Would he oblige me? let me only find, He does not think me what he thinks mankind. Come, come, at all I laugh he laughs, no doubt; F. Why yes with Scripture still you may be free; A joke on Jekyl, or some odd old Whig.10 Whom all Lord Chamberlains allow the stage: 35 40 and his difficulties. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu has some verses to the same effect on seeing a portrait of Walpole: "Such were the lively eyes and rosy hue Then every man found something to commend, The pleasant neighbour and the worthy friend," &c. Walpole's greatest error was in laughing at all public virtue and consistency, and in believing that men were only swayed by venal and selfish motives. He lowered the tone of public opinion, and in this respect degraded the character of a statesman. The immense sums which he lavished on hireling writers and in secret bribery are also indefensible. But let it be remembered that his strong good sense, his love of peace, and his generally able management of affairs, preserved the country from war, and frustrated all the ceaseless efforts and plots of the Jacobites. Walpole did not long enjoy his retirement from public life. He was created Earl of Orford in 1742, and died March 18, 1745, aged sixty-nine.] 10 Sir Joseph Jekyl, Master of the Rolls, a true Whig in his principles, and a man of the utmost probity, He sometimes 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. [Jekyl, the brother-in-law of Lord Somers, had a seat in Parliament in the reign of Queen Anne, and was one of the managers in the trial of Sacheverell. He was knighted by George I. The word "ONE," printed conspicuously in Pope's note, seems to point to some important person, and Mr. Croker con. jectures that the Queen was meant. This is a very probable supposition, though the horse-laugh at honesty is more in the style of the King or of Walpole. Pope picked up various items of Court scandal and gossip from Mrs. Howard.] If any ask you, "Who's the man, so near Laugh then at any, but at fools or foes; To vice and folly to confine the jest, Sets half the world, God knows, against the rest; At sense and virtue balance all again. P. Dear Sir, forgive the prejudice of youth: 1 11 George Lyttelton, Secretary to the Prince of Wales, distinguished both for his writings and speeches in the spirit of liberty. 12 [Lord Fanny-Lord Hervey-was then Vice-Chamberlain to the King.] 18 The one the wicked minister of Tiberius, the other of Henry VIII. The writers against the Court usually bestowed these and other odious names on the minister, without distinction, and in the most injurious manner. See Dial. ii. ver. 137. 14 Cardinal, and Minister to Louis XV. It was a patriot-fashion, at that time, to cry up his wisdom and honesty. 15 See them in their places in the Dunciad. 16 In first edition "The honey dropping from Ty-l's tongue, The flowers of Bub- -ton, the flow of Young." -nge," In the small edition of 1739 (Works, vol. ii.) the last name is given "Yshowing that Sir William Yonge, not Dr. Young, the poet and friend of "Bubo," or Dodington, was meant. "Ty-1," was doubtless Lord Tyrconell.] That first was H-vy's, F-'s next, and then, No gazetteer more innocent than I— And let, a-God's name, every fool and knave Be graced through life, and flatter'd in his grave. F. Why so? if Satire knows its time and place, You still may lash the greatest-in disgrace: 17 Alludes to some Court sermons, and florid panegyrical speeches; particularly one very full of puerilities and flatteries; which afterwards got into an address in the same pretty style: and was lastly served up in an epitaph, between Latin and English, published by its author. [Lord Hervey wrote an epitath, or éloge, on Queen Caroline; Mr. H. Fox moved for and drew up the address of the House of Commons to his Majesty on their first meeting after the Queen's death; Dr. Alured Clarke wrote an essay on the Queen's character; and Bishop Gilbert preached at Court on the occasion, and was said to cry in his sermon. The caution and prudence of Pope, in the midst of all his satirical allusions, is shown by his not printing even the name of the senate at length.] 