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• The direful Wreck Ulysses scarce furvives!
Uies at his Country fcarce arrives,

Strangers his Guides!-Nor there thy Labours end;
New rces arife, domeftic Ills attend!

• There foul Adulterers to thy Queen resort,

And lordly Gluttons riot in thy Court."

It appears by the 62d Verse;

Tempore, quo juvenis, &c.

BROOME.

that this Satire could not be written before the Year of Rome 734, at which time Auguftus recovered the Roman Eagles from Phrates King of Parthia. Auguftus was then in his forty-third Year.

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- feu rubra canicula findet

Infantes ftatuas ; feu, pingui tentus omasso,
Furu, hrnas canâ nive confpuet Alpes.]

Junius and Bentley obferve, that infantes ftatuas here mean
new-made Statues, most probably of Wood, which are
very apt to fplit with exceffive Heat. Both Heat and Cold
will foinetinies have the fame Effect on statues of Stone.

Dacier fays, that the Phrafe infant Statues is ridiculous. True: And, if it had not been fo, it would not have anfwered Horace's Purpole, which was to ridicule it. The Editor in ufum Delphi exclaims, Dura fanè diciïïò!

Bentley, on the other hand, fays it is Horace's own Phrafe, and an elegant one. So widely do these learned Critics differ!

The Poet, whofe Line is here parodied, was Marcus Furius Bibaculus, contemporary with Cicero. He described in Verse the Wars with Gaul. Speaking of the Winter, he fays,

Jupiter hybernas caná nive confpuit Alpes.

Jove on the wintry Alps fpits hoary Snow. Horace humorously puts the asthmatic Poet in the Place of his Jupiter.

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quicquid dicam, aut erit-aut non.] The Critics puzzle themfelves about the Meaning of thefe Words. But Bentley thinks it is very clear, that Horace, who was an Epicurean, intended by putting thefe Words into the Mouth of Tirefias, and making him utter

them

them with fo much Pomp, to ridicule the Art of Divination, or Prophecy.

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- forti nubet procera Corano

Filia Nafica.] We know no more of the Hiftory here related than we have from Horace. Nevertheless, it will not be difficult to divine it, by examining clofely the Poet's Words and Meaning. This then I take to be the Story. Coranus was an old Man, very covetous and profligate, who had lent Money to Nafica. Nafica, who dreaded nothing fo much as the paying of his Debts, refolved to ferve Coranus in his Debaucheries, and to give him his Daughter; in Expectation that, by facrificing thus her Honour, he fhould gain his good Graces, and that when the old Man died, he would not only pay the Debt he owed him, but also make him his Heir. Coranus availed himself of the Complaifance of this infamous Father. He careffed the Daughter; and, after this fhameful Commerce, instead of acknowledging the Fai vour the Father had done him, he played him this Trick. He made his Will, and gave it him to read. Nafica thought he fhould have found in it the Recompence he expected. But Coranus had left him nothing, but Tears and Defpair. Nubere does not always fignify a Marriage, but often a criminal Commerce, in Catullus and others. DACIER.

Sanadon allows the foregoing Conjecture to be very pro

bable.

A Story of the fame kind lately happened at London. Two old Mifers, each of them worth a Plumb, had a Female Relation worth fourfcore thousand Pounds, who was turned of fixty, and unmarried. She happened to fall in Love with a Barber's Apprentice, who was worth nothing, and gave him great Encouragement. Upon this, the two Brothers contrived this Scheme to break off the Match. They both of them waited upon her; and the eideft thus addreffed her: Coufin Lucretia, we are credibly informed, that you intend to marry Tom Razor. We are amazed that you can think of degrading yourfelf by fuch a Match. You may act, to be fure, as you pleafe: But mark the Confequence. My Brother and I are both old; we have no Thoughts of marrying, ⚫ and intend to make you our Heir. But if you take this

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rafh Step, we will not leave you a Shilling.' This Speech had the defired Effect. She difcarded the Barber, not long after died, and left her whole Fortune between the Brothers.

