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And hail her passage to the Realms of Rest,
All Parts perform'd, and all her Children blest!
So-Satire is no more - I feel it die -

No Gazetteer more innocent than I

And let, a God's-name, ev'ry Fool and Knave 85 Be grac'd thro' Life, and flatter'd in his Grave.

F. Why fo? if Satire knows its Time and Place,
You still may lash the greatest- in Disgrace :
For Merit will by turns forsake them all;

Would you know when! exactly when they fall. 90
But let all Satire in all Changes spare
Immortal S-k, and grave De - re.

NOTES.

She died in 1737. Her death gave occafion, as is observed above, to many indiscreet and mean performances unworthy of her memory, whose last moments manifested the utmost courage and resolution. P.

How highly our Poet thought of that truly great perfonage may be seen by one of his letters to Mr. Allen, written at that time; in which, amongst others, equally refpectful, are the following words: " The Queen shewed,

by the confession of all about her, the utmost firmness " and temper to her last moments, and through the course " of great torments. What character historians will al" low her, I do not know; but all her domeftic servants, " and those nearest her, give her the best teftimony, that "of fincere tears."

VER. 92. Immortal S-k, and grave De-re!] 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. This Lord was very skilful

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Silent and soft, as Saints remove to Heav'n,
All Tyes diffolv'd, and ev'ry Sin forgiv'n,
These may some gentle ministerial Wing

95

Receive, and place for ever near a King!

There, where no Paffion, Pride, or Shame transport, Lull'd with the sweet Nepenthe of a Court;

NOTES.

in all the forms of the House, in which he discharged himself with great gravity. P.

VER. 97. There, where no Passion, etc.] The excellent writer De l'Esprit des Loix gives the following character of the Spirit of Courts, and the Principle of Monarchies: "Qu'on life ce que les Historiens de tous les tems ont dit " fur la Cour des Monarques; qu'on se rapelle les con"versations des hommes de tous les Païs sur le miferable " caractère des COURTISANS; ce ne sont point des choses " de speculation, mais d'une triste expérience. L'ambi" tion dans l'oisiveté, la bassesse dans l'orgueil, le defir de " s'enrichir sans travail, l'aversion pour la vérité; la fla"terie, la trahison, la perfidie, l'abandon de tous ses

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engagemens, le mepris des devoirs du Citoyen, la crainte " de la vertu du Prince, l'efperance de ses foiblesses, et " plus, que tout cela, LE RIDICULE PERPETUEL JETTE

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SUR LA VERTU, font, je crois, le Caractère de la plupart des Courtisans marqué dans tous les lieux et dans " tous les tems. Or il est très mal-aisé que les Principaux " d'un Etat soient malhonnêtes-gens, et que les inferieurs " foient gens-de-bien, que ceux-là soyent trompeurs, &

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que ceux-ci confentent à n'être que dupes. Que fi dans " le Peuple il se trouve quelque malheureux honnêtehomme, le Cardinal de Richelieu dans son Testament " politique insinue, qu'un Monarque doit se garder de s'en " fervir. Tant-il est vrai que la Vertu n'est pas le refsfort " de ce Gouvernment."

There, where no Father's, Brother's Friend's disgrace
Once break their rest, or stir them from their Place:

But past the Sense of human Miseries,

All Tears are wip'd for ever from all eyes;
No cheek is known to blush, no heart to throb,
Save when they lose a Question, or a Job.

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P. Good Heav'n forbid, that I should blast their glory,

105

Who know how like Whig Ministers to Tory,
And when three Sov'reigns dy'd, could scarce be vext,
Confid'ring what a gracious Prince was next.
Have I, in filent wonder seen such things
As Pride in Slaves, and Avarice in Kings;
And at a Peer or Peeress, shall I fret,
Who starves a Sister, or forswears a Debt?

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Virtue, I grant you, is an empty boaft;

But shall the Dignity of Vice be loft?

Ye Gods! shall Cibber's Son, without rebuke, 115
Swear like a Lord, or Rich out-whore a Duke;

VARIATIONS.

VER. 112. in some editions,

Who starves a Mother,

NOTES.

VER. 108. gracious Prince] The style of Addresses on an acceffion.

VER. 115. Cibber's Son, - Rich] Two Players: look for them in the Dunciad. P.

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A Fav'rite's Porter with his Master vie,

Be brib'd as often, and as often lie?

Shall Ward draw Contracts with a Statesman's skill?

Or Japhet pocket, like his Grace, a Will?

Is it for Bond, or Peter, (paltry things)

120

To pay their Debts, or keep their Faith, like Kings? If Blount dispatch'd himself he play'd the man,

And so may'st thou, illustrious Pafferan !

But shall a Printer, weary of his life,

125

Learn, from their Books, to hang himself and Wife? This, this, my Friend, I cannot, must not bear; Vice thus abus'd, demands a Nation's care: -This calls the Church to deprecate our Sin, And hurls the Thunder of the Laws on Gin.

NOTES.

130

VER. 123. If Blount] Author of an impious and 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. P.

VER. 124. Pafferan!) Author of another book of the same stamp, called A pbilofophical difcourse on death, being a defence of fuicide.

VER. 125. But fhall a Printer, etc.] A Fact that happened in London a few years paft. The unhappy man left behind him a paper justifying his action by the reafonings of fome of these authors

P.

VER. 129. This calls the Church to deprecate our Sin,] Alluding to the forms of prayer, composed in the times of public calamity; where the fault is generally laid upon the People.

VER. 130. Gin.) A fpirituous liquor, the exorbitant

Let modest FoSTER, if he will, excell Ten Metropolitans in preaching well; A fimple Quaker, or a Quaker's Wife, Out-do Landaffe in Doctrine,-yea in Life : Let humble ALLEN, with an aukward Shame, 135 Do good by stealth, and blush to find it Fame.

NOTES.

use of which had almost destroyed the lowest rank of the People till it was restrained by an act of Parliament in 1736. P.

VER. 131. Let modift FOSTER,] This confirms an obfervation which Mr. Hobbes made long ago, That there be very few Bishops that act a fermon so well, as divers Presbyterians and fanatic Preachers can do. Hist. of Civ. Wars. p. 62. SCRIBL.

VER. 134. Landaffe] A poor Bishoprick in Wales, as poorly supplied.

P.

VER. 135. Let humble ALLEN with an aukward Shame, Do good by stealth, and blush to find it Fame.] The true Character of our Author's moral pieces, contidered as a Supplement to human laws (the force of which they have defervedly obtained) is, that his praise is always delicate, and his reproof never misplaced: and therefore the first not reaching the head, and the latter too sensibly touching the heart of his vulgar readers, have made him censured as a cold Panegyrift, and a caustic Satirift; whereas, indeed, he was the warmest friend, and the most placable enemy.

The lines above have been commonly given as an instance of this ungenerous backwardness in doing justice to merit. And, indeed, if fairly given, would bear hard upon the Author, who believed the person here celebrated to be one of the greatest characters in private life that ever was; aud known by him to be, in fact, all, and

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