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diff --git a/9413-8.txt b/9413-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..85f8cce --- /dev/null +++ b/9413-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13741 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Poetical Works Of Alexander Pope, Vol. 1 +by Alexander Pope et al + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Poetical Works Of Alexander Pope, Vol. 1 + +Author: Alexander Pope et al + +Release Date: December, 2005 [EBook #9413] +[This file was first posted on September 30, 2003] +[Most recently updated: October 2, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE POETICAL WORKS OF ALEXANDER POPE, VOL. 1 *** + + + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, David King, and Project Gutenberg +Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + +THE POETICAL WORKS OF ALEXANDER POPE + +VOL. I. + +With Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes + +by THE REV. GEORGE GILFILLAN + +M.DCCC.LVI. + + + + + +LIFE OF ALEXANDER POPE + + +Alexander Pope was born in Lombard Street, London, on the 21st of May +1688--the year of the Revolution. His father was a linen-merchant, in +thriving circumstances, and said to have noble blood in his veins. His +mother was Edith or Editha Turner, daughter of William Turner, Esq., of +York. Mr Carruthers, in his excellent Life of the Poet, mentions that +there was an Alexander Pope, a clergyman, in the remote parish of Reay, +in Caithness, who rode all the way to Twickenham to pay his great +namesake a visit, and was presented by him with a copy of the +subscription edition of the "Odyssey," in five volumes quarto, which is +still preserved by his descendants. Pope's father had made about £10,000 +by trade; but being a Roman Catholic, and fond of a country life, he +retired from business shortly after the Revolution, at the early age of +forty-six. He resided first at Kensington, and then in Binfield, in the +neighbourhood of Windsor Forest. He is said to have put his money in a +strong box, and to have lived on the principal. His great delight was in +his garden; and both he and his wife seem to have cherished the warmest +interest in their son, who was very delicate in health, and their only +child. Pope's study is still preserved in Binfield; and on the lawn, a +cypress-tree which he is said to have planted, is pointed out. + +Pope was a premature and precocious child. His figure was deformed--his +back humped--his stature short (four feet)--his legs and arms +disproportionably long. He was sometimes compared to a spider, and +sometimes to a windmill. The only mark of genius lay in his bright and +piercing eye. He was sickly in constitution, and required and received +great tenderness and care. Once, when three years old, he narrowly +escaped from an angry cow, but was wounded in the throat. He was +remarkable as a child for his amiable temper; and from the sweetness of +his voice, received the name of the Little Nightingale. His aunt gave +him his first lessons in reading, and he soon became an enthusiastic +lover of books; and by copying printed characters, taught himself to +write. When eight years old, he was placed under the care of the family +priest, one Bannister, who taught him the Latin and Greek grammars +together. He was next removed to a Catholic seminary at Twyford, near +Winchester; and while there, read Ogilby's "Homer" and Sandys's "Ovid" +with great delight. He had not been long at this school till he wrote a +severe lampoon, of two hundred lines' length, on his master--so truly +was the "boy the father of the man"--for which demi-Dunciad he was +severely flogged. His father, offended at this, removed him to a London +school, kept by a Mr Deane. This man taught the poet nothing; but his +residence in London gave him the opportunity of attending the theatres. +With these he was so captivated, that he wrote a kind of play, which was +acted by his schoolfellows, consisting of speeches from Ogilby's +"Iliad," tacked together with verses of his own. He became acquainted +with Dryden's works, and went to Wills's coffee-house to see him. He +says, "Virgilium tantum vidi." Such transient meetings of literary orbs +are among the most interesting passages in biography. Thus met Galileo +with Milton, Milton with Dryden, Dryden with Pope, and Burns with Scott. +Carruthers strikingly remarks, "Considering the perils and uncertainties +of a literary life--its precarious rewards, feverish anxieties, +mortifications, and disappointments, joined to the tyranny of the +Tonsons and Lintots, and the malice and envy of dunces, all of which +Dryden had long and bitterly experienced--the aged poet could hardly +have looked at the delicate and deformed boy, whose preternatural +acuteness and sensibility were seen in his dark eyes, without a feeling +approaching to grief, had he known that he was to fight a battle like +that under which he was himself then sinking, even though the Temple of +Fame should at length open to receive him." At twelve, he wrote the "Ode +to Solitude;" and shortly after, his satirical piece on Elkanah Settle, +and some of his translations and imitations. His next period, he says, +was in Windsor Forest, where for several years he did nothing but read +the classics and indite poetry. He wrote a tragedy, a comedy, and four +books of an Epic called "Alexander," all of which afterwards he +committed to the flames. He translated also a portion of Statius, and +Cicero "De Senectute," and "thought himself the greatest genius that +ever was." His father encouraged him in his studies, and when his verses +did not please him, sent him back to "new turn" them, saying, "These are +not good rhymes." His principal favourites were Virgil's "Eclogues," in +Latin; and in English, Spencer, Waller, and Dryden--admiring Spencer, we +presume, for his luxuriant fancy, Waller for his smooth versification, +and Dryden for his vigorous sense and vivid sarcasm. In the Forest, he +became acquainted with Sir William Trumbull, the retired secretary of +state, a man of general accomplishments, who read, rode, conversed with +the youthful poet; introduced him to old Wycherley, the dramatist; and +was of material service to his views. With Wycherley, who was old, +doted, and excessively vain, Pope did not continue long intimate. A +coldness, springing from some criticisms which the youth ventured to +make on the veteran's poetry, crept in between them. Walsh of Abberley, +in Worcestershire, a man of good sense and taste, became, after a +perusal of the "Pastorals" in MS., a warm friend and kind adviser of +Pope's, who has immortalised him in more than one of his poems. Walsh +told Pope that there had never hitherto appeared in Britain a poet who +was at once great and correct, and exhorted him to aim at accuracy and +elegance. + +When fifteen, he visited London, in order to acquire a more thorough +knowledge of French and Italian. At sixteen, he wrote the "Pastorals," +and a portion of "Windsor Forest," although they were not published for +some time afterwards. By his incessant exertions, he now began to feel +his constitution injured. He imagined himself dying, and sent farewell +letters to all his friends, including the Abbé Southcot. This gentleman +communicated Pope's case to Dr Ratcliffe, who gave him some medical +directions; by following which, the poet recovered. He was advised to +relax in his studies, and to ride daily; and he prudently followed the +advice. Many years afterwards, he repaid the benevolent Abbé by +procuring for him, through Sir Robert Walpole, the nomination to an +abbey in Avignon. This is only one of many proofs that, notwithstanding +his waspish temper, and his no small share of malice as well as vanity, +there was a warm heart in our poet. + +In 1707, Pope became acquainted with Michael Blount of Maple, Durham, +near Reading; whose two sisters, Martha and Teresa, he has commemorated +in various verses. On his connexion with these ladies, some mystery +rests. Bowles has strongly and plausibly urged that it was not of the +purest or most creditable order. Others have contended that it did not +go further than the manners of the age sanctioned; and they say, "a much +greater license in conversation and in epistolary correspondence was +permitted between the sexes than in our decorous age!" We are not +careful to try and settle such a delicate question--only we are inclined +to suspect, that when common decency quits the _words_ of male and +female parties in their mutual communications, it is a very ample +charity that can suppose it to adhere to their _actions_. And nowhere do +we find grosser language than in some of Pope's prose epistles to the +Blounts. + +His "Pastorals," after having been handed about in MS., and shewn to +such reputed judges as Lord Halifax, Lord Somers, Garth, Congreve, &c., +were at last, in 1709, printed in the sixth volume of Tonson's +"Miscellanies." Like all well-finished commonplaces, they were received +with instant and universal applause. It is humiliating to contrast the +reception of these empty echoes of inspiration, these agreeable +_centos_, with that of such genuine, although faulty poems, as Keat's +"Endymion," Shelley's "Queen Mab," and Wordsworth's "Lyrical Ballads." +Two years later, (in 1711), a far better and more characteristic +production from his pen was ushered anonymously into the world. This was +the "Essay on Criticism," a work which he had first written in prose, +and which discovers a ripeness of judgment, a clearness of thought, a +condensation of style, and a command over the information he possesses, +worthy of any age in life, and almost of any mind in time. It serves, +indeed, to shew what Pope's true forte was. That lay not so much in +poetry, as in the knowledge of its principles and laws,--not so much in +creation, as in criticism. He was no Homer or Shakspeare; but he might +have been nearly as acute a judge of poetry as Aristotle, and nearly as +eloquent an expounder of the rules of art and the glories of genius as +Longinus. + +In the same year, Pope printed "The Rape of the Lock," in a volume of +Miscellanies. Lord Petre had, much in the way described by the poet, +stolen a lock of Miss Belle Fermor's hair,--a feat which led to an +estrangement between the families. Pope set himself to reconcile them by +this beautiful poem,--a poem which has embalmed at once the quarrel and +the reconciliation to all future time. In its first version, the +machinery was awanting, the "lock" was a desert, the "rape" a natural +event,--the small infantry of sylphs and gnomes were slumbering +uncreated in the poet's mind; but in the next edition he contrived to +introduce them in a manner so easy and so exquisite, as to remind you of +the variations which occur in dreams, where one wonder seems softly to +slide into the bosom of another, and where beautiful and fantastic +fancies grow suddenly out of realities, like the bud from the bough, or +the fairy-seeming wing of the summer-cloud from the stern azure of the +heavens. + +A little after this, Pope became acquainted with a far greater, better, +and truer man than himself, Joseph Addison. Warburton, and others, have +sadly misrepresented the connexion between these two famous wits, as +well as their relative intellectual positions. Addison was a more +amiable and childlike person than Pope. He had much more, too, of the +Christian. He was not so elaborately polished and furbished as the +author of "The Rape of the Lock;" but he had, naturally, a finer and +richer genius. Pope found early occasion for imagining Addison his +disguised enemy. He gave him a hint of his intention to introduce the +machinery into "The Rape of the Lock." Of this, Addison disapproved, and +said it was a delicious little thing already--_merum sal_. This, Pope, +and some of his friends, have attributed to jealousy; but it is obvious +that Addison could not foresee the success with which the machinery was +to be managed, and did foresee the difficulties connected with tinkering +such an exquisite production. We may allude here to the circumstances +which, at a later date, produced an estrangement between these +celebrated men. When Tickell, Addison's friend, published the first book +of the "Iliad," in opposition to Pope's version, Addison gave it the +preference. This moved Pope's indignation, and led him to assert that it +was Addison's own composition. In this conjecture he was supported by +Edward Young, who had known Tickell long and intimately, and had never +heard of him having written at college, as was averred, this +translation. It is now, however, we believe, certain, from the MS. which +still exists, that Tickell was the real author. A coldness, from this +date, began between Pope and Addison. An attempt to reconcile them only +made matters worse; and at last the breach was rendered irremediable by +Pope's writing the famous character of his rival, afterwards inserted in +the Prologue to the Satires,--a portrait drawn with the perfection of +polished malice and bitter sarcasm, but which seems more a caricature +than a likeness. Whatever Addison's faults, his conduct to Pope did not +deserve such a return. The whole passage is only one of those painful +incidents which disgrace the history of letters, and prove how much +spleen, ingratitude, and baseness often co-exist with the highest parts. +The words of Pope are as true now as ever they were--"the life of a wit +is a warfare upon earth;" and a warfare in which poisoned missiles and +every variety of falsehood are still common. We may also here mention, +that while the friendship of Pope and Addison lasted, the former +contributed the well-known prologue to the latter's "Cato." + +One of Pope's most intimate friends in his early days was Henry +Cromwell--a distant relative of the great Oliver--a gentleman of +fortune, gallantry, and literary taste, who became his agreeable and +fascinating, but somewhat dangerous, companion. He is supposed to have +initiated Pope into some of the fashionable follies of the town. At this +time, Pope's popularity roused one of his most formidable foes against +him. This was that Cobbett of criticism, old John Dennis,--a man of +strong natural powers, much learning, and a rich, coarse vein of humour; +but irascible, vindictive, vain, and capricious. Pope had provoked him +by an attack in his "Essay on Criticism," and the savage old man +revenged himself by a running fire of fierce diatribes against that +"Essay" and "The Rape of the Lock." Pope waited till Dennis had +committed himself by a powerful but furious assault on Addison's "Cato" +(most of which Johnson has preserved in his Life of Pope); and then, +partly to court Addison, and partly to indulge his spleen at the critic, +wrote a prose satire, entitled, "The Narrative of Dr Robert Norris on +the Frenzy of J.D." In this, however, he overshot the mark; and Addison +signified to him that he was displeased with the spirit of his +narrative,--an intimation which Pope keenly resented. _This_ scornful +dog would not eat the dirty pudding that was graciously flung to him; +and Pope found that, without having conciliated Addison, he had made +Dennis's furnace of hate against himself seven times hotter than before. + +In 1712 appeared "The Messiah," "The Dying Christian to his Soul," "The +Temple of Fame," and the "Elegy on the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady." +Her story is still involved in mystery. Her name is said to have been +Wainsbury. She was attached to a lover above her degree,--some say to +the Duke of Berry, whom she had met in her early youth in France. In +despair of obtaining her desire, she hanged herself. It is curious, if +true, that she was as deformed in person as Pope himself. Her family +seems to have been noble. In 1713, he published "Windsor Forest," an +"Ode on St Cecilia's Day," and several papers in the _Guardian_--one of +them being an exquisitely ironical paper, comparing Phillip's pastorals +with his own, and affecting to give them the preference--the extracts +being so selected as to damage his rival's claims. This year, also, he +wrote, although he did not publish, his fine epistle to Jervas, the +painter. Pope was passionately fond of the art of painting, and +practised it a good deal under Jervas's instructions, although he did +not reach great proficiency. The prodigy has yet to be born who combines +the characters of a great painter and a great poet. + +About this time, Pope commenced preparations for the great work of +translating Homer; and subscription-papers, accordingly, were issued. +Dean Swift was now in England, and took a deep interest in the success +of this undertaking, recommending it in coffee-houses, and introducing +the subject and Pope's name to the leading Tories. Pope met the Dean for +the first time in Berkshire, where, in one of his fits of savage disgust +at the conflicting parties of the period, he had retired to the house of +a clergyman, and an intimacy commenced which was only terminated by +death. We have often regretted that Pope had not selected some author +more suitable to his genius than Homer. Horace or Lucretius, or even +Ovid, would have been more congenial. His imitations of Horace shew us +what he might have made of a complete translation. What a brilliant +thing a version of Lucretius, in the style of the "Essay on Man," would +have been! And his "Rape of the Lock" proves that he had considerable +sympathy with the elaborate fancy, although not with the meretricious +graces of Ovid. But with Homer, the severely grand, the simple, the +warlike, the lover and painter of all Nature's old original forms--the +ocean, the mountains, and the stars--what thorough sympathy could a man +have who never saw a real mountain or a battle, and whose enthusiasm for +scenery was confined to purling brooks, trim gardens, artificial +grottos, and the shades of Windsor Forest? Accordingly, his Homer, +although a beautiful and sparkling poem, is not a satisfactory +translation of the "Iliad," and still less of the "Odyssey." He has +trailed along the naked lances of the Homeric lines so many flowers and +leaves that you can hardly recognise them, and feel that their point is +deadened and their power gone. This at least is our opinion; although +many to this day continue to admire these translations, and have even +said that if they are not Homer, they are something better. + +The "Iliad" took him six years, and was a work which cost him much +anxiety as well as labour, the more as his scholarship was far from +profound. He was assisted in the undertaking by Parnell (who wrote the +Life of Homer), by Broome, Jortin, and others. The first volume appeared +in June 1715, and the other volumes followed at irregular intervals. He +began it in 1712, his twenty-fifth year, and finished it in 1718, his +thirtieth year. Previous to its appearance, his remuneration for his +poems had been small, and his circumstances were embarrassed; but the +result of the subscription, which amounted to £5320, 4s., rendered him +independent for life. + +While at Binfield, he had often visited London; and there, in the +society of Howe, Garth, Parnell, and the rest, used to indulge in +occasional excesses, which did his feeble constitution no good; and +once, according to Colley Cibber, he narrowly escaped a serious scrape +in a house of a certain description,--Colley, by his own account, +"helping out the tomtit for the sake of Homer!" This statement, indeed, +Pope has denied; but his veracity was by no means his strongest point. +After writing a "Farewell to London," he retired, in 1715, to +Twickenham, along with his parents; and remained there, cultivating his +garden, digging his grottos, and diversifying his walks, till the end of +his days. + +Some years before, he had become acquainted with Lady Mary Wortley +Montague, the most brilliant woman of her age--witty, fascinating, +beautiful, and accomplished--full of enterprise and spirit, too, +although decidedly French in her tastes, manners, and character. Pope +fell violently in love with her, and had her undoubtedly in his eye when +writing "Eloisa and Abelard," which he did at Oxford in 1716, shortly +after her going abroad, and which appeared the next year. His passion +was not requited,--nay, was treated with contempt and ridicule; and he +became in after years a bitter enemy and foul-mouthed detractor of the +lady, although after her return, in 1718, she resided near him at +Twickenham, and they seemed outwardly on good terms. + +In 1717, and the succeeding year, Pope lost successively his father, +Parnell, Garth, and Rowe, and bitterly felt their loss. He finished, as +we have seen, the "Iliad" in 1718; but the fifth and sixth volumes, +which were the last, did not appear till 1720. Its success, which at the +time was triumphant, roused against him the whole host of envy and +detraction. Dennis, and all Grub Street with him, were moved to assail +him. Pamphlets after pamphlets were published, all of which, after +reading with writhing anguish, Pope had the resolution to bind up into +volumes--a great collection of calumny, which he preserved, probably, +for purposes of future revenge. His own friends, on the other hand, +hailed his work with applause,--Gay writing a most graceful and elegant +poem, in _ottava rima_, entitled, "Mr Pope's Welcome Home from Greece," +in which his different friends are pictured as receiving him home on the +shores of Britain, after an absence of six years. Bentley, that stern +old Grecian, avoided the extremes of a howling Grub Street on the one +hand, and a flattering aristocracy on the other, and expressed what is, +we think, the just opinion when he said, "It is a pretty poem, but it is +not Homer." + +In 1721, he issued a selection from the poems of Parnell, and prefixed a +very beautiful dedication to the Earl of Oxford, commencing with-- + +"Such were the notes thy once-loved poet sung, +Till death untimely stopp'd his tuneful tongue. +Oh, just beheld and lost, admired and mourn'd, +With softest manners, gentlest arts adorn'd!" + +In 1722, he engaged to translate the "Odyssey." He employed Broome and +Fenton as his assistants in the work; and the portions translated by +them were thought as good as his. He remunerated them very handsomely. +Of this work, the first three quarto volumes appeared in 1725; and the +fourth and fifth, which completed the work, the following year. Pope +sold the copyright to Lintot for £600. + +He was busy at this time, too, with an edition of Shakspeare,--not quite +worthy of either poet. It appeared in six volumes, quarto, in 1725. His +preface was good, but he was deficient in antiquarian lore; and his +mortification was extreme when Theobald, destined to figure in "The +Dunciad," a mere plodding hack, not only in his "Shakspeare Restored," +exposed many blunders in Pope's edition; but issued, some years +afterwards, an edition of his own, which was much better received by the +public. + +In 1726, there was a great gathering of the Tory wits at Twickenham. +Swift had come from Ireland, and resided for some time with Pope. +Bolingbroke came over occasionally from Dawley; and Gay was often there +to laugh with, and be laughed at by, the rest. Swift had "Gulliver's +Travels"--the most ingenious and elaborate libel against man and God +ever written--in his pocket, nearly ready for publication; and we may +conceive the grim, sardonic smile with which he read it to his friends, +and their tumultuous mirth. Gay was projecting his "Beggars' Opera," and +Pope preparing some of his witty "Miscellanies." At the end of two +months, the Dean was hurried home by the tidings of Stella's illness. He +left the "Travels" behind him, for the copyright of which Pope procured +£300,--a sum counted then very large, and which Swift generously handed +over to Pope. + +In September this year, when returning in Lord Bolingbroke's coach from +Dawley, the poet was overturned in a little rivulet near Twickenhan, and +nearly drowned. The unfortunate little man! One is reminded of +Gulliver's accident in the Brobdignagian cream-pot. In trying to break +the glasses of the coach, which were down, he severely cut his right +hand, and lost the use of two of his fingers,--an addition to his other +deformities not very desirable; and we suspect that Pope thought +Voltaire (who had met him at Bolingbroke's) but a miserable comforter, +when, in a letter of pretended condolence, he asked--"Is it possible +that those fingers which have written 'The Rape of the Lock,' and +dressed Homer so becomingly in an English coat, should have been so +barbarously treated? Let the hand of Dennis or of your poetasters be cut +off; yours is sacred." It was perhaps in keeping that those mutilated +fingers were soon to be employed in attacking Dennis, and that the +embittered poet was about, with the half of his hand, but with the whole +of his heart, to write "The Dunciad." + +In the end of April 1727, we find Swift again in Twickenham, where his +irritation at the continued ascendancy of Sir Robert Walpole served to +infuse more venom into the "Miscellanies" concocted between him and +Pope,--two volumes of which appeared in June this year. Gay, also, and +the ingenious and admirable Dr Arbuthnot, contributed their quota to +these volumes. Swift speedily fell ill with that giddiness and deafness +which were the _avant-couriers_ of his final malady; and in August he +left Twickenham, and in October, London and England, for ever. + +In these "Miscellanies" there appeared the famous "Memoirs of Martinus +Scriblerus," written chiefly by Pope, in which he lashed the various +proficients in the bathos, under the names of flying fishes, swallows, +parrots, frogs, eels, &c., and appended the initials of well-known +authors to each head. This roused Grub Street, whose malice had nearly +fallen asleep, into fresh fury, and he was bitterly assailed in every +possible form. Like Hyder Ali, he now--to travesty Burke--"in the +recesses of a mind capacious of such things, determined to leave all +Duncedom an everlasting monument of vengeance, and became at length so +confident of his force, so collected in his might, that he made no +secret whatever of his dreadful resolution, but, compounding all the +materials of fun, sarcasm, irony, and invective, into one black cloud, +he hung for a while on the declivities of Richmond Hill; and whilst the +authors were idly and stupidly gazing on this menacing meteor which +blackened all their horizon, it suddenly burst and poured down the whole +of its contents on the garrets of Grub Street. Then issued a scene of +(ludicrous) woe, the like of which no eye had seen, no heart conceived, +and which no tongue can adequately tell. All the horrors of literary war +before known or heard of--(MacFlecknoe, the Rehearsal, &c.)--were mercy +to the new tempest of havoc which burst from the brain of this +remorseless poet. A storm of universal laughter filled every +bookseller's shop, and penetrated into the remotest attics. The +miserable dunces, in part, were stricken mad with rage--in part, dumb +with consternation. Some fled for refuge to ale, and others to ink; +while not a few fell, or feared to fall, into the 'jaws of famine.'" +This singular poem was written in 1727. It was first printed +surreptitiously (_i.e._, with the connivance of the author) in Dublin, +and then reprinted in London. The first perfect edition, however, did +not appear in London till 1729. On the day of its publication, according +to Pope, a crowd of authors besieged the publisher's shop; and by +entreaties, threats, nay, cries of treason, tried to hinder its +appearance. What a scene it must have been--of teeth gnashing above +ragged coats, and eyes glaring through old periwigs--of faces livid with +famine and ferocity; while, to complete the confusion, hawkers, +booksellers, and even lords, were mixed with the crowd, clamouring for +its issue! And as, says Pope, "there is no stopping a torrent with a +finger, out it came." The consequence he had foreseen. A universal howl +of rage and pain burst from the aggrieved dunces, on whose naked sides +the hot pitch had fallen. They pushed their rejoinders beyond the limits +of civilised literary warfare; and although Pope had been coarse in his +language, they were coarser far, and their blackguardism was not +redeemed by wit or genius. Pope felt, or seemed to feel, entire +indifference as to these assaults. On some of them, indeed, he could +afford to look down with contempt, on account of their obvious _animus_ +and gross language. Others, again, were neutralised by the fact, that +their authors had provoked reprisals by their previous insults or +ingratitude to Pope. Many, however, were too obscure for his notice; and +some, such as Aaron Hill and Bentley, did not deserve to be classed with +the Theobalds and Ralphs. To Hill, he, after some finessing, was +compelled to make an apology. Altogether, although this production +increased Pope's fame, and the conception of his power, it did not tend +to shew him in the most amiable light, or perhaps to promote his own +comfort or peace of mind. After having emptied out his bile in "The +Dunciad," he ought to have become mellower in temper, and resigned +satire for ever. He continued, on the contrary, as ill-natured as +before; and although he afterwards flew at higher game, the iron had +entered into his soul, and he remained a satirist, and therefore an +unhappy man, for life. + +In 1731 appeared an "Epistle on Taste," which was very favourably +received; only his enemies accused him of having satirised the Duke of +Chandos in it,--a man who had befriended Pope, and had lent him money. +Pope denied the charge, although it is very possible, both from his own +temperament, and from the frequent occurrence of similar cases of +baseness in literary life, that it may have been true. Nothing is more +common than for those who have been most liberally helped, to become +first the secret, and then the open, enemies of their benefactors. In +1732 appeared his epistle on "The Use of Riches," addressed to Lord +Bathurst. These two epistles were afterwards incorporated in his "Moral +Essays." + +As far back as 1725, Pope had been revolving the subject of the "Essay +on Man;" and, indeed, some of its couplets remind you of "pebbles which +had long been rolled over and polished in the ocean of his mind." It has +been asserted, but not proved, that Lord Bolingbroke gave him the +outline of this essay in prose. It is unquestionable, indeed, that +Bolingbroke exercised influence over Pope's mind, and may have suggested +some of the thoughts in the Essay; but it is not probable that a man +like Pope would have set himself on such a subject simply to translate +from another's mind. He published the first epistle of the Essay, in +1732, anonymously, as an experiment, and had the satisfaction to see it +successful. It was received with rapture, and passed through several +editions ere the author was known; although we must say that the value +of this reception is considerably lessened, when we remember that the +critics could not have been very acute who did not detect Pope's "fine +Roman hand" in every sentence of this brilliant but most unsatisfactory +and shallow performance. + +In the same year died dear, simple-minded Gay, who found in Pope a +sincere mourner, and an elegant elegiast; and on the 7th of June 1733, +expired good old Mrs Pope, at the age of ninety-four. Pope, who had +always been a dutiful son, erected an obelisk in his own grounds to her +memory, with a simple but striking inscription in Latin. During this +year, he published the third part of the "Essay on Man," an epistle to +Lord Cobham, On the Knowledge and Characters of Man, and an Imitation of +the First Satire of the Second Book of Horace. In this last, he attacks, +in the most brutal style, his former love Lady Mary W. Montague, who +replied in a piece of coarse cleverness, entitled, "Verses to the +Imitator of the First Satire of the Second Book of Horace,"--verses in +which she was assisted by Lord Harvey, another of Pope's victims. He +wrote, but was prudent enough to suppress, an ironical reply. + +In 1734 appeared his very clever and highly-finished epistle to Dr +Arbuthnot (now entitled the "Prologue to the Satires"), who was then +languishing toward death. Arbuthnot, from his deathbed, solemnly advised +Pope to regulate his satire, and seems to have been afraid of his +personal safety from his numerous foes. Pope replied in a manly but +self-defensive style. He is said about this time to have in his walks +carried arms, and had a large dog as his protector; but none of the +dunces had courage enough to assail him. Dennis, who was no dunce, might +have ventured on it--but he had become miserably infirm, poor, and +blind; and Pope had heaped coals of fire on his head, by contributing a +Prologue to a play which was acted for his behoof. + +Our author's life becomes now little else than a record of multiplying +labours and increasing infirmities. In 1734 appeared the fourth part of +the "Essay on Man," and the Second Satire of the Second Book of Horace. +In 1735 were issued his "Characters of Women: An Epistle to a Lady" +(Martha Blount). In this appears his famous character of Atossa--the +Duchess of Marlborough. It is said--we fear too truly--that these lines +being shewn to her Grace, as a character of the Duchess of Buckingham, +she recognised in them her own likeness, and bribed Pope with a thousand +pounds to suppress it. He did so religiously--as long as she was +alive--and then published it! In the same year he printed a second +volume of his "Miscellaneous Works," in folio and quarto, uniform with +the "Iliad" and "Odyssey," including a versification of the Satires of +Donne; also, anonymously, a production disgraceful to his memory, +entitled, "Sober Advice from Horace to the Young Gentlemen about Town," +in which he commits many gross indecorums of language, and annexes the +name of the great Bentley to several indecent notes. It is said that +Bentley, when he read the pamphlet, cried, "'Tis an impudent dog, but I +talked against his Homer, and the _portentous cub never forgives_." + +The "Essay on Man" and the "Moral Epistles" were designed to be parts of +a great system of ethics, which Pope had long revolved in his mind, and +wished to incarnate in poetry. At this time occurred the strange, +mysterious circumstances connected with the publication of his letters. +It seems that, in 1729, Pope had recalled from his correspondents the +letters he had written them, of many of which he had kept no copies. He +was induced to this by the fact, that after Henry Cromwell's death, his +mistress, Mrs Thomas, who was in indigent circumstances, had sold the +letters which had passed between Pope and her keeper, to Curll the +bookseller, who had published them without scruple. When Pope obtained +his correspondence, he, according to his own statement, burned a great +many and laid past the others, after having had a copy of them taken, +and deposited in Lord Oxford's library. And his charge against Curll +was, that he obtained surreptitiously some of these letters, and +published them without Pope's consent. But, ere we come to the +circumstances of the publication, several other things require to be +noticed. In 1733, Curll, anxious to publish a Life of Pope, advertised +for information; and, in consequence, one P.T., who professed to be an +old friend of Pope's and his father's, wrote Curll a letter, giving an +account of Pope's ancestry, which tallied exactly with what Pope +himself, in a note to one of his poems, furnished the following year. +P.T., in a second letter, offered to the publisher a large collection of +Pope's letters, and inclosed a copy of an advertisement he had drawn out +to be published by Curll. Strange as it seems, Curll took no notice of +the proposal till 1735, when, having accidentally turned up a copy of +P.T.'s advertisement, he sent it to Pope, with a letter requesting an +interview, and mentioning that he had some papers of P.T.'s in reference +to his family history, which he would shew him. Pope replied by three +advertisements in the papers, denying all knowledge of P.T. or his +collection of letters or MSS. P.T. then wrote Curll that he had printed +the letters at his own expense, seeking a sum of money for them, and +appointing an interview at a tavern to shew him the sheets. This was +countermanded the next day, P.T. professing to be afraid of Pope and his +"bravoes," although how Pope was to know of this meeting was, according +to Curll, "the cream of the jest." + +Soon after, a round, fat man, with a clergyman's gown and a barrister's +band, called on Curll, at ten o'clock at night. He said his name was +Smith, that he was a cousin of P.T.'s, and shewed the book in sheets, +along with about a dozen of the original letters. After a good deal of +negotiation with this personage, Curll obtained fifty copies of P.T.'s +printed copies, and issued a flaming advertisement announcing the +publication of Pope's letters for thirty years, and stating that the +original MSS. were lying at his shop, and might be seen by any who +chose,--although not a single MS. seems to have been delivered. Smith, +the day that the advertisement appeared, handed over, for a sum of +money, about three hundred volumes to Curll. But as in the advertisement +it was stated that various letters of lords were included, and as there +is a law amongst regulations of the Upper House that no peer's letters +can be published without his consent, at the instance of the Earl of +Jersey, and in consequence, too, of an