185

There liv'd in primo Georgii (they record)
A worthy member, no finall fool, a Lord;
Who, tho' the Houfe was up, delighted fate,
Heard, noted, answer'd, as in full debate :
In all but this, a man of fober life,
Fond of his Friend, and civil to his Wife;
Not quite a madman, tho' a pafty fell,
And much too wife to walk into a well.
Him, the damn❜d Doctors and his Friends immur'd,
They bled, they cupp'd, they purg'd; in fhort, they
cur'd:

Whereat the gentleman began to ftare

190

194

My Friends! he cried, p-x take you for your care! That from a Patriot of diftinguifh'd note,

Have bled and purg'd me to a fimple Vote.

NOTES.

Well,

which was dramatic poetry. The reader fhall have the pleasure of comparing it with Boileau's imitation of the fame paffage, in his 4th Satire, ver. 103.

Jadis certain bigot, d'ailleurs homme fenfé,
D'un mal affez bizarre eut le cerveau bleffé,
S'imaginant fans ceffe, en fa douce manie,
Des efprits bien heureux entendre l'harmonie.
Enfin un médicin fort expert en fon art,
Le guérit par adreffe, ou plutôt par hazard.
Mais voulant de fes foins exiger le falaire,
Moi, vous païer? lui dit le Bigot en colère;
Vous, dont l'art infernal, par des fecrets maudits,
En me tirant d'erreur, m'ôte du Paradis?

WARTON.

VER. 192. Him, the damn'd Doctors, &c.] The execution of this paffage is admirably dextrous, and of exquifite urbanity. The efforts of Boileau on the same subject will form an agreeable com

'Nimirum fapere eft abjectis utile nugis, Et tempeftivum pueris concedere ludum; * Ac non verba fequi fidibus modulanda Latinis, Sed vera numerofque modofque edifcere vita. Quocirca mecum loquor hæc, tacitufque recordor:

t

Si tibi nulla fitim finiret copia lymphæ,

Narrares medicis: quod quanto plura parâfti,
Tanto plura cupis, nulline faterier audes?
"Si vulnus tibi monstrata radice vel herba
Non fieret levius, fugeres radice vel herba

NOTES.

Proficiente

parifon. But here we fee an elegant indeed, yet fervile, copyist ; whilft our countryman's imitation has all the novelty and fpirit. of original conception. WAKEFIELD.

VER. 202. To rules of Poetry] These four lines are far fuperior to the Original, particularly the third and the fourth. WARTON. VER. 210. compliments apart,] This is languid and redundant; by the two preceding lines, hinting at what paffed in his mind, on leaving London until he got to Tickenham, very pleasing. Feel the fmart, ver. 217, is ill expreffed. WARTON.

VER. 218. When golden Angels] Thefe lines are undoubtedly good; but the introduction of the abfurd practice of touching for the king's evil, and the fatire on fervile chaplains, feem forced. WARTON.

VER. 218. When golden Angels ceafe, &c.] The whole of this paffage alludes to a dedication of Mr. afterwards Bishop Kennet, to the Duke of Devonshire; to whom he was chaplain, ver. 229. therefore must be filled up thus:

If Devonshire lov'd fixpence more than he. And perhaps, therefore, ver. 222. thus:

-.

BENNET.

Look in that breaft, moft dirty Duke! be fair The Angel was a golden coin, given as a fee by those who came to be touched by the royal hand for the Evil: and the fecond couplet of the quotation refembles the conclufion of Perfius's fourth fatire:

Tecum

200

' Well, on the whole, plain Prose must be my fate :
Wisdom (curfe on it) will come foon or late.
There is a time when Poets will grow dull:
I'll e'en leave verfes to the boys at fchool;
To rules of Poetry no more confin'd,

I'll learn to fmooth and harmonize my Mind,
Teach ev'ry thought within its bounds to roll,

And keep the equal meafure of the Soul.

