Millia. me pedibus delectat claudere verba,
Lucilì ritu, nostrûm melioris utroque.

Ille velut fidis arcana fodalibus olim

Credebat libris; neque, fi male gefferat, ufquam
Decurrens alio, neque fi bene: quo fit, ut omnis
Votiva pateat veluti defcripta tabella

Vita fenis. fequor hunc, 'Lucanus an Appulus, anceps:

[Nam Venufinus arat finem fub utrumque colonus,
Miffus ad hoc, pulfis (vetus eft ut fama) Sabellis,
Quo ne per vacuum Romano incurreret hoftis;
Sive quod Appula gens, feu quod Lucania bellum
Incuteret

NOTES.

he was of an antient equeftrian family, and was great-uncle of Pompey the Great. Lucilius, among other inaccuracies of style, fometimes ftrangely disjoined words, as in cere comminuit brum, for cerebrum.

VER. 63. My head and heart thus flowing through my quill,] Inferior to the Original:

"Ille velut fidis arcana fodalibus olim

Credebat libris," &c.

Perfius alluded to this idea, when he said,

"Vidi, vidi ipfe, Libelle!" &c.

W.

VER. 64. Verfe-man or Profe-man,] The original, Ver. 35. Nam Venufinus arat, down to Ver. 39. and to the words, incuteret violenta, which are improperly printed in a parenthesis, have been thought an awkward and a monkish interpolation, but were undoubtedly intended by Horace to represent the loose, incoherent, and verbose manner of Lucilius, who compofed haftily and carelessly, ducentos ante cibum verfus ; and who loaded his Satires with many useless and impertinent thoughts; very offenfive to the chaste and correct tafte of Horace.

'I love to pour out all myself, as plain
As downright SHIPPEN, or as old Montagne :
In them, as certain to be lov'd as feen,

The foul stood forth, nor kept a thought within;
In me what spots (for fpots I have) appear,
Will prove at least the Medium must be clear.
In this impartial glass, my Mufe intends
Fair to expose myself, my foes, my friends;
Publish the present age; but where my text
Is Vice too high, referve it for the next:
My foes fhall wish my life a longer date,
And ev'ry friend the lefs lament my fate.

55

60

My head and heart thus flowing through my quill, Verfe-man or Profe-man, term me which you will,

Papist or Proteftant, or both between,

Like good Erafmus in an honest Mean,

In moderation placing all my glory,

While Tories call me Whig, and Whigs a Tory.

NOTES.

65

Satire's

VER. 66. Like good Erafmus] The violence and haughtiness of Luther disgufted the mild and moderate Erafmus, and alienated him from pursuing the plan of reformation which at first he seemed to encourage and engage in. Luther represented him as an Arian and a time-server. "I thought," said Erafmus, " Luther's marriage would have foftened him a little. It is hard for a man of my moderation and of my years to be obliged to write against a savage beast and a furious wild boar." But great revolutions and great reformations are not effected by calm and fober reason, nor without fuch violence and enthusiasm as Luther poffeffed. When Voltaire was lamenting that Locke and Newton had few difciples in comparison of the numerous followers of Luther and Calvin, it was replied to him, "that, without a Luther and Calvin, we should never have had a Locke or Newton."

Incuteret violenta.] fed hic ftylus haud petit ultro
Quemquam animantem, et me veluti coftodiet enfis
Vagina tectus, quem cur deftringere coner,
Tutus ab infeftis latronibus? "O pater et rex
Jupiter, ut pereat pofitum rubigine telum,
Nec quifquam noceat cupido mihi pacis! at ille,
Qui me commôrit, (melius non tangere, clamo,)
*Flebit, et infignis tota cantabitur urbe.

y Cervius iratus leges minitatur et urnam; Canidia Albutî, quibus eft inimica, venenum;

Grande

NOTES.

VER. 70. To run a muck,] The expreffion is from Dryden : "Frontless and fatire-proof, he fcours the ftreets,

And runs an Indian muck at all he meets."

And it alludes to à practice among the Malayans, who are great gamefters; which is, that when a man has loft all his property, he intoxicates himself with opium, works himfelf up to a fit of phrenzy, rushes into the ftreets, and attacks and murders all he

meets.

VER. 71. I only wear it in a land of Heclors, &c.] Superior to "tutus ab infeftis latronibus,"

which only carries on the metaphor in

"enfis

Vagina tectus;"

whereas the imitation does more; for, along with the metaphor, it conveys the image of the fubject, by prefenting the reader with the feveral objects of fatire.

