Poft haec ille catus, quantumvis rufticus, "Ibit,
"Ibit eo, quo vis, qui zonam perdidit, inquit.
f Romae nutriri mihi contigit, atque doceri,
Iratus Graiis quantum nocuiffet Achilles,
Adjecere bonae paulo plus artis Athenae:
Scilicet ut poffem curvo dignofcere rectum,
Atque inter filvas Academi quaerere verum.
Dura fed emovere loco me tempora grato;
Civilifque rudem belli tulit aeftus in arma,
Caefaris Augufti non refponfura lacertis.
Unde fimul primum me demifere Philippi,
Decifis humilem pennis, inopemque paterni
Et laris et fundi, paupertas impulit audax
Ut verfus facerem: fed, quod non defit, habentem,
Quae poterunt unquam fatis expurgare cicutae,

VER. 51. Let him take cafiles who bas ne'er a groat.] This has neither the force nor the justness of the original. Horace makes his foldier fay,

Ibit,

Ibit eo, quo vis, qui zonam perdidit, for it was not his poverty, but his lofs that pushed him upon danger; many being equal to the one, who cannot bear the other. What betrayed our poet into this inacuracy of expreffion was it's fulting better with the application. But in a great writer we pardon nothing. And fuch should never forget, that the expreffion is not perfect, but when the ideas it conveys fit both the tale and the application; for then they reflect mutual light upon one another.

"Go on, my Friend (he cry'd) see yonder walls! "Advance and conquer! go where glory calls! "More honours, more rewards, attend the brave." Don't you remember what reply he gave ?

D'ye think me, noble Gen'ral, fuch a Sot? "Let him take castles who has ne'er a groat."

f Bred up at home, full early I begun To read in Greck the wrath of Peleus' fon. Befides, my Father taught me from a lad, The better art to know the good from bad : (And little fure imported to remove,

50

55

To hunt for Truth in Maudlin's learned grove.)
But knottier points we knew not half so well,
Depriv'd us foon of our paternal Cell;

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

Hopes after hopes of pious Papift's failed

бо

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.

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

65

VER. 53. To read in Greek the wrath of Peleus' fon.] This circumftance has a happier application in the imitation than in the original; and properly introduces the 68th verfe.

२

Ni melius dormire putem, quam fcribere verfus ?

• Singula de nobis anni praedantur euntes ;

Eripuere jocos, venerem, convivia, ludum ;

Tendunt extorquere poemata. quid faciam vis?

h Denique non omnes eadem mirantur amantque.

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 eft invifum acidumque duobus.

i Praeter caetera me Romaene poemata cenfes

Scribere poffe, inter tot curas totque labores?

Hic fponfum vocat, hic auditum fcripta, relictis

Omnibus officiis: cubat hic iu colle Quirini,

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

70

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

8 Years foll'wing years, fteal fomething ev'ry day, At last they fteal 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 rhyme ?
If ev'ry wheel of that unweary'd Mill,

That turn'd ten thousand verfes now ftands ftill?

75

But after all, what would you have me do? 80
When out of twenty I can please not two;
When this Heroics only deigns to praise,
Sharp Satire that, and that Pindaric lays ?

One likes the Pheafant's wing, and one the leg;
The vulgar boil, the learned roaft an egg ;
Hard task! to hit the palate of fuch guetts,
When Oldfield loves, what Dartineuf detefts.

85

1 But grant I may relapse, for want of grace, Again to rhyme; can London be the place? Who there his Mufe, or felf, or foul attends, In crouds, and courts, law, business, feafts, and friends? My counsel fends to execute a deed :

A Poet begs me, I will hear him read:

90

VER. 73. At laft they fleal us from ourselves away ;] i. è̟.. Time changes all our pathons, appetites, and inclinations.

Hic extremo in Aventino; visendus uterque.
Intervalla vides humane commoda.

" Verum

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

Torquet nunc lapidem, nunc ingens machina tig

num:

Triftia robuftis luctantur funera plauftris :
Hac rabiofa fugit canis, hac lutulenta ruit fus.
k I nunc, et versus 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 vestigia vatum ?
1 Ingenium, fibi quod vacuas defumfit Athenas,
Et ftudiis annos feptem dedit, infenuitque
Libris et curis, ftatua taciturnius exit

VER. 104. Have you not seen, etc.] The satirical pleasantry of this image, and the humorous manner of representing it, raises the imitation, in this place, far above the original. VER. 113. Would drink and doze, etc.] This has not the delicacy, for it wants the elegant ambiguity, of

Rite cliens Bacchi, fomno gaudentis et umbra. where the intemperance of Poets is not the obvious, but the fecret meaning. For Bacchus was the patron of the Drama as