advertisement of Pope's, the +books were seized, and Curll, and the printer of the paper where the +advertisement appeared, were ordered to appear at the bar for breach of +privilege. P.T. wrote Curll to tell him to conceal all that passed +between him and the publisher, and promising him more valuable letters +still. Curll, however, told the whole story; and as, when the books were +examined, not a single lord's letter was found among them, Curll was +acquitted, his books restored to him, the lords saying that they had +been made the tools of Pope; and he proceeded to advertise the +correspondence, in terms most insulting to Pope, who now felt himself +compelled (!) to print, by subscription, his genuine letters, which, +when printed, turned out, strange to tell, to be identical with those +published by the rapacious bookseller! On viewing the whole transaction, +we incline with Johnson, Warton, Bowles, Macaulay, and Carruthers, to +look upon it as one of Pope's ape-like stratagems--to believe that P.T. +was himself, Smith his agent, and that his objects were partly to outwit +Curll, to mystify the public, to gratify that strange love of +manoeuvring which dwelt as strongly in him as in any match-making mamma, +and to attract interest and attention to the genuine correspondence when +it should appear. Pope, it was said, could not "drink tea without a +stratagem," and far less publish his correspondence without a series of +contemptible tricks--tricks, however, in which he was true to his +nature--_that_ being a curious compound of the woman and the wit, the +monkey and the genius[1]. + +In 1737, four of his Imitations of Horace were published, and in the +next year appeared two Dialogues, each entitled "1738," which now form +the Epilogue to the Satires. One of them was issued on the same day with +Johnson's "London." In that year, too, he published his "Universal +Prayer,"--a singular specimen of latitudinarian thought, expressed in a +loose simplicity of language, quite unusual with its author. The next +year he had intended to signalise by a third Dialogue, which he +commenced in a vigorous style, but which he did not finish, owing to the +dread of a prosecution before the Lords; and with the exception of +letters (one of them interesting, as his last to Swift), his pen was +altogether idle. In 1740, he did nothing but edit an edition of select +Italian Poets. This year, Crousaz, a Swiss professor of note, having +attacked (we think most justly) the "Essay on Man" as a mere Pagan +prolusion--a thin philosophical smile cast on the Gordian knot of the +mystery of the universe, instead of a _sword_ cutting, or trying to cut, +it in sunder--Warburton, a man of much talent and learning, but of more +astuteness and anxiety to exalt himself, came forward to the rescue, +and, with a mixture of casuistical cunning and real ingenuity, tried, as +some one has it, "to make Pope a Christian," although, even in +Warburton's hands, like the dying Donald Bane in "Waverley," he "makes +but a queer Christian after all;" and his system, essentially +Pantheistic, contrives to ignore the grand Scripture principles of a +Fall, of a Divine Redeemer, of a Future World, and the glorious light or +darkness which these and other Christian doctrines cast upon the Mystery +of Man. If, however, Warburton, with all his scholastic subtlety, failed +to make Pope a Christian, he made him a warm friend; Allen, Pope's +acquaintance, a rich father-in-law; and himself, by and by, the Bishop +of Gloucester. Sophistry has seldom, although sometimes, been thus +richly rewarded. + +The last scene of Pope's tiny and tortured existence was now at hand. +But ere it closed, it must close like Dryden's, characteristically, with +an author's quarrel. Colley Cibber had long been a favourite of Pope's +ire, and had as often retorted scorn, till at last, by laughing upon the +stage at Pope's play (partly Gay's), entitled, "Three Hours After +Marriage," he roused the bard almost to frenzy; and Pope set to work to +remodel "The Dunciad;" and, dethroning Theobald, set up Cibber as the +lawful King of the Dull,--a most unfortunate substitution, since, while +Theobald was the ideal of stolid, solemn stupidity, Cibber was gay, +light, pert, and clever; full of pluck, too, and who overflowed in +reply, with pamphlets which gave Pope both a headache and a heartache +whenever he perused them. + +Pope had never been strong, and for many years the variety and multitude +of his frailties had been increasing. He had habitually all his life +been tormented with headaches, for which he found the steam of strong +coffee the chief remedy. He had hurt his stomach, too, by indulging in +excess of stimulating viands, such as potted lampreys, and in copious +and frequent _drams_. He was assailed at last by dropsy and asthma; and +on the 30th of May 1744, he breathed his last, fifty-six years of age. +He had long, he said, "been tired of the world," and died with +philosophic composure and serenity. He took the sacrament according to +the form of the Roman Catholic Church; but merely, he said, because it +"looked right." A little before his death, he called for his desk, and +began an essay on the immortality of the soul, and on those material +things which tend to weaken or to strengthen it for immortality,-- +enumerating generous wines as among the latter influences, and +spirituous liquors among the former! His last words were, "There is +nothing that is meritorious but virtue and friendship; and, indeed, +friendship itself is only a part of virtue." Thus, "motionless and +moanless," without a word about Christ--the slightest syllable of +repentance--and with a scrap of heathen morality in his mouth, died the +brilliant Alexander Pope. Who is ready to say, "May my last end be like +his"? His favourite Martha Blount behaved, according to some accounts, +with disgusting unconcern on the occasion. So true it is, "there is no +friendship among the wicked," even although the heartless Bolingbroke, +too, was by, and seems to have succeeded in squeezing out some crocodile +tears, as he bent over the dying poet, and said, "O God! what is man?" +His remains were, according to his wish, deposited in Twickenham church, +near his parents, where the single letter P on the stone alone +distinguishes the spot. + +Pope's character, apart from his poetry, which we intend criticising in +our next volume, was not specially interesting or elevated. He was a +spoiled child, a small self-tormentor,--full to bursting with petty +spites, mean animosities, and unfounded jealousies. While he sought, +with the fury of a pampered slave, to trample on those authors that were +beneath him in rank or in popularity, he could on all occasions fawn +with the sycophancy of a eunuch upon the noble, the rich, and the +powerful. Hazlitt speaks of Moore as a "pug-dog barking from the lap of +a lady of quality at inferior passengers." The description is far more +applicable to Pope. We have much allowance to make for the influence +exerted on his mind by his singularly crooked frame and sickly habit of +body, by his position as belonging to a proscribed faith, and by his +want of training in a public school; but after all these deductions, we +cannot but deplore the spectacle of one of the finest, clearest, and +sharpest minds that England ever produced, so frequently reminding you +of a bright sting set in the body, and steeped in the venom, of a wasp. +And yet, withal, he possessed many virtues, which endeared him to a +multitude of friends. He was a kind son. He was a faithful and devoted +friend. He loved, if not _man_, yet many men with deep tenderness. A +keen politician he was not; but, so far as he went along with his party, +he was true to the common cause. In morals, he was greatly superior, in +point of external decorum, to most of the wits of the time; but in +falsehood, finesse, treachery, and envy, he stood at the bottom of the +list, without that plea of poverty, or wretchedness, or despair, which +so many of them might have urged. Uneasy, indeed, he always, and unhappy +he often, was; but very much of his uneasiness and unhappiness sprung +from his own fault. He attacked others, and could not bear to be +attacked in return. He was a bully and a coward. He threw himself into a +thorn-hedge, and was amazed that he came out covered with scratches and +blood. While he shone in satirising many kinds of vice, he laid himself +open to retort by his own want of delicacy. He, as well as Swift, was +fond of alluding in his verse to polluted and forbidden things. _There_, +and there alone, his taste deserted him; and there is something +disgusting and unnatural in the combination of the elegant and the +obscene--the coarse in sentiment and the polished in style. And whatever +may be said for many of the amiable traits of the Man, there is very +little to be said for the general tendency--so far as healthy morality +and Christian principle are concerned--of the writings of the Poet. + + + + +CONTENTS + +PREFACE +PASTORALS-- + Spring, the First Pastoral, or Damon + Summer, the Second Pastoral, or Alexis + Autumn, the Third Pastoral, or Hylas and Ægon + Winter, the Fourth Pastoral, or Daphne +MESSIAH +AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM-- + Part First + Part Second + Part Third +THE RAPE OF THE LOCK-- + Canto I. + Canto II. + Canto III. + Canto IV. + Canto V. +WINDSOR-FOREST +ODE ON ST CECILIA'S DAY +TWO CHORUSES TO THE TRAGEDY OF BRUTUS-- + Chorus of Athenians + Chorus of Youths and Virgins +TO THE AUTHOR OF A POEM ENTITLED SUCCESSIO +ODE ON SOLITUDE +THE DYING CHRISTIAN TO HIS SOUL +ELEGY TO THE MEMORY OF AN UNFORTUNATE LADY +PROLOGUE TO MR ADDISON'S TRAGEDY OF CATO +IMITATIONS OF ENGLISH POETS-- + Chaucer + Spenser-- + The Alley, + Waller-- + Of a Lady Singing to her Lute + On a Fan of the Author's Design + Cowley-- + The Garden + Weeping + Earl of Rochester-- + On Silence + Earl of Dorset-- + Artemisia + Phryne + Dr Swift-- + The Happy Life of a Country Parson +THE TEMPLE OF FAME +ELOISA TO ABELARD +EPISTLE TO ROBERT EARL OF OXFORD AND EARL MORTIMER +EPISTLE TO JAMES CRAGGS, ESQ. +EPISTLE TO MR JERVAS +EPISTLE TO MISS BLOUNT +EPISTLE TO MRS TERESA BLOUNT +TO MRS M.B. ON HER BIRTHDAY +TO MR THOMAS SOUTHERN, ON HIS BIRTHDAY, 1742 +TO MR JOHN MOORE +TO MR C., ST JAMES'S PLACE +EPITAPHS-- + On Charles Earl of Dorset + On Sir William Trumbull + On the Hon. Simon Harcourt + On James Craggs, Esq. + Intended for Mr Rowe + On Mrs Corbet + On the Monument of the Honourable Robert Digby, and his Sister Mary + On Sir Godfrey Kneller + On General Henry Withers + On Mr Elijah Fenton + On Mr Gay + Intended for Sir Isaac Newton + On Dr Francis Atterbury + On Edmund Duke of Buckingham + For One who would not be Buried in Westminster Abbey + Another, on the same + On two Lovers struck dead by Lightning +AN ESSAY ON MAN-- + Epistle I. + Epistle II. + Epistle III. + Epistle IV. +EPISTLE TO DR AKBUTHNOT; OR, PROLOGUE TO THE SATIRES +SATIRES AND EPISTLES OF HORACE IMITATED-- + Satire I. To Mr Fortescue + Satire II. To Mr Bethel +THE FIRST EPISTLE OF THE FIRST BOOK OF HORACE-- + To Lord Bolingbroke +THE SIXTH EPISTLE OF THE FIRST BOOK OF HORACE-- + To Mr Murray +THE FIRST EPISTLE OF THE SECOND BOOK OF HORACE-- + To Augustus +THE SECOND EPISTLE OF THE SECOND BOOK OF HORACE-- + Book I. Epistle VII. + Book II. Satire VI. + Book IV. Ode I. + Part of the Ninth Ode of the Fourth Book +THE SATIRES OF DR JOHN VERSIFIED-- + Satire II. + Satire IV. +EPILOGUE TO THE SATIRES: IN TWO DIALOGUES-- + Dialogue I. + Dialogue II. + + + + +POPE'S POETICAL WORKS. + + + +PREFACE.[2] + + +I am inclined to think that both the writers of books, and the readers +of them, are generally not a little unreasonable in their expectations. +The first seem to fancy that the world must approve whatever they +produce, and the latter to imagine that authors are obliged to please +them at any rate. Methinks, as on the one hand, no single man is born +with a right of controlling the opinions of all the rest; so, on the +other, the world has no title to demand that the whole care and time of +any particular person should be sacrificed to its entertainment. +Therefore I cannot but believe that writers and readers are under equal +obligations for as much fame, or pleasure, as each affords the other. + +Every one acknowledges, it would be a wild notion to expect perfection +in any work of man: and yet one would think the contrary was taken for +granted, by the judgment commonly passed upon poems. A critic supposes +he has done his part, if he proves a writer to have failed in an +expression, or erred in any particular point: and can it then be +wondered at, if the poets in general seem resolved not to own themselves +in any error? For as long as one side will make no allowances, the other +will be brought to no acknowledgments. + +I am afraid this extreme zeal on both sides is ill-placed; poetry and +criticism being by no means the universal concern of the world, but only +the affair of idle men who write in their closets, and of idle men who +read there. + +Yet sure, upon the whole, a bad author deserves better usage than a bad +critic; for a writer's endeavour, for the most part, is to please his +readers, and he fails merely through the misfortune of an ill judgment; +but such a critic's is to put them out of humour,--a design he could +never go upon without both that and an ill temper. + +I think a good deal may be said to extenuate the fault of bad poets. +What we call a genius, is hard to be distinguished by a man himself from +a strong inclination: and if his genius be ever so great, he cannot at +first discover it any other way than by giving way to that prevalent +propensity which renders him the more liable to be mistaken. The only +method he has is to make the experiment by writing, and appealing to the +judgment of others: now if he happens to write ill (which is certainly +no sin in itself) he is immediately made an object of ridicule. I wish +we had the humanity to reflect, that even the worst authors might, in +their endeavour to please us, deserve something at our hands. We have no +cause to quarrel with them but for their obstinacy in persisting to +write; and this too may admit of alleviating circumstances. Their +particular friends may be either ignorant or insincere; and the rest of +the world in general is too well bred to shock them with a truth which +generally their booksellers are the first that inform them of. This +happens not till they have spent too much of their time to apply to any +profession which might better fit their talents, and till such talents +as they have are so far discredited as to be but of small service to +them. For (what is the hardest case imaginable) the reputation of a man +generally depends upon the first steps he makes in the world; and people +will establish their opinion of us from what we do at that season when +we have least judgment to direct us. + +On the other hand, a good poet no sooner communicates his works with the +same desire of information, but it is imagined he is a vain young +creature given up to the ambition of fame; when perhaps the poor man is +all the while trembling with the fear of being ridiculous. If he is made +to hope he may please the world, he falls under very unlucky +circumstances: for, from the moment he prints, he must expect to hear no +more truth than if he were a prince, or a beauty. If he has not very +good sense (and indeed there are twenty men of wit for one man of +sense), his living thus in a course of flattery may put him in no small +danger of becoming a coxcomb: if he has, he will consequently have so +much diffidence as not to reap any great satisfaction from his praise; +since, if it be given to his face, it can scarce be distinguished from +flattery, and if in his absence, it is hard to be certain of it. Were he +sure to be commended by the best and most knowing, he is as sure of +being envied by the worst and most ignorant, which are the majority; for +it is with a fine genius as with a fine fashion, all those are +displeased at it who are not able to follow it: and it is to be feared +that esteem will seldom do any man so much good as ill-will does him +harm. Then there is a third class of people, who make the largest part +of mankind, those of ordinary or indifferent capacities; and these (to a +man) will hate, or suspect him: a hundred honest gentlemen will dread +him as a wit, and a hundred innocent women as a satirist. In a word, +whatever be his fate in poetry, it is ten to one but he must give up all +the reasonable aims of life for it. There are indeed some advantages +accruing from a genius to poetry, and they are all I can think of: the +agreeable power of self-amusement when a man is idle or alone; the +privilege of being admitted into the best company; and the freedom of +saying as many careless things as other people, without being so +severely remarked upon. + +I believe, if any one, early in his life, should contemplate the +dangerous fate of authors, he would scarce be of their number on any +consideration. The life of a wit is a warfare upon earth; and the +present spirit of the learned world is such, that to attempt to serve it +(any way) one must have the constancy of a martyr, and a resolution to +suffer for its sake. I could wish people would believe, what I am pretty +certain they will not, that I have been much less concerned about fame +than I durst declare till this occasion, when methinks I should find +more credit than I could heretofore: since my writings have had their +fate already, and it is too late to think of prepossessing the reader in +their favour. I would plead it as some merit in me, that the world has +never been prepared for these trifles by prefaces, biased by +recommendations, dazzled with the names of great patrons, wheedled with +fine reasons and pretences, or troubled with excuses. I confess it was +want of consideration that made me an author; I writ because it amused +me; I corrected because it was as pleasant to me to correct as to write; +and I published because I was told I might please such as it was a +credit to please. To what degree I have done this, I am really ignorant; +I had too much fondness for my productions to judge of them at first, +and too much judgment to be pleased with them at last. But I have reason +to think they can have no reputation which will continue long, or which +deserves to do so: for they have always fallen short, not only of what I +read of others, but even of my own ideas of poetry. + +If any one should imagine I am not in earnest, I desire him to reflect +that the ancients (to say the least of them) had as much genius as we: +and that to take more pains, and employ more time, cannot fail to +produce more complete pieces. They constantly applied themselves not +only to that art, but to that single branch of an art, to which their +talent was most powerfully bent; and it was the business of their lives +to correct and finish their works for posterity. If we can pretend to +have used the same industry, let us expect the same immortality: though +if we took the same care, we should still lie under a further +misfortune: they writ in languages that became universal and +everlasting, while ours are extremely limited both in extent and in +duration. A mighty foundation for our pride! when the utmost we can hope +is but to be read in one island, and to be thrown aside at the end of +one age. + +All that is left us is to recommend our productions by the imitation of +the ancients; and it will be found true, that, in every age, the highest +character for sense and learning has been obtained by those who have +been most indebted to them. For, to say truth, whatever is very good +sense must have been common sense in all times; and what we call +learning is but the knowledge of the sense of our predecessors. +Therefore they who say our thoughts are not our own, because they +resemble the ancients, may as well say our faces are not our own, +because they are like our fathers: and indeed it is very unreasonable +that people should expect us to be scholars, and yet be angry to find us +so. + +I fairly confess that I have served myself all I could by reading; that +I made use of the judgment of authors dead and living; that I omitted no +means in my power to be informed of my errors, both by my friends and +enemies: but the true reason these pieces are not more correct, is owing +to the consideration how short a time they and I have to live: one may +be ashamed to consume half one's days in bringing sense and rhyme +together; and what critic can be so unreasonable as not to leave a man +time enough for any more serious employment, or more agreeable +amusement? + +The only plea I shall use for the favour of the public is, that I have +as great a respect for it as most authors have for themselves; and that +I have sacrificed much of my own self-love for its sake, in preventing +not only many mean things from seeing the light, but many which I +thought tolerable. I would not be like those authors who forgive +themselves some particular lines for the sake of a whole poem, and _vice +versâ_ a whole poem for the sake of some particular lines. I believe no +one qualification is so likely to make a good writer as the power of +rejecting his own thoughts; and it must be this (if anything) that can +give me a chance to be one. For what I have published, I can only hope +to be pardoned; but for what I have burned, I deserve to be praised. On +this account the world is under some obligation to me, and owes me the +justice in return to look upon no verses as mine that are not inserted +in this collection. And perhaps nothing could make it worth my while to +own what are really so, but to avoid the imputation of so many dull and +immoral things as, partly by malice, and partly by ignorance, have been +ascribed to me. I must further acquit myself of the presumption of +having lent my name to recommend any miscellanies or works of other men; +a thing I never thought becoming a person who has hardly credit enough +to answer for his own. + +In this office of collecting my pieces, I am altogether uncertain +whether to look upon myself as a man building a monument, or burying the +dead. If time shall make it the former, may these poems (as long as they +last) remain as a testimony that their author never made his talents +subservient to the mean and unworthy ends of party or self-interest; the +gratification of public prejudices or private passions; the flattery of +the undeserving or the insult of the unfortunate. If I have written +well, let it be considered that 'tis what no man can do without good +sense,--a quality that not only renders one capable of being a good +writer, but a good man. And if I have made any acquisition in the +opinion of any one under the notion of the former, let it be continued +to me under no other title than that of the latter. + +But if this publication be only a more solemn funeral of my remains, I +desire it may be known that I die in charity and in my senses, without +any murmurs against the justice of this age, or any mad appeals to +posterity. I declare I shall think the world in the right, and quietly +submit to every truth which time shall discover to the prejudice of +these writings; not so much as wishing so irrational a thing, as that +every body should be deceived merely for my credit. However, I desire it +may then be considered that there are very few things in this collection +which were not written under the age of five-and-twenty: so that my +youth may be made (as it never fails to be in executions) a case of +compassion. That I was never so concerned about my works as to vindicate +them in print; believing, if any thing was good, it would defend itself, +and what was bad could never be defended. That I used no artifice to +raise or continue a reputation, depreciated no dead author I was obliged +to, bribed no living one with unjust praise, insulted no adversary with +ill language: or, when I could not attack a rival's works, encouraged +reports against his morals. To conclude, if this volume perish, let it +serve as a warning to the critics, not to take too much pains for the +future to destroy such things as will die of themselves; and a _memento +mori_ to some of my vain cotemporaries the poets, to teach them that, +when real merit is wanting, it avails nothing to have been encouraged by +the great, commended by the eminent, and favoured by the public in +general. + +November 10, 1716. + + +VARIATIONS IN THE AUTHOR'S MANUSCRIPT PREFACE. + + +After the words 'severely remarked on,' p. 2, l. 41, it followed +thus--For my part, I confess, had I seen things in this view at first, +the public had never been troubled either with my writings, or with this +apology for them. I am sensible how difficult it is to speak of one's +self with decency: but when a man must speak of himself, the best way is +to speak truth of himself, or, he may depend upon it, others will do it +for him. I'll therefore make this preface a general confession of all my +thoughts of my own poetry, resolving with the same freedom to expose +myself, as it is in the power of any other to expose them. In the first +place, I thank God and nature that I was born with a love to poetry; for +nothing more conduces to fill up all the intervals of our time, or, if +rightly used, to make the whole course of life entertaining: _Cantantes +licet usque_ (_minus via laedet_). 'Tis a vast happiness to possess the +pleasures of the head, the only pleasures in which a man is sufficient +to himself, and the only part of him which, to his satisfaction, he can +employ all day long. The Muses are _amicae omnium horarum_; and, like +our gay acquaintance, the best company in the world as long as one +expects no real service from them. I confess there was a time when I was +in love with myself, and my first productions were the children of +Self-Love upon Innocence. I had made an epic poem, and panegyrics on all +the princes in Europe, and thought myself the greatest genius that ever +was. I can't but regret those delightful visions of my childhood, which, +like the fine colours we see when our eyes are shut, are vanished for +ever. Many trials and sad experience have so undeceived me by degrees, +that I am utterly at a loss at what rate to value myself. As for fame, I +shall be glad of any I can get, and not repine at any I miss; and as for +vanity, I have enough to keep me from hanging myself, or even from +wishing those hanged who would take it away. It was this that made me +write. The sense of my faults made me correct. + +After the words 'angry to find us so,' p. 3, l. 36, occurred the +following--In the first place I own that I have used my best endeavours +to the finishing these pieces. That I made what advantage I could of the +judgment of authors dead and living; and that I omitted no means in my +power to be informed of my errors by my friends and by my enemies. And +that I expect no favour on account of my youth, business, want of +health, or any such idle excuses. But the true reason they are not yet +more correct is owing to the consideration how short a time they and I +have to live. A man that can expect but sixty years may be ashamed to +employ thirty in measuring syllables and bringing sense and rhyme +together. To spend our youth in pursuit of riches or fame, in hopes to +enjoy them when we are old; and when we are old, we find it is too late +to enjoy any thing. I therefore hope the wits will pardon me, if I +reserve some of my time to save my soul; and that some wise men will be +of my opinion, even if I should think a part of it better spent in the +enjoyments of life than in pleasing the critics. + + + + +PASTORALS, + +WITH A DISCOURSE ON PASTORAL POETRY.[3] + +WRITTEN IN THE YEAR MDCCIV. + + +Rura mihi et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes, +Flumina amem, sylvasque, inglorius! + +VIRG. + + + +There are not, I believe, a greater number of any sort of verses than of +those which are called Pastorals; nor a smaller, than of those which are +truly so. It therefore seems necessary to give some account of this kind +of poem; and it is my design to comprise in this short paper the +substance of those numerous dissertations the critics have made on the +subject, without omitting any of their rules in my own favour. You will +also find some points reconciled, about which they seem to differ, and a +few remarks which, I think, have escaped their observation. + +The original of poetry is ascribed to that age which succeeded the +creation of the world: and as the keeping of flocks seems to have been +the first employment of mankind, the most ancient sort of poetry was +probably _pastoral_. It is natural to imagine, that the leisure of those +ancient shepherds admitting and inviting some diversion, none was so +proper to that solitary and sedentary life as singing; and that in their +songs they took occasion to celebrate their own felicity. From hence a +poem was invented, and afterwards improved to a perfect image of that +happy time; which, by giving us an esteem for the virtues of a former +age, might recommend them to the present. And since the life of +shepherds was attended with more tranquility than any other rural +employment, the poets chose to introduce their persons, from whom it +received the name of "pastoral." + +A pastoral is an imitation of the action of a shepherd, or one +considered under that character. The form of this imitation is dramatic, +or narrative, or mixed of both; the fable simple, the manners not too +polite nor too rustic: the thoughts are plain, yet admit a little +quickness and passion, but that short and flowing: the expression +humble, yet as pure as the language will afford; neat, but not florid; +easy and yet lively. In short, the fable, manners, thoughts, and +expressions are full of the greatest simplicity in nature. + +The complete character of this poem consists in simplicity, brevity, and +delicacy; the two first of which render an eclogue natural, and the last +delightful. + +If we would copy nature, it may be useful to take this idea along with +us, that pastoral is an image of what they call the Golden Age. So that +we are not to describe our shepherds as shepherds at this day really +are, but as they may be conceived then to have been, when the best of +men followed the employment. To carry this resemblance yet further, it +would not be amiss to give these shepherds some skill in astronomy, as +far as it may be useful to that sort of life. And an air of piety to the +gods should shine through the poem, which so visibly appears in all the +works of antiquity: and it ought to preserve some relish of the old way +of writing; the connexion should be loose, the narrations and +descriptions short, and the periods concise. Yet it is not sufficient, +that the sentences only be brief, the whole eclogue should be so too. +For we cannot suppose poetry in those days to have been the business of +men, but their recreation at vacant hours. + +But with respect to the present age, nothing more conduces to make these +composures natural than when some knowledge in rural affairs is +discovered. This may be made to appear rather done by chance than on +design, and sometimes is best shown by inference; lest by too much study +to seem natural, we destroy that easy simplicity from whence arises the +delight. For what is inviting in this sort of poetry, proceeds not so +much from the idea of that business, as of the tranquility of a country +life. + +We must therefore use some illusion to render a pastoral delightful; and +this consists in exposing the best side only of a shepherd's life, and +in concealing its miseries. Nor is it enough to introduce shepherds +discoursing together in a natural way; but a regard must be had to the +subject--that it contain some particular beauty in itself, and that it +be different in every eclogue. Besides, in each of them a designed scene +or prospect is to be presented to our view, which should likewise have +its variety. This variety is obtained in a great degree by frequent +comparisons, drawn from the most agreeable objects of the country; by +interrogations to things inanimate; by beautiful digressions, but those +short; sometimes by insisting a little on circumstances; and lastly, by +elegant turns on the words, which render the numbers extremely sweet and +pleasing. As for the numbers themselves, though they are properly of the +heroic measure, they should be the smoothest, the most easy and flowing +imaginable. + +It is by rules like these that we ought to judge of pastorals. And since +the instructions given for any art are to be delivered as that art is in +perfection, they must of necessity be derived from those in whom it is +acknowledged so to be. It is therefore from the practice of Theocritus +and Virgil (the only undisputed authors of pastoral) that the critics +have drawn the foregoing notions concerning it. + +Theocritus excels all others in nature and simplicity. The subjects of +his 'Idyllia' are purely pastoral; but he is not so exact in his +persons, having introduced reapers and fishermen as well as shepherds. +He is apt to be too long in his descriptions, of which that of the cup +in the first pastoral is a remarkable instance. In the manners he seems +a little defective, for his swains are sometimes abusive and immodest, +and perhaps too much inclining to rusticity; for instance, in his fourth +and fifth 'Idyllia.' But 'tis enough that all others learnt their +excellencies from him, and that his dialect alone has a secret charm in +it, which no other could ever attain. + +Virgil, who copies Theocritus, refines upon his original: and in all +points where judgment is principally concerned, he is much superior to +his master. + +Though some of his subjects are not pastoral in themselves, but only +seem to be such, they have a wonderful variety in them, which the Greek +was a stranger to. He exceeds him in regularity and brevity, and falls +short of him in nothing but simplicity and propriety of style; the first +of which perhaps was the fault of his age, and the last of his language. + +Among the moderns, their success has been greatest who have most +endeavoured to make these ancients their pattern. The most considerable +genius appears in the famous Tasso, and our Spenser. Tasso in his +'Aminta' has as far excelled all the pastoral writers, as in his +'Gierusalemme' he has outdone the epic poets of his country. But as this +piece seems to have been the original of a new sort of poem--the +pastoral comedy--in Italy, it cannot so well be considered as a copy of +the ancients. Spenser's Calendar, in Mr Dryden's opinion, is the most +complete work of this kind which any nation has produced ever since the +time of Virgil. Not but that he may be thought imperfect in some few +points. His Eclogues are somewhat too long, if we compare them with the +ancients. He is sometimes too allegorical, and treats of matters of +religion in a pastoral style, as the Mantuan had done before him. He has +employed the lyric measure, which is contrary to the practice of the old +poets. His stanza is not still the same, nor always well chosen. This +last may be the reason his expression is sometimes not concise enough: +for the Tetrastic has obliged him to extend his sense to the length of +four lines, which would have been more closely confined in the couplet. + +In the manners, thoughts, and characters, he comes near to Theocritus +himself; though, notwithstanding all the care he has taken, he is +certainly inferior in his dialect: for the Doric had its beauty and +propriety in the time of Theocritus; it was used in part of Greece, and +frequent in the mouths of many of the greatest persons: whereas the old +English and country phrases of Spenser were either entirely obsolete, or +spoken only by people of the lowest condition. As there is a difference +betwixt simplicity and rusticity, so the expression of simple thoughts +should be plain, but not clownish. The addition he has made of a +Calendar to his Eclogues, is very beautiful; since by this, besides the +general moral of innocence and simplicity, which is common to other +authors of pastoral, he has one peculiar to himself--he compares human +life to the several seasons, and at once exposes to his readers a view +of the great and little worlds, in their various changes and aspects. +Yet the scrupulous division of his pastorals into months has obliged him +either to repeat the same description, in other words, for three months +together; or, when it was exhausted before, entirely to omit it: whence +it comes to pass that some of his Eclogues (as the sixth, eighth, and +tenth, for example) have nothing but their titles to distinguish them. +The reason is evident--because the year has not that variety in it to +furnish every month with a particular description, as it may every +season. + +Of the following eclogues I shall only say, that these four comprehend +all the subjects which the critics upon Theocritus and Virgil will allow +to be fit for pastoral: that they have as much variety of description, +in respect of the several seasons, as Spenser's: that, in order to add +to this variety, the several times of the day are observed, the rural +employments in each season or time of day, and the rural scenes or +places proper to such employments; not without some regard to the +several ages of man, and the different passions proper to each age. + +But after all, if they have any merit, it is to be attributed to some +good old authors, whose works as I had leisure to study, so I hope I +have not wanted care to imitate. + + + +SPRING. + +THE FIRST PASTORAL, OR DAMON. + +TO SIR WILLIAM TRUMBULL.