And certain Laws, by fuff'rers thought unjust, 60
Deny'd all pòfts of profit or of truft:

Hopes after hopes of pious Papists fail'd,

While mighty WILLIAM's thund'ring arm prevail'd.
For Right Hereditary tax'd and fin'd,

He stuck to poverty with peace of mind;
And me, the Mufes help'd to undergo it;
Convict a Papift he, and I a Poet.

65

But (thanks to Homer) fince 1 live and thrive,
Indebted to no Prince or Peer alive,

Sure I fhould want the care of ten Monroes,
If I would fcribble, rather than repose.

Years foll'wing years, fteal fomething ev'ry day.
At last they steal us from ourselves away;
In one our Frolics, one Amusements end,
In one a Mistress drops, in one a Friend:
This fubtle Thief of life, this paltry Time,
What will it leave me, if it fnatch my rhime?
If ev'ry wheel of that unweary'd Mill
That turn'd ten thousand verses, now ftands ftill.
But after all, what wou'd you have me do?
When out of twenty I can please not two;

NOTES.

VER. 70, Monroes,] Dr. Monroe, Phyfician to Bedlam-Hofpital. P.

VER. 73. At laft they feal us from ourselves away;] i. e. Time changes all our paffions, appetites, and inclinations.

70

75

80

Carmine tu gaudes: hic delectatur iambis ;

Ille Bioneis fermonibus, et fale nigro.

Tres mihi convivae prope diffentire videntur,

Pofcentes vario multum diverfa palato.

Quid dem? quid non dem? renuis quod tu, jubet alter:

Quod petis, id fane est invisum acidumque duobus.
i Praeter caetera me Romaine poemata censes
Scribere poffe, inter tot curas totque labores?
Hic fponfum vocat, hic auditum fcripta, relictis
Omnibus officiis: cubat hic in colle Quirini,
Hic extremo in Aventino; vifendus uterque.
Intervalla vides humane commoda. "Verum

"Purae funt plateae, nihil ut meditantibus obftet.” Feftinat calidus mulis gerulifque redemtor:

Torquet nunc lapidem, nunc ingens machina tignum :

NOTES.

VER. 87. Oldfield - Dartineuf] Two celebrated Gluttons. This inftance adds a beauty to the whole paffage,

When this Heroics only deigns to praise,
Sharp Satire that, and that Pindaric lays?
One likes the Pheasant's wing, and one the leg;
The vulgar boil, the learned roaft an egg;
Hard task to hit the palate of such guests,
When Oldfield loves, what Dartineuf detefts.

i But grant I may relapfe, for want of grace, Again to rhime; can London be the place? Who there his Mufe, or felf, or foul attends, In crouds, and courts, law, business, feafts, and friends?

90

My counsel sends to execute a deed:

A Poet begs me, I will hear him read:

In Palace-yard at nine you'll find me there

At ten for certain, Sir, in Bloomfb'ry fquare-
Before the Lords at twelve
Cause comes on-
my
There's a Rehearsal, Sir, exact at one.-
"Oh but a Wit can study in the streets,
"And raise his mind above the mob he meets."
Not quite fo well however as one ought;
A hackney coach may chance to spoil a thought;
And then a nodding beam, or pig of lead,

God knows, may hurt the very ableft head.

85

95

100

NOTES.

as intimating that the demand for verfe is only a fpecies of luxury.

Triftia robuftis luctantur funera plauftris :

Hac rabiofa fugit canis, hac lutulenta ruit fus.
* I nunc, et verfus tecum meditare canoros.

Scriptorum chorus omnis amat nemus, et fugit urbes,
Rite cliens Bacchi, fomno gaudentis et umbra.
Tu me inter ftrepitus nocturnos atque diurnos
Vis canere, et contracta fequi veftigia vatum?

Ingenium, fibi quod vacuas defumfit Athenas,

Et ftudiis annos feptem dedit, infenuitque
Libris et curis, statua taciturnius exit

Plerumque, et rifu populum quatit: hic ego rerum
Fluctibus in mediis, et tempeftatibus urbis,

NOTES.

VER. 104. Have you not seen, etc.] The fatirical pleafantry of this image, and the humourous manner of reprefenting it, raises the imitation, in this place, far above the original.

VER. 113. Would drink and doze, etc.] This has not the delicacy, or elegant ambiguity of,

Rite cliens Bacchi, fomno gaudentis et umbra.

Have you not feen, at Guild-hall's narrow pass,
Two Aldermen dispute it with an Ass?
And Peers give way, exalted as they are,
Ev'n to their own S-r-v--nce in a Car?

105

* Go, lofty Poet! and in such a croud,
Sing thy fonorous verfe-but not aloud.
Alas! to Grotto's and to Groves we run,
To eafe and filence, ev'ry Mufe's fon
Blackmore himself, for any grand effort,
Would drink and doze at Tooting or Earl's-Court.
How fhall I rhime in this eternal roar?

110

How match the bards whom none e'er match'd before?
1 The Man, who, ftretch'd in Ifis' calm retreat, 116
To books and study gives fev'n years compleat,
See! ftrow'd with learned duft, his night-cap on,
He walks, an object new beneath the fun!
The boys flock round him, and the people ftare:
So ftiff, so mute! fome ftatue you would fwear,
Stept from its pedestal to take the air!

And here, while town, and court, and city roars,
With mobs, and duns, and foldiers, at their doors;
NOTES.

where the intemperance of Poets is not the obvious, but the Secret meaning. For Bacchus was the patron of the Drama as well as of the Bottle; and fleep was courted for inspiration, as well as to relieve a debauch.

Ibid. Tooting-Earl's Court.] Two villages within a few miles of London.

P.

VER. 124. With mobs, and duns, and foldiers at their