5 Venit enim magnum donandi parca juventus.]

I know not how Horace can be cleared from the Charge of making Tirefias contradict himself in this Paffage; for he tells Ulyffes in Homer, that the Suitors of Penelope folicit her by Presents; but he says here, that they do not fucceed, because they are not generous enough to take that Method. Nor does the Poet feem here to have a proper Regard to Decency and Decorum.

Tirefias, a venerable Prophet, who is called up from the Elysian Fields, would perfuade Ulyffes to be Pimp to his own Wife. Ulyffes, who is propofed by Homer as a Model of Virtue, liftens to his Inftructions, without any Sign of Indignation or Difpleafure: And whether he will or will not comply with them, is at laft left doubtful.

But, according to Dacier, we must believe all this to be decent. Nothing, fays he, can be more ingenious than the Turn Horace has given to this Satire; nor 'more happy than his Choice of the Actors he intro⚫duces.' On ne fauroit rien imaginer de plus ingénieux que le tour qu'il donne à cette Satire; ni de plus heureux, que le choix des Acteurs qu'il introduit. And, in another Place, he affures us, that the Conduct of Ulysses is natural, and worthy of his Character.'

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-fed me

Imperiofa trabit Proferpina.] This Fiction is.founded on a phyfical Truth. Proferpine here reprefents the Night: And when the Night retires, and gives place to Day, the carries the Shades with her.

Virgil alludes to this in the fifth Book of his Æneid, where the Soul of Anchises breaks off the Discourse with Eneas in thefe Words;

Torquet medios nox humida curfus;
Et me favus equis Oriens afflavit anhelis.

Ver. 738.

The dewy Night has finish'd half her Course;
And Phoebus' panting Courfers on me breathe.

For the Romans, like us, reckoned the Day from Midnight. DACIER.

We

We have adopted from the Heathens the Notion that Ghosts vanish with the Shades of Night.

Shakespeare has made a fine Ufe of it in his Hamlet: The Lines are fo beautiful, that they deserve to be in. ferted.

BERNARDO, HORATIO, and Marcellus.

BERNARDO.

* It was about to speak, when the Cock crew.

HORATIO.

And then it started like a guilty Thing
Upon a fearful Summons. I have heard,
The Cock, that is the Trumpet to the Morn,
Doth with his lofty and shrill-founding Throat
Awake the God of Day; and, at his Warning,
Whether in Sea or Fire, in Earth or Air,
Th' extravagant and erring Spirit hies
To his Confine: And of the Truth herein
The prefent Object made Probation.

MARCELLUS.

It faded on the Crowing of the Cock ! --

To conclude the Notes on this Satire, notwithstanding the laboured Apologies of Dacier and others for Horace's Conduct in it, it is evident, that he has facrificed Decorum and Character, to indulge himself in low Humour and Irony: And fuch Satires, (as it has been rightly_obferved,) teach the very Vices they pretend to correct.

The Ghoft of Hamlet's Father?

VOL. III.

K

SATIRE

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By Mr. FAWK E S,

Vicar of Orpington, in Kent.

A Comparison of the Cares and Troubles of a Town Life with the Eafe and Pleasure of a Country one.

OFT

FT has this been my Wish's utmost Bound, To cultivate a little Tract of Ground, Where a neat Dwelling in a Garden stood, A living Fountain, and a waving Wood. All this and more the gracious Gods have fent; Thanks for their Bounties, and I reft content; Nor aught befide, 2 O Son of Maia, crave, But 3 Leisure to enjoy the Gifts you gave. If I by Fraud ne'er made my Fortune more, Nor leffen'd by Extravagance my Store ; If thus I ne'er preferr❜d my foolish Prayer;

Oh for that Nook of Land that lies so fair; That little Spot, to make my Meadow square! • Oh would propitious Fortune, of her Pleasure, Direct me to fome hidden Hoard of Treasure ! • As once she bless'd the Peasant mean and poor, "Who bought thofe Acres which he plow'd

'before, [Ore.' For 4 Hercules benign tura'd up the golden

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