[4] + + +First in these fields I try the sylvan strains, +Nor blush to sport on Windsor's blissful plains: +Fair Thames, flow gently from thy sacred spring, +While on thy banks Sicilian Muses sing; +Let vernal airs through trembling osiers play, +And Albion's cliffs resound the rural lay. + +You that, too wise for pride, too good for power, +Enjoy the glory to be great no more, +And, carrying with you all the world can boast, +To all the world illustriously are lost! 10 +Oh, let my Muse her slender reed inspire, +Till in your native shades you tune the lyre: +So when the nightingale to rest removes, +The thrush may chant to the forsaken groves, +But, charm'd to silence, listens while she sings, +And all the aërial audience clap their wings. + +Soon as the flocks shook off the nightly dews, +Two swains, whom Love kept wakeful, and the Muse, +Pour'd o'er the whitening vale their fleecy care, +Fresh as the morn, and as the season fair: 20 +The dawn now blushing on the mountain's side, +Thus Daphnis spoke, and Strephou thus replied. + +DAPHNIS. + +Hear how the birds, on every bloomy spray, +With joyous music wake the dawning day! +Why sit we mute when early linnets sing, +When warbling Philomel salutes the spring? +Why sit we sad, when Phosphor[5] shines so clear, +And lavish Nature paints the purple year? + +STREPHON. + +Sing then, and Damon shall attend the strain, +While yon slow oxen turn the furrow'd plain. 30 +Here the bright crocus and blue violet glow; +Here western winds on breathing roses blow. +I'll stake yon lamb, that near the fountain plays, +And from the brink his dancing shade surveys. + +DAPHNIS. + +And I this bowl, where wanton ivy twines, +And swelling clusters bend the curling vines: +Four Figures rising from the work appear, +The various Seasons of the rolling year; +And what is that, which binds the radiant sky, +Where twelve fair signs in beauteous order lie? 40 + +DAMON. + +Then sing by turns, by turns the Muses sing; +Now hawthorns blossom, now the daisies spring; +Now leaves the trees, and flowers adorn the ground: +Begin, the vales shall every note rebound. + +STREPHON. + +Inspire me, Phoebus, in my Delia's praise, +With Waller's strains, or Granville's moving lays! +A milk-white bull shall at your altars stand, +That threats a fight, and spurns the rising sand. + +DAPHNIS. + +O Love! for Sylvia let me gain the prize, +And make my tongue victorious as her eyes; 50 +No lambs or sheep for victims I'll impart, +Thy victim, Love, shall be the shepherd's heart. + +STREPHON. + +Me gentle Delia beckons from the plain, +Then hid in shades, eludes her eager swain; +But feigns a laugh, to see me search around, +And by that laugh the willing fair is found. + +DAPHNIS. + +The sprightly Sylvia trips along the green, +She runs, but hopes she does not run unseen; +While a kind glance at her pursuer flies, +How much at variance are her feet and eyes! 60 + +STREPHON. + +O'er golden sands let rich Pactolus flow, +And trees weep amber on the banks of Po; +Blest Thames's shores the brightest beauties yield, +Feed here, my lambs, I'll seek no distant field. + +DAPHNIS. + +Celestial Venus haunts Idalia's groves; +Diana Cynthus, Ceres Hybla loves; +If Windsor-shades delight the matchless maid, +Cynthus and Hybla yield to Windsor-shade. + +STREPHON. + +All nature mourns, the skies relent in showers, +Hush'd are the birds, and closed the drooping flowers; 70 +If Delia smile, the flowers begin to spring, +The skies to brighten, and the birds to sing. + +DAPHNIS. + +All nature laughs, the groves are fresh and fair, +The sun's mild lustre warms the vital air; +If Sylvia smiles, new glories gild the shore, +And vanquish'd Nature seems to charm no more. + +STREPHON. + +In spring the fields, in autumn hills I love, +At morn the plains, at noon the shady grove, +But Delia always; absent from her sight, +Nor plains at morn, nor groves at noon delight. 80 + +DAPHNIS. + +Sylvia's like autumn ripe, yet mild as May, +More bright than noon, yet fresh as early day; +Even spring displeases, when she shines not here; +But, blest with her, 'tis spring throughout the year. + +STREPHON. + +Say, Daphnis, say, in what glad soil appears, +A wondrous tree[6] that sacred monarchs bears? +Tell me but this, and I'll disclaim the prize, +And give the conquest to thy Sylvia's eyes. + +DAPHNIS. + +Nay, tell me first, in what more happy fields +The thistle[7] springs, to which the lily[8] yields? 90 +And then a nobler prize I will resign; +For Sylvia, charming Sylvia shall be thine. + +DAMON. + +Cease to contend, for, Daphnis, I decree, +The bowl to Strephon, and the lamb to thee: +Blest swains, whose nymphs in every grace excel; +Blest nymphs, whose swains those graces sing so well! +Now rise, and haste to yonder woodbine bowers, +A soft retreat from sudden vernal showers; +The turf with rural dainties shall be crown'd. +While opening blooms diffuse their sweets around. 100 +For see! the gath'ring flocks to shelter tend, +And from the Pleiads fruitful showers descend. + + * * * * * + +VARIATIONS + +VER. 36. And clusters lurk beneath the curling vines. + +VER. 49-52. Originally thus in the MS.-- + +Pan, let my numbers equal Strephon's lays, +Of Parian stone thy statue will I raise; +But if I conquer and augment my fold, +Thy Parian statue shall be changed to gold. + +VER. 61-64. It stood thus at first-- + +Let rich Iberia golden fleeces boast, +Her purple wool the proud Assyrian coast, +Blest Thames's shores, &c. + +VER. 61-68 Originally thus in the MS.-- + +Go, flowery wreath, and let my Sylvia know, +Compared to thine how bright her beauties show; +Then die; and dying teach the lovely maid +How soon the brightest beauties are decay'd. + +DAPHNIS. + +Go, tuneful bird, that pleased the woods so long, +Of Amaryllis learn a sweeter song; +To Heaven arising then her notes convey, +For Heaven alone is worthy such a lay. + +VER 69-73. These verses were thus at first-- + +All nature mourns, the birds their songs deny, +Nor wasted brooks the thirsty flowers supply; +If Delia smile, the flowers begin to spring, +The brooks to murmur, and the birds to sing. + +VER. 99, 100, was originally-- + +The turf with country dainties shall be spread, +And trees with twining branches shade your head. + + * * * * * + +SUMMER, + +THE SECOND PASTORAL, OR ALEXIS. + +TO DR GARTH. + + +A shepherd's boy (he seeks no better name) +Led forth his flocks along the silver Thame, +Where dancing sunbeams on the waters play'd, +And verdant alders form'd a quivering shade. +Soft as he mourn'd, the streams forgot to flow, +The flocks around a dumb compassion show: +The Naïads wept in every watery bower, +And Jove consented in a silent shower. + +Accept, O Garth[9] the Muse's early lays, +That adds this wreath of ivy to thy bays; 10 +Hear what from love unpractised hearts endure: +From love, the sole disease thou canst not cure. + +Ye shady beeches, and ye cooling streams, +Defence from Phoebus', not from Cupid's beams, +To you I mourn, nor to the deaf I sing, +'The woods shall answer, and their echo ring.'[10] +The hills and rocks attend my doleful lay; +Why art thou prouder and more hard than they? +The bleating sheep with my complaints agree, +They parch'd with heat, and I inflamed by thee. 20 +The sultry Sirius burns the thirsty plains, +While in thy heart eternal winter reigns. + +Where stray ye, Muses, in what lawn or grove, +While your Alexis pines in hopeless love? +In those fair fields where sacred Isis glides, +Or else where Cam his winding vales divides? +As in the crystal spring I view my face, +Fresh rising blushes paint the watery glass; +But since those graces please thy eyes no more, +I shun the fountains which I sought before. 30 +Once I was skill'd in every herb that grew, +And every plant that drinks the morning dew; +Ah, wretched shepherd, what avails thy art, +To cure thy lambs, but not to heal thy heart! +Let other swains attend the rural care, +Feed fairer flocks, or richer fleeces shear: +But nigh yon mountain let me tune my lays, +Embrace my love, and bind my brows with bays. +That flute is mine which Colin's tuneful breath +Inspired when living, and bequeath'd in death; 40 +He said, 'Alexis, take this pipe--the same +That taught the groves my Rosalinda's name:' +But now the reeds shall hang on yonder tree, +For ever silent, since despised by thee. +Oh! were I made by some transforming power +The captive bird that sings within thy bower! +Then might my voice thy listening ears employ, +And I those kisses he receives, enjoy. + +And yet my numbers please the rural throng, +Rough Satyrs dance, and Pan applauds the song: 50 +The Nymphs, forsaking every cave and spring, +Their early fruit, and milk-white turtles bring; +Each amorous nymph prefers her gifts in vain. +On you their gifts are all bestow'd again. +For you the swains the fairest flowers design, +And in one garland all their beauties join; +Accept the wreath which you deserve alone, +In whom all beauties are comprised in one. + +See what delights in sylvan scenes appear! +Descending gods have found Elysium here. 60 +In woods bright Venus with Adonis stray'd, +And chaste Diana haunts the forest shade. +Come, lovely nymph, and bless the silent hours, +When swains from shearing seek their nightly bowers, +When weary reapers quit the sultry field, +And crown'd with corn their thanks to Ceres yield; +This harmless grove no lurking viper hides, +But in my breast the serpent love abides. +Here bees from blossoms sip the rosy dew, +But your Alexis knows no sweets but you. 70 +Oh, deign to visit our forsaken seats, +The mossy fountains, and the green retreats! +Where'er you walk, cool gales shall fan the glade, +Trees, where you sit, shall crowd into a shade: +Where'er you tread, the blushing flowers shall rise, +And all things flourish where you turn your eyes. +Oh, how I long with you to pass my days, +Invoke the Muses, and resound your praise! +Your praise the birds shall chant in every grove, +And winds shall waft it to the Powers above. 80 +But would you sing, and rival Orpheus' strain, +The wondering forests soon should dance again, +The moving mountains hear the powerful call, +And headlong streams hang listening in their fall! + +But see, the shepherds shun the noonday heat, +The lowing herds to murmuring brooks retreat, +To closer shades the panting flocks remove; +Ye gods! and is there no relief for love? +But soon the sun with milder rays descends +To the cool ocean, where his journey ends: 90 +On me Love's fiercer flames for ever prey, +By night he scorches, as he burns by day. + + * * * * * + +VARIATIONS. + +VER. 1-4 were thus printed in the first edition-- + +A faithful swain, whom Love had taught to sing, +Bewail'd his fate beside a silver spring; +Where gentle Thames his winding waters leads +Through verdant forests, and through flowery meads. + +VER. 3, 4. Originally thus in the MS.-- + +There to the winds he plain'd his hapless love, +And Amaryllis fill'd the vocal grove. + +VER. 27-29-- + +Oft in the crystal spring I cast a view, +And equall'd Hylas, if the glass be true; +But since those graces meet my eyes no more +I shun, &c. + +VER. 79, 80-- + +Your praise the tuneful birds to heaven shall bear, +And listening wolves grow milder as they hear. + +VER. 91-- + +Me love inflames, nor will his fires allay. + + + + +AUTUMN. + +THE THIRD PASTORAL, Or HYLAS AND ÆGON. + +TO MR WYCHERLEY.[11] + + +Beneath the shade a spreading beech displays, +Hylas and Ægon sung their rural lays; +This mourn'd a faithless, that an absent love. +And Delia's name and Doris' fill'd the grove. +Ye Mantuan nymphs, your sacred succour bring; +Hylas and Ægon's rural lays I sing. + +Thou, whom the Nine with Plautus' wit inspire, +The art of Terence, and Menander's fire; +Whose sense instructs us, and whose humour charms, +Whose judgment sways us, and whose spirit warms! 10 +Oh, skill'd in Nature! see the hearts of swains, +Their artless passions, and their tender pains. + +Now setting Phoebus shone serenely bright, +And fleecy clouds were streak'd with purple light; +When tuneful Hylas, with melodious moan, +Taught rocks to weep, and made the mountains groan. + +Go, gentle gales, and bear my sighs away! +To Delia's ear the tender notes convey. +As some sad turtle his lost love deplores, +And with deep murmurs fills the sounding shores, 20 +Thus, far from Delia, to the winds I mourn, +Alike unheard, unpitied, and forlorn. + +Go, gentle gales, and bear my sighs along! +For her, the feather'd choirs neglect their song: +For her, the limes their pleasing shades deny; +For her, the lilies hang their heads and die. +Ye flowers that droop, forsaken by the spring, +Ye birds that, left by summer, cease to sing, +Ye trees that fade when autumn-heats remove, +Say, is not absence death to those who love? 30 + +Go, gentle gales, and bear my sighs away! +Cursed be the fields that cause my Delia's stay; +Fade every blossom, wither every tree, +Die every flower, and perish all but she. + +What have I said? Where'er my Delia flies, +Let spring attend, and sudden flowers arise; +Let opening roses knotted oaks adorn, +And liquid amber drop from every thorn. + +Go, gentle gales, and bear my sighs along! +The birds shall cease to tune their evening song, 40 +The winds to breathe, the waving woods to move, +And streams to murmur, ere I cease to love. +Not bubbling fountains to the thirsty swain, +Not balmy sleep to labourers faint with pain, +Not showers to larks, or sunshine to the bee, +Are half so charming as thy sight to me. +Go, gentle gales, and bear my sighs away! +Come, Delia, come; ah, why this long delay? +Through rocks and caves the name of Delia sounds, +Delia, each care and echoing rock rebounds. 50 +Ye Powers, what pleasing frenzy soothes my mind! +Do lovers dream, or is my Delia kind? +She comes, my Delia comes!--Now cease, my lay, +And cease, ye gales, to bear my sighs away! + +Next Ægon sung, while Windsor groves admired; +Rehearse, ye Muses, what yourselves inspired. + +Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful strain! +Of perjured Doris, dying I complain: +Here where the mountains, lessening as they rise, +Lose the low vales, and steal into the skies: 60 +While labouring oxen, spent with toil and heat, +In their loose traces from the field retreat: +While curling smokes from village-tops are seen, +And the fleet shades glide o'er the dusky green. + +Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful lay! +Beneath yon poplar oft we pass'd the day: +Oft on the rind I carved her amorous vows, +While she with garlands hung the bending boughs: +The garlands fade, the vows are worn away; +So dies her love, and so my hopes decay. 70 + +Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful strain! +Now bright Arcturus glads the teeming grain, +Now golden fruits on loaded branches shine, +And grateful clusters swell with floods of wine; +Now blushing berries paint the yellow grove; +Just gods! shall all things yield returns but love? + +Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful lay! +The shepherds cry, 'Thy flocks are left a prey'-- +Ah! what avails it me, the flocks to keep, +Who lost my heart--while I preserved my sheep. 80 +Pan came, and ask'd, what magic caused my smart, +Or what ill eyes malignant glances dart? +What eyes but hers, alas, have power to move? +And is there magic but what dwells in love? + +Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful strains! +I'll fly from shepherds, flocks, and flowery plains. +From shepherds, flocks, and plains, I may remove, +Forsake mankind, and all the world--but Love! +I know thee, Love! on foreign mountains bred, +Wolves gave thee suck, and savage tigers fed. 90 +Thou wert from Etna's burning entrails torn, +Got by fierce whirlwinds, and in thunder born! + +Resound, ye hills, resound my mournful lay! +Farewell, ye woods; adieu, the light of day! +One leap from yonder cliff shall end my pains; +No more, ye hills, no more resound my strains! + +Thus sung the shepherds till the approach of night, +The skies yet blushing with departing light, +When falling dews with spangles deck'd the glade, +And the low sun had lengthen'd every shade. 100 + + * * * * * + +VARIATIONS. + +VER. 48-5l--Originally thus in the MS.-- + +With him through Libya's burning plains I'll go, +On Alpine mountains tread the eternal snow; +Yet feel no heat but what our loves impart, +And dread no coldness but in Thyrsis' heart. + + + + +WINTER. + +THE FOURTH PASTORAL, OR DAPHNE. + +TO THE MEMORY OF MRS TEMPEST.[12] + + +LYCIDAS. + +Thyrsis, the music of that murmuring spring +Is not so mournful as the strains you sing; +Nor rivers winding through the vales below, +So sweetly warble, or so smoothly flow. +Now sleeping flocks on their soft fleeces lie, +The moon, serene in glory, mounts the sky, +While silent birds forget their tuneful lays, +Oh sing of Daphne's fate, and Daphne's praise! + +THYRSIS. + +Behold the groves that shine with silver frost, +Their beauty wither'd, and their verdure lost. 10 +Here shall I try the sweet Alexis' strain, +That call'd the listening Dryads to the plain? +Thames heard the numbers as he flow'd along, +And bade his willows learn the moving song. + +LYCIDAS. + +So may kind rains their vital moisture yield +And swell the future harvest of the field. +Begin; this charge the dying Daphne gave, +And said, 'Ye shepherds, sing around my grave!' +Sing, while beside the shaded tomb I mourn, +And with fresh bays her rural shrine adorn. 20 + +THYRSIS. + +Ye gentle Muses, leave your crystal spring, +Let nymphs and sylvans cypress garlands bring; +Ye weeping Loves, the stream with myrtles hide, +And break your bows, as when Adonis died; +And with your golden darts, now useless grown, +Inscribe a verse on this relenting stone: +'Let Nature change, let Heaven and Earth deplore, +Fair Daphne's dead, and Love is now no more!' +'Tis done, and Nature's various charms decay; +See gloomy clouds obscure the cheerful day! 30 +Now hung with pearls the dropping trees appear, +Their faded honours scatter'd on her bier. +See where, on earth, the flowery glories lie, +With her they flourish'd, and with her they die. +Ah, what avail the beauties Nature wore, +Fair Daphne's dead, and Beauty is no more! + +For her the flocks refuse their verdant food, +The thirsty heifers shun the gliding flood, +The silver swans her hapless fate bemoan, +In notes more sad than when they sing their own; 40 +In hollow caves sweet Echo silent lies, +Silent, or only to her name replies; +Her name with pleasure once she taught the shore; +Now Daphne's dead, and Pleasure is no more! + +No grateful dews descend from evening skies, +Nor morning odours from the flowers arise; +No rich perfumes refresh the fruitful field, +Nor fragrant herbs their native incense yield. +The balmy zephyrs, silent since her death, +Lament the ceasing of a sweeter breath; 50 +Th' industrious bees neglect their golden store; +Fair Daphne's dead, and Sweetness is no more! + +No more the mounting larks, while Daphne sings, +Shall, listening in mid air, suspend their wings; +No more the birds shall imitate her lays, +Or, hush'd with wonder, hearken from the sprays: +No more the streams their murmurs shall forbear, +A sweeter music than their own to hear; +But tell the reeds, and tell the vocal shore, +Fair Daphne's dead, and Music is no more! 60 + +Her fate is whisper'd by the gentle breeze, +And told in sighs to all the trembling trees; +The trembling trees, in every plain and wood, +Her fate remurmur to the silver flood; +The silver flood, so lately calm, appears +Swell'd with new passion, and o'erflows with tears; +The winds and trees and floods her death deplore, +Daphne, our grief, our glory now no more! + +But see! where Daphne wondering mounts on high +Above the clouds, above the starry sky! 70 +Eternal beauties grace the shining scene, +Fields ever fresh, and groves for ever green! +There while you rest in amaranthine bowers, +Or from those meads select unfading flowers, +Behold us kindly, who your name implore, +Daphne, our goddess, and our grief no more! + +LYCIDAS. + +How all things listen, while thy Muse complains! +Such silence waits on Philomela's strains, +In some still evening, when the whispering breeze +Pants on the leaves, and dies upon the trees. 80 +To thee, bright goddess, oft a lamb shall bleed, +If teeming ewes increase my fleecy breed. +While plants their shade, or flowers their odours give, +Thy name, thy honour, and thy praise shall live! + +THYRSIS. + +But see, Orion sheds unwholesome dews; +Arise, the pines a noxious shade diffuse; +Sharp Boreas blows, and Nature feels decay, +Time conquers all, and we must Time obey. +Adieu, ye vales, ye mountains, streams, and groves; +Adieu, ye shepherds, rural lays, and loves; 90 +Adieu, my flocks; farewell, ye sylvan crew; +Daphne, farewell; and all the world, adieu! + + * * * * * + +VARIATIONS. + +VER. 29, 30--Originally thus in the MS.-- + +'Tis done, and Nature's changed since you are gone; +Behold, the clouds have put their mourning on. + +VER. 83, 84. Originally thus in the MS.-- + +While vapours rise, and driving snows descend, +Thy honour, name, and praise shall never end. + + + + +MESSIAH. + +A SACRED ECLOGUE, IN IMITATION OF VIRGIL'S 'POLLIO.' + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + +In reading several passages of the Prophet Isaiah, which foretell the +coming of Christ and the felicities attending it, I could not but +observe a remarkable parity between many of the thoughts, and those in +the 'Pollio' of Virgil. This will not seem surprising, when we reflect, +that the eclogue was taken from a Sibylline prophecy on the same +subject. One may judge that Virgil did not copy it line by line, but +selected such ideas as best agreed with the nature of pastoral poetry, +and disposed them in that manner which served most to beautify his +piece. I have endeavoured the same in this imitation of him, though +without admitting anything of my own; since it was written with this +particular view, that the reader, by comparing the several thoughts, +might see how far the images and descriptions of the prophet are +superior to those of the poet. But as I fear I have prejudiced them by +my management, I shall subjoin the passages of Isaiah and those of +Virgil, under the same disadvantage of a literal translation. + + +Ye Nymphs of Solyma! begin the song: +To heavenly themes sublimer strains belong. +The mossy fountains, and the sylvan shades, +The dreams of Pindus and the Aonian maids, +Delight no more--O Thou my voice inspire +Who touch'd Isaiah's hallow'd lips with fire! + +Rapt into future times, the bard begun: +A virgin shall conceive, a virgin bear a son! +From Jesse's root behold the branch arise, +Whose sacred flower with fragrance fills the skies: 10 +The ethereal Spirit o'er its leaves shall move, +And on its top descends the mystic Dove. +Ye Heavens! from high the dewy nectar pour, +And in soft silence shed the kindly shower! +The sick and weak the healing plant shall aid, +From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade. +All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail; +Returning Justice lift aloft her scale; +Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend, +And white-robed Innocence from heaven descend. 20 +Swift fly the years, and rise the expected morn! +Oh spring to light, auspicious Babe, be born! +See, Nature hastes her earliest wreaths to bring, +With all the incense of the breathing spring! +See lofty Lebanon his head advance, +See nodding forests on the mountains dance: +See spicy clouds from lowly Saron rise, +And Carmel's flowery top perfumes the skies! +Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers; +'Prepare the way! a God, a God appears:' 30 +'A God, a God!' the vocal hills reply, +The rocks proclaim the approaching Deity. +Lo, Earth receives him from the bending skies! +Sink down, ye mountains, and ye valleys, rise; +With heads declined, ye cedars, homage pay; +Be smooth, ye rocks, ye rapid floods, give way! +The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold: +Hear him, ye deaf, and all ye blind, behold! +He from thick films shall purge the visual ray, +And on the sightless eyeball pour the day: 40 +'Tis he the obstructed paths of sound shall clear, +And bid new music charm th' unfolding ear: +The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego, +And leap exulting like the bounding roe. +No sigh, no murmur the wide world shall hear, +From every face he wipes off every tear. +In adamantine chains shall Death be bound, +And Hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound. +As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care, +Seeks freshest pasture and the purest air, 50 +Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs, +By day o'ersees them, and by night protects, +The tender lambs he raises in his arms, +Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms; +Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage, +The promised Father of the future age. +No more shall nation against nation rise, +Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes, +Nor fields with gleaming steel be cover'd o'er, +The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more; 60 +But useless lances into scythes shall bend, +And the broad falchion in a ploughshare end. +Then palaces shall rise; the joyful son +Shall finish what his short-lived sire begun; +Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield, +And the same hand that sow'd, shall reap the field; +The swain in barren deserts with surprise +See lilies spring, and sudden verdure rise; +And start, amidst the thirsty wilds, to hear +New falls of water murmuring in his ear. 70 +On rifted rocks, the dragons' late abodes, +The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods, +Waste sandy valleys, once perplex'd with thorn, +The spiry fir, and shapely box adorn: +To leafless shrubs the flowering palms succeed, +And odorous myrtle to the noisome weed. +The lambs with wolves shall graze the verdant mead, +And boys in flowery bands the tiger lead; +The steer and lion at one crib shall meet, +And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet. 80 +The smiling infant in his hand shall take +The crested basilisk and speckled snake, +Pleased, the green lustre of the scales survey, +And with their forky tongue shall innocently play. +Rise, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rise! +Exalt thy towery head, and lift thy eyes! +See, a long race thy spacious courts adorn; +See future sons, and daughters yet unborn, +In crowding ranks on every side arise, +Demanding life, impatient for the skies! 90 +See barbarous nations at thy gates attend, +Walk in thy light and in thy temple bend; +See thy bright altars throng'd with prostrate kings, +And heap'd with products of Sabean springs! +For thee Idumè's spicy forests blow, +And seeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow. +See Heaven its sparkling portals wide display, +And break upon thee in a flood of day! +No more the rising sun shall gild the morn, +Nor evening Cynthia fill her silver horn; 100 +But lost, dissolved in thy superior rays, +One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze +O'erflow thy courts: The Light himself shall shine +Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine! +The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay, +Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away; +But fix'd his word, his saving power remains; +Thy realm for ever lasts, thy own MESSIAH reigns! + + + + +AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM. + +WRITTEN IN THE YEAR MDCCIX. + + +PART I. + +Introduction.--That 'tis as great a fault to judge ill, as to write ill, +and a more dangerous one to the public, ver. 1. That a true taste is as +rare to be found as a true genius, ver. 9-18. That most men are born +with some taste, but spoiled by false education, ver. 19-25. The +multitude of critics, and causes of them, ver. 26-45. That we are to +study our own taste, and know the limits of it, ver. 46-67. Nature the +best guide of judgment, ver. 68-87. Improved by art and rules, which are +but methodised nature, ver. 88. Rules derived from the practice of the +ancient poets, ver. 88-110. That therefore the ancients are necessary to +be studied by a critic, particularly Homer and Virgil, ver. 120-138. Of +licences, and the use of them by the ancients, ver. 140-180. Reverence +due to the ancients, and praise of them, ver. 181, &c. + +PART II. + +Causes hindering a true judgment--(1.) pride, ver. 208; (2.) imperfect +learning, ver. 215; (3.) judging by parts and not by the whole, ver. +233-288.--Critics in wit, language, versification only, ver. 288, 305, +339, &c.; (4.) being too hard to please, or too apt to admire, ver. 384; +(5.) partiality--too much love to a sect--to the ancients or moderns, +ver. 394; (6.) prejudice or prevention, ver. 408; (7.) singularity, ver. +424; (8.) in constancy, ver. 430; (9.) party spirit, ver. 452, &c.; +(10.) envy, ver. 466; against envy, and in praise of good-nature, ver. +508, &c. When severity is chiefly to be used by critics, ver. 526, &c. + +PART III. + +Rules for the conduct of manners in a critic--(1.) candour, ver. 503; +modesty, ver. 566; good-breeding, ver. 572; sincerity, and freedom of +advice, ver. 578; (2.) when one's counsel is to be restrained, ver. 584. +Character of an incorrigible poet, ver. 600. And of an impertinent +critic, ver. 610, &c. Character of a good critic, ver. 629. The history +of criticism, and characters of the best critics--Aristotle, ver. 645; +Horace, ver. 653; Dionysius, ver. 665; Petronius, ver. 667; Quintillian, +ver. 670; Longinus, ver. 675. Of the decay of criticism, and its +revival. Erasmus, ver. 693; Vida, ver. 705; Boileau, ver. 714; Lord +Roscommon, &c., ver. 725. CONCLUSION. + + +PART FIRST. + +'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill +Appear in writing or in judging ill; +But, of the two, less dangerous is the offence +To tire our patience, than mislead our sense. +Some few in that, but numbers err in this; +Ten censure wrong for one who writes amiss; +A fool might once himself alone expose, +Now one in verse makes many more in prose. + +'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none +Go just alike, yet each believes his own. 10 +In poets as true genius is but rare, +True taste as seldom, is the critic's share; +Both must alike from Heaven derive their light, +These born to judge, as well as those to write. +Let such teach others who themselves excel. +And censure freely who have written well. +Authors are partial to their wit, 'tis true, +But are not critics to their judgment too? + +Yet if we look more closely, we shall find +Most have the seeds of judgment in their mind: 20 +Nature affords at least a glimmering light; +The lines, though touch'd but faintly, are drawn right. +But as the slightest sketch, if justly traced, +Is by ill colouring but the more disgraced, +So by false learning is good sense defaced: +Some are bewilder'd in the maze of schools, +And some made coxcombs Nature meant but fools. +In search of wit these lose their common sense, +And then turn critics in their own defence: +Each burns alike, who can, or cannot write, 30 +Or with a rival's, or an eunuch's spite. +All fools have still an itching to deride, +And fain would be upon the laughing side; +If Maevius scribble in Apollo's spite, +There are who judge still worse than he can write. + +Some have at first for wits, then poets pass'd, +Turn'd critics next, and proved plain fools at last. +Some neither can for wits nor critics pass, +As heavy mules are neither horse nor ass. +Those half-learn'd witlings, numerous in our isle, 40 +As half-form'd insects on the banks of Nile; +Unfinished things, one knows not what to call, +Their generation's so equivocal: +To tell 'em would a hundred tongues require, +Or one vain wit's, that might a hundred tire. + +But you who seek to give and merit fame, +And justly bear a critic's noble name, +Be sure yourself and your own reach to know, +How far your genius, taste, and learning go; +Launch not beyond your depth, but be discreet, 50 +And mark that point where sense and dulness meet. + +Nature to all things fix'd the limits fit, +And wisely curb'd proud man's pretending wit. +As on the land while here the ocean gains, +In other parts it leaves wide sandy plains; +Thus in the soul while memory prevails, +The solid power of understanding fails; +Where beams of warm imagination play, +The memory's soft figures melt away. +One science only will one genius fit, 60 +So vast is art, so narrow human wit: +Not only bounded to peculiar arts, +But oft in those confined to single parts. +Like kings, we lose the conquests gain'd before, +By vain ambition still to make them more; +Each might his several province well command, +Would all but stoop to what they understand. + +First follow Nature, and your judgment frame +By her just standard, which is still the same: +Unerring Nature, still divinely bright, 70 +One clear, unchanged, and universal light, +Life, force, and beauty, must to all impart, +At once the source, and end, and test of Art. +Art from that fund each just supply provides, +Works without show, and without pomp presides; +In some fair body thus the informing soul +With spirits feeds, with vigour fills the whole, +Each motion guides, and every nerve sustains, +Itself unseen, but in the effects, remains. +Some, to whom Heaven in wit has been profuse, 80 +Want as much more to turn it to its use; +For wit and judgment often are at strife, +Though meant each other's aid, like man and wife, +'Tis more to guide than spur the Muse's steed, +Restrain his fury, than provoke his speed; +The wingèd courser, like a generous horse, +Shows most true mettle when you check his course. + +Those rules, of old discover'd, not devised, +Are Nature still, but Nature methodised; +Nature, like liberty, is but restrain'd 90 +By the same laws which first herself ordain'd. +Hear how learn'd Greece her useful rules indites, +When to repress, and when indulge our flights: +High on Parnassus' top her sons she show'd, +And pointed out those arduous paths they trod; +Held from afar, aloft, the immortal prize, +And urged the rest by equal steps to rise. +Just precepts thus from great examples given, +She drew from them what they derived from Heaven. +The generous critic fann'd the poet's fire, 100 +And taught the world with reason to admire. +Then Criticism the Muse's handmaid proved, +To dress her charms, and make her more beloved: +But following wits from that intention stray'd, +Who could not win the mistress, woo'd the maid; +Against the poets their own arms they turn'd, +Sure to hate most the men from whom they learn'd. +So modern 'pothecaries, taught the art, +By doctor's bills to play the doctor's part, +Bold in the practice of mistaken rules, 110 +Prescribe, apply, and call their masters fools. +Some on the leaves of ancient authors prey, +Nor time nor moths e'er spoil'd so much as they. +Some drily plain, without invention's aid, +Write dull receipts how poems may be made. +These leave the sense, their learning to display, +And those explain the meaning quite away. + +You then, whose judgment the right course would steer, +Know well each ancient's proper character; +His fable, subject, scope in every page; 120 +Religion, country, genius of his age; +Without all these at once before your eyes, +Cavil you may, but never criticise. +Be Homer's works your study and delight, +Read them by day, and meditate by night; +Thence form your judgment, thence your maxims bring, +And trace the Muses upward to their spring. +Still with itself compared, his text peruse; +And let your comment be the Mantuan Muse. +When first young Maro in his boundless mind, 130 +A work t' outlast immortal Rome design'd, +Perhaps he seem'd above the critic's law, +And but from Nature's fountains scorn'd to draw: +But when t' examine every part he came, +Nature and Homer were, he found, the same. +Convinced, amazed, he checks the bold design, +And rules as strict his labour'd work confine, +As if the Stagyrite[13] o'erlook'd each line. +Learn hence for ancient rules a just esteem; +To copy nature is to copy them. 140 +Some beauties yet no precepts can declare, +For there's a happiness as well as care. +Music resembles poetry, in each +Are nameless graces which no methods teach, +And which a master-hand alone can reach. +If, where the rules not far enough extend, +(Since rules were made but to promote their end) +Some lucky license answer to the full +The intent proposed, that license is a rule; +Thus Pegasus, a nearer way to take, 150 +May boldly deviate from the common track; +Great wits sometimes may gloriously offend, +And rise to faults true critics dare not mend, +From vulgar bounds with brave disorder part, +And snatch a grace beyond the reach of art, +Which, without passing through the judgment, gains +The heart, and all its end at once attains. +In prospects thus, some objects please our eyes, +Which out of nature's common order rise, +The shapeless rock, or hanging precipice. 160 +But though the ancients thus their rules invade, +(As kings dispense with laws themselves have made) +Moderns, beware! or if you must offend +Against the precept, ne'er transgress its end; +Let it be seldom, and compell'd by need, +And have at least their precedent to plead. +The critic else proceeds without remorse, +Seizes your fame, and puts his laws in force. + +I know there are, to whose presumptuous thoughts, +Those freer beauties, even in them, seem faults. 