No place is facred, not the Church is free, Is there a Parfon much be-mus'd in beer, 15 NOTE S. Que vous ont fait Perrin, Bardin, Pradon, Hainaut, Colletet, Pelletier, Tirfeville, Quinaut. Dont les noms en cent lieux, placés comme en leurs riches, BOILEAU, Sat. ix. 89. This is exquifitely pleasant, and expreffed with that purity and force both of thought and di&ion, that happy Horatian mixture of jeft and carneft that contribute to place Defpreaux at the head of modern claffics. I think it must be confeffed, that he has caught the manner of Horace more fuccesfully than Pope. It is obfervable that Boileau, when he first began to write, copied Juvenal, whofe violent, downright, declamatory fpecies of fatire is far more easy to be imitated than the oblique, indire&, delicate touches of Horace. The judgement of L. Gyraldus concerning Juvenal feems to be judicious and well-founded: If you think my opinion worth regarding, I would fay, that the Satires of Juvenal ought never to be read till our tafte is fixed and confirmed, and we are thoroughly tindured with a knowledge of the Latin language: and I mention this my opinion more freely, because I perceive many matters use a contrary method." Dial. iv. VER. 13. Mint] A place to which infolvent debtors retired, to enjoy an illegal prote&ion, which they were there fuffered to afford to one another, from the perfecution of their creditais. W. VER. 15. Is there a Parfon) Some lines in this Epiffle to Arbuthnot had been used in a letter to Thomson when he was in Italy, and transferred from him to Arbuthnot, which naturally difpleafed the former, though they lived always on terms of civility and friendship: and Pope earnestly exerted himself, and used all his intereft to promote the fuccefs of Thomson's Agamemnon, and attended the firft night of its being performed. Though Agamemnon is not a capital play on the whole, and abounds in languid and long declamatory speeches, yet parts of it are ftriking; particularly Melifander's account of the defert island to which he was banished,copied from the Philo&etes of Sophocles; and the prophetic fpeeches of Caffandar, during the moment of Agamemnon's being murdered, well calculated to fill the audience with alarm, aftonishment, and fufpenfe, at an awful event, obfcurely hinted at in very ftrong imagery. Thefe fpeeches are closely copied from the Agamemuon of Efchylus, as is a Ariking feene in bis 1 A maudlin Poetefs, a rhyming Peer, A Clerk, foredoom'd his father's foul to crofs, Arthur, whofe giddy fon neglects the laws, Imputes to me and my damn'd works the cause: Poor Cornus fees his frantic wife elope, And curfes Wit, and Poetry, and Pope. Friend to my life! (which did not you prolong, The world had wanted many an idle fong) What Drop or Noftrum can this plague remove? Or which muft end me, a Fool's wrath or love? 30 VARIATIONS. 1 After Ver. 20. in the MS. Is there a Bard in durance? turn them free, With all their brandifh'd reams they run to me: Is there a 'Prentice, having feen two plays, Who would do fomething in his Sempftrefs' praife VER. 29. in the first Ed. Dear Dodor, tell me, is not this a curfe? NOTES. Eleonora from the Alceftes of Euripides. Thomson was well acquaint ed with the Greek Tragedies, on which I heard him talk learnedly, when I was once introduced to him by my friend Mr. W. Collins. VER. 23. Arthur,] Arthur Moore, Esq. VER. 33. Seiz'd and ty'd down to judge,] Alluding to the scene in the Plam-Dealer, where Oldfox gags and ties down the Widow, to hear his well-penn'd flanzas. W.- Rather from Horace; vide his Drufo. A dire dilemma! either way I'm fped, If foes, they write, if friends, they read me dead. 1 With honeft anguish, and an aching head; 50 NOTES. VER. 38. An aching head;] Alluding to the disorder he was then fo conftantly afflicted with. W. VER. 40. Keep your piece nine years.] Boileau employed eleven years in his fhort fatire of L'Equivoque. Patru was four years altering and correding the first paragraph of his tranflation of the oration for Archias. VER. 49. Pitholeon] The name taken from a foolish Poet of Rhodes, who pretended much to Greek. Schol. in Horat. 1. 1. Dr. Bentley pretends, that this Pitholeon libelled Cæfar alfo. See notes on Hor. Sat. 10. 1. i. P. VER. 54. He'll write a Journal,] Meaning the London Journal; Pitholeon libell'd me-" but here's a letter Informs you, Sir, 'twas when he knew no better. 46 Dare you refufe him? Curl invites to dine, "He'll write a Journal, or he'll turn Divine." Blefs me! a packet." 'Tis a stranger fues, 55 "A Virgin Tragedy, an Orphan Mufe." If I diflike it, Furies, death and rage! If I approve," Commend it to the Stage." There (thank my ftars) my whole commiffion ends, The Play'rs and I are, luckily, no friends.. Fir'd that the house reject him, "'Sdeath, I'll print it, "And fhame the Fools Your int'reft, Sir, with 46 Lintot." 60 Lintot, dull rogue! will think your price too much: 66 Not, Sir, if you revife it, and retouch." All my demurs bat double his attacks; 65 VER. 53. in, the MS. VARIATIONS. If you refufe, he goes, as fates incline, ALLUSION. VER. 43. Rhymes ere he wakes,] Didates to me flumb'ring, or inspires Eafy my unpremeditated Verfe." NOTES. MILTON. a paper in favour of Sir R. Walpole's miniftry. Bishop Hoadley wrote in it, as did Dr. Bland. VER. 55. A packet.] Alludes to a tragedy called the Virgin Queen, by Mr. R. Barford, published 1729, who difpleafed Pope by daring to adopt the fine machinery of his Sylphs in an heroi-comical poem called the Affembly. 1726. At laft he whispers, "Do; and we go fnacks." Sir, let me fee your works and you no more. His very Minifter who fpy'd them first, · (Some fay his Queen,) was forc'd to speak, or burst. things. 75 I'd never name Queens, Minifters, or Kings; Keep close to Ears, and those let affes prick, NOTE S. VER. 69. 'Tis fung, when Midas'] The abruptnefs with which this Atory from Perfius is introduced, occafions an obfcurity in the paffage; for there is no connedion with the foregoing paragraph. Boileau fays, Sat. ix. v. 221. I have nothing to do with Chapelain's honour, or candour, or civility, or complaifance; but, if you hold him up as a model of good writing, and as the king of authors, "Ma bile alors s'échauffe, et je brûle d'écrire ; There is much humour in making the prying and watchful eyes of the minifter, iuftead of the barber, firft discover the afs's ears; and the word perks has particular force and emphafis. Sir Robert Walpole and Queen Caroline were here pointed at. Boileau wrote his ninth Satire firft in profe; of which there was a copy in the late French King's Library. VIR. 72. Queen] The ftory is told, by fome, of his Barber, but by Chaucer, of his Queen. See Wife of Bath's Tale in Dryden's Fables. P. VER. 75. Good Friend, forbear !] Dr. Hurd, in the Dialogue on the Age of Queen Elizabeth, has supported the chara&er of Arbuthnot with more spirit and propriety than is done in this Epifile. 1 |