Lenta videtur opus debentibus: ut piger annus

Pupillis, quos dura premit cuftodia matrum":

Sic mihi tarda fluunt ingrataque tempora, quae fpem

r

Confiliumque morantur agendi gnaviter & id, quod

S

t

Aeque pauperibus prodeft, locupletibus aeque,
Aeque neglectum pueris, fenibufque nocebit.

Reftat, ut his ego me ipfe regam▾ folerque ́ele

mentis :

Non poffis oculo quantum contendere Lynce us;
Non tamen idcirco contemnas lippus inungi:
Nec, quia defperes invicti membra Glyconis,
Nodofa corpus nolis prohibere cheragra.
Eft quadam prodire * tenus, fi non datur ultra.
y Fervet Avaritia, miseroque cupidine pectus ?

NOTES.

VER. 45. can no wants endure;} i. e. Can want nothing. Badly expreffed.

VER. 51. I'll do what Mead-] Mr. Pope highly efteemed and loved this worthy man, whole unaffected humanity and benevolence have ftifled much of that envy which his eminence in his profeffion would otherwise have drawn out.

Long as the Year's dull circle feems to run,
When the brisk Minor pants for twenty-one :
So flow thr unprofitable moments roll,
That lock up all the Functions of my foul;
That keep me from myfelf; and ftill delay
Life's inftant bufinefs to a future day:

That talk, which as we follow, or despise,
The eldest is a fool, the youngest wife.

Which done, the pooreft can no wants endure; 45 And which not done, the richest must be poor.

+ Late as it is, I put myself to school,

And feel fome comfort, not to be a fool.
w Weak tho' I am of limb, and short of fight,
Far from a Lynx, and not a Giant quite;
I'll do what Mead and Chefelden advise,
To keep these limbs, and to preferve these eyes.
Not to go back, is somewhat to advance,
And men muft walk at least before they dance.
Say, does thy blood rebel, thy bofom move
With wretched Av'rice, or as wretched Love?

X

66

50

NOTES.

Speaking of his obligations to this great Phyfician and others of the Faculty, in a Letter to Mr. Allen, about a nionth before his death, he says, "There is no end of

55

my kind treatment from the Faculty. They are in general the moft amiable companions, and the best "Friends, as well as the most learned Men I know."

Sunt verba et voces, quibus hunc lenire dolorem

a

Poffis, et magnam morbi deponere partem.

Laudis amore tumes? funt certa piacula, quae te

Ter pure lecto poterunt recreare libello.

Invidus, iracundus, iners, vinofus, amater,

d

Nemo adeo ferus eft, ut non mitefcere poffit,

Si modo culturae patientem commodet aurem.

•

• Virtus eft, vitium fugere; et fapientia prima,
Stultitia caruiffe. vides, quae f maxima credis
Effe mala, exiguum cenfum, turpemque repulfam,
Quanto devites animi, capitifque labore.

Impiger extremos curris mercator ad Indos,

NOTES.

VER. 58. Between the fits-] The sense of
magnam morbi deponere partem

is here very happily expreffed. And

Ter pure lecto etc.

in the following line, as happily varied. But the whole paffage, which defcribes the ufe and efficacy of fatire, is admirably imitated.

VER. 70. Scar'd at the Spectre of pale Poverty!] Tho'

4

Know, there are Words, and Spells, which can con

troll

z Between the Fits this Fever of the foul:

Know, there are Rhymes, which

apply'd

Will cure the arrant'ft Puppy of his Pride.
Be furious, envious, flothful, mad, or drunk,
Slave to a Wife, or Vaffal to a Punk,
A Switz, a High-dutch, or a Low-dutch Bear;
All that we afk is but a patient Ear.

fresh and fresh

f

e 'Tis the first Virtue, Vices to abhor ; And the firft Wisdom, to be Fool no more. But to the world no bugbear is so great, As want of figure, and a small Eftate. To either India see the Merchant fly, Scar'd at the spectre of pale Poverty ! See him, with pains of body, pangs of soul, Burn through the Tropic, freeze beneath the Pole ! Wilt thou do nothing for a nobler end, Nothing, to make Philosophy thy friend?

Per mare Pauperiem fugiens, per faxa, per ignes. But what follows,

Wilt thou do nothing, etc..

69

far furpaffes the Original.

NOTES.

this has all the fpirit, it has not all the imagery of the Original; where Horace makes Poverty purfue, and keep pace with the Mifer in his flight,

L

65

70

Permare pauperiem fugiens, per faxa, per ignés:
Ne cures ea, quae ftulte miraris et optas,

h

Difcere, et audire, et meliori credere non vis?
Quís circum pagos et circum compita pugnax
Magna coronari contemnat Olympia, cui fpes,
Cui fit conditio dulcis fine pulvere palmae?
❝ i Vilius eft auro argentum, virtutibus aurum.
❝k O cives, cives! quaerenda pecunia primum eft;
Virtus poft nummos: haec 1 Janus fummus ab imo
Prodocet: haec recinunt juvenes dictata senefque,
Laevo fufpenfi loculos tabulamque lacerto.

1

Eft animus tibi, funt mores, eft lingua, fidefque:

n

NOTES.

VER. 77. Here, Wifdom calls: etc.] All from hence to 110, is a pretty clofe tranflation: but in general done with fo masterly a fpirit, that the Original, tho' one of the most finished paffages in Horace, looks only like the imitation of it.

VER. 78. As Gald to Silver, Virtue is to Gold] This perhaps is the moft faulty line in the whole collection. The Original is,

***

:

Vilius eft auro argentum, virtutibus aurum. which only fays, that as Silver is of lefs value than Gold, fo Gold is of lefs value than Virtue in which fimple_inferiority, and not the proportion of it, is implied. For it was as contrary to the Author's purpose, as it is to common fenfe, to fuppofe, that Virtue was but juft as much better than gold, as gold is better than filver. Yet Mr. Pope, too attentive to his conftant object, conciseness, has, before he was aware, fallen into this meaning.

VER. 82. From low St. James's up to high St. Paul ;]