W..

VER. 73. Save but our Army! &c.] "Une maladie nouvelle," fays the admirable Author de L'efprit des Loix, " s'eft répandue en Europe; elle a faifi nos Princes, et leur fait entretenir un nombre defordonné de Troupes. Elle a fes redoublemens, et elle devient neceffairement contagieufe. Car fi tot qu'un Etat augmente ce qu'il appelle fes Troupes, les autres foudain augmentent les leurs, de façon qu'on ne gagne rien par-là que la Ruïne commune. Chaque Monarque tient fur pied toutes les Armées qu'il pourroit avoir, fi

'Satire's my weapon, but I'm too difcreet

To run a muck, and tilt at all I meet;

I only wear it in a land of Hectors,

Thieves, Supercargoes, Sharpers, and Directors.
"Save but our Army! and let Jove incrust
Swords, pikes, and guns, with everlasting rust!
"Peace is my dear delight-not FLEURY's more:
But touch me, and no Minifter fo fore.
Whoe'er offends, at fome unlucky time
* Slides into verfe, and hitches in a rhime,
Sacred to: Ridicule his whole life long,
And the fad burthen of fome merry fong.

Slander or Poifon dread from Delia' rage,
Hard words or hanging, if your Judge be Page.
From furious Sappho scarce a milder fate,
P-x'd by her love, or libell'd by her hate.

NOTES.

fes Peuples etoient en danger d'étre exterminés; et ON NOMME PAIX, CET ETAT D'EFFORT DE TOUS CONTRE TOUS. Auffi l'Europe est-elle fi ruinée, que les particuliers, qui feroient dans la fituation où font les trois Puiffances de cette partie du monde les plus opulentes, n'auroient pas de quoi vivre. Nous fommes pauvres avec les richeffes & le commerce de tout l'univers ; & bientôt, à force d'avoir des foldats, nous n'aurons plus que des foldats, et nous ferons comme des Tartares."

VER. 78. Slides into verfe,] Closely copied from Boileau : "Et malheur a tout nom qui propre à la cenfure,

Peut entrer dans un vers fans rompre la mesure."

W.

VER. 81-84. Slander-libell'd by her hate.] There seems to be more spirit here than in the original: But it is hard to pronounce with certainty for though one may be confident there is more force in the 83d and 84th lines than in

:

“Canidia Albutî, quibus eft inimica, venenum;"

yet there might be fomething, for aught we know, in the charac

2

Grande malum Turius, fi quid fe judice certes,

* Ut, quo quifque valet, fufpectos terreat, utque Imperet hoc Natura potens, fic collige mecum. Dente lupus, cornu taurus petit; unde, nifi intus Monftratum? Scævæ vivacem crede nepoti Matrem; nil faciet fceleris pia dextera (mirum?

Ut

a

neque calce lupus quemquam, neque dente petit bos)

Sed mala tollet anum vitiato melle cicuta.

"Ne longum faciam: feu me tranquilla fenectus Exfpectat, feu mors atris circumvolat alias ; Dives, inops; Romæ, feu fors ita jufferit, exful; "Quifquis erit vitæ, fcribam, color.

T. O puer, ut fis

Vitalis metuo; et majorum ne quis amicus

Frigore te feriat.

H. Quid?

NOTES.

W.

ter or history of Cervius, which might bring up that line to the fpirit and poignancy of the 82d verfe of the Imitation.

VER. 85-90. Its proper power to hurt, &c.] All, except the two laft lines, inferior to the elegance and precifion of the original.

W.

VER. 91. Then, learned Sir!] The brevity and force of the original is evaporated in this long and feeble paraphrase of the next ten lines. The third and three fucceeding verfes are very languid and verbofe, and perhaps fome of the worft he has written.

VER. 93-96. Whether old age-fhade] The original is more finished, and even more fublime. Befides, the last verse-To wrap me in the univerfal fhade, has a languor and redundancy unusual with our Author.

W.

VER. 99. In durance, exile, Bedlam, or the Mint,] The Poet, in our equal government, might talk at his eafe, and with all this levity of ftyle, of the difafters incident to wit. But it was a ferious matter with Horace; and is fo ftill with our witty Neighbours; one of whom has well expreffed their condition, ip the following lines: