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What Nature call'd for, would himself deny,

And liv'd in Want, left he for Want should die. An Axe his Whore, a bold Virago, took,

And clove him to the Middle at one Stroke.

"What! to turn Spendthrift then me advife. you Between the two Extremes a Medium lies; And, though against the Mifer I exclaim, I likewife think the Prodigal to blame : Strive not to blend Things, which by Nature clash; *E----- P------s differs from Beau Nah. In every thing obferve the golden Mean; Virtue within fix'd Bounds is only feen.

Well, to 7 resume the Thread of my Difcourfe,
Let none their Station think than others worse;
Juft like the Mifer, who, repining, views
The fwelling Udders of his Neighbour's Ewes.
The greater Part, the poorer of the Train,
He overlooks in his Purfuit of Gain;
But if he fees a richer Man before,

8 'Till he outstrips him, never will give o'er.
The Charioteer thus in the rapid Race
Lafhes his Steeds to gain the foremost Place;
Preffes on those before with eager Hafte,
But difregards them, when he once is paft.

A noted Misanthrope, from whom the Character of Crab in Mr. Foote's Farce of The ENGLISHMAN returned from PARIS, is supposed to be taken.

This is the Reafon, why fo few are feen,
Who think their Station here has happy been;
Or, when the Feaft of Life is o'er, retreat,
And quit, 9 like a contented Gueft, their Seat.
Enough for once; 'tis time I fhould defift,
Left you suspect, that I'm turn'd METHODIST.

NOTE S.

He is

The Satires and Epiftles of Horace may be confidered as Lectures of Morality, in this Refpect fingular, that though he attacks the Vices of the Age, and lys down the most rational Principles of Philofophy, yet he never lofes Sight of the delicate Manners of the Court. a Philofopher, who, without affuming the Habit, or giving himself the forbidding Airs, of that Profeflion, fo far embellishes every thing he borrows from it, and gives it fuch a Grace, that he feems not fo much to have tudied Philofophy as himfelf, and to draw every thing from his own Fund. DACIER.

Ridentem dicere verum

Quid vetat? The Poet here excufes the employing Fables, which are commonly the Veil of Truth. No one ever made use of them more happily than Horace. Perjius therefore had Reason to say of him,

Omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico

Tangit, & admiffus circum præcordia ludit.

• Facetious Flaccus rallies the Foibles of his Friends, with' out putting them out of Humour.'

2 Ut pueris olim.] He here imitates a Similé of Lucretius, at the Beginning of his fourth Book:

Nam veluti pueris absynthia tetra medentes

Cum dare conantur, &c.

For thus Phyficians ufe,

In giving Children Draughts of bitter Juice;
To tempt the Lip, they tinge the Cup with Sweet, &c.

B. 6

CREECH.

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This Simile was proper for Lucretius, who there confi ders himself as a Phyfician employed to purge the Mind of Superftition. But Horace had Reafon to alter it, becaufe he here affumes the Character of a Philofopher, who teaches and reforms.

3 Perfidus hic Caupo.- -] Mr. Markland has hit the Blot in this Paffage, (where Caupo is palmed upon us for Juris-confultus,) but has not been fo happy in his Correction of it. The true Reading, in all Probability, is Cautor. The Word is of the beft Authority: Cautorem alieni periculi. Cicero. As likewife the Propriety of its Ule for Juris-confultus is manifeft, whose proper Bufinefs it was, in jure cavere.' Melius ei cavere volo, quam ipfe aliis folet. Cicero de Valerio Juris-confulto. Quique aliis cavit (i. e. Juris confultus) non cavet ipfe fibi.” Ovid. The Epithet perfidus added to it makes a very humorous Oxymoron, as they call it, a pleafant Contradiction in Terms. This Conjecture is, I believe, arr Anecdote. I heard it many Years ago; but cannot certainly fay who was the Author of it; but think it was the late Dr. Cockman. Dr. LoWTH.

