From such alone the great rebukes endure, EPILOGUE TO THE SATIRES. IN TWO DIALOGUES. WRITTEN IN 1738. DIALOGUE I. Fr. Nor twice a twelvemonth you appear in print, But Horace, sir, was delicate, was nice; Bubo1 observes, he lash'd no sort of vice: Horace would say, Sir Billy 2 serv'd the crown, 1 Bubb Dodington, afterwards Lord Melcombe. 2 Sir William Young, who was frequently employed to make long speeches in the House till the minister's friends were gathered together. 3 4 Blunt could do business, Higgins knew the town; In Sappho touch the failings of the sex, In reverend bishops note some small neglects, And own the Spaniard did a waggish thing,5 Who cropt our ears, and sent them to the king. His sly, polite, insinuating style Could please at court, and make Augustus smile: His friend and shame, and was a kind of screen. P. See Sir Robert!-hum And never laugh-for all my life to come; He does not think me what he thinks mankind. 8 See note 4, vol. ii. p. 122. 4 Gaoler of the Fleet prison, enriched himself by exactions, for which he was tried and dismissed from his office. 5 The captain of a Spanish ship is said to have cut off the ears of the captain of an English ship, named Jenkins, bidding him carry them home to the king his master. 6 Sir Robert Walpole. Fr. Why, yes: with scripture still you may be free; A horselaugh, if you please, at honesty; Whom all lord chamberlains allow the stage: Sets half the world, God knows, against the rest, 7 Sir Joseph Jekyl, Master of the Rolls, a true whig, and a man of perfect probity: he sometimes voted against the court. P. Dear sir, forgive the prejudice of youth: Adieu distinction, satire, warmth, and truth! Come, harmless characters that no one hit; Come, Henley's oratory, Osborne's wit! 8 The honey dropping from Favonio's tongue, The flowers of Bubo, and the flow of Young! 9 The gracious dew of pulpit eloquence, And all the well-whipt cream of courtly sense; The first was H**vy's, F**'s next, and then The S**te's, and then H**vy's once again. O come! that easy Ciceronian style, So Latin, yet so English all the while, As, though the pride of Middleton and Bland,1 All boys may read, and girls may understand! Then might I sing without the least offence, And all I sung should be the nation's sense; Or teach the melancholy muse to mourn, Hang the sad verse on Carolina's urn, And hail her passage to the realms of rest, All parts perform'd, and all her children blest! 2 So-Satire is no more-I feel it die No gazetteer more innocent than I— And let, a God's name! every fool and knave 8 See note 6, p.5, and note on Dunciad, B. ii. v. 312. 9 See notes 1 and 2, p. 102. 1 Dr. Middleton, the well known author of the Life of Cicero; Dr. Bland, Master of Eton College. 2 See Memoir prefixed to these volumes, p. cxiii. You still may lash the greatest—in disgrace; Silent and soft, as saints remove to Heaven, All tears are wip'd for ever from all eyes; P. Good heaven forbid that I should blast their glory, Who know how like whig ministers to tory, vext, Considering what a gracious prince was next. 8 Selkirk. |