170 +Some figures monstrous and misshaped appear, +Consider'd singly, or beheld too near, +Which, but proportion'd to their light, or place, +Due distance reconciles to form and grace. +A prudent chief not always must display +His powers in equal ranks, and fair array, +But with the occasion and the place comply, +Conceal his force, nay, seem sometimes to fly. +Those oft are stratagems which errors seem, +Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream. 180 + +Still green with bays each ancient altar stands, +Above the reach of sacrilegious hands; +Secure from flames, from envy's fiercer rage, +Destructive war, and all-involving age. +See from each clime the learn'd their incense bring! +Hear in all tongues consenting paeans ring! +In praise so just let every voice be join'd, +And fill the general chorus of mankind. +Hail, Bards triumphant! born in happier days; +Immortal heirs of universal praise! 190 +Whose honours with increase of ages grow, +As streams roll down, enlarging as they flow; +Nations unborn your mighty names shall sound, +And worlds applaud that must not yet be found! +Oh may some spark of your celestial fire, +The last, the meanest of your sons inspire, +(That on weak wings, from far, pursues your flights, +Glows while he reads, but trembles as he writes) +To teach vain wits a science little known, +T' admire superior sense, and doubt their own! 200 + + * * * * * + +VARIATIONS. + +Between ver. 25 and 26 were these lines, since omitted by the author:-- + +Many are spoil'd by that pedantic throng, +Who with great pains teach youth to reason wrong. +Tutors, like virtuosos, oft inclined +By strange transfusion to improve the mind, +Draw off the sense we have, to pour in new; +Which yet, with all their skill, they ne'er could do. + +VER. 80,81:-- + +There are whom Heaven has bless'd with store of wit, +Yet want as much again to manage it. + +VER. 123. The author after this verse originally inserted the following, +which he has however omitted in all the editions:-- + +Zoilus, had these been known, without a name +Had died, and Perault ne'er been damn'd to fame; +The sense of sound antiquity had reign'd, +And sacred Homer yet been unprofaned. +None e'er had thought his comprehensive mind +To modern customs, modern rules confined; +Who for all ages writ, and all mankind. + +VER. 130, 131:-- + +When first young Maro sung of kings and wars, +Ere warning Phoebus touch'd his trembling ears + + + + +PART SECOND. + + +Of all the causes which conspire to blind +Man's erring judgment, and misguide the mind, +What the weak head with strongest bias rules, +Is PRIDE, the never-failing vice of fools. +Whatever Nature has in worth denied, +She gives in large recruits of needless pride; +For as in bodies, thus in souls, we find +What wants in blood and spirits, swell'd with wind: +Pride, where wit fails, steps in to our defence, +And fills up all the mighty void of sense: 210 +If once right reason drives that cloud away, +Truth breaks upon us with resistless day. +Trust not yourself; but your defects to know, +Make use of every friend--and every foe. + +A little learning is a dangerous thing; +Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: +There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, +And drinking largely sobers us again. +Fired at first sight with what the Muse imparts, +In fearless youth we tempt the heights of arts, 220 +While from the bounded level of our mind, +Short views we take, nor see the lengths behind; +But, more advanced, behold with strange surprise, +New distant scenes of endless science rise! +So, pleased at first the towering Alps we try, +Mount o'er the vales, and seem to tread the sky, +The eternal snows appear already past, +And the first clouds and mountains seem the last: +But, those attain'd, we tremble to survey +The growing labours of the lengthen'd way, 230 +The increasing prospect tires our wandering eyes, +Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise! + +A perfect judge will read each work of wit +With the same spirit that its author writ: +Survey the WHOLE, nor seek slight faults to find +Where nature moves, and rapture warms the mind; +Nor lose, for that malignant dull delight, +The generous pleasure to be charm'd with wit. +But in such lays as neither ebb nor flow, +Correctly cold, and regularly low, 240 +That, shunning faults, one quiet tenor keep, +We cannot blame indeed--but we may sleep. +In wit, as nature, what affects our hearts +Is not the exactness of peculiar parts; +'Tis not a lip, or eye, we beauty call, +But the joint force and full result of all. +Thus when we view some well-proportion'd dome, +(The world's just wonder, and even thine, O Rome!) +No single parts unequally surprise, +All comes united to th' admiring eyes; 250 +No monstrous height, or breadth, or length appear; +The whole at once is bold, and regular. + +Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see, +Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be. +In every work regard the writer's end, +Since none can compass more than they intend; +And if the means be just, the conduct true, +Applause, in spite of trivial faults, is due. +As men of breeding, sometimes men of wit, +To avoid great errors, must the less commit: 260 +Neglect the rules each verbal critic lays, +For not to know some trifles is a praise. +Most critics, fond of some subservient art, +Still make the whole depend upon a part: +They talk of principles, but notions prize, +And all to one loved folly sacrifice. + +Once on a time, La Mancha's knight,[14] they say, +A certain bard encountering on the way, +Discoursed in terms as just, with looks as sage, +As e'er could Dennis, of the Grecian stage; 270 +Concluding all were desperate sots and fools, +Who durst depart from Aristotle's rules. +Our author, happy in a judge so nice, +Produced his play, and begg'd the knight's advice; +Made him observe the subject, and the plot, +The Manners, Passions, Unities; what not? +All which, exact to rule, were brought about, +Were but a combat in the lists left out. +'What! leave the combat out?' exclaims the knight. +'Yes, or we must renounce the Stagyrite.' 280 +'Not so, by Heaven!' (he answers in a rage); +'Knights, squires, and steeds must enter on the stage.' +'So vast a throng the stage can ne'er contain.' +'Then build a new, or act it in a plain.' + +Thus critics, of less judgment than caprice, +Curious, not knowing, not exact but nice, +Form short ideas, and offend in arts +(As most in manners) by a love to parts. + +Some to conceit alone their taste confine, +And glittering thoughts struck out at every line; 290 +Pleased with a work where nothing's just or fit; +One glaring chaos and wild heap of wit. +Poets, like painters, thus, unskill'd to trace +The naked nature and the living grace, +With gold and jewels cover every part, +And hide with ornaments their want of art. +True wit is nature to advantage dress'd; +What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd; +Something, whose truth convinced at sight we find, +That gives us back the image of our mind. 300 +As shades more sweetly recommend the light, +So modest plainness sets off sprightly wit. +For works may have more wit than does 'em good, +As bodies perish through excess of blood. + +Others for language all their care express, +And value books, as women men, for dress: +Their praise is still--'The style is excellent;' +The sense, they humbly take upon content. +Words are like leaves, and where they most abound, +Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found. 310 +False eloquence, like the prismatic glass, +Its gaudy colours spreads on every place; +The face of Nature we no more survey, +All glares alike, without distinction gay; +But true expression, like the unchanging sun, +Clears, and improves whate'er it shines upon; +It gilds all objects, but it alters none. +Expression is the dress of thought, and still +Appears more decent, as more suitable; +A vile conceit in pompous words express'd, 320 +Is like a clown in regal purple dress'd: +For different styles with different subjects sort, +As several garbs with country, town, and court. +Some by old words to fame have made pretence, +Ancients in phrase, mere moderns in their sense; +Such labour'd nothings, in so strange a style, +Amaze the unlearn'd, and make the learnèd smile. +Unlucky, as Fungoso[15] in the play, +These sparks with awkward vanity display +What the fine gentleman wore yesterday; 330 +And but so mimic ancient wits at best, +As apes our grandsires, in their doublets dress'd. +In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold; +Alike fantastic, if too new, or old: +Be not the first by whom the new are tried, +Nor yet the last to lay the old aside. + +But most by numbers judge a poet's song; +And smooth or rough, with them, is right or wrong: +In the bright Muse, though thousand charms conspire, +Her voice is all these tuneful fools admire; 340 +Who haunt Parnassus but to please their ear, +Not mend their minds; as some to church repair, +Not for the doctrine, but the music there. +These equal syllables alone require, +Though oft the ear the open vowels tire; +While expletives their feeble aid do join, +And ten low words oft creep in one dull line: +While they ring round the same unvaried chimes, +With sure returns of still expected rhymes; +Where'er you find 'the cooling western breeze,' 350 +In the next line, it 'whispers through the trees:' +If crystal streams 'with pleasing murmurs creep,' +The reader's threaten'd (not in vain) with 'sleep:' +Then, at the last and only couplet fraught +With some unmeaning thing they call a thought, +A needless Alexandrine ends the song +That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along. +Leave such to tune their own dull rhymes, and know +What's roundly smooth, or languishingly slow; +And praise the easy vigour of a line, 360 +Where Denham's strength, and Waller's sweetness join. +True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, +As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance. +'Tis not enough no harshness gives offence, +The sound must seem an echo to the sense; +Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows, +And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows: +But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, +The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar. +When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, 370 +The line too labours, and the words move slow; +Not so, when swift Camilla scours the plain, +Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main. +Hear how Timotheus' varied lays surprise, +And bid alternate passions fall and rise! +While, at each change, the son of Libyan Jove +Now burns with glory, and then melts with love; +Now his fierce eyes with sparkling fury glow, +Now sighs steal out, and tears begin to flow: +Persians and Greeks like turns of nature found, 380 +And the world's victor stood subdued by sound! +The power of music all our hearts allow, +And what Timotheus[16] was, is Dryden now. + +Avoid extremes; and shun the fault of such +Who still are pleased, too little or too much. +At every trifle scorn to take offence: +That always shows great pride or little sense; +Those heads, as stomachs, are not sure the best +Which nauseate all, and nothing can digest. +Yet let not each gay turn thy rapture move, 390 +For fools admire, but men of sense approve: +As things seem large which we through mists descry, +Dulness is ever apt to magnify. + +Some, foreign writers, some, our own despise; +The ancients only, or the moderns prize. +Thus wit, like faith, by each man is applied +To one small sect, and all are damn'd beside. +Meanly they seek the blessing to confine, +And force that sun but on a part to shine, +Which not alone the southern wit sublimes, 400 +But ripens spirits in cold northern climes; +Which from the first has shone on ages past, +Enlights the present, and shall warm the last; +Though each may feel increases and decays, +And see now clearer and now darker days. +Regard not then if wit be old or new, +But blame the false, and value still the true. + +Some ne'er advance a judgment of their own, +But catch the spreading notion of the town; +They reason and conclude by precedent, 410 +And own stale nonsense which they ne'er invent. +Some judge of authors' names, not works, and then +Nor praise nor blame the writings, but the men. +Of all this servile herd, the worst is he +That in proud dulness joins with quality; +A constant critic at the great man's board, +To fetch and carry nonsense for my lord. +What woful stuff this madrigal would be, +In some starved hackney sonnetteer, or me? +But let a lord once own the happy lines 420 +How the wit brightens! how the style refines! +Before his sacred name flies every fault, +And each exalted stanza teems with thought! + +The vulgar thus through imitation err; +As oft the learn'd by being singular: +So much they scorn the crowd, that if the throng +By chance go right, they purposely go wrong: +So schismatics the plain believers quit, +And are but damn'd for having too much wit. +Some praise at morning what they blame at night, 430 +But always think the last opinion right. +A Muse by these is like a mistress used, +This hour she's idolised, the next abused; +While their weak heads, like towns unfortified, +'Twixt sense and nonsense daily change their side. +Ask them the cause; they're wiser still, they say; +And still to-morrow's wiser than to-day. +We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow; +Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so. +Once school-divines this zealous isle o'erspread; 440 +Who knew most sentences, was deepest read; +Faith, Gospel, all, seem'd made to be disputed, +And none had sense enough to be confuted: +Scotists and Thomists[17] now in peace remain, +Amidst their kindred cobwebs in Duck-lane.[18] +If Faith itself has different dresses worn, +What wonder modes in wit should take their turn? +Oft, leaving what is natural and fit, +The current folly proves the ready wit, +And authors think their reputation safe 450 +Which lives as long as fools are pleased to laugh. + +Some valuing those of their own side or mind, +Still make themselves the measure of mankind: +Fondly we think we honour merit then, +When we but praise ourselves in other men. +Parties in wit attend on those of state, +And public faction doubles private hate. +Pride, malice, folly, against Dryden rose, +In various shapes of parsons, critics, beaux; +But sense survived, when merry jests were past; 460 +For rising merit will buoy up at last. +Might he return, and bless once more our eyes, +New Blackmores and new Milbourns[19] must arise: +Nay, should great Homer lift his awful head, +Zoilus again would start up from the dead. +Envy will Merit, as its shade, pursue, +But like a shadow, proves the substance true; +For envied wit, like Sol eclipsed, makes known +The opposing body's grossness, not its own. +When first that sun too powerful beams displays, 470 +It draws up vapours which obscure its rays; +But even those clouds at last adorn its way, +Reflect new glories, and augment the day.[20] + +Be thou the first true merit to befriend; +His praise is lost, who stays till all commend. +Short is the date, alas! of modern rhymes, +And 'tis but just to let them live betimes. +No longer now that golden age appears, +When patriarch-wits survived a thousand years: +Now length of fame (our second life) is lost, 480 +And bare threescore is all even that can boast; +Our sons their fathers' failing language see, +And such as Chaucer is, shall Dryden be. +So when the faithful pencil has design'd +Some bright idea of the master's mind, +Where a new world leaps out at his command, +And ready Nature waits upon his hand; +When the ripe colours soften and unite, +And sweetly melt into just shade and light; +When mellowing years their full perfection give, 490 +And each bold figure just begins to live, +The treacherous colours the fair art betray, +And all the bright creation fades away! + +Unhappy wit, like most mistaken things, +Atones not for that envy which it brings. +In youth alone its empty praise we boast, +But soon the short-lived vanity is lost: +Like some fair flower the early spring supplies, +That gaily blooms, but even in blooming dies. +What is this wit, which must our cares employ? 500 +The owner's wife, that other men enjoy; +Then most our trouble still when most admired, +And still the more we give, the more required; +Whose fame with pains we guard, but lose with ease, +Sure some to vex, but never all to please; +'Tis what the vicious fear, the virtuous shun, +By fools 'tis hated, and by knaves undone! + +If wit so much from ignorance undergo, +Ah, let not learning too commence its foe! +Of old, those met rewards who could excel, 510 +And such were praised who but endeavour'd well: +Though triumphs were to generals only due, +Crowns were reserved to grace the soldiers too. +Now, they who reach Parnassus' lofty crown, +Employ their pains to spurn some others down; +And while self-love each jealous writer rules, +Contending wits become the sport of fools: +But still the worst with most regret commend, +For each ill author is as bad a friend. 520 +To what base ends, and by what abject ways, +Are mortals urged through sacred lust of praise! +Ah, ne'er so dire a thirst of glory boast, +Nor in the critic let the man be lost. +Good-nature and good-sense must ever join; +To err is human--to forgive, divine. + +But if in noble minds some dregs remain, +Not yet purged off, of spleen and sour disdain; +Discharge that rage on more provoking crimes, +Nor fear a dearth in these flagitious times. 530 +No pardon vile obscenity should find, +Though wit and art conspire to move your mind; +But dulness with obscenity must prove +As shameful sure as impotence in love. +In the fat age of pleasure, wealth, and ease, +Sprung the rank weed, and thrived with large increase: +When love was all an easy monarch's care;[21] +Seldom at council, never in a war: +Jilts ruled the state, and statesmen farces writ; +Nay, wits had pensions, and young lords had wit; 540 +The fair sat panting at a courtier's play, +And not a mask went unimproved away: +The modest fan was lifted up no more, +And virgins smiled at what they blush'd before. +The following license of a foreign reign +Did all the dregs of bold Socinus drain; +Then unbelieving priests reform'd the nation, +And taught more pleasant methods of salvation; +Where Heaven's free subjects might their rights dispute, +Lest God himself should seem too absolute: 550 +Pulpits their sacred satire learn'd to spare, +And vice admired to find a flatterer there! +Encouraged thus, wit's Titans braved the skies, +And the press groan'd with licensed blasphemies. +These monsters, critics! with your darts engage, +Here point your thunder, and exhaust your rage! +Yet shun their fault, who, scandalously nice, +Will needs mistake an author into vice; +All seems infected that the infected spy, +As all looks yellow to the jaundiced eye. 560 + + * * * * * + +VARIATIONS. + +VER. 225-228:-- + +So pleased at first the towering Alps to try, +Fill'd with ideas of fair Italy, +The traveller beholds with cheerful eyes +The lessening vales, and seems to tread the skies. + +VER. 447. Between this and ver. 448:-- + +The rhyming clowns that gladded Shakspeare's age, +No more with crambo entertain the stage. +Who now in anagrams their patron praise, +Or sing their mistress in acrostic lays? +Even pulpits pleased with merry puns of yore; +Now all are banish'd to the Hibernian shore! +Thus leaving what was natural and fit, +The current folly proved their ready wit; +And authors thought their reputation safe, +Which lived as long as fools were pleased to laugh. + + + + +PART THIRD. + + +Learn, then, what MORALS critics ought to show, +For 'tis but half a judge's task to know. +'Tis not enough, taste, judgment, learning join; +In all you speak, let truth and candour shine: +That not alone what to your sense is due +All may allow; but seek your friendship too. + +Be silent always when you doubt your sense; +And speak, though sure, with seeming diffidence: +Some positive, persisting fops we know, +Who, if once wrong, will needs be always so; 570 +But you, with pleasure own your errors past, +And make each day a critique on the last. + +'Tis not enough your counsel still be true; +Blunt truths more mischief than nice falsehoods do; +Men must be taught as if you taught them not, +And things unknown proposed as things forgot. +Without good-breeding, truth is disapproved; +That only makes superior sense beloved. + +Be niggards of advice on no pretence; +For the worst avarice is that of sense. 580 +With mean complaisance ne'er betray your trust, +Nor be so civil as to prove unjust. +Fear not the anger of the wise to raise; +Those best can bear reproof, who merit praise. + +'Twere well might critics still this freedom take, +But Appius[22] reddens at each word you speak, +And stares tremendous, with a threatening eye, +Like some fierce tyrant in old tapestry. +Fear most to tax an Honourable fool, +Whose right it is, uncensured, to be dull; 590 +Such, without wit, are poets when they please, +As without learning they can take degrees. +Leave dangerous truths to unsuccessful satires, +And flattery to fulsome dedicators, +Whom, when they praise, the world believes no more, +Than when they promise to give scribbling o'er. +'Tis best sometimes your censure to restrain, +And charitably let the dull be vain: +Your silence there is better than your spite, +For who can rail so long as they can write? 600 +Still humming on, their drowsy course they keep, +And lash'd so long, like tops, are lash'd asleep. +False steps but help them to renew the race, +As, after stumbling, jades will mend their pace. +What crowds of these, impenitently bold, +In sounds and jingling syllables grown old, +Still run on poets, in a raging vein, +Even to the dregs and squeezings of the brain, +Strain out the last dull droppings of their sense, +And rhyme with all the rage of impotence! 610 + +Such shameless bards we have; and yet 'tis true, +There are as mad, abandon'd critics too. +The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, +With loads of learnèd lumber in his head, +With his own tongue still edifies his ears, +And always listening to himself appears. +All books he reads, and all he reads assails, +From Dryden's Fables down to D'Urfey's Tales. +With him, most authors steal their works, or buy; +Garth did not write[23] his own Dispensary. 620 +Name a new play, and he's the poet's friend, +Nay, show'd his faults--but when would poets mend? +No place so sacred from such fops is barr'd, +Nor is Paul's church more safe than Paul's churchyard: +Nay, fly to altars; there they'll talk you dead: +For fools rush in where angels fear to tread. +Distrustful sense with modest caution speaks, +It still looks home, and short excursions makes; +But rattling nonsense in full volleys breaks, +And, never shock'd, and never turn'd aside, 630 +Bursts out, resistless, with a thundering tide. + +But where's the man, who counsel can bestow, +Still pleased to teach, and yet not proud to know? +Unbiass'd, or by favour, or by spite; +Not dully prepossess'd, nor blindly right; +Though learn'd, well-bred; and though well-bred, sincere; +Modestly bold, and humanly severe: +Who to a friend his faults can freely show, +And gladly praise the merit of a foe? +Bless'd with a taste exact, yet unconfined; 640 +A knowledge both of books and human kind; +Generous converse; a soul exempt from pride; +And love to praise, with reason on his side? + +Such once were critics; such the happy few, +Athens and Rome in better ages knew. +The mighty Stagyrite first left the shore, +Spread all his sails, and durst the deeps explore; +He steer'd securely, and discover'd far, +Led by the light of the Maeonian star.[24] +Poets, a race long unconfined, and free, 650 +Still fond and proud of savage liberty, +Received his laws; and stood convinced 'twas fit, +Who conquer'd Nature, should preside o'er Wit. + +Horace still charms with graceful negligence, +And without method talks us into sense, +Will, like a friend, familiarly convey +The truest notions in the easiest way. +He who, supreme in judgment, as in wit, +Might boldly censure, as he boldly writ, +Yet judged with coolness, though he sung with fire; +His precepts teach but what his works inspire. 660 +Our critics take a contrary extreme, +They judge with fury, but they write with phlegm: +Nor suffers Horace more in wrong translations +By wits, than critics in as wrong quotations. + +See Dionysius[25] Homer's thoughts refine, +And call new beauties forth from every line! + +Fancy and art in gay Petronius please, +The scholar's learning, with the courtier's ease. + +In grave Quintilian's copious work we find 670 +The justest rules and clearest method join'd: +Thus useful arms in magazines we place, +All ranged in order, and disposed with grace, +But less to please the eye, than arm the hand, +Still fit for use, and ready at command. + +Thee, bold Longinus! all the Nine inspire, +And bless their critic with a poet's fire. +An ardent judge, who, zealous in his trust, +With warmth gives sentence, yet is always just; +Whose own example strengthens all his laws; 680 +And is himself that Great Sublime he draws. + +Thus long succeeding critics justly reign'd, +Licence repress'd, and useful laws ordain'd. +Learning and Rome alike in empire grew; +And arts still follow'd where her eagles flew; +From the same foes, at last, both felt their doom, +And the same age saw Learning fall, and Rome. +With Tyranny then Superstition join'd, +As that the body, this enslaved the mind; +Much was believed, but little understood, 690 +And to be dull was construed to be good; +A second deluge Learning thus o'errun, +And the Monks finish'd what the Goths begun. + +At length Erasmus, that great injured name, +(The glory of the priesthood, and the shame!) +Stemm'd the wild torrent of a barbarous age, +And drove those holy Vandals off the stage. + +But see! each Muse, in Leo's golden days, +Starts from her trance, and trims her wither'd bays, +Rome's ancient Genius, o'er its ruins spread, 700 +Shakes off the dust, and rears his reverend head. +Then Sculpture and her sister-arts revive; +Stones leap'd to form, and rocks began to live; +With sweeter notes each rising temple rung: +A Raphael painted, and a Vida sung: +Immortal Vida! on whose honour'd brow +The poet's bays and critic's ivy grow; +Cremona now shall ever boast thy name, +As next in place to Mantua,[26] next in fame! + +But soon by impious arms from Latium chased, 710 +Their ancient bounds the banish'd Muses pass'd; +Thence Arts o'er all the northern world advance, +But critic-learning flourish'd most in France: +The rules a nation, born to serve, obeys; +And Boileau still in right of Horace sways. +But we, brave Britons, foreign laws despised, +And kept unconquer'd and uncivilised; +Fierce for the liberties of wit, and bold, +We still defied the Romans, as of old. +Yet some there were, among the sounder few 720 +Of those who less presumed, and better knew, +Who durst assert the juster ancient cause, +And here restored Wit's fundamental laws. +Such was the Muse,[27] whose rules and practice tell, +'Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.' +Such was Roscommon, not more learn'd than good, +With manners generous as his noble blood; +To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known, +And every author's merit, but his own. +Such late was Walsh--the Muse's judge and friend, 730 +Who justly knew to blame or to commend; +To failings mild, but zealous for desert; +The clearest head, and the sincerest heart. +This humble praise, lamented Shade! receive, +This praise at least a grateful Muse may give: +The Muse, whose early voice you taught to sing, +Prescribed her heights, and pruned her tender wing, +(Her guide now lost) no more attempts to rise, +But in low numbers short excursions tries: +Content, if hence the unlearn'd their wants may view, 740 +The learn'd reflect on what before they knew: +Careless of censure, nor too fond of fame; +Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame; +Averse alike to flatter, or offend; +Not free from faults, nor yet too vain to mend. + + * * * * * + +VARIATIONS. + +VER. 624. Between this and ver. 625:-- + +In vain you shrug, and sweat, and strive to fly; +These know no manners but of poetry. +They'll stop a hungry chaplain in his grace, +To treat of unities of time and place. + +Between ver. 647 and 648, were the following lines, afterwards +suppressed by the author:-- + +That bold Columbus of the realms of wit, +Whose first discovery's not exceeded yet. +Led by the light of the Maeonian star, +He steer'd securely, and discover'd far. +He, when all Nature was subdued before, +Like his great pupil, sigh'd, and long'd for more: +Fancy's wild regions yet unvanquish'd lay, +A boundless empire, and that own'd no sway. +Poets, &c. + +Between ver. 691 and 692, the author omitted these two:-- + +Vain wits and critics were no more allow'd, +When none but saints had licence to be proud. + + + + +THE RAPE OF THE LOCK: + +AN HEROI-COMICAL POEM. + + +WRITTEN IN THE YEAR MDCCXII. + +'Nolueram, Belinda, tuos violare capillos; + Sed juvat, hoc precibus me tribuisse tuis.' + +MART. + + +TO MRS ARABELLA FERMOR. + +Madam,--It will be in vain to deny that I have some regard for this +piece, since I dedicate it to you. Yet you may bear me witness, it was +intended only to divert a few young ladies, who have good sense and +good-humour enough to laugh not only at their sex's little unguarded +follies, but at their own. But as it was communicated with the air of a +secret, it soon found its way into the world. An imperfect copy having +been offered to a bookseller, you had the good-nature for my sake to +consent to the publication of one more correct: this I was forced to, +before I had executed half my design, for the machinery was entirely +wanting to complete it. + +The machinery, Madam, is a term invented by the critics, to signify that +part which the deities, angels, or demons are made to act in a poem: for +the ancient poets are in one respect like many modern ladies: let an +action be never so trivial in itself, they always make it appear of the +utmost importance. These machines I determined to raise on a very new +and odd foundation--the Rosicrucian doctrine of spirits. + +I know how disagreeable it is to make use of hard words before a lady; +but 'tis so much the concern of a poet to have his works understood, and +particularly by your sex, that you must give me leave to explain two or +three difficult terms. + +The Rosicrucians are a people I must bring you acquainted with. The best +account I know of them is in a French book called 'Le Comte de Gabalis,' +which both in its title and size is so like a novel, that many of the +fair sex have read it for one by mistake. According to these gentlemen, +the four elements are inhabited by spirits, which they call _Sylphs, +Gnomes, Nymphs_, and _Salamanders_. The Gnomes, or Demons of Earth, +delight in mischief; but the Sylphs, whose habitation is in the air, are +the best-conditioned creatures imaginable. For they say, any mortals may +enjoy the most intimate familiarities with these gentle spirits, upon a +condition very easy to all true adepts--an inviolate preservation of +chastity. + +As to the following cantos, all the passages of them are as fabulous as +the vision at the beginning, or the transformation at the end; (except +the loss of your hair, which I always mention with reverence). The human +persons are as fictitious as the airy ones; and the character of +Belinda, as it is now managed, resembles you in nothing but in beauty. + +If this poem had as many graces as there are in your person, or in your +mind, yet I could never hope it should pass through the world half so +uncensured as you have done. But let its fortune be what it will, mine +is happy enough to have given me this occasion of assuring you that I +am, with the truest esteem, Madam, your most obedient, humble servant, + +A. POPE. + + +CANTO I. + +What dire offence from amorous causes springs, +What mighty contests rise from trivial things, +I sing--This verse to Caryll,[28] Muse! is due: +This, even Belinda may vouchsafe to view: +Slight is the subject, but not so the praise, +If she inspire, and he approve my lays. + +Say what strange motive, Goddess! could compel +A well-bred lord t'assault a gentle belle? +Oh, say what stranger cause, yet unexplored, +Could make a gentle belle reject a lord? 10 +In tasks so bold, can little men engage, +And in soft bosoms dwells such mighty rage? + +Sol through white curtains shot a timorous ray, +And oped those eyes that must eclipse the day: +Now lap-dogs give themselves the rousing shake, +And sleepless lovers, just at twelve, awake: +Thrice rung the bell, the slipper knock'd the ground, +And the press'd watch return'd a silver sound. +Belinda still her downy pillow press'd, +Her guardian Sylph[29] prolong'd the balmy rest: 20 +'Twas he had summon'd to her silent bed +The morning-dream that hover'd o'er her head, +A youth more glittering than a birth-night beau, +(That even in slumber caused her cheek to glow), +Seem'd to her ear his willing lips to lay, +And thus in whispers said, or seem'd to say: + +'Fairest of mortals, thou distinguish'd care +Of thousand bright inhabitants of air! +If e'er one vision touch thy infant thought, +Of all the nurse and all the priest have taught; 30 +Of airy elves by moonlight shadows seen, +The silver token, and the circled green, +Or virgins visited by angel-powers, +With golden crowns and wreaths of heavenly flowers; +Hear and believe! thy own importance know, +Nor bound thy narrow views to things below. +Some secret truths, from learned pride conceal'd, +To maids alone and children are reveal'd: +What though no credit doubting wits may give? +The fair and innocent shall still believe. 40 +Know then, unnumber'd spirits round thee fly, +The light militia of the lower sky: +These, though unseen, are ever on the wing, +Hang o'er the box, and hover round the ring. +Think what an equipage thou hast in air, +And view with scorn two pages and a chair. +As now your own, our beings were of old, +And once enclosed in woman's beauteous mould; +Thence, by a soft transition, we repair +From earthly vehicles to these of air. 50 +Think not, when woman's transient breath is fled, +That all her vanities at once are dead; +Succeeding vanities she still regards, +And though she plays no more, o'erlooks the cards. +Her joy in gilded chariots, when alive, +And love of ombre, after death survive. +For when the fair in all their pride expire, +To their first elements their souls retire: +The sprites of fiery termagants in flame +Mount up, and take a Salamander's name. 60 +Soft yielding minds to water glide away, +And sip, with Nymphs, their elemental tea. +The graver prude sinks downward to a Gnome, +In search of mischief still on earth to roam. +The light coquettes in Sylphs aloft repair, +And sport and flutter in the fields of air. + +'Know further yet; whoever fair and chaste +Rejects mankind, is by some Sylph embraced: +For spirits, freed from mortal laws, with ease +Assume what sexes and what shapes they please. 70 +What guards the purity of melting maids, +In courtly balls, and midnight masquerades, +Safe from the treacherous friend, the daring spark, +The glance by day, the whisper in the dark, +When kind occasion prompts their warm desires, +When music softens, and when dancing fires? +'Tis but their Sylph, the wise celestials know, +Though honour is the word with men below. + +'Some nymphs there are, too conscious of their face, +For life predestined to the Gnomes' embrace. 