dotards fawn; 130 Some win rich widows by their chine and brawn; SOME WITH FAT BUCKS ON CHILDLESS DOTARDS FAWN." While with the silent growth of ten per cent., 135 Up starts a palace, lo, the obedient base 140 The silver Thames reflects its marble face. Now let some whimsy, or that devil within But give the knight (or give his lady) spleen ; 145 "Away, away! take all your scaffolds down, For snug's the word: My dear! we'll live in town." At amorous Flavio is the stocking thrown ? That very night he longs to lie alone. The fool whose wife elopes some thrice a quarter, 150 For matrimonial solace dies a martyr. Did ever Proteus, Merlin, any witch, Transform themselves so strangely as the rich? 155 160 You laugh, half beau, half sloven if I stand, 165 170 You never change one muscle of your face, Nor once to Chancery, nor to Hale apply; Careless how ill I with myself agree, 175 Kind to my dress, my figure, not to me. This he who loves me, and who ought to mend; 9 [Dr. Hale, of Lincoln's Inn Fields, a physician employed in cases of insanity.] |