5

Decay of Parts, alas! we all must feel-
Why now, this moment, don't I fee you fteal!
"Tis all from Horace; Horace long before ye
Said, "Tories call'd him Whig, and Whigs a Tory;"
And taught his Romans, in much better metre,
"To laugh at Fools who put their truft in Peter.”

But Horace, Sir, was delicate, was nice ;
Bubo obferves, he lafh'd no fort of Vice:
Horace would fay, Sir Billy ferv'd the Crown,
Blunt could do Bus`nefs, H-ggins knew the Town;
In Sappho touch the Failings of the Sex,

In rev'rend Bishops note fome Small Neglects,
And own, the Spaniard did a waggish thing,
Who cropt our Ears, and fent them to the King.
His fly, polite, infinuating style

II

15

Could please at Court, and make AUGUSTUS fmile:

VARIATIONS.

P. Sir, what I write, should be correctly writ.
F. Correct! 'tis what no genius can admit.

Befides, you grow too moral for a Wit.

VER. 12. Bubo obferves,] Some guilty perfon very fond of making fuch an observation:

VER. R. 14. H--ggins] Formerly Jaylor of the Fleet prifon, enrich'd himself by many exactions, for which he was tried and expelled.

VER. 18. Who cropt our Ears,] Said to be executed by the Captain of a Spanish fhip on one Jenkins, a Captain of an English one. He cut off his ears, and bid him carry them to the King his master.

6

His Friend and Shame, and was a kind of Screen. But 'faith your very Friends will foon be fore: Patriots there are, who wish you'd jeft no moreAnd where's the Glory! 'twill be only thought 25 The Great man never offer'd you a groat,

Go fee Sir ROBERT

P. See Sir ROBERT!-hum

And never laugh-for all my life to come?
Seen him I have, but in his happier hour
Of Social Pleasure, ill-exchang'd for Pow'r ;
Seen him, uncumber'd with the Venal tribe,
Smile without Art, and win without a Bribe.
Would he oblige me? let me only find,
He does not think me what he thinks mankind.

VER. 22: Screen.]

Omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico

30

Tangit, et admiffus circum præcordia ludit Perf. Ibid. Screen.] A metaphor peculiarly appropriated to a certain person in power.

VER. 24. Patriots there are, etc.] This appellation was generally given to those in opposition to the Court. Though fome of them (which our author hints at) had views too mean and interested to deferve that name.

VER. 26. The Great man] A phrase, by common use, appropriated to the first minister.

VER. 31. Seen him, uncumber'd] These two verses were originally in the poem, though omitted in all the first editions.

VER. 34. what he thinks mankind.] This request seems fomewhat abfurd: but not more so than the principle it refers to. That great Minifter, it feems, thought all mankind Rogues; and that every one had his price. It was ufually given as a

36

Come, come, at all I laugh he laughs, no doubt; The only diff'rence is, I dare laugh out.

F. Why yes with Scripture ftill you may be free; A Horfe-laugh, if you please, at Honefty;

A Joke on JEKYL, or fome odd Old Whig
Who never chang'd his Principle, or Wig:
A Patriot is a Fool in ev'ry age,

Whom all Lord Chamberlains allow the Stage:
These nothing hurts; they keep their Fashion still,
And wear their strange old Virtue, as they will.

40

45

If any ask you, "Who's the Man, fo near "His Prince, that writes in Verse, and has his ear?'

proof of his penetration, and extensive knowlege of the world. Others perhaps would think it an instance of a narrow understanding, that, from a few of Rochefoucault's maxims, and the corrupt practice of thofe he commonly con⚫ verfed with, would thus boldly pronounce upon the character of his Species. It is certain, that a Keeper of Newgate, who fhould make the fame conclufion, would be heartily laughed at.

VER. 37. Why yes: with Scripture, etc.] A fcribler, whofe only chance for reputation is the falling in with the fashion, is apt to employ this infamous expedient for the prefervation of his fleeting existence. But a true Genius could not do a foolisher thing, or fooner defeat his own aim. The fage Boileau used to say on this occafion, Une ouvrage "fevere peut bien plaire aux libertins; mais un ouvrage

trop libre plaira jamais aux perfonnes feveres."

VER. 39. A Joke on Jekyl] Sir Jofeph Jekyl, Master of the Rolls, a true Whig in his principles, and a man of the utmost probity. He fometimes voted against the Court, which drew upon him the laugh here described of ONE who bestowed it equally upon Religion and Honefty. He died a few months after the publication of this poem,

50

Why, anfwer, LYTTELTON, and I'll engage
The worthy Youth shall ne'er be in a rage:
But were his Verses vile, his Whisper base,
You'd quickly find him in Lord Fanny's cafe.
Sejanus, Wolfey, hurt not honeft FLEURY,
But well may put fome Statesmen in a fury.
Laugh then at any, but at Fools or Foes;
Thefe but
you
and
anger, you mend not those. 54
Laugh at your friends, and, if your Friends are fore,

So much the better, you may laugh the more,
To Vice and Folly to confine the jeft,

Sets half the world, God knows, against the rest;
Did not the Sneer of more impartial men
At Senfe and Virtue, balance all agen.
Judicious Wits fpread wide the Ridicule,
And charitably comfort Knave and Fool.

P. Dear Sir, forgive the Prejudice of Youth:
Adieu Distinction, Satire, Warmth, and Truth!

60

VER. 47. Why, anfwer, Lyttelton.] George Lyttelton, Secretary to the Prince of Wales, diftinguished both for his writings and speeches in the spirit of Liberty.

VER. 51. Sejanus, Wolfey,] The one the wicked minister of Tiberius: the other, of Henry VIII. The writers against the Court ufually beftowed thefe and other odious names on the Minifter, without diftinction, and in the most injurious manner. See Dial. II. ver. 137.

Ibid. Fleury,] Cardinal: and Minister to Louis XV. It was a Patriot-fashion, at that time, to cry up his wifdom and honesty.

VOL. IV.

65

Come, harmlefs Characters that no one hit;
Come, Henley's Oratory, Ofborn's Wit!
The Honey dropping from Favonio's tongue,
The Flow'rs of Bubo, and the Flow of Y-ng!
The gracious Dew of Pulpit Eloquence,

And all the well-whipt Cream of Courtly Senfe 70
That First was H-vy's, F-'s next, and then
The S-te's, and then H-vy's once agen.
O come, that eafy Ciceronian ftyle,

So Latin, yet fo English all the while,

As, tho' the Pride of Middleton and Bland,
All Boys may read, and Girls may understand!
Then might I fing, without the least offence,
And all I fung fhould be the Nation's Senfe;
Or teach the melancholy Mufe to mourn,
Hang the fad Verse on CAROLINA's Urn,
And hail her paffage to the Realms of Rest,
All Parts perform'd, and all her Children bleft!

75

80

VER. 66. Henley-Ofborn.] See them in their places in the Dunciad,

VER. 69. The gracious Dew] Alludes to fome court fermons, and florid panegyrical speeches: particularly one very full of puerilities and flatteries; which afterwards got into an addrefs in the fame pretty style; and was lastly served up in an Epitaph, between Latin and English, published by its author.

VER. 78. Nation's Senfe ;] The cant of Politics at that time. VER. 80. Carolina.] Queen confort to King George II. She died in 1737. Her death gave occafion, as is obferved above, to many indiscreet and mean performances unworthy of her memory, whofe laft moments manifefted the utmost courage and refolution.