80 +These swell their prospects, and exalt their pride, +When offers are disdain'd, and love denied; +Then gay ideas crowd the vacant brain, +While peers, and dukes, and all their sweeping train, +And garters, stars, and coronets appear, +And in soft sounds, 'Your Grace' salutes their ear. +'Tis these that early taint the female soul, +Instruct the eyes of young coquettes to roll, +Teach infant cheeks a bidden blush to know, +And little hearts to flutter at a beau. 90 + +'Oft, when the world imagine women stray, +The Sylphs through mystic mazes guide their way, +Through all the giddy circle they pursue, +And old impertinence expel by new. +What tender maid but must a victim fall +To one man's treat, but for another's ball? +When Florio speaks, what virgin could withstand, +If gentle Damon did not squeeze her hand? +With varying vanities, from every part, +They shift the moving toyshop of their heart, 100 +Where wigs with wigs, with sword-knots sword-knots strive, +Beaux banish beaux, and coaches coaches drive. +This erring mortals levity may call, +Oh, blind to truth! the Sylphs contrive it all. + +'Of these am I, who thy protection claim, +A watchful sprite, and Ariel is my name. +Late, as I ranged the crystal wilds of air, +In the clear mirror of thy ruling star +I saw, alas! some dread event impend, +Ere to the main this morning sun descend, 110 +But heaven reveals not what, or how, or where: +Warn'd by the Sylph, oh, pious maid, beware! +This to disclose is all thy guardian can: +Beware of all, but most beware of man!' + +He said; when Shock, who thought she slept too long, +Leap'd up, and waked his mistress with his tongue. +'Twas then, Belinda, if report say true, +Thy eyes first open'd on a billet-doux; +Wounds, charms, and ardours, were no sooner read, +But all the vision vanish'd from thy head. 120 + +And now, unveil'd, the toilet stands display'd, +Each silver vase in mystic order laid. +First, robed in white, the nymph intent adores, +With head uncover'd, the cosmetic powers. +A heavenly image in the glass appears, +To that she bends, to that her eyes she rears; +The inferior priestess, at her altar's side, +Trembling, begins the sacred rites of pride. +Unnumber'd treasures ope at once, and here +The various offerings of the world appear; 130 +From each she nicely culls with curious toil, +And decks the goddess with the glittering spoil. +This casket India's glowing gems unlocks, +And all Arabia breathes from yonder box. +The tortoise here, and elephant unite, +Transform'd to combs, the speckled and the white. +Here files of pins extend their shining rows, +Puffs, powders, patches, Bibles, billet-doux. +Now awful beauty puts on all its arms; +The fair each moment rises in her charms, 140 +Repairs her smiles, awakens every grace, +And calls forth all the wonders of her face; +Sees by degrees a purer blush arise, +And keener lightnings quicken in her eyes. +The busy Sylphs surround their darling care, +These set the head, and those divide the hair, +Some fold the sleeve, whilst others plait the gown: +And Betty's praised for labours not her own. + + * * * * * + +VARIATIONS. + +VER. 11,12. It was in the first editions:-- + +And dwells such rage in softest bosoms then, +And lodge such daring souls in little men? + +VER. 13-18 Stood thus in the first edition:-- + +Sol through white curtains did his beams display, +And op'd those eyes which brighter shone than they; +Shock just had given himself the rousing shake, +And nymphs prepared their chocolate to take; +Thrice the wrought slipper knock'd against the ground, +And striking watches the tenth hour resound. + + + +CANTO II. + +Not with more glories, in the ethereal plain, +The sun first rises o'er the purpled main, +Than, issuing forth, the rival of his beams +Launched on the bosom of the silver Thames. +Fair nymphs and well-dress'd youths around her shone, +But every eye was fix'd on her alone. +On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore, +Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore. +Her lively looks a sprightly mind disclose, +Quick as her eyes, and as unfix'd as those: 10 +Favours to none, to all she smiles extends; +Oft she rejects, but never once offends. +Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike, +And, like the sun, they shine on all alike. +Yet graceful ease, and sweetness void of pride +Might hide her faults, if belles had faults to hide: +If to her share some female errors fall, +Look on her face, and you'll forget 'em all. + +This nymph, to the destruction of mankind, +Nourish'd two locks, which graceful hung behind 20 +In equal curls, and well conspired to deck +With shining ringlets the smooth ivory neck. +Love in these labyrinths his slaves detains, +And mighty hearts are held in slender chains. +With hairy springes we the birds betray, +Slight lines of hair surprise the finny prey, +Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare, +And beauty draws us with a single hair. + +The adventurous Baron[30] the bright locks admired; +He saw, he wished, and to the prize aspired. 30 +Resolved to win, he meditates the way, +By force to ravish, or by fraud betray; +For when success a lover's toil attends, +Few ask if fraud or force attain'd his ends. + +For this, ere Phoebus rose, he had implored +Propitious Heaven, and every power adored, +But chiefly Love--to Love an altar built, +Of twelve vast French romances, neatly gilt. +There lay three garters, half a pair of gloves; +And all the trophies of his former loves; 40 +With tender billet-doux he lights the pyre, +And breathes three amorous sighs to raise the fire. +Then prostrate falls, and begs with ardent eyes +Soon to obtain, and long possess the prize: +The powers gave ear, and granted half his prayer, +The rest, the winds dispersed in empty air. + +But now secure the painted vessel glides, +The sunbeams trembling on the floating tides: +While melting music steals upon the sky, +And soften'd sounds along the waters die; 50 +Smooth flow the waves, the zephyrs gently play, +Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay. +All but the Sylph--with careful thoughts oppress'd, +The impending woe sat heavy on his breast. +He summons straight his denizens of air; +The lucid squadrons round the sails repair; +Soft o'er the shrouds aërial whispers breathe, +That seem'd but zephyrs to the train beneath. +Some to the sun their insect-wings unfold, +Waft on the breeze, or sink in clouds of gold; 60 +Transparent forms, too fine for mortal sight, +Their fluid bodies half dissolved in light. +Loose to the wind their airy garments flew, +Thin glittering textures of the filmy dew, +Dipp'd in the richest tincture of the skies, +Where light disports in ever-mingling dyes; +While every beam new transient colours flings, +Colours that change whene'er they wave their wings. +Amid the circle, on the gilded mast, +Superior by the head, was Ariel placed; 70 +His purple pinions opening to the sun, +He raised his azure wand, and thus begun: + +'Ye Sylphs and Sylphids, to your chief give ear, +Fays, fairies, genii, elves, and demons hear! +Ye know the spheres, and various tasks assign'd +By laws eternal to the aërial kind. +Some in the fields of purest ether play, +And bask and whiten in the blaze of day: +Some guide the course of wandering orbs on high, +Or roll the planets through the boundless sky: 80 +Some, less refined, beneath the moon's pale light +Pursue the stars that shoot athwart the night, +Or suck the mists in grosser air below, +Or dip their pinions in the painted bow, +Or brew fierce tempests on the wintry main, +Or o'er the glebe distil the kindly rain. +Others on earth o'er human race preside, +Watch all their ways, and all their actions guide: +Of these the chief the care of nations own, +And guard with arms divine the British throne.[31] 90 + +'Our humbler province is to tend the fair, +Not a less pleasing, though less glorious care; +To save the powder from too rude a gale, +Nor let the imprison'd essences exhale; +To draw fresh colours from the vernal flowers; +To steal from rainbows, ere they drop in showers, +A brighter wash; to curl their waving hairs, +Assist their blushes, and inspire their airs; +Nay, oft, in dreams, invention we bestow, +To change a flounce, or add a furbelow. 100 + +'This day, black omens threat the brightest fair +That e'er deserved a watchful spirit's care; +Some dire disaster, or by force, or flight; +But what, or where, the Fates have wrapt in night. +Whether the nymph shall break Diana's law, +Or some frail China jar receive a flaw; +Or stain her honour, or her new brocade; +Forget her prayers, or miss a masquerade; +Or lose her heart, or necklace, at a ball; +Or whether Heaven has doom'd that Shock must fall, 110 +Haste then, ye spirits! to your charge repair: +The fluttering fan be Zephyretta's care; +The drops to thee, Brillante, we consign; +And, Momentilla, let the watch be thine; +Do thou, Crispissa, tend her favourite lock; +Ariel himself shall be the guard of Shock. + +'To fifty chosen Sylphs, of special note, +We trust the important charge, the petticoat: +Oft have we known that sevenfold fence to fail, +Though stiff with hoops, and arm'd with ribs of whale; 120 +Form a strong line about the silver bound, +And guard the wide circumference around. + +'Whatever spirit, careless of his charge, +His post neglects, or leaves the fair at large, +Shall feel sharp vengeance soon o'ertake his sins, +Be stopp'd in vials, or transfix'd with pins; +Or plunged in lakes of bitter washes lie, +Or wedged whole ages in a bodkin's eye: +Gums and pomatums shall his flight restrain, +While, clogg'd, he beats his silken wings in vain; 130 +Or alum styptics with contracting power +Shrink his thin essence like a rivell'd flower: +Or, as Ixion fix'd, the wretch shall feel +The giddy motion of the whirling mill, +In fumes of burning chocolate shall glow, +And tremble at the sea that froths below!' + +He spoke; the spirits from the sails descend; +Some, orb in orb, around the nymph extend; +Some thread the mazy ringlets of her hair; +Some hang upon the pendants of her ear; 140 +With beating hearts the dire event they wait, +Anxious, and trembling for the birth of Fate. + + * * * * * + +VARIATION. + +VER. 4. From hence the poem continues, in the first edition, to ver. 46:-- + +The rest the winds dispersed in empty air; + +all after, to the end of this canto, being additional. + + + +CANTO III. + +Close by those meads, for ever crown'd with flowers, +Where Thames with pride surveys his rising towers, +There stands a structure of majestic frame, +Which from the neighb'ring Hampton takes its name. +Here Britain's statesmen oft the fall foredoom +Of foreign tyrants, and of nymphs at home; +Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey, +Dost sometimes counsel take--and sometimes tea. + +Hither the heroes and the nymphs resort, +To taste awhile the pleasures of a court; 10 +In various talk the instructive hours they pass'd, +Who gave the ball, or paid the visit last; +One speaks the glory of the British Queen, +And one describes a charming Indian screen; +A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes; +At every word a reputation dies. +Snuff, or the fan, supply each pause of chat, +With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that. + +Meanwhile, declining from the noon of day, +The sun obliquely shoots his burning ray; 20 +The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, +And wretches hang that jurymen may dine; +The merchant from the Exchange returns in peace, +And the long labours of the toilet cease. +Belinda now, whom thirst of fame invites, +Burns to encounter two adventurous knights, +At ombre singly to decide their doom, +And swells her breast with conquests yet to come. +Straight the three bands prepare in arras to join, +Each band the number of the sacred Nine. 30 +Soon as she spreads her hand, the aërial guard +Descend, and sit on each important card: +First Ariel perch'd upon a Matadore, +Then each, according to the rank they bore; +For Sylphs, yet mindful of their ancient race, +Are, as when women, wondrous fond of place. + +Behold, four Kings in majesty revered, +With hoary whiskers and a forky beard; +And four fair Queens, whose hands sustain a flower, +Th' expressive emblem of their softer power; 40 +Four Knaves in garbs succinct, a trusty band, +Caps on their heads, and halberts in their hand; +And particolour'd troops, a shining train, +Draw forth to combat on the velvet plain. + +The skilful nymph reviews her force with care: +'Let Spades be Trumps!' she said, and Trumps they were. + +Now move to war her sable Matadores, +In show like leaders of the swarthy Moors. +Spadillio first, unconquerable lord! +Led off two captive Trumps, and swept the board. 50 +As many more Manillio forced to yield, +And march'd a victor from the verdant field. +Him Basto follow'd, but his fate more hard +Gain'd but one Trump and one plebeian card. +With his broad sabre next, a chief in years, +The hoary Majesty of Spades appears, +Puts forth one manly leg, to sight reveal'd, +The rest, his many-colour'd robe conceal'd. +The rebel Knave, who dares his prince engage, +Proves the just victim of his royal rage. 60 +Even mighty Pam, that Kings and Queens o'erthrew +And mow'd down armies in the fights of Loo, +Sad chance of war! now destitute of aid, +Falls undistinguish'd by the victor Spade! + +Thus far both armies to Belinda yield; +Now to the Baron fate inclines the field. +His warlike Amazon her host invades, +The imperial consort of the crown of Spades. +The Club's black tyrant first her victim died, +Spite of his haughty mien, and barbarous pride: 70 +What boots the regal circle on his head, +His giant limbs in state unwieldy spread; +That long behind he trails his pompous robe, +And, of all monarchs, only grasps the globe? + +The Baron now his Diamonds pours apace; +The embroider'd King who shows but half his face, +And his refulgent Queen, with powers combined, +Of broken troops an easy conquest find. +Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, in wild disorder seen, +With throngs promiscuous strew the level green. 80 +Thus when dispersed a routed army runs, +Of Asia's troops, and Afric's sable sons, +With like confusion different nations fly, +Of various habit and of various dye; +The pierced battalions disunited fall +In heaps on heaps; one fate o'erwhelms them all. + +The Knave of Diamonds tries his wily arts, +And wins (oh shameful chance!) the Queen of Hearts. +At this, the blood the virgin's cheek forsook, +A livid paleness spreads o'er all her look; 90 +She sees, and trembles at the approaching ill, +Just in the jaws of ruin, and Codille. +And now, (as oft in some distemper'd state) +On one nice trick depends the general fate, +An Ace of Hearts steps forth: the King unseen +Lurk'd in her hand, and mourn'd his captive Queen: +He springs to vengeance with an eager pace, +And falls like thunder on the prostrate Ace. +The nymph, exulting, fills with shouts the sky; +The walls, the woods, and long canals reply. 100 + +O thoughtless mortals! ever blind to fate, +Too soon dejected, and too soon elate. +Sudden these honours shall be snatch'd away, +And cursed for ever this victorious day. + +For lo! the board with cups and spoons is crown'd, +The berries crackle, and the mill turns round; +On shining altars of Japan they raise +The silver lamp; the fiery spirits blaze: +From silver spouts the grateful liquors glide, +While China's earth receives the smoking tide: 110 +At once they gratify their scent and taste, +And frequent cups prolong the rich repast. +Straight hover round the fair her airy band; +Some, as she sipp'd, the fuming liquor fann'd, +Some o'er her lap their careful plumes display'd, +Trembling, and conscious of the rich brocade. +Coffee (which makes the politician wise, +And see through all things with his half-shut eyes) +Sent up in vapours to the Baron's brain +New stratagems, the radiant lock to gain. 120 +Ah, cease, rash youth! desist ere 'tis too late, +Fear the just gods, and think of Scylla's fate! +Changed to a bird, and sent to flit in air, +She dearly pays for Nisus' injured hair! + +But when to mischief mortals bend their will, +How soon they find fit instruments of ill! +Just then, Clarissa drew with tempting grace +A two-edged weapon from her shining case: +So ladies in romance assist their knight, +Present the spear, and arm him for the fight, 130 +He takes the gift with reverence, and extends +The little engine on his fingers' ends: +This just behind Belinda's neck he spread, +As o'er the fragrant steams she bends her head. +Swift to the lock a thousand sprites repair, +A thousand wings, by turns, blow back the hair; +And thrice they twitch'd the diamond in her ear; +Thrice she look'd back, and thrice the foe drew near. +Just in that instant, anxious Ariel sought +The close recesses of the virgin's thought; 140 +As on the nosegay in her breast reclined, +He watch'd the ideas rising in her mind, +Sudden he view'd, in spite of all her art, +An earthly lover lurking at her heart. +Amazed, confused, he found his power expired, +Resign'd to fate, and with a sigh retired. + +The Peer now spreads the glittering forfex wide, +To inclose the lock; now joins it to divide. +Even then, before the fatal engine closed, +A wretched Sylph too fondly interposed; 150 +Fate urged the shears, and cut the Sylph in twain, +(But airy substance soon unites again) +The meeting points the sacred hair dissever +From the fair head, for ever, and for ever! + +Then flash'd the living lightning from her eyes, +And screams of horror rend the affrighted skies. +Not louder shrieks to pitying heaven are cast, +When husbands, or when lapdogs breathe their last; +Or when rich China vessels, fallen from high, +In glittering dust and painted fragments lie! 160 + +'Let wreaths of triumph now my temples twine, +(The victor cried) the glorious prize is mine! +While fish in streams, or birds delight in air, +Or in a coach-and-six the British fair, +As long as Atalantis[32] shall be read, +Or the small pillow grace a lady's bed, +While visits shall be paid on solemn days, +When numerous wax-lights in bright order blaze, +While nymphs take treats, or assignations give, +So long my honour, name, and praise shall live!' 170 + +What Time would spare, from steel receives its date, +And monuments, like men, submit to fate! +Steel could the labour of the gods destroy, +And strike to dust the imperial towers of Troy; +Steel could the works of mortal pride confound, +And hew triumphal arches to the ground. +What wonder then, fair nymph! thy hairs should feel, +The conquering force of unresisted steel? + + * * * * * + +VARIATIONS. + +VER. 1. The first edition continues from this line to ver. 24 of this +canto. + +VER. 12. Originally in the first edition:-- + +In various talk the cheerful hours they pass'd, +Of who was bit, or who capotted last. + +VER. 24. All that follows of the game at ombre, was added since the +first edition, till ver. 105, which connected thus:-- + +Sudden the board with cups and spoons is crown'd. + +VER. 105. From hence, the first edition continues to ver 134. + +VER. 134. In the first edition it was thus:-- + +As o'er the fragrant stream she bends her head. +First he expands the glittering forfex wide +To inclose the lock; then joins it to divide: +The meeting points the sacred hair dissever, +From the fair head for ever and for ever. + +Ver. 154. All that is between was added afterwards. + + + +CANTO IV. + +But anxious cares the pensive nymph oppress'd, +And secret passions labour'd in her breast. +Not youthful kings in battle seized alive, +Not scornful virgins who their charms survive, +Not ardent lovers robb'd of all their bliss, +Not ancient ladies when refused a kiss, +Not tyrants fierce that unrepenting die, +Not Cynthia when her manteau's pinn'd awry, +E'er felt such rage, resentment, and despair, +As thou, sad virgin! for thy ravish'd hair. 10 + +For, that sad moment, when the Sylphs withdrew, +And Ariel weeping from Belinda flew, +Umbriel, a dusky, melancholy sprite, +As ever sullied the fair face of light, +Down to the central earth, his proper scene, +Repair'd, to search the gloomy cave of Spleen. + +Swift on his sooty pinions flits the Gnome, +And in a vapour reach'd the dismal dome. +No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows, +The dreaded east is all the wind that blows; 20 +Here in a grotto, shelter'd close from air, +And screened in shades from day's detested glare, +She sighs for ever on her pensive bed, +Pain at her side, and Megrim at her head. + +Two handmaids wait the throne: alike in place, +But differing far in figure and in face. +Here stood Ill-nature like an ancient maid, +Her wrinkled form in black and white array'd; +With store of prayers for mornings, nights, and noons +Her hand is fill'd; her bosom with lampoons. 30 + +There Affectation, with a sickly mien, +Shows in her cheek the roses of eighteen; +Practised to lisp, and hang the head aside, +Faints into airs, and languishes with pride; +On the rich quilt sinks with becoming woe, +Wrapp'd in a gown, for sickness, and for show. +The fair ones feel such maladies as these, +When each new night-dress gives a new disease. + +A constant vapour o'er the palace flies, +Strange phantoms rising as the mists arise; 40 +Dreadful, as hermits' dreams in haunted shades, +Or bright, as visions of expiring maids. +Now glaring fiends, and snakes on rolling spires, +Pale spectres, gaping tombs, and purple fires: +Now lakes of liquid gold, Elysian scenes, +And crystal domes, and angels in machines. +Unnumber'd throngs on every side are seen +Of bodies changed to various forms by Spleen. +Here living teapots stand, one arm held out, +One bent; the handle this, and that the spout: 50 +A pipkin there, like Homer's tripod walks; +Here sighs a jar, and there a goose-pie talks; +Men prove with child, as powerful fancy works, +And maids turn'd bottles, call aloud for corks. + +Safe pass'd the Gnome through this fantastic band, +A branch of healing spleenwort in his hand. +Then thus address'd the power--'Hail, wayward Queen! +Who rule the sex to fifty from fifteen: +Parent of vapours and of female wit, +Who give the hysteric, or poetic fit, 60 +On various tempers act by various ways, +Make some take physic, others scribble plays; +Who cause the proud their visits to delay, +And send the godly in a pet to pray; +A nymph there is, that all thy power disdains, +And thousands more in equal mirth maintains. +But oh! if e'er thy Gnome could spoil a grace, +Or raise a pimple on a beauteous face, +Like citron-waters matrons' cheeks inflame, +Or change complexions at a losing game; 70 +If e'er with airy horns I planted heads, +Or rumpled petticoats, or tumbled beds, +Or caused suspicion when no soul was rude, +Or discomposed the head-dress of a prude, +Or e'er to costive lapdog gave disease, +Which not the tears of brightest eyes could ease: +Hear me, and touch Belinda with chagrin, +That single act gives half the world the spleen.' + +The goddess with a discontented air +Seems to reject him, though she grants his prayer. 80 +A wondrous bag with both her hands she binds, +Like that where once Ulysses held the winds;[33] +There she collects the force of female lungs, +Sighs, sobs, and passions, and the war of tongues. +A vial next she fills with fainting fears, +Soft sorrows, melting griefs, and flowing tears. +The Gnome rejoicing bears her gifts away, +Spreads his black wings, and slowly mounts to day. + +Sunk in Thalestris'[34] arms the nymph he found, +Her eyes dejected and her hair unbound. 90 +Full o'er their heads the swelling bag he rent, +And all the furies issued at the vent. +Belinda burns with more than mortal ire, +And fierce Thalestris fans the rising fire. +'O wretched maid!' she spread her hands, and cried, +(While Hampton's echoes 'wretched maid!' replied) +'Was it for this you took such constant care +The bodkin, comb, and essence to prepare? +For this your locks in paper durance bound, +For this with torturing irons wreath'd around? 100 +For this with fillets strain'd your tender head, +And bravely bore the double loads of lead? +Gods! shall the ravisher display your hair, +While the fops envy, and the ladies stare? +Honour forbid! at whose unrivall'd shrine +Ease, pleasure, virtue, all our sex resign. +Methinks already I your tears survey, +Already hear the horrid things they say, +Already see you a degraded toast, +And all your honour in a whisper lost! 110 +How shall I, then, your helpless fame defend? +'Twill then be infamy to seem your friend! +And shall this prize, the inestimable prize, +Exposed through crystal to the gazing eyes, +And heighten'd by the diamond's circling rays, +On that rapacious hand for ever blaze? +Sooner shall grass in Hyde-park Circus grow, +And wits take lodgings in the sound of Bow; +Sooner let earth, air, sea to chaos fall, +Men, monkeys, lapdogs, parrots, perish all!' 120 + +She said; then raging to Sir Plume[35] repairs, +And bids her beau demand the precious hairs: +(Sir Plume of amber snuff-box justly vain, +And the nice conduct of a clouded cane.) +With earnest eyes, and round, unthinking face, +He first the snuff-box open'd, then the case, +And thus broke out--'My Lord, why, what the devil? +Z--ds! damn the lock! 'fore Gad, you must be civil! +Plague on't! 'tis past a jest--nay, prithee, pox! +Give her the hair'--he spoke, and rapp'd his box. 130 + +'It grieves me much' (replied the Peer again) +Who speaks so well should ever speak in vain; +'But by this lock, this sacred lock I swear, +(Which never more shall join its parted hair; +Which never more its honours shall renew, +Clipp'd from the lovely head where late it grew) +That while my nostrils draw the vital air, +This hand, which won it, shall for ever wear.' +He spoke, and, speaking, in proud triumph spread +The long-contended honours of her head. 140 + +But Umbriel, hateful Gnome! forbears not so; +He breaks the vial whence the sorrows flow. +Then see! the nymph in beauteous grief appears, +Her eyes half-languishing, half-drown'd in tears; +On her heaved bosom hung her drooping head, +Which, with a sigh, she raised; and thus she said: + +'For ever cursed be this detested day, +Which snatch'd my best, my favourite curl away! +Happy! ah, ten times happy had I been, +If Hampton Court these eyes had never seen! 150 +Yet am not I the first mistaken maid, +By love of courts to numerous ills betray'd. +Oh, had I rather unadmired remain'd +In some lone isle, or distant northern land; +Where the gilt chariot never marks the way, +Where none learn ombre, none e'er taste bohea! +There kept my charms conceal'd from mortal eye, +Like roses that in deserts bloom and die. +What moved my mind with youthful lords to roam? +Oh, had I stay'd, and said my prayers at home! 160 +'Twas this the morning omens seem'd to tell: +Thrice from my trembling hand the patch-box fell; +The tottering china shook without a wind, +Nay, Poll sat mute, and Shock was most unkind! +A Sylph too warn'd me of the threats of Fate, +In mystic visions, now believed too late. +See the poor remnants of these slighted hairs! +My hands shall rend what ev'n thy rapine spares: +These in two sable ringlets taught to break, +Once gave new beauties to the snowy neck; 170 +The sister-lock now sits uncouth, alone, +And in its fellow's fate foresees its own; +Uncurl'd it hangs, the fatal shears demands, +And tempts, once more, thy sacrilegious hands. +Oh hadst thou, cruel! been content to seize +Hairs less in sight, or any hairs but these!' + + * * * * * + +VARIATION. + +VER. 11. All the lines from hence to the 94th verse, that describe the +house of Spleen, are not in the first edition; instead of them followed +only these:-- + +While her rack'd soul repose and peace requires, +The fierce Thalestris fans the rising fires. + +And continued at the 94th verse of this canto. + + + +CANTO V. + +She said: the pitying audience melt in tears; +But Fate and Jove had stopp'd the Baron's ears. +In vain Thalestris with reproach assails, +For who can move when fair Belinda fails? +Not half so fix'd the Trojan could remain, +While Anna begg'd and Dido raged in vain. +Then grave Clarissa graceful waved her fan; +Silence ensued, and thus the nymph began: + +'Say, why are beauties praised and honour'd most, +The wise man's passion, and the vain man's toast? 10 +Why deck'd with all that land and sea afford? +Why angels call'd, and angel-like adored? +Why round our coaches crowd the white-gloved beaux? +Why bows the side-box from its inmost rows? +How vain are all these glories, all our pains, +Unless good sense preserve what beauty gains: +That men may say, when we the front-box grace, +Behold the first in virtue as in face! +Oh! if to dance all night, and dress all day, +Charm'd the small-pox, or chased old-age away; 20 +Who would not scorn what housewife's cares produce, +Or who would learn one earthly thing of use? +To patch, nay ogle, might become a saint, +Nor could it, sure, be such a sin to paint. +But since, alas! frail beauty must decay, +Curl'd or uncurl'd, since locks will turn to gray; +Since painted, or not painted, all shall fade, +And she who scorns a man, must die a maid; +What then remains, but well our power to use, +And keep good-humour still, whate'er we lose? 30 +And trust me, dear! good-humour can prevail, +When airs, and flights, and screams, and scolding fail. +Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll; +Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.' + +So spoke the dame, but no applause ensued; +Belinda frown'd, Thalestris call'd her prude. +'To arms, to arms!' the fierce virago cries, +And swift as lightning to the combat flies. +All side in parties, and begin the attack; +Fans clap, silks rustle, and tough whalebones crack; 40 +Heroes' and heroines' shouts confusedly rise, +And bass and treble voices strike the skies. +No common weapons in their hands are found, +Like gods they fight, nor dread a mortal wound. + +So when bold Homer makes the gods engage, +And heavenly breasts with human passions rage; +'Gainst Pallas, Mars; Latona, Hermes arms, +And all Olympus rings with loud alarms: +Jove's thunder roars, heaven trembles all around, +Blue Neptune storms, the bellowing deeps resound: 50 +Earth shakes her nodding towers, the ground gives way, +And the pale ghosts start at the flash of day! + +Triumphant Umbriel on a sconce's height +Clapp'd his glad wings, and sat to view the fight; +Propp'd on their bodkin spears, the sprites survey +The growing combat, or assist the fray. + +While through the press enraged Thalestris flies, +And scatters death around from both her eyes, +A beau and witling perish'd in the throng, +One died in metaphor, and one in song. 60 +'O cruel nymph! a living death I bear,' +Cried Dapperwit, and sunk beside his chair. +A mournful glance Sir Fopling upwards cast, +'Those eyes are made so killing!'--was his last. +Thus on Maeander's[36] flowery margin lies +The expiring swan, and as he sings he dies. + +When bold Sir Plume had drawn Clarissa down, +Chloe stepped in, and kill'd him with a frown; +She smiled to see the doughty hero slain, +But, at her smile, the beau revived again. 70 + +Now Jove suspends his golden scales in air, +Weighs the men's wits against the lady's hair; +The doubtful beam long nods from side to side; +At length the wits mount up, the hairs subside. + +See fierce Belinda on the Baron flies, +With more than usual lightning in her eyes: +Nor fear'd the chief th' unequal fight to try, +Who sought no more than on his foe to die. +But this bold lord, with manly strength endued, +She with one finger and a thumb subdued: 80 +Just where the breath of life his nostrils drew, +A charge of snuff the wily virgin threw; +The Gnomes direct, to every atom just, +The pungent grains of titillating dust. +Sudden, with starting tears each eye o'erflows, +And the high dome re-echoes to his nose. +'Now meet thy fate!' incensed Belinda cried, +And drew a deadly bodkin from her side, +(The same, his ancient personage to deck, +Her great-great-grandsire wore about his neck, 90 +In three seal-rings; which after, melted down, +Form'd a vast buckle for his widow's gown: +Her infant grandame's whistle next it grew, +The bells she jingled, and the whistle blew; +Then in a bodkin graced her mother's hairs, +Which long she wore, and now Belinda wears.) +'Boast not my fall,' (he cried) 'insulting foe! +Thou by some other shalt be laid as low. +Nor think, to die dejects my lofty mind: 100 +All that I dread is leaving you behind! +Rather than so, ah! let me still survive, +And burn in Cupid's flames,--but burn alive.' + +'Restore the lock!' she cries; and all around +'Restore the lock!' the vaulted roofs rebound. +Not fierce Othello in so loud a strain +Roar'd for the handkerchief that caused his pain. +But see how oft ambitious aims are cross'd, +And chiefs contend till all the prize is lost! +The lock, obtain'd with guilt, and kept with pain, +In every place is sought, but sought in vain: 110 +With such a prize no mortal must be blest, +So Heaven decrees! with Heaven who can contest? + +Some thought it mounted to the lunar sphere, +Since all things lost on earth are treasured there. +There heroes' wits are kept in ponderous vases, +And beaux' in snuff-boxes and tweezer-cases. +There broken vows, and death-bed alms are found, +And lovers' hearts with ends of ribbon bound, +The courtier's promises, and sick man's prayers, +The smiles of harlots, and the tears of heirs, 120 +Cages for gnats, and chains to yoke a flea, +Dried butterflies, and tomes of casuistry. + +But trust the Muse--she saw it upward rise, +Though mark'd by none but quick, poetic eyes: +(So Rome's great founder to the heavens withdrew, +To Proculus alone confess'd in view) +A sudden star, it shot through liquid air, +And drew behind a radiant trail of hair. +Not Berenice's locks first rose so bright, +The heaven's bespangling with dishevell'd light. 130 +The Sylphs behold it kindling as it flies, +And, pleased, pursue its progress through the skies. + +This the beau-monde shall from the Mall survey, +And hail with music its propitious ray. +This the bless'd lover shall for Venus take, +And send up vows from Rosamonda's lake. +This Partridge[37] soon shall view in cloudless skies, +When next he looks through Galileo's eyes; +And hence th' egregious wizard shall foredoom +The fate of Louis, and the fall of Rome. 140 + +Then cease, bright nymph! to mourn thy ravish'd hair, +Which adds new glory to the shining sphere! +Not all the tresses that fair head can boast, +Shall draw such envy as the lock you lost. +For, after all the murders of your eye, +When, after millions slain, yourself shall die; +When those fair suns shall set, as set they must, +And all those tresses shall be laid in dust, +This lock the Muse shall consecrate to fame, +And 'midst the stars inscribe Belinda's name. 150 + + * * * * * + +WINDSOR-FOREST.[38] + +TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE LORD LANSDOWNE. + + +'Non injussa cano: te nostrae, Vare, myricae, +Te nemus omne canet; nee Phoebo gratior ulla est, +Quam sibi quae Vari praescripsit pagina nomen.' + +VIRG. + + +Thy forests, Windsor! and thy green retreats, +At once the Monarch's and the Muse's seats, +Invite my lays. Be present, sylvan Maids! +Unlock your springs, and open all your shades. +Granville commands; your aid, O Muses, bring! +What Muse for Granville can refuse to sing? + +The groves of Eden, vanish'd now so long, +Live in description, and look green in song: +These, were my breast inspired with equal flame, +Like them in beauty, should be like in fame. 10 +Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain, +Here earth and water seem to strive again; +Not chaos-like, together crush'd and bruised, +But, as the world, harmoniously confused; +Where order in variety we see, +And where, though all things differ, all agree. +Here waving groves a chequer'd scene display, +And part admit, and part exclude the day; +As some coy nymph her lover's warm address +Nor quite indulges, nor can quite repress. 20 +There, interspersed in lawns and opening glades, +Thin trees arise that shun each other's shades. +Here in full light the russet plains extend: +There, wrapt in clouds the bluish hills ascend. +Ev'n the wild heath displays her purple dyes, +And 'midst the desert fruitful fields arise, +That crown'd with tufted trees and springing corn, +Like verdant isles the sable waste adorn. +Let India boast her plants, nor envy we +The weeping amber or the balmy tree, 30 +While by our oaks the precious loads are born, +And realms commanded which those trees adorn. +Not proud Olympus yields a nobler sight, +Though gods assembled grace his towering height. +Than what more humble mountains offer here, +Where, in their blessings, all those gods appear. +See Pan with flocks, with fruits Pomona crown'd, +Here blushing Flora paints the enamell'd ground, +Here Ceres' gifts in waving prospect stand, +And nodding tempt the joyful reaper's hand; 40 +Rich industry sits smiling on the plains, +And peace and plenty tell a Stuart[39] reigns. + +Not thus the land appear'd in ages past, +A dreary desert, and a gloomy waste, +To savage beasts and savage laws[40] a prey, +And kings more furious and severe than they; +Who claim'd the skies, dispeopled air and floods, +The lonely lords of empty wilds and woods: +Cities laid waste, they storm'd the dens and caves, +(For wiser brutes were backward to be slaves). 50 +What could be free, when lawless beasts obey'd, +And even the elements a tyrant sway'd? +In vain kind seasons swell'd the teeming grain, +Soft showers distill'd, and suns grew warm in vain; +The swain with tears his frustrate labour yields, +And famish'd dies amidst his ripen'd fields. +What wonder, then, a beast or subject slain +Were equal crimes in a despotic reign? +Both doom'd alike, for sportive tyrants bled, +But while the subject starved, the beast was fed. 60 +Proud Nimrod first the bloody chase began, +A mighty hunter, and his prey was man: +Our haughty Norman boasts that barbarous name, +And makes his trembling slaves the royal game. +The fields are ravish'd[41] from the industrious swains, +From men their cities, and from gods their fanes: +The levell'd towns with weeds lie cover'd o'er; +The hollow winds through naked temples roar; +Round broken columns clasping ivy twined; +O'er heaps of ruin stalk'd the stately hind; 70 +The fox obscene to gaping tombs retires, +And savage howlings fill the sacred choirs. +Awed by his Nobles, by his Commons cursed, +The oppressor ruled tyrannic where he durst, +Stretch'd o'er the poor and Church his iron rod, +And served alike his vassals and his God. +Whom even the Saxon spared, and bloody Dane, +The wanton victims of his sport remain. +But see, the man who spacious regions gave +A waste for beasts, himself denied a grave![42] 80 +Stretch'd on the lawn, his second hope[43] survey, +At once the chaser, and at once the prey: +Lo Rufus, tugging at the deadly dart, +Bleeds in the forest like a wounded hart. +Succeeding monarchs heard the subjects' cries, +Nor saw displeased the peaceful cottage rise. +Then gathering flocks on unknown mountains fed, +O'er sandy wilds were yellow harvests spread, +The forests wonder'd at the unusual grain, +And secret transport touch'd the conscious swain. 