SATIRE IV.

WELL; I may now receive *, and die. My fin Indeed is great, but yet I have been in

A Purgatory, fuch as fear'd Hell is

A Recreation, and scant map of this.

My mind, neither with pride's itch, nor hath been Poyfon'd with love to fee or to be feen, I had no fuit there, nor new fuit to fhow, Yet went to Court; but as Glare which did go To Mass in jeft, catch'd, was fain to disburse Two hundred markes, which is the Statutes curfe, Before he fcap'd; fo it pleas'd my destiny (Guilty of my fin of going) to think me As prone to all ill, and of good as forgetful, as proud, luftfull, and as much in debt,

As

NOTES.

More fhort, fevere, and pointed, than Pope's paraphrastical

lines.

VER. 7. The Poet's hell,] He has here with great prudence corrected the licentious expreffion of his Original. W.

VER. 10. Nor the vain itch t'admire, or be admir'd;] Courtiers have the fame pride in admiring, which Poets have in being admired. For VANITY is often as much gratified in paying our Court to our fuperiors, as in receiving it from our inferiors. W.

VER. 13. Had no new verfes, nor new fuit to fhow;] Infinuating that Court-poetry, like Court-clothes, only comes thither in honour of the Sovereign; and ferves but to fupply a day's converfation. W.

VER. 14. The Dev'l would] This addition is mean. And line below, 26. is perhaps the greatest violation of harmony Pope has

SATIRE IV.

WELL,
ELL, if it be my time to quit the stage,
Adieu to all the follies of the age!
I die in charity with fool and knave,
Secure of peace at least beyond the grave.
I've had my Purgatory here betimes,
And paid for all my fatires, all my rhymes.
The Poet's hell, its tortures, fiends, and flames,
To this were trifles, toys, and empty names.

With foolish pride my heart was never fir'd,
Nor the vain itch t'admire, or be admir'd;
I hop❜d for no commiffion from his Grace;
I bought no benefice, I begg'd no place:
Had no new verses, nor new fuit to show;
Yet went to Court!-the Dev'l would have it fo.
But, as the Fool that in reforming days
Would go to Mafs in jeft (as story fays)
Could not but think, to pay his fine was odd,
Since 'twas no form'd defign of ferving God;
So was I punish'd, as if full as proud

As prone to ill, as negligent of good,

NOTES.

VER. 19. So was I punish'd,] Thus in former editions:
Such was my Fate, whom Heav'n adjudged,

5

10

15

20

As

ever been guilty of, by beginning the Verse with the word Noah. And line 17, his fine was odd, seems to be very exceptionable.

Pope

As vain, as witlefs, and as falfe, as they
Which dwell in Court, for once going that way.

Therefore I fuffer'd this; towards me did run
A thing more ftrange, than on Nile's flime the Sun
E'er bred, or all which into Noah's Ark came :
A thing which would have pos'd Adam to name :
Stranger than feven Antiquaries ftudies,

Than Africk Monsters, Guianaes rarities,
Stranger than strangers: one who, for a Dane,
In the Danes Maffacre had fure been flain,
If he had liv'd then; and without help dies,
When next the 'Prentices 'gainft ftrangers rise;
One whom the watch at noon lets scarce go by;
One, to whom the examining Justice sure would cry,
Sir, by your Priefthood, tell me what you are?

His cloathes were strange, tho' coarse, and black, tho' bare.

Sleeveless his jerkin was, and it had been
Velvet, but 'twas now (fo much ground was feen)
Become

NOTES.

Pope made many alterations in this Satire, and feems to have taken pains in correcting it. Line 65, and fucceedings one, ftood

thus:

Well met, he cries, and happy fure for each, For I am pleas'd to learn and you to teach. Line 86 flood as follows:

Obliging Sir, I love you I profefs,
But wish you lik'd Retreat a little lefs,
Spirits like you, believe me, fhould be feen,
And like Ulyffes vifit Courts and men ;

So much alone, to speak plain truth between us,
You'll die of fpleen-excufe me, nunquam minus.

2

Line

As deep in debt, without a thought to pay,
As vain, as idle, and as falfe, as they
Who live at Court, for going once that way!
Scarce was I enter'd, when, behold! there came
A thing which Adam had been pos'd to name;
Noah had refus'd it lodging in his Ark,

Where all the Race of Reptiles might embark:
A verier monster, than on Africk's fhore

The fuit, if by the fashion one might guess,
Was velvet in the youth of good Queen Befs,
But mere tuff-taffety what now remain'd;
So Time, that changes all things, had ordain'd!

The fun e'er got, or flimy Nilus bore,

Or Sloan or Woodward's wondrous fhelves contain,

Nay, all that lying Travellers can feign.

The watch would hardly let him pafs at noon,

35

At night would fwear him dropt out of the Moon.
One, whom the mob, when next we find or make
A popish plot, fhall for a Jefuit take,
And the wife Justice, starting from his chair,
Cry, By your Priesthood tell me what you are?
Such was the wight: Th' apparel on his back,
Tho' coarse, was rev'rend, and tho' bare, was
black:

NOTES.

25

31

40

Our

Line 154, ran thus:

Shows Poland's Intereft, takes the Primate's Part. Dr. Johnfon fpeaks, methinks, too flightingly of thefe Imitations of Donne, when he fays, "That Pope feems to have known their imbecillity."

Become Tufftaffaty; and our children fhall
See it plain rash a while, then nought at all.
The thing hath travail'd, and, faith, fpeaks all
tongues,

And only knoweth what to all States belongs,
Made of th' accents, and best phrase of all these,
He speaks one language. If ftrange meats displease,
Art can deceive, or hunger force my taft;
But pedants motly tongue, fouldiers bumbaft,
Mountebanks drug-tongue, nor the terms of law,
Are strong enough preparatives to draw
Me to hear this, yet I must be content
With his tongue, in his tongue call'd Complement:
In which he can win widows, and
pay scores,
Make men speak treason, couzen subtlest whores,
Outflatter favourites, or outlie either

Jovius, or Surius, or both together.

He names me, and comes to me; I whisper, God, How have I finn'd, that thy wrath's furious Rod, This fellow, chuseth me! He faith, Sir,

I love your judgment, whom do you prefer
For the best Linguist? and I feelily
Said that I thought Calepine's Dictionary.

Nay,

NOTES.

VER. 68. The King's, faid I.] " This fneer," faid the ingenious Mr. Wilkes," is really indecent. The good Bishop who published an edition of his works, ought, in the mild limbo of his Comment ary, to have softened the severity of this paffage."

VER. 71. Onflow,] By an affected gravity, and a folemn and important air, he prefided for many years over the House of Commons; but not with the ability, knowledge, patience, prudence,

and