* Soon as I enter at my country door,

My mind resumes the thread it dropt before;
Thoughts, which at Hyde-park-corner I forgot,
Meet and rejoin me, in the penfive Grot.
There all alone, and compliments apart,

I afk thefe fober queftions of my heart.

205

210

215

'If, when the more you drink, the more you crave, You tell the Doctor; when the more you have, The more you want, why not with equal eafe Confefs as well your Folly, as Disease? The heart refolves this matter in a trice, "Men only feel the Smart, but not the Vice.” "When golden Angels cease to cure the Evil, You give all royal Witchcraft to the Devil : When fervile Chaplains cry, that birth and place Indue a Peer with honour, truth, and grace,

NOTES.

Tecum habita, et nôris quàm fit tibi curta fupellex.

Survey thy foul; not what thou dost appear,

221

Look

But what thou art; and find the beggar there. Dryden.

WAKEFIELD.

VER. 220. When fervile Chaplains cry,] Dr. Kennet.

WARBURTON.

Proficiente nihil curarier: audieras, cui

Rem Dî donârint, illi decedere pravam

Stultitiam; et, cum fis nihilo fapientior, ex quo
Plenior es, tamen uteris monitoribus îfdem ?
At fi divitiæ prudentem reddere poffent,

Si cupidum timidumque minus te; nempe ruberes
Viveret in terris te fi quis avarior uno.

W

'Si proprium est, quod quis libra mercatus et
ære est,

Quædam (fi credis confultis) mancipat ufus :
Qui te pafcit ager, tuus eft; et villicus Orbî,
Cum fegetes occat tibi mox frumenta daturas,
Te dominum fentit,

* das nummos; accipis uvam,
Pullos, ova, cadum, temeti: nempe modo ifto
Paulatim mercaris agrum, fortaffe trecentis,
Aut etiam fupra, nummorum millibus emptum,
Quid refert, vivas numerato nuper, an olim?

> Emptor Aricini quondam, Veientis et arvi, Emptum cœnat olus, quamvis aliter putat ; emptis Sub

NOTES.

VER. 229. If D*** lov'd] Warton fays, he fearched in vain for the name, to whom this blank belongs. "Of all forts of writing," he justly obferves, "perfonal fatire is not only the most unintelligible, but the most fhort-liv'd. How many of the characters to whom La Bruyere alludes, are unknown; Theodas, is Santeuil; Menalcas, Count de Branças.

"It was a long time before it was understood that M. de la Rochefoucault, in his 71ft maxim, meant to point out the Chevalier de Rohan: in his 342d maxim, the D. d'Efpernon; and in his 393d, M. le Tellier; and in maxim 200, the narrow conver

Look in that breast, most dirty D-! be fair,
Say, can you find out one fuch lodger there?
Yet ftill, not heeding what your heart can teach,
You go to Church to hear thefe Flatt'rers preach.
Indeed, could wealth bestow or wit or merit, 226
A grain of courage, or a spark of spirit,
The wifeft man might blufh, I must agree,
If D*** lov'd fixpence, more than he.

W

If there be truth in Law, and Ufe can give 230 A Property, that's yours on which you live. Delightful Abs-court, if its fields afford Their fruits to you, confeffes you its lord:

All Worldly's hens, nay partridge, fold to town,
His ven'fon too, a guinea makes your own:
He bought at thousands, what with better wit

235

You purchase as you want, and bit by bit;
Now, or long fince, what diff'rence will be found!
You pay a penny, and he paid a pound.

› Heathcote himself, and fuch large-acred men,
Lords of fat E'fham, or of Lincoln fen,
Buy ev'ry stick of wood, that lends them heat,
Buy ev'ry Pullet they afford to eat,

Yet these are Wights, who fondly call their own
Half that the Dev'l o'erlooks from Lincoln town.

NOTES.

241

The

fation of Boileau and Racine, who never talked on any subject but poetry and criticism."

VER. 232. Delightful Abs-court,] A farm over-again Hamp. ton-Court.

WARBURTON.