90 +Fair Liberty, Britannia's goddess, rears +Her cheerful head, and leads the golden years. + +Ye vigorous swains! while youth ferments your blood, +And purer spirits swell the sprightly flood, +Now range the hills, the gameful woods beset, +Wind the shrill horn, or spread the waving net. +When milder autumn summer's heat succeeds, +And in the new-shorn field the partridge feeds, +Before his lord the ready spaniel bounds, +Panting with hope, he tries the furrow'd grounds; 100 +But when the tainted gales the game betray, +Couch'd close he lies, and meditates the prey: +Secure they trust the unfaithful field beset, +Till hovering o'er 'em sweeps the swelling net. +Thus (if small things we may with great compare) +When Albion sends her eager sons to war, +Some thoughtless town, with ease and plenty blest, +Near, and more near, the closing lines invest; +Sudden they seize the amazed, defenceless prize, +And high in air Britannia's standard flies. 110 + +See! from the brake the whirring pheasant springs, +And mounts exulting on triumphant wings: +Short is his joy; he feels the fiery wound, +Flutters in blood, and panting beats the ground. +Ah! what avail his glossy, varying dyes, +His purple crest, and scarlet-circled eyes, +The vivid green his shining plumes unfold, +His painted wings, and breast that flames with gold? + +Nor yet, when moist Arcturus clouds the sky, +The woods and fields their pleasing toils deny. 120 +To plains with well-breath'd beagles we repair, +And trace the mazes of the circling hare; +(Beasts, urged by us, their fellow-beasts pursue, +And learn of man each other to undo.) +With slaughtering gun the unwearied fowler roves, +When frosts have whiten'd all the naked groves; +Where doves in flocks the leafless trees o'ershade, +And lonely woodcocks haunt the watery glade. +He lifts the tube, and levels with his eye; +Straight a short thunder breaks the frozen sky; 130 +Oft, as in airy rings they skim the heath, +The clamorous lapwings feel the leaden death: +Oft, as the mounting larks their notes prepare, +They fall, and leave their little lives in air. + +In genial spring, beneath the quivering shade, +Where cooling vapours breathe along the mead, +The patient fisher takes his silent stand, +Intent, his angle trembling in his hand: +With looks unmoved, he hopes the scaly breed, +And eyes the dancing cork, and bending reed. 140 +Our plenteous streams a various race supply, +The bright-eyed perch with fins of Tyrian dye, +The silver eel, in shining volumes roll'd, +The yellow carp, in scales bedropp'd with gold, +Swift trouts, diversified with crimson stains, +And pikes, the tyrants of the watery plains. + +Now Cancer glows with Phoebus' fiery car: +The youth rush eager to the sylvan war, +Swarm o'er the lawns, the forest walks surround, +Rouse the fleet hart, and cheer the opening hound. 150 +The impatient courser pants in every vein, +And pawing, seems to beat the distant plain: +Hills, vales, and floods appear already cross'd, +And ere he starts, a thousand steps are lost. +See the bold youth strain up the threatening steep, +Rush through the thickets, down the valleys sweep, +Hang o'er their coursers' heads with eager speed, +And earth rolls back beneath the flying steed. +Let old Arcadia boast her ample plain, +The immortal huntress, and her virgin-train; 160 +Nor envy, Windsor! since thy shades have seen +As bright a goddess, and as chaste a queen,[44] +Whose care, like hers, protects the sylvan reign, +The earth's fair light, and empress of the main. + +Here too, 'tis sung, of old Diana stray'd, +And Cynthus' top forsook for Windsor shade; +Here was she seen o'er airy wastes to rove, +Seek the clear spring, or haunt the pathless grove; +Here, arm'd with silver bows, in early dawn, +Her buskin'd virgins traced the dewy lawn. 170 + +Above the rest a rural nymph was famed, +Thy offspring, Thames! the fair Lodona named; +(Lodona's fate, in long oblivion cast, +The Muse shall sing, and what she sings shall last). +Scarce could the goddess from her nymph be known, +But by the crescent and the golden zone. +She scorn'd the praise of beauty, and the care; +A belt her waist, a fillet binds her hair; +A painted quiver on her shoulder sounds, +And with her dart the flying deer she wounds. +It chanced, as eager of the chase, the maid +Beyond the forest's verdant limits stray'd, 180 +Pan saw and loved, and, burning with desire, +Pursued her flight, her flight increased his fire. +Not half so swift the trembling doves can fly, +When the fierce eagle cleaves the liquid sky; +Not half so swiftly the fierce eagle moves, +When through the clouds he drives the trembling doves; +As from the god she flew with furious pace, +Or as the god, more furious, urged the chase. +Now fainting, sinking, pale the nymph appears; +Now close behind, his sounding steps she hears; 190 +And now his shadow reach'd her as she run, +His shadow lengthen'd by the setting sun; +And now his shorter breath, with sultry air, +Pants on her neck, and fans her parting hair. +In vain on father Thames she calls for aid, +Nor could Diana help her injured maid. +Faint, breathless, thus she pray'd, nor pray'd in vain: +'Ah, Cynthia! ah--though banish'd from thy train, +Let me, oh! let me, to the shades repair, +My native shades--there weep, and murmur there.' 200 +She said, and melting as in tears she lay, +In a soft, silver stream dissolved away. +The silver stream her virgin coldness keeps, +For ever murmurs, and for ever weeps; +Still bears the name[45] the hapless virgin bore, +And bathes the forest where she ranged before. +In her chaste current oft the goddess laves, +And with celestial tears augments the waves. +Oft in her glass the musing shepherd spies +The headlong mountains and the downward skies, 210 +The watery landscape of the pendent woods, +And absent trees that tremble in the floods; +In the clear azure gleam the flocks are seen, +And floating forests paint the waves with green, +Through the fair scene roll slow the lingering streams, +Then foaming pour along, and rush into the Thames. + +Thou, too, great Father of the British floods! +With joyful pride survey'st our lofty woods; +Where towering oaks their growing honours rear, +And future navies on thy shores appear. 220 +Not Neptune's self from all her streams receives +A wealthier tribute, than to thine he gives. +No seas so rich, so gay no banks appear, +No lake so gentle, and no spring so clear. +Nor Po so swells the fabling poet's lays, +While led along the skies his current strays, +As thine, which visits Windsor's famed abodes, +To grace the mansion of our earthly gods: +Nor all his stars above a lustre show, +Like the bright beauties on thy banks below; 230 +Where Jove, subdued by mortal passion still, +Might change Olympus for a nobler hill. + +Happy the man whom this bright court approves, +His sovereign favours, and his country loves: +Happy next him who to these shades retires, +Whom Nature charms, and whom the Muse inspires: +Whom humbler joys of home-felt quiet please, +Successive study, exercise, and ease. +He gathers health from herbs the forest yields, +And of their fragrant physic spoils the fields: 240 +With chemic art exalts the mineral powers, +And draws the aromatic souls of flowers: +Now marks the course of rolling orbs on high; +O'er figured worlds now travels with his eye; +Of ancient writ unlocks the learnèd store, +Consults the dead, and lives past ages o'er: +Or wandering thoughtful in the silent wood, +Attends the duties of the wise and good, +To observe a mean, be to himself a friend, +To follow nature, and regard his end; 250 +Or looks on Heaven with more than mortal eyes, +Bids his free soul expatiate in the skies, +Amid her kindred stars familiar roam, +Survey the region, and confess her home! +Such was the life great Scipio once admired, +Thus Atticus, and Trumbull[46] thus retired. + +Ye sacred Nine! that all my soul possess, +Whose raptures fire me, and whose visions bless, +Bear me, oh, bear me to sequester'd scenes, +The bowery mazes, and surrounding greens: 260 +To Thames's banks which fragrant breezes fill, +Or where ye Muses sport on Cooper's Hill.[47] +(On Cooper's Hill eternal wreaths shall grow, +While lasts the mountain, or while Thames shall flow.) +I seem through consecrated walks to rove, +I hear soft music die along the grove: +Led by the sound, I roam from shade to shade, +By godlike poets venerable made: +Here his first lays majestic Denham sung; +There the last numbers flow'd from Cowley's tongue.[48] 270 +Oh early lost! what tears the river shed, +When the sad pomp along his banks was led! +His drooping swans on every note expire, +And on his willows hung each Muse's lyre. + +Since fate relentless stopp'd their heavenly voice, +No more the forests ring, or groves rejoice; +Who now shall charm the shades, where Cowley strung +His living harp, and lofty Denham sung? +But hark! the groves rejoice, the forest rings! +Are these revived? or is it Granville sings? 280 +'Tis yours, my lord, to bless our soft retreats, +And call the Muses to their ancient seats; +To paint anew the flowery sylvan scenes, +To crown the forest with immortal greens, +Make Windsor hills in lofty numbers rise, +And lift her turrets nearer to the skies; +To sing those honours you deserve to wear, +And add new lustre to her silver star. + +Here noble Surrey[49] felt the sacred rage, +Surrey, the Granville of a former age: 290 +Matchless his pen, victorious was his lance, +Bold in the lists, and graceful in the dance: +In the same shades the Cupids tuned his lyre, +To the same notes, of love and soft desire: +Fair Geraldine, bright object of his vow, +Then fill'd the groves, as heavenly Mira now. + +Oh, wouldst thou sing what heroes Windsor bore, +What kings first breathed upon her winding shore, +Or raise old warriors, whose adored remains +In weeping vaults her hallow'd earth contains! 300 +With Edward's acts[50] adorn the shining page, +Stretch his long triumphs down through every age, +Draw monarchs chain'd, and Cressy's glorious field, +The lilies blazing on the regal shield: +Then, from her roofs when Verrio's colours fall, +And leave inanimate the naked wall, +Still in thy song should vanquish'd France appear, +And bleed for ever under Britain's spear. + +Let softer strains ill-fated Henry mourn,[51] +And palms eternal flourish round his urn. 310 +Here o'er the martyr-king the marble weeps, +And, fast beside him, once-fear'd Edward sleeps.[52] +Whom not the extended Albion could contain, +From old Belerium to the northern main, +The grave unites; where ev'n the great find rest, +And blended lie the oppressor and the oppress'd! + +Make sacred Charles' tomb for ever known, +(Obscure the place, and uninscribed the stone) +Oh fact accursed! what tears has Albion shed, +Heavens, what new wounds! and how her old have bled! 320 +She saw her sons with purple deaths expire, +Her sacred domes involved in rolling fire, +A dreadful series of intestine wars, +Inglorious triumphs and dishonest scars. +At length great Anna said--'Let discord cease!' +She said, the world obey'd, and all was peace! + +In that blest moment, from his oozy bed +Old Father Thames advanced his reverend head; +His tresses dropp'd with dews, and o'er the stream +His shining horns diffused a golden gleam: 330 +Graved on his urn appear'd the moon, that guides +His swelling waters, and alternate tides; +The figured streams in waves of silver roll'd, +And on their banks Augusta[53] rose in gold. +Around his throne the sea-born brothers stood, +Who swell with tributary urns his flood; +First the famed authors of his ancient name, +The winding Isis and the fruitful Thame: +The Kennet swift, for silver eels renown'd; +The Loddon slow, with verdant alders crown'd; 340 +Cole, whose dark streams his flowery islands lave; +And chalky Wey, that rolls a milky wave; +The blue, transparent Vandalis appears; +The gulfy Lee his sedgy tresses rears; +And sullen Mole, that hides his diving flood; +And silent Darent, stain'd with Danish blood. + +High in the midst, upon his urn reclined, +(His sea-green mantle waving with the wind) +The god appear'd: he turn'd his azure eyes +Where Windsor-domes and pompous turrets rise; 350 +Then bow'd and spoke; the winds forget to roar, +And the hush'd waves glide softly to the shore. + +Hail, sacred Peace! hail, long-expected days, +That Thames's glory to the stars shall raise! +Though Tiber's streams immortal Rome behold, +Though foaming Hermus swells with tides of gold, +From heaven itself though sevenfold Nilus flows, +And harvests on a hundred realms bestows; +These now no more shall be the Muse's themes, +Lost in my fame, as in the sea their streams. 360 +Let Volga's banks with iron squadrons shine, +And groves of lances glitter on the Rhine, +Let barbarous Ganges arm a servile train; +Be mine the blessings of a peaceful reign. +No more my sons shall dye with British blood +Red Iber's sands, or Ister's foaming flood: +Safe on my shore each unmolested swain +Shall tend the flocks, or reap the bearded grain; +The shady empire shall retain no trace +Of war or blood, but in the sylvan chase; 370 +The trumpet sleep, while cheerful horns are blown, +And arms employ'd on birds and beasts alone. +Behold! the ascending villas on my side, +Project long shadows o'er the crystal tide, +Behold! Augusta's glittering spires increase, +And temples rise,[54] the beauteous works of Peace. +I see, I see, where two fair cities bend +Their ample bow, a new Whitehall ascend! +There mighty nations shall inquire their doom, +The world's great oracle in times to come; 380 +There kings shall sue, and suppliant states be seen +Once more to bend before a British queen. + +Thy trees, fair Windsor! now shall leave their woods, +And half thy forests rush into the floods, +Bear Britain's thunder, and her cross display, +To the bright regions of the rising day; +Tempt icy seas, where scarce the waters roll, +Where clearer flames glow round the frozen pole; +Or under southern skies exalt their sails, +Led by new stars, and borne by spicy gales! 390 +For me the balm shall bleed, and amber flow, +The coral redden, and the ruby glow, +The pearly shell its lucid globe infold, +And Phoebus warm the ripening ore to gold. +The time shall come when, free as seas or wind, +Unbounded Thames shall flow for all mankind, +Whole nations enter with each swelling tide, +And seas but join the regions they divide; +Earth's distant ends our glory shall behold, +And the new world launch forth to seek the old. 400 +Then ships of uncouth form shall stem the tide, +And feather'd people crowd my wealthy side, +And naked youths and painted chiefs admire +Our speech, our colour, and our strange attire! +O stretch thy reign, fair Peace! from shore to shore, +Till conquest cease, and slavery be no more; +Till the freed Indians in their native groves +Reap their own fruits, and woo their sable loves, +Peru once more a race of kings behold, +And other Mexicos be roof'd with gold. 410 +Exiled by thee from earth to deepest hell, +In brazen bonds, shall barbarous Discord dwell; +Gigantic Pride, pale Terror, gloomy Care, +And mad Ambition shall attend her there: +There purple Vengeance bathed in gore retires, +Her weapons blunted, and extinct her fires: +There hateful Envy her own snakes shall feel, +And Persecution mourn her broken wheel: +There Faction roar, Rebellion bite her chain, +And gasping Furies thirst for blood in vain. 420 + +Here cease thy flight, nor with unhallow'd lays +Touch the fair fame of Albion's golden days: +The thoughts of gods let Granville's verse recite, +And bring the scenes of opening fate to light. +My humble Muse, in unambitious strains, +Paints the green forests and the flowery plains, +Where Peace descending bids her olives spring, +And scatters blessings from her dove-like wing. +Ev'n I more sweetly pass my careless days, +Pleased in the silent shade with empty praise; 430 +Enough for me, that to the listening swains +First in these fields I sung the sylvan strains. + + * * * * * + +VARIATIONS. + +VER. 3-6, originally thus:-- + + Chaste Goddess of the woods, +Nymphs of the vales, and Naïads of the floods, +Lead me through arching bowers, and glimmering glades. +Unlock your springs, &c. + +VER. 25-28. Originally thus:-- + +Why should I sing our better suns or air, +Whose vital draughts prevent the leech's care, +While through fresh fields the enlivening odours breathe, +Or spread with vernal blooms the purple heath? + +VER. 49, 50. Originally thus in the MS.-- + +From towns laid waste, to dens and caves they ran +(For who first stoop'd to be a slave was man.) + +VER. 57, 58:-- + +No wonder savages or subjects slain-- +But subjects starved while savages were fed. + +VER. 91-94:-- + +Oh may no more a foreign master's rage, +With wrongs yet legal, curse a future age! +Still spread, fair Liberty! thy heavenly wings, +Breathe plenty on the fields, and fragrance on the springs. + +VER. 97-100:-- + +When yellow autumn summer's heat succeeds, +And into wine the purple harvest bleeds, +The partridge feeding in the new-shorn fields, +Both morning sports and evening pleasures yields. + +VER. 107-110. It stood thus in the first editions:-- + +Pleased, in the General's sight, the host lie down +Sudden before some unsuspecting town; +The young, the old, one instant makes our prize, +And o'er their captive heads Britannia's standard flies. + +VER. 126-- + +O'er rustling leaves around the naked groves. + +VER. 129-- + +The fowler lifts his levell'd tube on high. + +VER. 233-236-- + +Happy the man, who to the shades retires, +But doubly happy, if the Muse inspires! +Blest whom the sweets of home-felt quiet please; +But far more blest, who study joins with ease. + +VER. 231, 232. It stood thus in the MS.-- + +And force great Jove, if Jove's a lover still, +To change Olympus, &c. + +VER. 265-268. It stood thus in the MS.-- + +Methinks around your holy scenes I rove, +And hear your music echoing through the grove: +With transport visit each inspiring shade +By god-like poets venerable made. + +VER. 273, 274-- + +What sighs, what murmurs fill'd the vocal shore! +His tuneful swans were heard to sing no more. + +VER. 288. All the lines that follow were not added to the poem till the +year 1710. What immediately followed this, and made the conclusion, were +these:-- + +My humble Muse in unambitious strains +Paints the green forests and the flowery plains; +Where I obscurely pass my careless days, +Pleased in the silent shade with empty praise, +Enough for me that to the listening swains +First in these fields I sung the sylvan strains. + +VER. 305, 306. Originally thus in the MS.-- + +When brass decays, when trophies lie o'erthrown, +And mouldering into dust drops the proud stone. + +VER. 319-322. Originally thus in the MS.-- + +Oh fact accurst! oh sacrilegious brood, +Sworn to rebellion, principled in blood! +Since that dire morn what tears has Albion shed, +Gods! what new wounds, &c. + +VER. 325, 326. Thus in the MS.-- + +Till Anna rose and bade the Furies cease; +'Let there be peace'--she said, and all was peace. + +Between VER. 328 and 329, originally stood these lines-- + +From shore to shore exulting shouts he heard, +O'er all his banks a lambent light appear'd, +With sparkling flames heaven's glowing concave shone, +Fictitious stars, and glories not her own. +He saw, and gently rose above the stream; +His shining horns diffuse a golden gleam: +With pearl and gold his towery front was dress'd, +The tributes of the distant East and West. + +VER. 361-364. Originally thus in the MS.-- + +Let Venice boast her towers amidst the main, +Where the rough Adrian swells and roars in vain; +Here not a town, but spacious realm shall have +A sure foundation on the rolling wave. + +VER. 383-387 were originally thus-- + +Now shall our fleets the bloody cross display +To the rich regions of the rising day, +Or those green isles, where headlong Titan steeps +His hissing axle in the Atlantic deeps: +Tempt icy seas, &c. + + + + +ODE ON ST CECILIA'S DAY, + +MDCCVIII. + + +1 Descend, ye Nine! descend and sing; + The breathing instruments inspire, + Wake into voice each silent string, + And sweep the sounding lyre; + In a sadly-pleasing strain + Let the warbling lute complain: + Let the loud trumpet sound, + Till the roofs all around + The shrill echoes rebound: + While in more lengthen'd notes and slow, + The deep, majestic, solemn organs blow. + Hark! the numbers soft and clear, + Gently steal upon the ear; + Now louder, and yet louder rise, + And fill with spreading sounds the skies; + Exulting in triumph now swell the bold notes, + In broken air, trembling, the wild music floats; + Till, by degrees, remote and small, + The strains decay, + And melt away, + In a dying, dying fall. + +2 By Music, minds an equal temper know, + Nor swell too high, nor sink too low. + If in the breast tumultuous joys arise, + Music her soft, assuasive voice applies; + Or, when the soul is press'd with cares, + Exalts her in enlivening airs. + Warriors she fires with animated sounds; + Pours balm into the bleeding lover's wounds; + Melancholy lifts her head, + Morpheus rouses from his bed, + Sloth unfolds her arms and wakes, + Listening Envy drops her snakes; + Intestine war no more our passions wage, + And giddy factions hear away their rage. + +3 But when our country's cause provokes to arms, + How martial music every bosom warms! + So when the first bold vessel dared the seas, + High on the stern the Thracian raised his strain, + While Argo saw her kindred trees + Descend from Pelion to the main. + Transported demigods stood round, + And men grew heroes at the sound, + Inflamed with glory's charms: + Each chief his sevenfold shield display'd, + And half unsheath'd the shining blade: + And seas, and rocks, and skies rebound, + 'To arms, to arms, to arms!' + +4 But when through all the infernal bounds, + Which flaming Phlegethon surrounds, + Love, strong as death, the poet led + To the pale nations of the dead, + What sounds were heard, + What scenes appear'd, + O'er all the dreary coasts! + Dreadful gleams, + Dismal screams, + Fires that glow, + Shrieks of woe, + Sullen moans, + Hollow groans, + And cries of tortured ghosts! + But, hark! he strikes the golden lyre; + And see! the tortured ghosts respire, + See, shady forms advance! + Thy stone, O Sisyphus! stands still, + Ixion rests upon his wheel. + And the pale spectres dance! + The Furies sink upon their iron beds, + And snakes uncurl'd hang listening round their heads. + +5 'By the streams that ever flow, + By the fragrant winds that blow + O'er the Elysian flowers; + By those happy souls who dwell + In yellow meads of asphodel, + Or amaranthine bowers; + By the hero's armèd shades, + Glittering through the gloomy glades; + By the youths that died for love, + Wandering in the myrtle grove, + Restore, restore Eurydice to life: + Oh take the husband, or return the wife!' + He sung, and hell consented + To hear the poet's prayer: + Stern Proserpine relented, + And gave him back the fair. + Thus song could prevail + O'er death and o'er hell, + A conquest how hard and how glorious! + Though fate had fast bound her + With Styx nine times round her, + Yet Music and Love were victorious. + +6 But soon, too soon, the lover turns his eyes: + Again she falls, again she dies, she dies! + How wilt thou now the fatal sisters move? + No crime was thine, if 'tis no crime to love. + Now under hanging mountains, + Beside the falls of fountains, + Or where Hebrus wanders, + Rolling in meanders, + All alone, + Unheard, unknown, + He makes his moan; + And calls her ghost, + For ever, ever, ever lost! + Now with Furies surrounded, + Despairing, confounded, + He trembles, he glows, + Amidst Rhodope's snows: + See, wild as the winds, o'er the desert he flies; + Hark! Haemus resounds with the bacchanals' cries-- + Ah see, he dies! + Yet even in death Eurydice he sung, + Eurydice still trembled on his tongue, + Eurydice the woods, + Eurydice the floods, + Eurydice the rocks and hollow mountains rung. + +7 Music the fiercest grief can charm, + And Fate's severest rage disarm: + Music can soften pain to ease, + And make despair and madness please: + Our joys below it can improve, + And antedate the bliss above. + This the divine Cecilia found, + And to her Maker's praise confined the sound. + When the full organ joins the tuneful choir, + The immortal powers incline their ear; + Borne on the swelling notes our souls aspire, + While solemn airs improve the sacred fire; + And angels lean from heaven to hear. + Of Orpheus now no more let poets tell, + To bright Cecilia greater power is given; + His numbers raised a shade from hell, + Hers lift the soul to heaven. + + + + +TWO CHORUSES TO THE TRAGEDY OF BRUTUS. + + +CHORUS OF ATHENIANS. + +STROPHE I. + +Ye shades, where sacred truth is sought; +Groves, where immortal sages taught: + Where heavenly visions Plato fired, + And Epicurus' lay inspired; + In vain your guiltless laurels stood + Unspotted long with human blood. +War, horrid war, your thoughtful walks invades, +And steel now glitters in the Muses' shades. + +ANTISTROPHE I. + + O heaven-born sisters! source of art! + Who charm the sense, or mend the heart; + Who lead fair Virtue's train along, + Moral truth, and mystic song! + To what new clime, what distant sky, + Forsaken, friendless, shall ye fly? +Say, will ye bless the bleak Atlantic shore, +Or bid the furious Gaul be rude no more? + +STROPHE II. + + When Athens sinks by fates unjust, + When wild barbarians spurn her dust; + Perhaps even Britain's utmost shore + Shall cease to blush with strangers' gore, + See Arts her savage sons control, + And Athens rising near the pole! +Till some new tyrant lifts his purple hand, +And civil madness tears them from the land. + +ANTISTROPHE II. + + Ye gods! what justice rules the ball? + Freedom and Arts together fall; + Fools grant whate'er Ambition craves, + And men, once ignorant, are slaves. + Oh, cursed effects of civil hate, + In every age, in every state! +Still, when the lust of tyrant power succeeds, +Some Athens perishes, some Tully bleeds. + +CHORUS OF YOUTHS AND VIRGINS. + +SEMICHORUS. + +O tyrant Love! hast thou possess'd +The prudent, learn'd, and virtuous breast? +Wisdom and wit in vain reclaim, +And arts but soften us to feel thy flame. + Love, soft intruder, enters here, + But entering learns to be sincere. + Marcus with blushes owns he loves, + And Brutus tenderly reproves. + Why, Virtue, dost thou blame desire, + Which Nature has impress'd + Why, Nature, dost thou soonest fire + The mild and generous breast? + +CHORUS. + + Love's purer flames the gods approve; + The gods and Brutus bend to love: + Brutus for absent Portia sighs, +And sterner Cassius melts at Junia's eyes. +What is loose love? a transient gust, +Spent in a sudden storm of lust, +A vapour fed from wild desire, +A wandering, self-consuming fire. + But Hymen's kinder flames unite, + And burn for ever one; + Chaste as cold Cynthia's virgin light, + Productive as the sun. + +SEMICHORUS. + + Oh source of every social tie, + United wish, and mutual joy! + What various joys on one attend, +As son, as father, brother, husband, friend! + Whether his hoary sire he spies, + While thousand grateful thoughts arise; + Or meets his spouse's fonder eye; + Or views his smiling progeny; + What tender passions take their turns, + What home-felt raptures move? + His heart now melts, now leaps, now burns, + With reverence, hope, and love. + +CHORUS. + +Hence, guilty joys, distastes, surmises, +Hence, false tears, deceits, disguises, +Dangers, doubts, delays, surprises, + Fires that scorch, yet dare not shine! +Purest love's unwasting treasure, +Constant faith, fair hope, long leisure, +Days of ease, and nights of pleasure; + Sacred Hymen! these are thine. + + + + +TO THE + +AUTHOR OF A POEM ENTITLED SUCCESSIO.[55] + + +Begone, ye critics, and restrain your spite, +Codrus writes on, and will for ever write. +The heaviest Muse the swiftest course has gone, +As clocks run fastest when most lead is on; +What though no bees around your cradle flew, +Nor on your lips distill'd the golden dew, +Yet have we oft discover'd in their stead +A swarm of drones that buzz'd about your head. +When you, like Orpheus, strike the warbling lyre, +Attentive blocks stand round you and admire. +Wit pass'd through thee no longer is the same, +As meat digested takes a different name, +But sense must sure thy safest plunder be, +Since no reprisals can be made on thee. +Thus thou may'st rise, and in thy daring flight +(Though ne'er so weighty) reach a wondrous height. +So, forced from engines, lead itself can fly, +And ponderous slugs move nimbly through the sky. +Sure Bavius copied Maevius to the full, +And Chaerilus taught Codrus to be dull; +Therefore, dear friend, at my advice give o'er +This needless labour; and contend no more +To prove a _dull succession_ to be true, +Since 'tis enough we find it so in you. + + * * * * * + +ODE ON SOLITUDE.[56] + + +1 Happy the man, whose wish and care + A few paternal acres bound, + Content to breathe his native air + In his own ground. + +2 Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread, + Whose flocks supply him with attire, + Whose trees in summer yield him shade, + In winter fire. + +3 Blest, who can unconcern'dly find + Hours, days, and years slide soft away, + In health of body, peace of mind, + Quiet by day; + +4 Sound sleep by night; study and ease, + Together mix'd; sweet recreation; + And innocence, which most does please, + With meditation. + +5 Thus let me live, unseen, unknown, + Thus unlamented let me die, + Steal from the world, and not a stone + Tell where I lie. + + * * * * * + +THE DYING CHRISTIAN TO HIS SOUL.[57] + + +1 Vital spark of heavenly flame! + Quit, oh quit this mortal frame: + Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying, + Oh the pain, the bliss of dying! + Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife, + And let me languish into life! + +2 Hark! they whisper; angels say, + 'Sister Spirit, come away!' + What is this absorbs me quite? + Steals my senses, shuts my sight, + Drowns my spirits, draws my breath? + Tell me, my soul, can this be Death? + +3 The world recedes; it disappears! + Heaven opens on my eyes! my ears + With sounds seraphic ring! + Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly! + O Grave! where is thy victory? + O Death! where is thy sting? + + * * * * * + +ELEGY TO THE MEMORY OF AN UNFORTUNATE LADY[58] + + +What beckoning ghost, along the moonlight shade +Invites my steps, and points to yonder glade? +'Tis she!--but why that bleeding bosom gored, +Why dimly gleams the visionary sword? +Oh, ever beauteous, ever friendly! tell, +Is it, in heaven, a crime to love too well? +To bear too tender, or too firm a heart, +To act a lover's or a Roman's part? +Is there no bright reversion in the sky, +For those who greatly think, or bravely die? 10 + +Why bade ye else, ye Powers! her soul aspire +Above the vulgar flight of low desire? +Ambition first sprung from your blest abodes; +The glorious fault of angels and of gods: +Thence to their images on earth it flows, +And in the breasts of kings and heroes glows. +Most souls, 'tis true, but peep out once an age, +Dull, sullen prisoners in the body's cage: +Dim lights of life, that burn a length of years +Useless, unseen, as lamps in sepulchres; 20 +Like Eastern kings a lazy state they keep, +And, close confined to their own palace, sleep. + +From these perhaps (ere Nature bade her die) +Fate snatch'd her early to the pitying sky. +As into air the purer spirits flow, +And separate from their kindred dregs below; +So flew the soul to its congenial place, +Nor left one virtue to redeem her race. + +But thou, false guardian of a charge too good, +Thou, mean deserter of thy brother's blood! 30 +See on these ruby lips the trembling breath, +These cheeks, now fading at the blast of death; +Cold is that breast which warm'd the world before, +And those love-darting eyes must roll no more. +Thus, if Eternal Justice rules the ball, +Thus shall your wives, and thus your children fall: +On all the line a sudden vengeance waits, +And frequent hearses shall besiege your gates. +There passengers shall stand, and pointing say, +(While the long funerals blacken all the way) 40 +'Lo, these were they, whose souls the Furies steel'd, +And cursed with hearts unknowing how to yield.' +Thus unlamented pass the proud away, +The gaze of fools, and pageant of a day! +So perish all, whose breast ne'er learn'd to glow +For others' good, or melt at others' woe. + +What can atone (O ever-injured Shade!) +Thy fate unpitied, and thy rites unpaid? +No friend's complaint, no kind domestic tear +Pleased thy pale ghost, or graced thy mournful bier, 50 +By foreign hands thy dying eyes were closed, +By foreign hands thy decent limbs composed, +By foreign hands thy humble grave adorn'd, +By strangers honour'd, and by strangers mourn'd! +What, though no friends in sable weeds appear, +Grieve for an hour, perhaps, then mourn a year, +And bear about the mockery of woe +To midnight dances, and the public show? +What, though no weeping loves thy ashes grace, +Nor polish'd marble emulate thy face? 60 +What, though no sacred earth allow thee room, +Nor hallow'd dirge be mutter'd o'er thy tomb? +Yet shall thy grave with rising flowers be dress'd, +And the green turf lie lightly on thy breast: +There shall the morn her earliest tears bestow, +There the first roses of the year shall blow; +While angels with their silver wings o'ershade +The ground, now sacred by thy relics made. + +So peaceful rests, without a stone, a name, +What once had beauty, titles, wealth, and fame. 70 +How loved, how honour'd once, avails thee not, +To whom related, or by whom begot; +A heap of dust alone remains of thee, +'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be! + +Poets themselves must fall, like those they sung, +Deaf the praised ear, and mute the tuneful tongue. +Even he, whose soul now melts in mournful lays, +Shall shortly want the generous tear he pays; +Then from his closing eyes thy form shall part, +And the last pang shall tear thee from his heart; 80 +Life's idle business at one gasp be o'er, +The Muse forgot, and thou beloved no more! + + * * * * * + +PROLOGUE TO MR ADDISON'S TRAGEDY OF CATO. + + +To wake the soul by tender strokes of art, +To raise the genius, and to mend the heart; +To make mankind, in conscious virtue bold, +Live o'er each scene, and be what they behold: +For this the tragic Muse first trod the stage, +Commanding tears to stream through every age; +Tyrants no more their savage nature kept, +And foes to virtue wonder'd how they wept. +Our author shuns by vulgar springs to move +The hero's glory, or the virgin's love; 10 +In pitying love, we but our weakness show, +And wild ambition well deserves its woe. +Here tears shall flow from a more generous cause, +Such tears as patriots shed for dying laws: +He bids your breasts with ancient ardour rise, +And calls forth Roman drops from British eyes. +Virtue confess'd in human shape he draws, +What Plato thought, and godlike Cato was: +No common object to your sight displays, +But what with pleasure[59] Heaven itself surveys, 20 +A brave man struggling in the storms of fate, +And greatly falling with a falling state. +While Cato gives his little senate laws, +What bosom beats not in his country's cause? +Who sees him act, but envies every deed? +Who hears him groan, and does not wish to bleed? +Even when proud Caesar, 'midst triumphal cars, +The spoils of nations, and the pomp of wars, +Ignobly vain and impotently great, +Show'd Rome her Cato's figure drawn in state; 30 +As her dead father's reverend image pass'd, +The pomp was darken'd and the day o'ercast; +The triumph ceased, tears gush'd from every eye; +The world's great victor pass'd unheeded by; +Her last good man dejected Rome adored, +And honour'd Caesar's less than Cato's sword. + +Britons, attend: be worth like this approved, +And show you have the virtue to be moved. +With honest scorn the first famed Cato view'd +Rome learning arts from Greece, whom she subdued; 40 +Your scene precariously subsists too long +On French translation, and Italian song. +Dare to have sense yourselves; assert the stage, +Be justly warm'd with your own native rage; +Such plays alone should win a British ear, +As Cato's self had not disdain'd to hear. + + * * * * * + +IMITATIONS OF ENGLISH POETS.[60] + + +I. CHAUCER. + +Women ben full of ragerie, +Yet swinken nat sans secresie. +Thilke moral shall ye understond, +From schoole-boy's tale of fayre Irelond: +Which to the fennes hath him betake, +To filche the gray ducke fro the lake. +Right then, there passen by the way +His aunt, and eke her daughters tway. +Ducke in his trowses hath he hent, +Not to be spied of ladies gent. 10 +'But ho! our nephew!' crieth one; +'Ho!' quoth another, 'Cozen John;' +And stoppen, and lough, and callen out,-- +This sely clerke full low doth lout: +They asken that, and talken this, +'Lo here is Coz, and here is Miss.' +But, as he glozeth with speeches soote, +The ducke sore tickleth his erse roote: +Fore-piece and buttons all to-brest, +Forth thrust a white neck, and red crest. 