EPILOGUE

FR.

'T

TO THE

SATIRE S.

Written in MDCCXXXVIII.

DIALOGUE II.

IS all a Libel-Paxton (Sir) will fay
P. Not yet, my Friend! to morrow faith
it may ;

And for that very cause I print to day.
How should I fret to mangle ev'ry line,
In rev'rence to the Sins of Thirty-nine !
Vice, with fuch Giant ftrides comes on amain,
Invention ftrives to be before in vain;

5

Feign what I will, and paint it e'er so ftrong,
Some rifing Genius fins up to my Song

F. Yet none but you by Name the guilty lash;
Ev'n Guthry faves half Newgate by a Dash.

NOTES.

VER. 1. Paxton.] Late follicitor to the Treasury. VER. 11. Ev'n Guthry.] The Ordinary of Newgate, VOL IV.

#R 3

10

Spare then the Perfon, and expofe the Vice.

P. How, Sir! not damn the Sharper, but the Dice?
Come on then, Satire! gen'ral, unconfin'd,
Spread thy broad wing, and fouce on all the kind. 15
Ye Statesmen, Priefts, of one Religion all!

Ye Tradesmen, vile, in Army, Court, or Hall!
Ye Rev'rend Atheifts. F. Scandal! name them, Who?
P. Why that's the thing you bid me not to do.
Who ftarv'd a Sifter, who forswore a Debt,
I never nam'd; the Town's enquiring yet.
The pois'ning Dame - F. You mean -
F. You do.

- P. I don't.

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P. See, now I keep the Secret, and not you! The bribing Statesman-F. Hold, too high you go. 24 P. The brib'd Elector--F. There you ftoop too low. P. I fain would please you, if I knew with what ; Tell me, which Knave is lawful Game, which not? Must great Offenders, once efcap'd the Crown, Like Royal Harts be never more run down? . Admit your Law to fpare the Knight requires, As Beafts of Nature may we hunt the Squires? Suppose I cenfure-you know what I meanTo fave a Bifhop, may I name a Dean?

NOTES.

who publishes the memoirs of the Malefactors, and is often prevailed upon to be so tender of their reputation, as to fet down no more than the initials of their name. P.

30

F. A Dean, Sir? no: his Fortune is not made, You hurt a man that's rifing in the Trade.

2

P. If not the Tradesman who set up to day,
Much less the 'Prentice who to morrow may.
Down, down, proud Satire! tho' a Realm be spoil'd,
Arraign no mightier Thief than wretched Wild;
Or, if a Court or Country's made a job,
Go drench a Pick-pocket, and join the Mob.
But, Sir, I beg you (for the Love of Vice!)
The matter's weighty, pray consider twice;
Have you lefs pity for the needy Cheat,

The poor and friendless Villain, than the Great? 45
Alas! the fmall Difcredit of a Bribe

Scarce hurts the Lawyer, but undoes the Scribe.
Then better fure it Charity becomes

35

40

To tax Directors, who (thank God) have Plums ;
Still better, Minifters; or, if the thing

50

May pinch ev❜n there--why lay it on a King.

NOTES.

VER. 35. You hurt a man that's rifing in the Trade.] For, as the reasonable De la Bruyere obferves, " Qui ne "fait être un ERASME, doit penser à être Evéque." SCRIBL.

VER. 39. Wretched Wild.] Jonathan Wild, a famous Thief, and Thief-Impeacher, who was at laft caught in his own train and hanged. P.

VER. 42. for the love of Vice] We must consider the Poet as here directing his discourse to a follower of the new system of Politics, That private vices are public benefits. SCRIBL.

F. Stop! stop!

P. Muft Satire, then, nor rife nor fall? Speak out, and bid me blame no Rogues at all.

F. Yes, ftrike that Wild, I'll juftify the blow. P. Strike? why the man was hang'd ten years ago: Who now that obfolete Example fears? Ev'n Peter trembles only for his Ears.

56

F. What always Peter? Peter thinks you mad, You make men desp'rate if they once are bad: Elfe might he take to Virtue fome years hence --- 60 P. As S---k, if he lives, will love the PRINCE. F. Strange spleen to S---k!

P. Do I wrong the Man? God knows, I praise a Courtier where I can. When I confefs, there is who feels for Fame, 64 And melts to Goodness, need I SCARB'ROW name? Pleas'd let me own, in Efher's peaceful Grove (Whent Kent and Nature vye for PELHAM'S Love) NOTES.

VER. 57. Ev'n Peter trembles only for his ears.] Peter had, the year before this, narrowly escaped the Pillory for forgery and got off with a fevere rebuke only from the bench.

:

P.

VER. 65. Scarb'row] Earl of; and Knight of the Garter, whofe perfonal attachments to the King appeared from his fteddy adherence to the royal intereft, after his refignation of his great employment of Mafter of the Horse; and whofe known honour and virtue made him efteemed by all parties. P.

VER. 66. Efher's peaceful grove,] The house and gar

The Scene, the Master, opening to my view,
I fit and dream I fee my CRAGGS anew!

Ev'n in a Bishop I can spy Desert ;
Secker is decent, Rundel has a Heart,
Manners with Candour are to Benson giv❜n,
To Berkley, ev'ry Virtue under Heav'n.

But does the Court a worthy Man remove?
That inftant, I declare, he has Love:

my

70

75

NOTES.

dens of Efher in Surry, belonging to the Honourable Mr. Pelham, Brother of the Duke of Newcastle. The author could not have given a more amiable idea of his Character than in comparing him to Mr. Craggs, P.

nature.

VER. 67. Kent and Nature] Means no more than art and And in this confifts the compliment to the Artist. VER. 71. Secker is decent] These words (like those 135. of the firft Dialogue) are another inftance of the malignity of the public judgment. The Poet thought, and not without reason, that they conveyed a very high idea of the worthy perfon to whom they are applied; to be DECENT (or to become every flation of life in which a man is placed) being the noblest encomium on his wisdom and virtue. It is the very topic he employs in fpeaking of a favourite friend, one he most efteemed and loved, Noble and young, who ftrikes the heart, With ev'ry sprightly, ev'ry DECENT part.

The word in both places implying every endowment of the heart. As in that celebrated verse of Horace, from whence the expreffion was taken, aud which no one has a better right to apply to himself than this excellent prelate :

Quid verum atque DECENS curo et rogo, et omnis in hoc fum. So that to be decent is to excell in the moral character.