4 Sicut

Parvula-formica ] The Diligence of the Ant was long ago proposed as an Example. Solomon refers the Sluggard to it, in the fixth Chapter of Proverbs, Verse 6. Go to the Ant, thou Sluggard; confider her Ways, and be wise. And it has furnished Virgil with a fine Similé, in the fourth Book of his Eneid:

Ac veluti ingentem formica farris acervum
Cum populant, ver. 402, & feq.

Thus in Battalia march embody'd Ants,
(Fearful of Winter, and of future Wants)
T'invade he Corn

The fable Troop, along the narrow Track,
Scarce bear the weighty Burden on their Back.
Some guard te Spoil; fome lash the lagging Train;
All ply their feveral Tasks, and equal Toil fuftain.

DRYDEN.

5 Magno de flumine mallem.] There is a Paffage like this in the Prophe Laiah: Forsomuch as this People refuseth the Waters of Shiloath, that flow joftly; bebold! the LORD

bringeth

bringeth upon them the Waters of the River, ftrong and many. Ch. viii. 6 & 7.

6 See the Story of Tantalus in Homer's Odyssey, Book xi. The Ule of thefe Fables is very ancient. The Prophet Nathan addreffes an admirable one to David, in the twelfth Chapter of the fecond Book of Samuel, relating to the poor Man's Ewe-lamb; and when it had produced the intended Effect, he applies it directly to the King, laying, Thou art the Man!

7 Illuc, unde abii, redeo.] He returns to his Subject, from which he had digreffed at the 23d Verfe, and fhows that Mens Avarice is the Source of their Inconftancy.

8 Ut cum carceribus miffos rapit ungula currus.] This Comparison is beautiful, and in the Heroic Style. It was fuggefted to him by the Word feftinanti (outstrips him) in the foregoing Verfe. Virgil has a noble Similé of the fame kind, at the End of the first Georgic, to which this, perhaps, is not inferior:

So four fierce Courfers, starting to the Race,

Scour o'er the Plain, and lengthen every Pace: Nor Reins, nor Curbs, nor threatening Cries they hear, But force along the trembling Charioteer. DRYDEN. 9 Cedat uti conviva fatur.] Horace here had his Eye on this Line of Lucretius:

Cur non, ut plenus vitæ conviva, recedis?

And thofe which follow:

Sed quia femper aves quod abeft, præfentia temnis,
Imperfecta tibi elapfa eft ingrataque; vita,
Et nec opinanti mors ad caput adftitit, ante
Quam fatur ac plenus poffis difcedere rerum.
Why rife we not, as at a plenteous Feaft,
Cramm'd to the fl with Food, the fated Gueft ?-
Unfatisfy'd with all that Nature brings;
Loathing the present, fond of abfent things:
From hence it comes, our vain De fires at Strife
Within themfelves have tantalis'd our Life;
And ghaftly Death ap; ears before our Sight,
Ere we have gorg'd our Senfes with Delight.

DRYDEN.

SATIRE II. Omitted.

SATIRE III.

By Mr. J. DUNCOMBE.

That we ought to be indulgent to the Imperfections of our Friends, and not look on fmall Faults as Crimes.

W

I

HEN afk'd to fing, no Songfter will comply; But all your Patience, when unafk'd, will try. Such was Tigellius; Cæfar, whofe Commands Are Laws, in vain has urg'd him by the Bands Of his 2 Great Father's Friendship, and his own: But, when the Whim prevail'd, in jocund Tone, Now high, now low, he roar'd, all Supper long, Treble or Bafe, a Bacchanalian Song.

No Man was lefs confiftent: Now he flew So fwift, you'd think an Enemy in View; And now, majeftic as the 3 Maids who talk With Juno's Veffels, he would flowly walk. Sometimes two hundred Slaves compos'd his Train, And fometimes ten. Now in a pompous Strain, Of Kings and Tetrarchs he would brag; and now Would humbly pray, 'Indulgent Heaven, beftow 'A three-legg'd Table, and of Salt one Shell, And a coarse Gown, the Weather to repell!'

Yet

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