20 +'Te-he,' cried ladies; clerke nought spake: +Miss stared; and gray ducke crieth 'Quaake.' +'O moder, moder!' quoth the daughter, +'Be thilke same thing maids longen a'ter? +Bette is to pyne on coals and chalke, +Then trust on mon, whose yerde can talke.' + + +II. SPENSER. + +THE ALLEY. + +1 In every town, where Thamis rolls his tyde, + A narrow pass there is, with houses low; + Where ever and anon the stream is eyed, + And many a boat soft sliding to and fro. + There oft are heard the notes of infant woe, + The short thick sob, loud scream, and shriller squall: + How can ye, mothers, vex your children so? + Some play, some eat, some cack against the wall, + And as they crouchen low, for bread and butter call. + +2 And on the broken pavement, here and there, + Doth many a stinking sprat and herring lie; + A brandy and tobacco shop is near, + And hens, and dogs, and hogs are feeding by; + And here a sailor's jacket hangs to dry. + At every door are sunburnt matrons seen, + Mending old nets to catch the scaly fry; + Now singing shrill, and scolding oft between; + Scolds answer foul-mouth'd scolds; bad neighbourhood, I ween. + +3 The snappish cur (the passenger's annoy) + Close at my heel with yelping treble flies; + The whimpering girl, and hoarser-screaming boy, + Join to the yelping treble shrilling cries; + The scolding quean to louder notes doth rise, + And her full pipes those shrilling cries confound; + To her full pipes the grunting hog replies; + The grunting hogs alarm the neighbours round, + And curs, girls, boys, and scolds, in the deep base are drown'd. + +4 Hard by a sty, beneath a roof of thatch, + Dwelt Obloquy, who in her early days + Baskets of fish at Billingsgate did watch, + Cod, whiting, oyster, mack'rel, sprat, or plaice: + There learn'd she speech from tongues that never cease. + Slander beside her, like a magpie, chatters, + With Envy (spitting cat!), dread foe to peace; + Like a cursed cur, Malice before her clatters, + And vexing every wight, tears clothes and all to tatters. + +5 Her dugs were mark'd by every collier's hand, + Her mouth was black as bull-dog's at the stall: + She scratchèd, bit, and spared ne lace ne band, + And 'bitch' and 'rogue' her answer was to all; + Nay, even the parts of shame by name would call: + Yea, when she passèd by or lane or nook, + Would greet the man who turn'd him to the wall, + And by his hand obscene the porter took, + Nor ever did askance like modest virgin look. + +6 Such place hath Deptford, navy-building town, + Woolwich and Wapping, smelling strong of pitch; + Such Lambeth, envy of each band and gown, + And Twick'nam such, which fairer scenes enrich, + Grots, stutues, urns, and Jo--n's dog and bitch, + Ne village is without, on either side, + All up the silver Thames, or all adown; + Ne Richmond's self, from whose tall front are eyed + Vales, spires, meandering streams, and Windsor's towery pride. + + +III. WALLER. + +OF A LADY SINGING TO HER LUTE. + +Fair charmer, cease! nor make your voice's prize, +A heart resign'd, the conquest of your eyes: +Well might, alas! that threaten'd vessel fail, +Which winds and lightning both at once assail. +We were too blest with these enchanting lays, +Which must be heavenly when an angel plays: +But killing charms your lover's death contrive, +Lest heavenly music should be heard alive. +Orpheus could charm the trees, but thus a tree, +Taught by your hand, can charm no less than he: +A poet made the silent wood pursue, +This vocal wood had drawn the poet too. + +ON A FAN OF THE AUTHOR'S DESIGN, + +IN WHICH WAS PAINTED THE STORY OF CEPHALUS AND PROCRIS, WITH THE MOTTO, +'AURA VENI.' + +'Come, gentle Air!' the Aeolian shepherd said, +While Procris panted in the secret shade; +'Come, gentle Air!' the fairer Delia cries, +While at her feet her swain expiring lies. +Lo! the glad gales o'er all her beauties stray, +Breathe on her lips, and in her bosom play! +In Delia's hand this toy is fatal found, +Nor could that fabled dart more surely wound: +Both gifts destructive to the givers prove; +Alike both lovers fall by those they love. +Yet guiltless too this bright destroyer lives, +At random wounds, nor knows the wound she gives: +She views the story with attentive eyes, +And pities Procris, while her lover dies. + + +IV. COWLEY. + +THE GARDEN. + +Fain would my Muse the flowery treasures sing, +And humble glories of the youthful Spring; +Where opening roses breathing sweets diffuse, +And soft carnations shower their balmy dews; +Where lilies smile in virgin robes of white, +The thin undress of superficial light, +And varied tulips show so dazzling gay, +Blushing in bright diversities of day. +Each painted floweret in the lake below +Surveys its beauties, whence its beauties grow; 10 +And pale Narcissus on the bank, in vain +Transformèd, gazes on himself again. +Here aged trees cathedral walks compose, +And mount the hill in venerable rows: +There the green infants in their beds are laid, +The garden's hope, and its expected shade. +Here orange-trees with blooms and pendants shine, +And vernal honours to their autumn join; +Exceed their promise in the ripen'd store, 20 +Yet in the rising blossom promise more. +There in bright drops the crystal fountains play, +By laurels shielded from the piercing day: +Where Daphne, now a tree, as once a maid, +Still from Apollo vindicates her shade, +Still turns her beauties from the invading beam, +Nor seeks in vain for succour to the stream. +The stream at once preserves her virgin leaves, +At once a shelter from her boughs receives, +Where summer's beauty midst of winter stays, +And winter's coolness spite of summer's rays. 30 + +WEEPING. + +1 While Celia's tears make sorrow bright, + Proud grief sits swelling in her eyes; + The sun, next those the fairest light, + Thus from the ocean first did rise: + And thus through mists we see the sun, + Which, else we durst not gaze upon. + +2 These silver drops, like morning dew, + Foretell the fervour of the day: + So from one cloud soft showers we view, + And blasting lightnings burst away. + The stars that fall from Celia's eye, + Declare our doom in drawing nigh. + +3 The baby in that sunny sphere + So like a Phaëton appears, + That Heaven, the threaten'd world to spare, + Thought fit to drown him in her tears: + Else might the ambitious nymph aspire, + To set, like him, Heaven too on fire. + + +V. EARL OF ROCHESTER. + +ON SILENCE.[61] + + 1 Silence! coeval with eternity; + Thou wert, ere Nature's self began to be, +'Twas one vast Nothing all, and all slept fast in thee. + + 2 Thine was the sway, ere heaven was form'd, or earth, + Ere fruitful Thought conceived Creation's birth, +Or midwife Word gave aid, and spoke the infant forth. + + 3 Then various elements against thee join'd, + In one more various animal combined, +And framed the clamorous race of busy humankind. + + 4 The tongue moved gently first, and speech was low, + Till wrangling Science taught it noise and show, +And wicked Wit arose, thy most abusive foe. + + 5 But rebel Wit deserts thee oft in vain; + Lost in the maze of words he turns again, +And seeks a surer state, and courts thy gentle reign. + + 6 Afflicted Sense thou kindly dost set free, + Oppress'd with argumental tyranny, +And routed Reason finds a safe retreat in thee. + + 7 With thee in private modest Dulness lies, + And in thy bosom lurks in Thought's disguise; +Thou varnisher of fools, and cheat of all the wise! + + 8 Yet thy indulgence is by both confess'd; + Folly by thee lies sleeping in the breast, +And 'tis in thee at last that Wisdom seeks for rest. + + 9 Silence! the knave's repute, the whore's good name, + The only honour of the wishing dame; +Thy very want of tongue makes thee a kind of fame. + +10 But couldst thou seize some tongues that now are free, + How Church and State should be obliged to thee! +At Senate, and at Bar, how welcome would'st thou be! + +11 Yet Speech even there submissively withdraws + From rights of subjects, and the poor man's cause: +Then pompous Silence reigns, and stills the noisy laws. + +12 Past services of friends, good deeds of foes, + What favourites gain, and what the nation owes, +Fly the forgetful world, and in thy arms repose. + +13 The country wit, religion of the town, + The courtier's learning, policy o' the gown, +Are best by thee express'd, and shine in thee alone. + +14 The parson's cant, the lawyer's sophistry, + Lord's quibble, critic's jest, all end in thee, +All rest in peace at last, and sleep eternally. + + +VI. EARL OF DORSET. + +ARTEMISIA.[62] + +1 Though Artemisia talks, by fits, + Of councils, classics, fathers, wits; + Reads Malebranche, Boyle, and Locke: + Yet in some things methinks she fails-- + 'Twere well if she would pare her nails, + And wear a cleaner smock. + +2 Haughty and huge as High-Dutch bride, + Such nastiness, and so much pride + Are oddly join'd by fate: + On her large squab you find her spread, + Like a fat corpse upon a bed, + That lies and stinks in state. + +3 She wears no colours (sign of grace) + On any part except her face; + All white and black beside: + Dauntless her look, her gesture proud, + Her voice theatrically loud, + And masculine her stride. + +4 So have I seen, in black and white + A prating thing, a magpie height, + Majestically stalk; + A stately, worthless animal, + That plies the tongue, and wags the tail, + All flutter, pride, and talk. + +PHRYNE. + +1 Phryne had talents for mankind, + Open she was, and unconfined, + Like some free port of trade: + Merchants unloaded here their freight, + And agents from each foreign state + Here first their entry made. + +2 Her learning and good breeding such, + Whether the Italian or the Dutch, + Spaniards or French came to her: + To all obliging she'd appear, + 'Twas 'Si, Signor,' 'twas 'Yaw, Mynheer,' + 'Twas 'S' il vous plaît, Monsieur.' + +3 Obscure by birth, renown'd by crimes, + Still changing names, religions, climes, + At length she turns a bride: + In diamonds, pearls, and rich brocades, + She shines the first of batter'd jades, + And flutters in her pride. + +4 So have I known those insects fair, + (Which curious Germans hold so rare) + Still vary shapes and dyes; + Still gain new titles with new forms; + First grubs obscene, then wriggling worms, + Then painted butterflies. + + +VII. DR SWIFT. + +THE HAPPY LIFE OF A COUNTRY PARSON. + +Parson, these things in thy possessing +Are better than the bishop's blessing:-- +A wife that makes conserves; a steed +That carries double when there's need: +October store, and best Virginia, +Tithe-pig, and mortuary guinea: +Gazettes sent gratis down, and frank'd, +For which thy patron's weekly thank'd: +A large Concordance, bound long since: +Sermons to Charles the First, when prince: +A Chronicle of ancient standing; +A Chrysostom to smooth thy band in: +The Polyglot--three parts--my text, +Howbeit--likewise--now to my next: +Lo, here the Septuagint--and Paul, +To sum the whole--the close of all. +He that has these, may pass his life, +Drink with the squire, and kiss his wife; +On Sundays preach, and eat his fill; +And fast on Fridays--if he will; +Toast Church and Queen, explain the news, +Talk with churchwardens about pews, +Pray heartily for some new gift, +And shake his head at Doctor S----t. + + * * * * * + +THE TEMPLE OF FAME. + + +WRITTEN IN THE YEAR MDCCXI. + +ADVERTISEMENT. + +The hint of the following piece was taken from Chaucer's 'House of +Fame.' The design is in a manner entirely altered, the descriptions and +most of the particular thoughts my own: yet I could not suffer it to be +printed without this acknowledgment. The reader who would compare this +with Chaucer, may begin with his third book of 'Fame,' there being +nothing in the two first books that answers to their title. Wherever any +hint is taken from him, the passage itself is set down in the marginal +notes. + + +In that soft season, when descending showers +Call forth the greens, and wake the rising flowers; +When opening buds salute the welcome day, +And earth relenting feels the genial ray; +As balmy sleep had charm'd my cares to rest, +And love itself was banish'd from my breast, +(What time the morn mysterious visions brings, +While purer slumbers spread their golden wings), +A train of phantoms in wild order rose, +And, join'd, this intellectual scene compose. 10 + +I stood, methought, betwixt earth, seas, and skies; +The whole creation open to my eyes: +In air self-balanced hung the globe below, +Where mountains rise and circling oceans flow; +Here naked rocks, and empty wastes were seen, +There towery cities, and the forests green: +Here sailing ships delight the wandering eyes: +There trees, and intermingled temples rise; +Now a clear sun the shining scene displays, +The transient landscape now in clouds decays. 20 + +O'er the wide prospect, as I gazed around, +Sudden I heard a wild promiscuous sound, +Like broken thunders that at distance roar, +Or billows murmuring on the hollow shore: +Then gazing up, a glorious pile beheld, +Whose towering summit ambient clouds conceal'd. +High on a rock of ice the structure lay, +Steep its ascent, and slippery was the way; +The wondrous rock like Parian marble shone, +And seem'd, to distant sight, of solid stone. 30 +Inscriptions here of various names I view'd, +The greater part by hostile time subdued; +Yet wide was spread their fame in ages past, +And poets once had promised they should last. +Some fresh engraved appear'd of wits renown'd; +I look'd again, nor could their trace be found. +Critics I saw, that other names deface, +And fix their own, with labour, in their place: +Their own, like others, soon their place resign'd, +Or disappear'd, and left the first behind. 40 +Nor was the work impair'd by storms alone, +But felt the approaches of too warm a sun; +For Fame, impatient of extremes, decays +Not more by envy than excess of praise. +Yet part no injuries of heaven could feel, +Like crystal faithful to the graving steel: +The rock's high summit, in the temple's shade, +Nor heat could melt, nor beating storm invade. +Their names inscribed unnumber'd ages past +From time's first birth, with time itself shall last; 50 +These ever new, nor subject to decays, +Spread, and grow brighter with the length of days. + +So Zembla's rocks (the beauteous work of frost) +Rise white in air, and glitter o'er the coast; +Pale suns, unfelt, at distance roll away, +And on the impassive ice the lightnings play; +Eternal snows the growing mass supply, +Till the bright mountains prop the incumbent sky: +As Atlas fix'd, each hoary pile appears, +The gather'd winter of a thousand years. 60 + +On this foundation Fame's high temple stands. +Stupendous pile! not rear'd by mortal hands. +Whate'er proud Rome or artful Greece beheld, +Or elder Babylon, its frame excell'd. +Four faces had the dome, and every face +Of various structure, but of equal grace; +Four brazen gates, on columns lifted high, +Salute the different quarters of the sky. +Here fabled chiefs in darker ages born, +Or worthies old, whom arms or arts adorn, 70 +Who cities raised, or tamed a monstrous race, +The walls in venerable order grace; +Heroes in animated marble frown, +And legislators seem to think in stone. + +Westward, a sumptuous frontispiece appear'd, +On Doric pillars of white marble rear'd, +Crown'd with an architrave of antique mould, +And sculpture rising on the roughen'd gold. +In shaggy spoils here Theseus was beheld, +And Perseus dreadful with Minerva's shield: 80 +There great Alcides stooping with his toil, +Rests on his club, and holds th' Hesperian spoil. +Here Orpheus sings; trees, moving to the sound, +Start from their roots, and form a shade around; +Amphion there the loud creating lyre +Strikes, and behold a sudden Thebes aspire! +Cythæron's echoes answer to his call, +And half the mountain rolls into a wall: +There might you see the lengthening spires ascend, +The domes swell up, the widening arches bend, 90 +The growing towers, like exhalations rise, +And the huge columns heave into the skies. + +The eastern front was glorious to behold, +With diamond flaming, and barbaric gold. +There Ninus shone, who spread the Assyrian fame, +And the great founder of the Persian name: +There in long robes the royal Magi stand, +Grave Zoroaster waves the circling wand, +The sage Chaldeans robed in white appear'd, +And Brachmans, deep in desert woods revered. 100 +These stopp'd the moon, and call'd the unbodied shades +To midnight banquets in the glimmering glades; +Made visionary fabrics round them rise, +And airy spectres skim before their eyes; +Of talismans and sigils knew the power, +And careful watch'd the planetary hour. +Superior, and alone, Confucius stood, +Who taught that useful science--to be good. + +But on the south, a long majestic race +Of Egypt's priests the gilded niches grace, 110 +Who measured earth, described the starry spheres, +And traced the long records of lunar years. +High on his car Sesostris struck my view, +Whom sceptred slaves in golden harness drew: +His hands a bow and pointed javelin hold; +His giant limbs are arm'd in scales of gold. +Between the statues obelisks were placed, +And the learn'd walls with hieroglyphics graced. + +Of Gothic structure was the northern side, +O'erwrought with ornaments of barbarous pride. 120 +There huge Colosses rose, with trophies crown'd, +And Runic characters were graved around. +There sat Zamolxis[63] with erected eyes, +And Odin here in mimic trances dies. +There on rude iron columns, smear'd with blood, +The horrid forms of Seythian heroes stood, +Druids and Bards (their once loud harps unstrung) +And youths that died to be by poets sung. +These, and a thousand more of doubtful fame, +To whom old fables gave a lasting name, 130 +In ranks adorn'd the temple's outward face; +The wall, in lustre and effect like glass, +Which o'er each object casting various dyes, +Enlarges some, and others multiplies: +Nor void of emblem was the mystic wall, +For thus romantic Fame increases all. + +The temple shakes, the sounding gates unfold +Wide vaults appear, and roofs of fretted gold: +Raised on a thousand pillars, wreathed around +With laurel foliage, and with eagles crown'd: 140 +Of bright, transparent beryl were the walls, +The friezes gold, and gold the capitals: +As heaven with stars, the roof with jewels glows, +And ever-living lamps depend in rows. +Full in the passage of each spacious gate, +The sage historians in white garments wait; +Graved o'er their seats the form of Time was found, +His scythe reversed, and both his pinions bound. +Within stood heroes, who through loud alarms +In bloody fields pursued renown in arms. 150 +High on a throne, with trophies charged, I view'd +The youth[64] that all things but himself subdued; +His feet on sceptres and tiaras trod, +And his horn'd head belied the Libyan god. +There Cæsar, graced with both Minervas, shone; +Cæsar, the world's great master, and his own; +Unmoved, superior still in every state, +And scarce detested in his country's fate. +But chief were those, who not for empire fought, +But with their toils their people's safety bought: 160 +High o'er the rest Epaminondas stood; +Timoleon,[65] glorious in his brother's blood; +Bold Scipio, saviour of the Roman state; +Great in his triumphs, in retirement great; +And wise Aurelius, in whose well-taught mind, +With boundless power unbounded virtue join'd, +His own strict judge, and patron of mankind. + +Much-suffering heroes next their honours claim, +Those of less noisy, and less guilty fame, +Fair Virtue's silent train: supreme of these 170 +Here ever shines the godlike Socrates: +He whom ungrateful Athens[66] could expel, +At all times just, but when he sign'd the shell: +Here his abode the martyr'd Phocion claims, +With Agis, not the last of Spartan names: +Unconquer'd Cato shows the wound he tore, +And Brutus his ill Genius meets no more. + +But in the centre of the hallow'd choir, +Six pompous columns o'er the rest aspire; +Around the shrine itself of Fame they stand, 180 +Hold the chief honours, and the fane command. +High on the first, the mighty Homer shone; +Eternal adamant composed his throne; +Father of verse! in holy fillets dress'd, +His silver beard waved gently o'er his breast; +Though blind, a boldness in his looks appears; +In years he seem'd, but not impair'd by years. +The wars of Troy were round the pillar seen: +Here fierce Tydides wounds the Cyprian Queen; +Here Hector, glorious from Patroclus' fall, 190 +Here dragg'd in triumph round the Trojan wall: +Motion and life did every part inspire, +Bold was the work, and proved the master's fire; +A strong expression most he seem'd to affect, +And here and there disclosed a brave neglect. + +A golden column next in rank appear'd, +On which a shrine of purest gold was rear'd; +Finish'd the whole, and labour'd every part, +With patient touches of unwearied art: +The Mantuan there in sober triumph sate, 200 +Composed his posture, and his look sedate; +On Homer still he fix'd a reverend eye, +Great without pride, in modest majesty. +In living sculpture on the sides were spread +The Latian wars, and haughty Turnus dead; +Eliza stretch'd upon the funeral pyre, +Æneas bending with his aged sire: +Troy flamed in burning gold, and o'er the throne, +ARMS AND THE MAN in golden cyphers shone. + +Four swans sustain a car of silver bright, 210 +With heads advanced, and pinions stretch'd for flight: +Here, like some furious prophet, Pindar rode, +And seem'd to labour with the inspiring god. +Across the harp a careless hand he flings, +And boldly sinks into the sounding strings. +The figured games of Greece the column grace, +Neptune and Jove survey the rapid race. +The youths hang o'er their chariots as they run; +The fiery steeds seem starting from the stone; +The champions in distorted postures threat; 220 +And all appear'd irregularly great. + +Here happy Horace tuned the Ausonian lyre +To sweeter sounds, and temper'd Pindar's fire: +Pleased with Alcæus' manly rage t' infuse +The softer spirit of the Sapphic Muse. +The polish'd pillar different sculptures grace; +A work outlasting monumental brass. +Here smiling Loves and Bacchanals appear, +The Julian star, and great Augustus here; +The doves that round the infant poet spread 230 +Myrtles and bays, hung hovering o'er his head. + +Here in a shrine that cast a dazzling light, +Sat, fix'd in thought, the mighty Stagyrite; +His sacred head a radiant zodiac crown'd, +And various animals his side surround; +His piercing eyes, erect, appear to view +Superior worlds, and look all Nature through. + +With equal rays immortal Tully shone, +The Roman rostra deck'd the Consul's throne: +Gathering his flowing robe, he seem'd to stand 240 +In act to speak, and graceful stretch'd his hand. +Behind, Rome's Genius waits with civic crowns, +And the great Father of his country owns. + +These massy columns in a circle rise, +O'er which a pompous dome invades the skies: +Scarce to the top I stretch'd my aching sight, +So large it spread, and swell'd to such a height. +Full in the midst, proud Fame's imperial seat +With jewels blazed, magnificently great; +The vivid emeralds there revive the eye, 250 +The flaming rubies show their sanguine dye, +Bright azure rays from lively sapphires stream, +And lucid amber casts a golden gleam. +With various-colour'd light the pavement shone, +And all on fire appear'd the glowing throne; +The dome's high arch reflects the mingled blaze, +And forms a rainbow of alternate rays. +When on the goddess first I cast my sight, +Scarce seem'd her stature of a cubit's height; +But swell'd to larger size, the more I gazed, 260 +Till to the roof her towering front she raised. +With her, the temple every moment grew, +And ampler vistas open'd to my view: +Upward the columns shoot, the roofs ascend, +And arches widen, and long aisles extend. +Such was her form as ancient bards have told, +Wings raise her arms, and wings her feet infold; +A thousand busy tongues the goddess bears, +A thousand open eyes, and thousand listening ears. +Beneath, in order ranged, the tuneful Nine 270 +(Her virgin handmaids) still attend the shrine: +With eyes on Fame for ever fix'd, they sing; +For Fame they raise the voice, and tune the string; +With Time's first birth began the heavenly lays, +And last, eternal, through the length of days. + +Around these wonders as I cast a look, +The trumpet sounded, and the temple shook, +And all the nations, summon'd at the call, +From different quarters fill the crowded hall: +Of various tongues the mingled sounds were heard 280 +In various garbs promiscuous throngs appear'd; +Thick as the bees, that with the spring renew +Their flowery toils, and sip the fragrant dew, +When the wing'd colonies first tempt the sky, +O'er dusky fields and shaded waters fly, +Or settling, seize the sweets the blossoms yield, +And a low murmur runs along the field. +Millions of suppliant crowds the shrine attend, +And all degrees before the goddess bend; +The poor, the rich, the valiant, and the sage, 290 +And boasting youth, and narrative old age. +Their pleas were different, their request the same: +For good and bad alike are fond of Fame. +Some she disgraced, and some with honours crown'd; +Unlike successes equal merits found. +Thus her blind sister, fickle Fortune, reigns, +And, undiscerning, scatters crowns and chains. + +First at the shrine the learnèd world appear, +And to the goddess thus prefer their prayer: +'Long have we sought to instruct and please mankind, 300 +With studies pale, with midnight vigils blind; +But thank'd by few, rewarded yet by none, +We here appeal to thy superior throne; +On wit and learning the just prize bestow, +For fame is all we must expect below.' + +The goddess heard, and bade the Muses raise +The golden trumpet of eternal praise: +From pole to pole the winds diffuse the sound, +That fills the circuit of the world around; +Not all at once, as thunder breaks the cloud; 310 +The notes at first were rather sweet than loud: +By just degrees they every moment rise, +Fill the wide earth, and gain upon the skies. +At every breath were balmy odours shed, +Which still grew sweeter as they wider spread; +Less fragrant scents the unfolding rose exhales, +Or spices breathing in Arabian gales. + +Next these, the good and just, an awful train, +Thus on their knees address the sacred fane: +'Since living virtue is with envy cursed, 320 +And the best men are treated like the worst, +Do thou, just goddess, call our merits forth, +And give each deed the exact intrinsic worth.' + +'Not with bare justice shall your act be crown'd,' +(Said Fame), 'but high above desert renown'd: +Let fuller notes the applauding world amaze, +And the loud clarion labour in your praise.' + +This band dismiss'd, behold, another crowd +Preferr'd the same request, and lowly bow'd; +The constant tenor of whose well-spent days 330 +No less deserved a just return of praise. +But straight the direful trump of Slander sounds; +Through the big dome the doubling thunder bounds; +Loud as the burst of cannon rends the skies, +The dire report through every region flies, +In every ear incessant rumours rung, +And gathering scandals grew on every tongue. +From the black trumpet's rusty concave broke +Sulphureous flames, and clouds of rolling smoke: +The poisonous vapour blots the purple skies, 340 +And withers all before it as it flies. + +A troop came next, who crowns and armour wore, +And proud defiance in their looks they bore: +'For thee' (they cried), 'amidst alarms and strife, +We sail'd in tempests down the stream of life; +For thee whole nations fill'd with flames and blood, +And swam to empire through the purple flood. +Those ills we dared, thy inspiration own, +What virtue seem'd, was done for thee alone.' + +'Ambitious fools!' (the Queen replied, and frown'd) 350 +'Be all your acts in dark oblivion drown'd; +There sleep forgot, with mighty tyrants gone, +Your statues moulder'd, and your names unknown!' +A sudden cloud straight snatch'd them from my sight, +And each majestic phantom sunk in night. + +Then came the smallest tribe I yet had seen; +Plain was their dress, and modest was their mien. +'Great idol of mankind! we neither claim +The praise of merit, nor aspire to fame; +But safe in deserts from the applause of men, 360 +Would die unheard of, as we lived unseen; +'Tis all we beg thee, to conceal from sight +Those acts of goodness which themselves requite. +Oh let us still the secret joy partake, +To follow virtue even for virtue's sake.' + +'And live there men, who slight immortal Fame? +Who then with incense shall adore our name? +But, mortals! know, 'tis still our greatest pride +To blaze those virtues which the good would hide. +Rise, Muses, rise! add all your tuneful breath; 370 +These must not sleep in darkness and in death.' +She said: in air the trembling music floats, +And on the winds triumphant swell the notes; +So soft, though high, so loud, and yet so clear, +Even listening angels lean'd from heaven to hear: +To furthest shores the ambrosial spirit flies, +Sweet to the world, and grateful to the skies. + +Next these a youthful train their vows express'd, +With feathers crown'd, with gay embroidery dress'd: +'Hither' (they cried) 'direct your eyes, and see 380 +The men of pleasure, dress, and gallantry; +Ours is the place at banquets, balls, and plays, +Sprightly our nights, polite are all our days; +Courts we frequent, where 'tis our pleasing care +To pay due visits, and address the fair: +In fact, 'tis true, no nymph we could persuade, +But still in fancy vanquish'd every maid; +Of unknown duchesses lewd tales we tell, +Yet, would the world believe us, all were well. +The joy let others have, and we the name, 390 +And what we want in pleasure, grant in fame.' + +The Queen assents, the trumpet rends the skies, +And at each blast a lady's honour dies. + +Pleased with the strange success, vast numbers press'd +Around the shrine, and made the same request: +'What! you,' (she cried) 'unlearn'd in arts to please, +Slaves to yourselves, and even fatigued with ease, +Who lose a length of undeserving days, +Would you usurp the lover's dear-bought praise? +To just contempt, ye vain pretenders, fall, 400 +The people's fable and the scorn of all.' +Straight the black clarion sends a horrid sound, +Loud laughs burst out, and bitter scoffs fly round, +Whispers are heard, with taunts reviling loud, +And scornful hisses run through all the crowd. + +Last, those who boast of mighty mischiefs done, +Enslave their country, or usurp a throne; +Or who their glory's dire foundation laid +On sovereigns ruin'd, or on friends betray'd; +Calm, thinking villains, whom no faith could fix, 410 +Of crooked counsels, and dark politics; +Of these a gloomy tribe surround the throne, +And beg to make the immortal treasons known. +The trumpet roars, long flaky flames expire, +With sparks, that seem'd to set the world on fire. +At the dread sound, pale mortals stood aghast, +And startled Nature trembled with the blast. + +This having heard and seen, some Power unknown +Straight changed the scene, and snatch'd me from the throne. +Before my view appear'd a structure fair, 420 +Its site uncertain, if in earth or air; +With rapid motion turn'd the mansion round; +With ceaseless noise the ringing walls resound; +Not less in number were the spacious doors, +Than leaves on trees, or sands upon the shores; +Which still unfolded stand, by night, by day, +Pervious to winds, and open every way. +As flames by nature to the skies ascend, +As weighty bodies to the centre tend, +As to the sea returning rivers roll, 430 +And the touch'd needle trembles to the pole; +Hither, as to their proper place, arise +All various sounds from earth, and seas, and skies, +Or spoke aloud, or whisper'd in the ear; +Nor ever silence, rest, or peace is here. +As on the smooth expanse of crystal lakes +The sinking stone at first a circle makes; +The trembling surface by the motion stirr'd, +Spreads in a second circle, then a third; +Wide, and more wide, the floating rings advance, 440 +Fill all the watery plain, and to the margin dance: +Thus every voice and sound, when first they break, +On neighbouring air a soft impression make; +Another ambient circle then they move; +That, in its turn, impels the next above; +Through undulating air the sounds are sent, +And spread o'er all the fluid element. + +There various news I heard of love and strife, +Of peace and war, health, sickness, death, and life, +Of loss and gain, of famine and of store, 450 +Of storms at sea, and travels on the shore, +Of prodigies, and portents seen in air, +Of fires and plagues, and stars with blazing hair, +Of turns of fortune, changes in the state, +The falls of favourites, projects of the great, +Of old mismanagements, taxations new: +All neither wholly false, nor wholly true. + +Above, below, without, within, around, +Confused, unnumber'd multitudes are found, +Who pass, repass, advance, and glide away; 460 +Hosts raised by fear, and phantoms of a day: +Astrologers, that future fates foreshow; +Projectors, quacks, and lawyers not a few; +And priests, and party-zealots, numerous bands +With home-born lies, or tales from foreign lands; +Each talk'd aloud, or in some secret place, +And wild impatience stared in every face. +The flying rumours gather'd as they roll'd, +Scarce any tale was sooner heard than told; +And all who told it added something new, 470 +And all who heard it made enlargements too, +In every ear it spread, on every tongue it grew. +Thus flying east and west, and north and south, +News travell'd with increase from mouth to mouth. +So from a spark, that kindled first by chance, +With gathering force the quickening flames advance; +Till to the clouds their curling heads aspire, +And towers and temples sink in floods of fire. +When thus ripe lies are to perfection sprung, +Full grown, and fit to grace a mortal tongue, 480 +Through thousand vents, impatient, forth they flow, +And rush in millions on the world below. +Fame sits aloft, and points them out their course, +Their date determines, and prescribes their force: +Some to remain, and some to perish soon; +Or wane and wax alternate like the moon. +Around, a thousand wingèd wonders fly, +Born by the trumpet's blast, and scatter'd through the sky. + +There, at one passage, oft you might survey +A lie and truth contending for the way; 490 +And long 'twas doubtful, both so closely pent, +Which first should issue through the narrow vent: +At last agreed, together out they fly, +Inseparable now, the truth and lie; +The strict companions are for ever join'd, +And this or that unmix'd, no mortal e'er shall find. + +While thus I stood, intent to see and hear, +One came, methought, and whisper'd in my ear: +'What could thus high thy rash ambition raise? +Art thou, fond youth, a candidate for praise?' 500 + +''Tis true,' said I, 'not void of hopes I came, +For who so fond as youthful bards of fame? +But few, alas! the casual blessing boast, +So hard to gain, so easy to be lost. +How vain that second life in others' breath, +The estate which wits inherit after death! +Ease, health, and life, for this they must resign, +(Unsure the tenure, but how vast the fine!) +The great man's curse, without the gains, endure, +Be envied, wretched, and be flatter'd, poor; 510 +All luckless wits their enemies profess'd, +And all successful, jealous friends at best. +Nor Fame I slight, nor for her favours call; +She comes unlook'd for, if she comes at all. +But if the purchase costs so dear a price, +As soothing folly, or exalting vice; +Oh! if the Muse must flatter lawless sway, +And follow still where fortune leads the way; +Or if no basis bear my rising name, +But the fallen ruins of another's fame; 520 +Then teach me, Heaven! to scorn the guilty bays, +Drive from my breast that wretched lust of praise, +Unblemish'd let me live, or die unknown; +Oh, grant an honest fame, or grant me none!' + + * * * * * + +ELOISA TO ABELARD. + + +ARGUMENT. + +Abelard and Eloisa flourished in the twelfth century; they were two of +the most distinguished persons of their age in learning and beauty, but +for nothing more famous than for their unfortunate passion. After a long +course of calamities, they retired each to a several convent, and +consecrated the remainder of their days to religion. It was many years +after this separation that a letter of Abelard's to a friend, which +contained the history of his misfortune, fell into the hands of Eloisa. +This, awakening all her tenderness, occasioned those celebrated letters +(out of which the following is partly extracted) which give so lively a +picture of the struggles of grace and nature, virtue and passion. + + +In these deep solitudes and awful cells, +Where heavenly-pensive Contemplation dwells, +And ever-musing Melancholy reigns, +What means this tumult in a vestal's veins? +Why rove my thoughts beyond this last retreat? +Why feels my heart its long-forgotten heat? +Yet, yet I love!--From Abelard it came, +And Eloisa yet must kiss the name. + +Dear fatal name! rest ever unreveal'd, +Nor pass these lips in holy silence seal'd: 10 +Hide it, my heart, within that close disguise +Where, mix'd with God's, his loved idea lies: +Oh write it not, my hand!--the name appears +Already written--wash it out, my tears! +In vain lost Eloisa weeps and prays, +Her heart still dictates, and her hand obeys. + +Relentless walls! whose darksome round contains +Repentant sighs, and voluntary pains: +Ye rugged rocks! which holy knees have worn; +Ye grots and caverns, shagg'd with horrid thorn! 20 +Shrines! where their vigils pale-eyed virgins keep, +And pitying saints, whose statues learn to weep! +Though cold like you, unmoved and silent grown, +I have not yet forgot myself to stone. +All is not Heaven's while Abelard has part, +Still rebel nature holds out half my heart; +Nor prayers nor fasts its stubborn pulse restrain, +Nor tears for ages taught to flow in vain. + +Soon as thy letters trembling I unclose, +That well-known name awakens all my woes. 30 +Oh, name for ever sad! for ever dear! +Still breathed in sighs, still usher'd with a tear. +I tremble too, where'er my own I find, +Some dire misfortune follows close behind. +Line after line my gushing eyes o'erflow, +Led through a sad variety of woe; +Now warm in love, now withering in my bloom, +Lost in a convent's solitary gloom! +There stern religion quench'd the unwilling flame, +There died the best of passions, Love and Fame. 40 + +Yet write, oh! write me all, that I may join +Griefs to thy griefs, and echo sighs to thine. +Nor foes nor fortune take this power away; +And is my Abelard less kind than they? +Tears still are mine, and those I need not spare, +Love but demands what else were shed in prayer; +No happier task these faded eyes pursue; +To read and weep is all they now can do. + +Then share thy pain, allow that sad relief; +Ah, more than share it, give me all thy grief! 