18 Queen Consort of King George II. She died in 1737. Her death gave occasion, as is observed above, to many indiscreet and mean performances unworthy of her memory, whose last moments manifested the utmost courage and resolution. [The four lines containing this bitter satire on the Queen's dying moments are not in the first edition, but appear in that of the following year. See Note at the end of this poem.] 19 A title given that lord by King James II. He was of the Bedchamber to King William; he was so to King George I., he was so to King George II. Silent and soft, as saints removed to heaven, There, where no passion, pride, or shame transport, 95 There, where no father's, brother's, friend's disgrace 100 But past the sense of human miseries, No cheek is known to blush, no heart to throb, All tears are wiped for ever from all eyes; Save when they lose a question, or a job. P. Good Heaven forbid, that I should blast their glory, 105 Who know how like Whig ministers to Tory, And when three sovereigns died, could scarce be vex'd, This lord was very skilful in all the forms of the House, in which he discharged himself with great gravity. [Charles, Earl of Selkirk, died in March, 1739. Lord Hervey, in a poetical Epistle to the Queen, 1736, speaks very unceremoniously of the old courtier : "Let nauseous Selkirk shake his empty head Through six Courts more, when six have wish'd him dead." In a sort of Court interlude or drama, drawn up for the amusement of the queen, the scene being laid in her Majesty's drawing-room, Lord Hervey introduces old Selkirk as one of the dramatis person@. The dialogue confirms Pope's remarks as to the earl's knowledge of Court forms : 66 Queen (to the Duke of Argyll). Where have you been, my lord? One has not had the pleasure to see you a great while, and one always misses you. "Duke of Argyll. I have been in Oxfordshire, madam; and so long, that I was asking my father here, Lord Selkirk, how to behave : I know nobody that knows the ways of a Court so well, nor that has known them so long. 66 Lord Selkirk. By G――, my lord, I know nobody knows them better than the Duke of Argyll. Duke of Argyll. All I know, father, is as your pupil; but I told you I was grown a country gentleman. "Lord Selkirk. You often tell me things I do not believe. 66 Queen (laughing). Ha, ha, ha! You are always so good together, and my Lord Selkirk is so lively."* The second courtier in Pope's verse was Lord Delaware.] * Lord Hervey's Memoirs, vol. ii. Have I, in silent wonder, seen such things 110 Ye gods! shall Cibber's son, without rebuke,21 115 Swear like a lord, or rich outwhore a duke? Be bribed as often, and as often lie? Shall Ward draw contracts with a statesman's skill? Or Japhet pocket, like his grace, a will ? 22 120 Is it for Bond, or Peter, (paltry things,) To pay their debts, or keep their faith, like kings? 24 20 [In the first edition, "Who starves a mother." Lady Mary Wortley Montagu had £500 a year for supporting her sister, the Countess of Mar, when suffering from mental alienation, and is said to have treated the countess harshly. The "debt" is an allusion to the affair of M. Ruremonde. See Dunciad and Life of Pope.] 21 Two players: look for them in the Dunciad. 22 [The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Wake, was said to have secreted the will of King George I.] 23 Author of an impious foolish book called The Oracles of Reason, who, being in love with a near kinswoman of his, and rejected, gave himself a stab in the arm, as pretending to kill himself; of the consequence of which he really died. [This is not correct. Blount shot himself with a pistol. After the death of his wife, he had proposed marriage to her sister; she declined on religious grounds, and continuing inflexible, the unhappy man committed suicide. He was the younger son of Sir Henry Blount, of Hertfordshire; the lady who was the cause of the catastrophe was a daughter of Sir T. Tyrrel, of Shotover, Oxfordshire. Mr. Charles Blount was a man of learning and amiable character, but of infidel opinions. His miscellaneous works were published in 1695, by Charles Gildon, so often mentioned in the Dunciad. We have the volumes now before us, and it appears that Gildon vindicated the death of. Mr. Blount, and shared in his unbelief.] 24 Author of another book of the same stamp, called, A Philosophical Discourse on Death, being a defence of suicide. He was a nobleman of Piedmont, banished from his country for his impieties, and lived in the utmost misery yet feared to practise his own precepts. This unhappy man at last died a penitent. |