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BOOK I.

EPISTLE I.

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TO LORD BOLINGBROKE.

ST. JOHN, whose love indulg'd my labours paft,

Matures my present, and shall bound my last!

Whyb will you break the fabbath of my days?
Now fick alike of Envy and of Praife.
Public too long, ah let me hide my Age!
See modeft Cibber now has left the Stage:
Our Generals now, d retir'd to their Eftates,
Hang their Old Trophies o'er the Garden gates,
In Life's cool Evening fatiate of Applause,
Nor fond of bleeding, ev'n in BRUNSWICK'S caufe.

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f A voke there is, that whifpers in my ear, ('Tis Reafon's voice, which sometimes one can hear) "Friend Pope! be prudent, Ict your & Muse take breath, "And never gallop Tegafus to death;

"Let

EPISTOLA I.

DRIMA dicte mihi, fumma dicende camena,

b Spectatum fatis, et donatum jam rude, quaeris,
Maecenas, iterum antiquo me includere ludo.
Non eadem est aetas, non mens. Veianius, armis
Herculis ad postem fixis, latet abditus agro;
Ne populum extrema toties exoret arena.

Eft mihi purgatam crebro qui personet aurem;
Solves senescentem mature fanus equum, ne

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"Lest stiff, and stately, void of fire or force, "You limp, like Blackmore, on a Lord Mayor's horse." Farewell then Verse, and Love, and every Toy, The Rhymes and Rattles of the Man or Boy; What i right, what true, what fit we justly call, Let this be all my care for this is All: To lay this harvest up, and hoard with haste, What every day will want, and most, the laft. But ask not, to what1 Doctors I apply?

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Sworn to no Master, of no Sect am I:
As drives them storm, at any door I knock,
And house with Montagne now, or now with Locke:
Sometimes a Patriot, active in debate,

Mix with the World, and battle for the State,
Free as young Lyttelton, her cause pursue,
Still true to Virtue, and as warm as true:
Sometimes with Aristippus, or St. Paul,
Indulge my candour, and grow all to all;

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Peccet ad extremum ridendus, et ilia ducat.

Nunc itaque eth versus, et caetera ludicra pono:

Quid i verum atque decens, curo et rogo, et omnis in

hoc fum:

* Condo, et compono, quae mox depromere possim. ne forte roges, quo me duce, quo Lare tuter:

Ac

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Nullius addictus jurare in verba magiftri,
Quo me cunque rapit tempeftas, deferor hofpes.
Nunc agilis fio, et merfor civilibus undis,
Virtutis verae çustos, rigidusque satelles:

VOL. XLVI.

Back to my P native Moderation slide,
And win my way by yielding to the tide.

Long, as to him who works for debt, the day, 35

Long as the Night to her whose Love 's away,
Long as the Year's dull circle seems to run,
When the brisk Minor pants for twenty-one;
So flow th' unprofitable moments roll,
That lock up all the Functions of my foul;
That keep me from myself; and still delay
Life's instant business to a future day:
That task, which as we follow, or despise,
The eldest is a fool, the youngest wife:
Which done, the poorest can no wants endure;
And which not done, the richest must be poor.

* Late as it is, I put myself to school,
And feel fome comfort, not to be a fool.
Weak though I am of limb, and short of fight,
Far from a Lynx, and not a Giant quite:

Nunc in Ariftippi furtim praecepta relabor,
Et mihi res, non me rebus, fubjungere conor.

:

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50 I'll

9 Ut nox longa, quibus mentitur amica; diesque Lenta videtur opus debentibus: ut piger annus Pupillis, quos dura premit custodia matrum: Sic mihi tarda fluunt ingrataque tempora, quae fpem Confiliumque morantur agendi gnaviter id, quod Aeque pauperibus prodeft, locupletibus aeque, Aeqüe neglectum pueris fenibusque nocebit.

Restat, ut his ego me ipfe regam "folerque elementis: * Non poffis oculo quantum contendere Lynceus;

I 'll do what Mead and Chefelden advise,
To keep these limbs, and to preserve these eyes.
Not to go back, is somewhat to advance,
And men must walk at least before they dance.
Say, does thy blood rebel, thy bosom move
With wretched Avarice, or as wretched Love?
Know, there are Worlds, and Spells, which can control
2 Between the Fits this Fever of the foul:

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Know, there are Rhymes, which a fresh and fresh apply'd
Will cure the arrant'st Puppy of his Pride.
Beb furious, envious, flothful, mad, or drunk,
• Slave to a Wife, or Vassal to a Punk,
A Switz, a High-dutch, or a Low-dutch & Bear;
All that we ask is but a patient Ear.

• 'Tis the first Virtue, Vices to abhor; And the first Wisdom, to be Fool no more.

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But

Non tamen idcirco contemnas lippus inungi:
Nec, quia desperes invicti membra Glyconis,
Nodosa corpus nolis prohibere chiragra.
Est quadam prodire * tenus, fi non datur ultra.

✓ Fervet avaritia, miseroque cupidine pectus?
Sunt verba et voces, quibus hunc lenire dolorem
Poffis, et z magnam morbi deponere partem.
Laudis amore tumes? sunt certa piacula, quae te
Ter pure lecto poterunt recreare libello.

b Invidus, iracundus, iners, vinosus, amator; Nemod adeo ferus est, ut non mitefcere poffit, Si modo culturae patientem commodet aurem. • Virtus eft, vitium fugere; et sapientia prima,

But to the world nof bugbear is so great,
As want of figure, and a small Estate.
To either India fee the Merchant fly,
Scar'd at the fpectre of pale Poverty!
See him, with pains of body, pangs of foul,
Burn through the Tropic, freeze beneath the Pole!
Wilt thou do nothing for a nobler end,

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Nothing, to make Philofophy thy friend?
To ftop thy foolish views, thy long defires,
And & ease thy heart of all that it admires?
Here Wisdom calls: "Seek Virtue first, be bold!
"As Gold to Silver, Virtue is to Gold."
There, London's voice, * " Get Money, Money still!
"And then let Virtue follow, if she will."
This, this the saving doctrine, preach'd to all,
From low St. James's up to high St. Paul!

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Stultitia caruisse. vides, quae maxima credis
Esse mala, exiguum censum, turpemque repulsam,
Quanto devites animi capitisque labore.
Impiger extremos curris mercator ad Indos,
Per & mare pauperiem fugiens, per faxa, per ignes:
Ne cures h ea, quae ftulte miraris et optas,
Difcere, et audire, et meliori credere non vis?
Quis circum pagos et circum compita pugnax
Magna coronari contemnat Olympia, cui spes,
Cui fit conditio dulcis fine pulvere palmae?
" 1 Vilius argentum eft auro, virtutibus aurum.
"O cives, cives! quaerenda pecunia primum eft;
** Virtus post nummos:" haec 1 Janus summus ab ime

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