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The following words of Quintilian might not be an improper motto for these Dialogues:

"Ingenii plurimum eft in eo, et acerbitas mira, et urbanitas, et vis fumma; fed plus ftomacho, quam confilio dedit. Præterca ut amari fales, ita frequenter amaritudo ipfa ridicula est.”

EPILOGUE

то THE

SATIRES.

WRITTEN IN MDCCXXXVIII.

FR. NOT

DIALOGUE I.

or twice a twelvemonth you appear in Print, And when it comes, the Court fee nothing in't.

You

VARIATIONS.

After Ver. 2. in the MS.

You don't, I hope, pretend to quit the trade,
Because you think your reputation made:
Like good Sir Paul, of whom so much was faid,
That when his name was up he lay a-bed.
Come, come, refresh us with a livelier fong,
Or, like St. Paul, you'll lie a-bed too long.
P. Sir, what I write, fhould be correctly writ.
F. Correct! 'tis what no genius can admit.
Besides, you grow too moral for a Wit.

NOTES.

VER. 1. Not twice a twelvemonth, &c.] Thefe two lines are from Horace; and the only lines that are so in the whole Poem; being meant to give a handle to that which follows in the character of an impertinent Cenfurer,

""Tis all from Horace," &c.

P.

By long habit of writing, and almost constantly in one fort of measure, he had now arrived at a happy and elegant familiarity of

ftyle,

You grow correct that once with Rapture writ,
And are, befides, too moral for a Wit.

Decay of Parts, alas! we all must feel-
Why now, this moment, don't I fee steal?

NOTES.

you

5

'Tis

ftyle, without flatnefs. The fatire in these pieces is of the strongest kind; fometimes, direct and declamatory, at others, ironical and oblique. It must be owned to be carried to excess. Our country is reprefented as totally ruined, and overwhelmed with diffipation, depravity, and corruption. Yet this very country, so emasculated and debased by every fpecies of folly and wickedness, in about twenty years afterwards, carried its triumphs over all its enemies, through all the quarters of the world, and astonished the most diftant nations with a display of uncommon efforts, abilities, and virtue. So vain and groundlefs are the prognoftications of poets, as well as politicians. It is to be wished, that a genius could be found to write an One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-one, as a counter-part to these two Dialogues, which were more diligently laboured, and more frequently corrected than any of our Author's compofitions. I have often heard Mr. Dodfley fay, that he was employed by the Author to copy them fairly. Every line was then written twice over; a clean transcript was then delivered to Mr. Pope, and when he afterwards fent it to Mr. Dodsley to be printed, he found every line had been written twice over a fecond time. Swift tells our Author, thefe Dialogues are equal, if not fuperior, to any part of his works. They are, in truth, more Horatian than the professed Imitations of Horace. They at first were intitled, from the year in which they were published, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty-eight. They were afterwards called, fantaflically enough, Epilogue to the Satires, as the Epistle to Arbuthnot was intitled Prologue to the Satires. It is remarkable that the first was published the very fame morning with Johnfon's admirable London; which Pope much approved, and fearched diligently for the Author, who lived then in obfcurity. London had a fecond edition in a week. Pope has himself given more notes and illuftrations on these Dialogues than on any other of his poems.

VER. 2. See nothing in't.] He used this colloquial (I will not fay barbarifm, but) abbreviation, to imitate familiar converfa

tion.

'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 trust 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 busʼness, H―ggins knew the Town; In Sappho touch the Failings of the Sex,

In rev'rend Bishops note fome fmall Neglects,

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15

NOTES.

And

VER. 9, 10. And taught his Romans in much better metre, "To laugh at Fools who put their truft in Peter."]

The general turn of the thought is from Boileau, "Avant lui, Juvénal avoit dit en Latin, Qu'on eft affis à l'aife aux fermons de Cotin."

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

P.

Bubo is said to mean Mr. Doddington, afterward Lord Melcombe.

VER. 13. Horace would fay,] The bufinefs of the friend here introduced is to diffuade our Poet from personal invectives. But he dexterously turns the very advice he is giving into the bitterest fatire. Sir Billy was Sir William Young, who, from a great fluency, was often employed to make long fpeeches till the minifter's friends were collected in the House.

VER. 14. H-ggins] Formerly Gaoler of the Fleet prifon, enriched himself by many exactions, for which he was tried and expelled.

P.

He was the father of the Author of the abfurd and profaïe Translation of Ariofto; an account of him is given in the Anecdotes of Hogarth.

VER. 15. In Sappho touch] In former Editions,

Sir George of fome flight gallantries suspect.

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