50 +Heaven first taught letters for some wretch's aid, +Some banish'd lover, or some captive maid; +They live, they speak, they breathe what love inspires, +Warm from the soul, and faithful to its fires; +The virgin's wish without her fears impart, +Excuse the blush, and pour out all the heart, +Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul, +And waft a sigh from Indus to the Pole. + +Thou know'st how guiltless first I met thy flame, +When Love approach'd me under Friendship's name; 60 +My fancy form'd thee of angelic kind, +Some emanation of the all-beauteous Mind. +Those smiling eyes, attempering every ray, +Shone sweetly lambent with celestial day. +Guiltless I gazed; Heaven listen'd while you sung; +And truths divine came mended from that tongue. +From lips like those, what precept fail'd to move? +Too soon they taught me 'twas no sin to love: +Back through the paths of pleasing sense I ran, +Nor wish'd an angel whom I loved a man. 70 +Dim and remote the joys of saints I see; +Nor envy them that heaven I lose for thee. + +How oft, when press'd to marriage, have I said, +Curse on all laws but those which Love has made! +Love, free as air, at sight of human ties, +Spreads his light wings, and in a moment flies. +Let wealth, let honour, wait the wedded dame, +August her deed, and sacred be her fame; 80 +Before true passion all those views remove; +Fame, wealth, and honour! what are you to Love? +The jealous god, when we profane his fires, +Those restless passions in revenge inspires, +And bids them make mistaken mortals groan, +Who seek in love for aught but love alone. +Should at my feet the world's great master fall, +Himself, his throne, his world, I'd scorn them all: +Not Cæsar's empress would I deign to prove; +No, make me mistress to the man I love; +If there be yet another name more free, +More fond than mistress, make me that to thee! 90 +Oh, happy state! when souls each other draw, +When love is liberty, and nature law: +All then is full, possessing and possess'd, +No craving void left aching in the breast: +Even thought meets thought, ere from the lips it part, +And each warm wish springs mutual from the heart. +This, sure, is bliss (if bliss on earth there be) +And once the lot of Abelard and me. + +Alas, how changed! what sudden horrors rise! +A naked lover bound and bleeding lies! 100 +Where, where was Eloise? her voice, her hand, +Her poniard, had opposed the dire command. +Barbarian, stay! that bloody stroke restrain; +The crime was common, common be the pain. +I can no more; by shame, by rage suppress'd, +Let tears and burning blushes speak the rest. + +Canst thou forget that sad, that solemn day, +When victims at yon altar's foot we lay? +Canst thou forget what tears that moment fell, +When, warm in youth, I bade the world farewell? 110 +As with cold lips I kiss'd the sacred veil, +The shrines all trembled, and the lamps grew pale: +Heaven scarce believed the conquest it survey'd, +And saints with wonder heard the vows I made. +Yet then, to those dread altars as I drew, +Not on the cross my eyes were fix'd, but you: +Not grace, or zeal, love only was my call, +And if I lose thy love, I lose my all. +Come! with thy looks, thy words, relieve my woe; +Those still at least are left thee to bestow. 120 +Still on that breast enamour'd let me lie, +Still drink delicious poison from thy eye, +Pant on thy lip, and to thy heart be press'd; +Give all thou canst--and let me dream the rest. +Ah, no! instruct me other joys to prize, +With other beauties charm my partial eyes, +Full in my view set all the bright abode, +And make my soul quit Abelard for God. + +Ah, think at least thy flock deserves thy care, +Plants of thy hand, and children of thy prayer. 130 +From the false world in early youth they fled, +By thee to mountains, wilds, and deserts led. +You raised these hallow'd walls; the desert smiled, +And Paradise was open'd in the wild. +No weeping orphan saw his father's stores +Our shrines irradiate, or emblaze the floors; +No silver saints, by dying misers given, +Here bribed the rage of ill-requited Heaven: +But such plain roofs as Piety could raise, +And only vocal with the Maker's praise. 140 +In these lone walls, (their day's eternal bound) +These moss-grown domes with spiry turrets crown'd, +Where awful arches make a noonday night, +And the dim windows shed a solemn light; +Thy eyes diffused a reconciling ray, +And gleams of glory brighten'd all the day. +But now no face divine contentment wears, +'Tis all blank sadness, or continual tears. +See how the force of others' prayers I try, +(Oh pious fraud of amorous charity!) 150 +But why should I on others' prayers depend? +Come thou, my father, brother, husband, friend! +Ah, let thy handmaid, sister, daughter move, +And all those tender names in one--thy love! +The darksome pines that, o'er yon rocks reclined, +Wave high, and murmur to the hollow wind, +The wandering streams that shine between the hills, +The grots that echo to the tinkling rills, +The dying gales that pant upon the trees, +The lakes that quiver to the curling breeze; 160 +No more these scenes my meditation aid, +Or lull to rest the visionary maid. +But o'er the twilight groves and dusky caves, +Long-sounding aisles, and intermingled graves, +Black Melancholy sits, and round her throws +A death-like silence, and a dread repose: +Her gloomy presence saddens all the scene, +Shades every flower, and darkens every green, +Deepens the murmur of the falling floods, +And breathes a browner horror on the woods. 170 + +Yet here for ever, ever must I stay; +Sad proof how well a lover can obey! +Death, only death, can break the lasting chain; +And here, even then, shall my cold dust remain; +Here all its frailties, all its flames resign, +And wait till 'tis no sin to mix with thine. + +Ah, wretch! believed the spouse of God in vain, +Confess'd within the slave of love and man. +Assist me, Heaven! but whence arose that prayer? +Sprung it from piety, or from despair? 180 +Even here, where frozen chastity retires, +Love finds an altar for forbidden fires. +I ought to grieve, but cannot what I ought; +I mourn the lover, not lament the fault; +I view my crime, but kindle at the view, +Repent old pleasures, and solicit new; +Now turn'd to Heaven, I weep my past offence, +Now think of thee, and curse my innocence. +Of all affliction taught a lover yet, +'Tis sure the hardest science to forget! 190 +How shall I lose the sin, yet keep the sense, +And love the offender, yet detest the offence? +How the dear object from the crime remove, +Or how distinguish penitence from love? +Unequal task! a passion to resign, +For hearts so touch'd, so pierced, so lost as mine. +Ere such a soul regains its peaceful state, +How often must it love, how often hate! +How often hope, despair, resent, regret, +Conceal, disdain,--do all things but forget! 200 +But let Heaven seize it, all at once 'tis fired; +Not touch'd, but rapt; not waken'd, but inspired! +Oh come! oh teach me nature to subdue, +Renounce my love, my life, myself--and you. +Fill my fond heart with God alone, for He +Alone can rival, can succeed to thee. + +How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot! +The world forgetting, by the world forgot: +Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! +Each prayer accepted, and each wish resign'd; 210 +Labour and rest, that equal periods keep; +'Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep;' +Desires composed, affections ever even; +Tears that delight, and sighs that waft to heaven. +Grace shines around her with serenest beams, +And whispering angels prompt her golden dreams. +For her the unfading rose of Eden blooms, +And wings of seraphs shed divine perfumes; +For her the spouse prepares the bridal ring, +For her white virgins hymeneals sing, 220 +To sounds of heavenly harps she dies away, +And melts in visions of eternal day. + +Far other dreams my erring soul employ, +Far other raptures, of unholy joy: +When at the close of each sad, sorrowing day, +Fancy restores what vengeance snatch'd away, +Then conscience sleeps, and leaving nature free, +All my loose soul unbounded springs to thee. +O curst, dear horrors of all-conscious night! +How glowing guilt exalts the keen delight! 230 +Provoking demons all restraint remove, +And stir within me every source of love. +I hear thee, view thee, gaze o'er all thy charms, +And round thy phantom glue my clasping arms. +I wake:--no more I hear, no more I view, +The phantom flies me, as unkind as you. +I call aloud; it hears not what I say: +I stretch my empty arms; it glides away. +To dream once more I close my willing eyes; +Ye soft illusions, dear deceits, arise! 240 +Alas, no more! methinks we wandering go +Through dreary wastes, and weep each other's woe, +Where round some mouldering tower pale ivy creeps, +And low-brow'd rocks hang nodding o'er the deeps. +Sudden you mount, you beckon from the skies; +Clouds interpose, waves roar, and winds arise. +I shriek, start up, the same sad prospect find, +And wake to all the griefs I left behind. + +For thee the Fates, severely kind, ordain +A cool suspense from pleasure and from pain; 250 +Thy life a long dead calm of fix'd repose; +No pulse that riots, and no blood that glows. +Still as the sea, ere winds were taught to blow, +Or moving spirit bade the waters flow; +Soft as the slumbers of a saint forgiven, +And mild as opening gleams of promised heaven. + +Come, Abelard! for what hast thou to dread? +The torch of Venus burns not for the dead. +Nature stands check'd; Religion disapproves; +Even thou art cold--yet Eloisa loves. 260 +Ah hopeless, lasting flames! like those that burn +To light the dead, and warm the unfruitful urn. + +What scenes appear where'er I turn my view? +The dear ideas, where I fly, pursue, +Rise in the grove, before the altar rise, +Stain all my soul, and wanton in my eyes. +I waste the matin lamp in sighs for thee, +Thy image steals between my God and me, +Thy voice I seem in every hymn to hear, +With every bead I drop too soft a tear. 270 +When from the censer clouds of fragrance roll, +And swelling organs lift the rising soul, +One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight, +Priests, tapers, temples, swim before my sight: +In seas of flame my plunging soul is drown'd, +While altars blaze, and angels tremble round. + +While prostrate here in humble grief I lie, +Kind, virtuous drops just gathering in my eye, +While praying, trembling, in the dust I roll, +And dawning grace is opening on my soul: 280 +Come, if thou dar'st, all charming as thou art! +Oppose thyself to heaven; dispute my heart; +Come, with one glance of those deluding eyes +Blot out each bright idea of the skies; +Take back that grace, those sorrows, and those tears; +Take back my fruitless penitence and prayers; +Snatch me, just mounting, from the blest abode; +Assist the fiends, and tear me from my God! + +No, fly me, fly me, far as pole from pole; +Rise Alps between us! and whole oceans roll! 290 +Ah, come not, write not, think not once of me, +Nor share one pang of all I felt for thee! +Thy oaths I quit, thy memory resign; +Forget, renounce me, hate whate'er was mine. +Fair eyes, and tempting looks (which yet I view) +Long loved, adored ideas, all adieu! +O Grace serene! O Virtue heavenly fair! +Divine oblivion of low-thoughted care! +Fresh blooming Hope, gay daughter of the sky! 300 +And Faith, our early immortality! +Enter, each mild, each amicable guest; +Receive, and wrap me in eternal rest! + +See in her cell sad Eloisa spread, +Propp'd on some tomb, a neighbour of the dead. +In each low wind methinks a spirit calls, +And more than echoes talk along the walls. +Here, as I watch'd the dying lamps around, +From yonder shrine I heard a hollow sound. +'Come, sister, come!' (it said, or seem'd to say) +'Thy place is here, sad sister, come away! 310 +Once like thyself, I trembled, wept, and pray'd, +Love's victim then, though now a sainted maid: +But all is calm in this eternal sleep; +Here Grief forgets to groan, and Love to weep, +Even Superstition loses every fear: +For God, not man, absolves our frailties here.' + +I come, I come! prepare your roseate bowers, +Celestial palms, and ever-blooming flowers. +Thither, where sinners may have rest, I go, +Where flames refined in breasts seraphic glow: 320 +Thou, Abelard! the last sad office pay, +And smooth my passage to the realms of day; +See my lips tremble, and my eyeballs roll, +Suck my last breath, and catch my flying soul! +Ah, no!--in sacred vestments may'st thou stand, +The hallow'd taper trembling in thy hand, +Present the cross before my lifted eye, +Teach me at once, and learn of me to die. +Ah, then thy once-loved Eloisa see! +It will be then no crime to gaze on me. 330 +See from my cheek the transient roses fly! +See the last sparkle languish in my eye! +Till every motion, pulse, and breath be o'er; +And even my Abelard be loved no more. +O Death all-eloquent! you only prove +What dust we doat on when 'tis man we love. + +Then too, when fate shall thy fair frame destroy, +(That cause of all my guilt, and all my joy!) +In trance ecstatic may thy pangs be drown'd, +Bright clouds descend, and angels watch thee round, 340 +From opening skies may streaming glories shine, +And saints embrace thee with a love like mine. + +May one kind grave[67] unite each hapless name, +And graft my love immortal on thy fame! +Then, ages hence, when all my woes are o'er, +When this rebellious heart shall beat no more; +If ever chance two wandering lovers brings +To Paraclete's white walls and silver springs, +O'er the pale marble shall they join their heads, +And drink the falling tears each other sheds; 350 +Then sadly say,--with mutual pity moved, +'Oh, may we never love as these have loved!' +From the full choir when loud hosannas rise, +And swell the pomp of dreadful sacrifice, +Amid that scene, if some relenting eye +Glance on the stone where our cold relics lie, +Devotion's self shall steal a thought from heaven, +One human tear shall drop, and be forgiven. +And sure, if Fate some future bard shall join +In sad similitude of griefs to mine, 360 +Condemn'd whole years in absence to deplore, +And image charms he must behold no more; +Such if there be, who love so long, so well, +Let him our sad, our tender story tell; +The well-sung woes will soothe my pensive ghost; +He best can paint them who shall feel them most. + + * * * * * + +EPISTLE TO ROBERT EARL OF OXFORD AND EARL MORTIMER.[68] + + +Such were the notes thy once-loved Poet sung, +Till Death untimely stopp'd his tuneful tongue. +Oh just beheld and lost! admired and mourn'd! +With softest manners, gentlest arts adorn'd! +Blest in each science, blest in every strain! +Dear to the Muse! to Harley dear--in vain! + +For him, thou oft hast bid the world attend, +Fond to forget the statesman in the friend; +For Swift and him, despised the farce of state, +The sober follies of the wise and great; 10 +Dext'rous, the craving, fawning crowd to quit, +And pleased to 'scape from Flattery to Wit. + +Absent or dead, still let a friend be dear, +(A sigh the absent claims, the dead a tear,) +Recall those nights that closed thy toilsome days, +Still hear thy Parnell in his living lays, +Who, careless now of interest, fame, or fate, +Perhaps forgets that Oxford e'er was great; +Or deeming meanest what we greatest call, +Behold thee glorious only in thy fall. 20 + +And sure, if aught below the seats divine +Can touch immortals, 'tis a soul like thine: +A soul supreme, in each hard instance tried, +Above all pain, all passion, and all pride, +The rage of power, the blast of public breath, +The lust of lucre, and the dread of death. + +In vain to deserts thy retreat is made; +The Muse attends thee to thy silent shade: +'Tis hers the brave man's latest steps to trace, +Rejudge his acts, and dignify disgrace. 30 +When interest calls off all her sneaking train, +And all the obliged desert, and all the vain, +She waits, or to the scaffold, or the cell, +When the last lingering friend has bid farewell. +Even now she shades thy evening-walk with bays, +(No hireling she, no prostitute to praise), +Even now, observant of the parting ray, +Eyes the calm sunset of thy various day; +Through Fortune's cloud one truly great can see, +Nor fears to tell that Mortimer is he. 40 + + * * * * * + +EPISTLE TO JAMES CRAGGS, ESQ., + +SECRETARY OF STATE.[69] + + +A soul as full of worth, as void of pride, +Which nothing seeks to show, or needs to hide, +Which nor to guilt nor fear its caution owes, +And boasts a warmth that from no passion flows. +A face untaught to feign; a judging eye, +That darts severe upon a rising lie, +And strikes a blush through frontless flattery. +All this thou wert; and being this before, +Know, kings and fortune cannot make thee more. +Then scorn to gain a friend by servile ways, +Nor wish to lose a foe these virtues raise; +But candid, free, sincere, as you began, +Proceed--a minister, but still a man. +Be not (exalted to whate'er degree) +Ashamed of any friend, not even of me: +The patriot's plain, but untrod path pursue; +If not, 'tis I must be ashamed of you. + + * * * * * + +EPISTLE TO MR JERVAS, + +WITH MR DRYDEN'S TRANSLATION OF FRESNOY'S 'ART OF PAINTING.' + + +This verse be thine, my friend, nor thou refuse +This from no venal or ungrateful Muse. +Whether thy hand strike out some free design, +Where life awakes, and dawns at every line; +Or blend in beauteous tints the colour'd mass, +And from the canvas call the mimic face: +Read these instructive leaves, in which conspire +Fresnoy's close art, and Dryden's native fire: +And, reading, wish like theirs our fate and fame, +So mix'd our studies, and so join'd our name; 10 +Like them to shine through long succeeding age, +So just thy skill, so regular my rage. + +Smit with the love of sister-arts we came, +And met congenial, mingling flame with flame; +Like friendly colours found them both unite, +And each from each contract new strength and light. +How oft in pleasing tasks we wear the day, +While summer suns roll unperceived away! +How oft our slowly-growing works impart, +While images reflect from art to art! 20 +How oft review; each finding, like a friend, +Something to blame, and something to commend! + +What flattering scenes our wandering fancy wrought, +Rome's pompous glories rising to our thought! +Together o'er the Alps methinks we fly, +Fired with ideas of fair Italy. +With thee on Raphael's monument I mourn. +Or wait inspiring dreams at Maro's urn: +With thee repose where Tully once was laid, +Or seek some ruin's formidable shade: 30 +While fancy brings the vanish'd piles to view. +And builds imaginary Rome anew. +Here thy well-studied marbles fix our eye; +A fading fresco here demands a sigh: +Each heavenly piece unwearied we compare, +Match Raphael's grace with thy loved Guide's air, +Carracci's strength, Correggio's softer line, +Paulo's free stroke, and Titian's warmth divine. + +How finish'd with illustrious toil appears +This small, well-polish'd gem, the work of years![70] 40 +Yet still how faint by precept is express'd +The living image in the painter's breast! +Thence endless streams of fair ideas flow, +Strike in the sketch, or in the picture glow; +Thence Beauty, waking all her forms, supplies +An angel's sweetness, or Bridgewater's eyes. + +Muse! at that name thy sacred sorrows shed, +Those tears eternal, that embalm the dead; +Call round her tomb each object of desire, +Each purer frame inform'd with purer fire: 50 +Bid her be all that cheers or softens life, +The tender sister, daughter, friend, and wife: +Bid her be all that makes mankind adore; +Then view this marble, and be vain no more! + +Yet still her charms in breathing paint engage; +Her modest cheek shall warm a future age. +Beauty, frail flower that every season fears, +Blooms in thy colours for a thousand years. +Thus Churchill's race shall other hearts surprise, +And other beauties envy Worsley's eyes;[71] 60 +Each pleasing Blount shall endless smiles bestow, +And soft Belinda's blush for ever glow. + +Oh, lasting as those colours may they shine, +Free as thy stroke, yet faultless as thy line; +New graces yearly like thy works display, +Soft without weakness, without glaring gay; +Led by some rule, that guides, but not constrains; +And finish'd more through happiness than pains. +The kindred arts shall in their praise conspire, +One dip the pencil, and one string the lyre. 70 +Yet should the Graces all thy figures place, +And breathe an air divine on every face; +Yet should the Muses bid my numbers roll +Strong as their charms, and gentle as their soul; +With Zeuxis' Helen thy Bridgewater vie, +And these be sung till Granville's Myra die: +Alas! how little from the grave we claim! +Thou but preserv'st a face, and I a name. + + * * * * * + +EPISTLE TO MISS BLOUNT, + +WITH THE WORKS OF VOITURE.[72] + + +In these gay thoughts the Loves and Graces shine, +And all the writer lives in every line; +His easy art may happy nature seem, +Trifles themselves are elegant in him. +Sure, to charm all was his peculiar fate, +Who without flattery pleased the fair and great; +Still with esteem no less conversed than read; +With wit well-natured, and with books well-bred: +His heart, his mistress, and his friend did share, +His time, the Muse, the witty, and the fair. 10 +Thus wisely careless, innocently gay, +Cheerful he play'd the trifle, Life, away; +Till Fate scarce felt his gentle breath suppress'd, +As smiling infants sport themselves to rest. +Even rival wits did Voiture's death deplore, +And the gay mourn'd who never mourn'd before; +The truest hearts for Voiture heaved with sighs, +Voiture was wept by all the brightest eyes: +The Smiles and Loves had died in Voiture's death, +But that for ever in his lines they breathe. 20 + +Let the strict life of graver mortals be +A long, exact, and serious comedy; +In every scene some moral let it teach, +And if it can, at once both please and preach. +Let mine an innocent gay farce appear, +And more diverting still than regular, +Have humour, wit, a native ease and grace, +Though not too strictly bound to time and place: +Critics in wit, or life, are hard to please, +Few write to those, and none can live to these. 30 + +Too much your sex is by their forms confined, +Severe to all, but most to womankind; +Custom, grown blind with age, must be your guide; +Your pleasure is a vice, but not your pride; +By nature yielding, stubborn but for fame; +Made slaves by honour, and made fools by shame. +Marriage may all those petty tyrants chase, +But sets up one, a greater, in their place; +Well might you wish for change, by those accursed, +But the last tyrant ever proves the worst. 40 +Still in constraint your suffering sex remains, +Or bound in formal, or in real chains: +Whole years neglected, for some months adored, +The fawning servant turns a haughty lord. +Ah, quit not the free innocence of life, +For the dull glory of a virtuous wife; +Nor let false shows, or empty titles please: +Aim not at joy, but rest content with ease! + +The gods, to curse Pamela with her prayers, +Gave the gilt coach and dappled Flanders mares, 50 +The shining robes, rich jewels, beds of state, +And, to complete her bliss, a fool for mate. +She glares in balls, front boxes, and the Ring, +A vain, unquiet, glittering, wretched thing! +Pride, pomp, and state but reach her outward part: +She sighs, and is no duchess at her heart. + +But, madam, if the Fates withstand, and you +Are destined Hymen's willing victim too: +Trust not too much your now resistless charms, +Those, age or sickness, soon or late, disarms: 60 +Good-humour only teaches charms to last, +Still makes new conquests, and maintains the past; +Love, raised on beauty, will like that decay, +Our hearts may bear its slender chain a day; +As flowery bands in wantonness are worn, +A morning's pleasure, and at evening torn; +This binds in ties more easy, yet more strong, +The willing heart, and only holds it long. + +Thus Voiture's early care still shone the same, +And Monthansier[73] was only changed in name: 70 +By this, even now they live, even now they charm, +Their wit still sparkling, and their flames still warm. + +Now crown'd with myrtle, on the Elysian coast, +Amid those lovers, joys his gentle ghost: +Pleased, while with smiles his happy lines you view, +And finds a fairer Rambouillet in you. +The brightest eyes of France inspired his Muse; +The brightest eyes of Britain now peruse; +And dead, as living, 'tis our author's pride +Still to charm those who charm the world beside. + + * * * * * + +EPISTLE TO MRS TERESA BLOUNT. + +ON HER LEAVING THE TOWN AFTER THE CORONATION.[74] + + +As some fond virgin, whom her mother's care +Drags from the town to wholesome country air, +Just when she learns to roll a melting eye, +And hear a spark, yet think no danger nigh; +From the dear man unwilling she must sever, +Yet takes one kiss before she parts for ever: +Thus from the world fair Zephalinda flew, +Saw others happy, and with sighs withdrew; +Not that their pleasures caused her discontent, +She sigh'd not that they staid, but that she went. 10 + +She went to plain-work, and to purling brooks, +Old-fashion'd halls, dull aunts, and croaking rooks: +She went from opera, park, assembly, play, +To morning-walks, and prayers three hours a-day: +To part her time 'twixt reading and bohea, +To muse, and spill her solitary tea; +Or o'er cold coffee trifle with the spoon, +Count the slow clock, and dine exact at noon; +Divert her eyes with pictures in the fire, +Hum half a tune, tell stories to the 'squire; 20 +Up to her godly garret after seven, +There starve and pray, for that's the way to heaven. + +Some 'squire, perhaps, you take delight to rack; +Whose game is whist, whose treat, a toast in sack; +Who visits with a gun, presents you birds, +Then gives a smacking buss, and cries--No words! +Or with his hound comes hallooing from the stable, +Makes love with nods, and knees beneath a table; +Whose laughs are hearty, though his jests are coarse, +And loves you best of all things--but his horse. 30 + +In some fair evening, on your elbow laid, +You dream of triumphs in the rural shade; +In pensive thought recall the fancied scene, +See coronations rise on every green; +Before you pass the imaginary sights +Of lords, and earls, and dukes, and garter'd knights, +While the spread fan o'ershades your closing eyes; +Then give one flirt, and all the vision flies. +Thus vanish sceptres, coronets, and balls, +And leave you in lone woods, or empty walls! 40 + +So when your slave, at some dear idle time, +(Not plagued with headaches, or the want of rhyme) +Stands in the streets, abstracted from the crew, +And while he seems to study, thinks of you; +Just when his fancy paints your sprightly eyes, +Or sees the blush of soft Parthenia rise, +Gay pats my shoulder, and you vanish quite, +Streets, chairs, and coxcombs rush upon my sight; +Vex'd to be still in town, I knit my brow, +Look sour, and hum a tune, as you do now. 50 + + * * * * * + +TO MRS M. B.[75] ON HER BIRTHDAY. + + +Oh, be thou blest with all that Heaven can send, +Long health, long youth, long pleasure, and a friend: +Not with those toys the female world admire, +Riches that vex, and vanities that tire. +With added years, if life bring nothing new, +But, like a sieve, let every blessing through, +Some joy still lost, as each vain year runs o'er, +And all we gain, some sad reflection more; +Is that a birthday? 'tis alas! too clear +'Tis but the funeral of the former year. 10 + +Let joy or ease, let affluence or content, +And the gay conscience of a life well spent, +Calm every thought, inspirit every grace, +Glow in thy heart, and smile upon thy face +Let day improve on day, and year on year, +Without a pain, a trouble, or a fear; +Till death unfelt that tender frame destroy, +In some soft dream, or ecstasy of joy, +Peaceful sleep out the Sabbath of the tomb, +And wake to raptures in a life to come. 20 + + * * * * * + +TO MR THOMAS SOUTHERN,[76] ON HIS BIRTHDAY, 1742. + + +Resign'd to live, prepared to die, +With not one sin, but poetry, +This day Tom's fair account has run +(Without a blot) to eighty-one. +Kind Boyle, before his poet lays +A table,[77] with a cloth of bays; +And Ireland, mother of sweet singers, +Presents her harp[78] still to his fingers. +The feast, his towering genius marks +In yonder wild goose and the larks; 10 +The mushrooms show his wit was sudden; +And for his judgment, lo, a pudden! +Roast beef, though old, proclaims him stout, +And grace, although a bard, devout. +May Tom, whom Heaven sent down to raise +The price of prologues[79] and of plays, +Be every birthday more a winner, +Digest his thirty-thousandth dinner; +Walk to his grave without reproach, +And scorn a rascal and a coach. 20 + + * * * * * + +VARIATION. + +VER. 15. Originally thus in the MS.:-- + +And oh, since Death must that fair frame destroy, +Die, by some sudden ecstasy of joy; +In some soft dream may thy mild soul remove, +And be thy latest gasp a sigh of love. + + + + +TO MR JOHN MOORE, + +AUTHOR OF THE CELEBRATED WORM-POWDER. + + + 1 How much, egregious Moore, are we + Deceived by shows and forms! + Whate'er we think, whate'er we see, + All humankind are worms. + + 2 Man is a very worm by birth, + Vile reptile, weak and vain! + A while he crawls upon the earth, + Then shrinks to earth again. + + 3 That woman is a worm, we find + E'er since our grandame's evil; + She first conversed with her own kind, + That ancient worm, the Devil. + + 4 The learn'd themselves we book-worms name, + The blockhead is a slow-worm; + The nymph whose tail is all on flame, + Is aptly term'd a glow-worm: + + 5 The fops are painted butterflies, + That flutter for a day; + First from a worm they take their rise, + And in a worm decay. + + 6 The flatterer an earwig grows; + Thus worms suit all conditions; + Misers are muck-worms, silk-worms beaux. + And death-watches, physicians. + + 7 That statesmen have the worm, is seen + By all their winding play; + Their conscience is a worm within, + That gnaws them night and day. + + 8 Ah, Moore! thy skill were well employ'd, + And greater gain would rise, + If thou couldst make the courtier void + The worm that never dies! + + 9 O learnèd friend of Abchurch Lane, + Who sett'st our entrails free! + Vain is thy art, thy powder vain, + Since worms shall eat even thee. + +10 Our fate thou only canst adjourn + Some few short years--no more; + Even Button's Wits to worms shall turn, + Who maggots were before. + + + + +TO MR C.,[80] ST JAMES'S PLACE. + + +1 Few words are best; I wish you well: + Bethel, I'm told, will soon be here; + Some morning walks along the Mall, + And evening friends, will end the year. + +2 If in this interval, between + The falling leaf and coming frost, + You please to see, on Twit'nam green, + Your friend, your poet, and your host: + +3 For three whole days you here may rest + From office business, news, and strife; + And (what most folks would think a jest) + Want nothing else except your wife. + + * * * * * + +EPITAPHS. + + +I. ON CHARLES EARL OF DORSET, IN THE CHURCH OF WITHYAM, IN SUSSEX. + +'His saltem accumulem donis, et fungar inani Munere!' + +VIRG. + +Dorset, the grace of courts, the Muses' pride, +Patron of arts, and judge of nature, died. +The scourge of pride, though sanctified or great, +Of fops in learning, and of knaves in state: +Yet soft his nature, though severe his lay, +His anger moral, and his wisdom gay. +Bless'd satirist! who touch'd the mean so true, +As show'd vice had his hate and pity too. +Blest courtier! who could king and country please, +Yet sacred keep his friendships, and his ease. +Blest peer! his great forefathers' every grace +Reflecting, and reflected in his race; +Where other Buckhursts, other Dorsets shine, +And patriots still, or poets, deck the line. + + +II. ON SIR WILLIAM TRUMBULL.[81] + +A pleasing form; a firm, yet cautious mind; +Sincere, though prudent; constant, yet resign'd: +Honour unchanged, a principle profess'd, +Fix'd to one side, but moderate to the rest: +An honest courtier, yet a patriot too; +Just to his prince, and to his country true: +Fill'd with the sense of age, the fire of youth, +A scorn of wrangling, yet a zeal for truth; +A generous faith, from superstition free: +A love to peace, and hate of tyranny; +Such this man was; who now, from earth removed, +At length enjoys that liberty he loved. + + + + +III. ON THE HON. SIMON HARCOURT, ONLY SON OF THE LORD CHANCELLOR +HARCOURT, AT THE CHURCH OF STANTON HARCOURT, IN OXFORDSHIRE, 1720. + +To this sad shrine, whoe'er thou art, draw near; +Here lies the friend most loved, the son most dear: +Who ne'er knew joy, but friendship might divide, +Or gave his father grief but when he died. + +How vain is reason, eloquence how weak! +If Pope must tell what Harcourt cannot speak. +Oh, let thy once-loved friend inscribe thy stone, +And, with a father's sorrows, mix his own! + + +IV. ON JAMES CRAGGS, ESQ. IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. + +JACOBUS CRAGGS REGI MAGNAE BRITANNIA A SECRETIS ET CONSILIIS +SANCTIORIBUS, PRINCIPIS PARITER AC POPULI AMOR ET DELICIAE: VIXIT +TITULIS ET INVIDIA MAJOR ANNOS, HEU PAUCOS, XXXV. OB. FEB. XVI. MDCCXX. + +Statesman, yet friend to Truth! of soul sincere, +In action faithful, and in honour clear! +Who broke no promise, served no private end, +Who gain'd no title, and who lost no friend; +Ennobled by himself, by all approved, +Praised, wept, and honour'd by the Muse he loved. + + +V. INTENDED FOR MR ROWE, IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. + +Thy relics, Rowe, to this fair urn we trust, +And sacred place by Dryden's awful dust: +Beneath a rude and nameless stone he lies, +To which thy tomb shall guide inquiring eyes. +Peace to thy gentle shade, and endless rest! +Blest in thy genius, in thy love, too, blest! +One grateful woman to thy fame supplies +What a whole thankless land to his denies. + + +VI. ON MRS CORBET, WHO DIED OF A CANCER IN HER BREAST. + +Here rests a woman, good without pretence, +Blest with plain reason, and with sober sense: +No conquests she, but o'er herself, desired, +No arts essay'd, but not to be admired. +Passion and pride were to her soul unknown, +Convinced that virtue only is our own. +So unaffected, so composed a mind; +So firm, yet soft; so strong, yet so refined; +Heaven, as its purest gold, by tortures tried; +The saint sustain'd it, but the woman died. + + +VII. ON THE MONUMENT OF THE HONOURABLE EGBERT DIGBY, AND HIS SISTER +MARY. + +ERECTED BY THEIR FATHER THE LORD DIGBY, IN THE CHURCH OF SHERBORNE, IN +DORSETSHIRE, 1727. + +Go! fair example of untainted youth, +Of modest wisdom, and pacific truth: +Composed in sufferings, and in joy sedate, +Good without noise, without pretension great. +Just of thy word, in every thought sincere, +Who knew no wish but what the world might hear: +Of softest manners, unaffected mind, +Lover of peace, and friend of human kind: +Go live! for Heaven's eternal year is thine,[82] +Go, and exalt thy moral to divine. + +And thou, bless'd maid! attendant on his doom, +Pensive hast follow'd to the silent tomb, +Steer'd the same course to the same quiet shore, +Not parted long, and now to part no more! +Go then, where only bliss sincere is known! +Go, where to love and to enjoy are one! + +Yet take these tears, Mortality's relief, +And till we share your joys, forgive our grief: +These little rites, a stone, a verse receive; +'Tis all a father, all a friend can give! + + +VIII. ON SIR GODFREY KNELLER, IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, 1723. + +Kneller, by Heaven, and not a master, taught, +Whose art was Nature, and whose pictures Thought; +Now for two ages having snatch'd from Fate +Whate'er was beauteous, or whate'er was great, +Lies crown'd with princes' honours, poets' lays, +Due to his merit, and brave thirst of praise. + +Living, great Nature fear'd he might outvie +Her works; and, dying, fears herself may die. + + +IX. ON GENERAL HENRY WITHERS, IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, 1729. + +Here, Withers, rest! thou bravest, gentlest mind, +Thy country's friend, but more of human kind. +Oh, born to arms! oh, worth in youth approved! +Oh, soft humanity, in age beloved! +For thee the hardy veteran drops a tear, +And the gay courtier feels the sigh sincere. +Withers, adieu! yet not with thee remove +Thy martial spirit, or thy social love! +Amidst corruption, luxury, and rage, +Still leave some ancient virtues to our age: +Nor let us say (those English glories gone) +The last true Briton lies beneath this stone. + + +X. ON MR ELIJAH FENTON,[83] AT EASTHAMSTEAD, IN BERKS, 1730. + +This modest stone, what few vain marbles can, +May truly say, Here lies an honest man: +A poet, blest beyond the poet's fate, +Whom Heaven kept sacred from the proud and great: +Foe to loud praise, and friend to learnèd ease, +Content with science in the vale of peace. +Calmly he look'd on either life, and here +Saw nothing to regret, or there to fear; +From Nature's temperate feast rose satisfied, +Thank'd Heaven that he had lived, and that he died. + + +XI. ON MR GAY, IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, 1732. + +Of manners gentle, of affections mild; +In wit, a man; simplicity, a child: +With native humour tempering virtuous rage, +Form'd to delight at once and lash the age: +Above temptation in a low estate, +And uncorrupted, even among the great: +A safe companion, and an easy friend, +Unblamed through life, lamented in thy end. +These are thy honours! not that here thy bust +Is mix'd with heroes, or with kings thy dust; +But that the worthy and the good shall say, +Striking their pensive bosoms--Here lies Gay. + + +XII. INTENDED FOR SIR ISAAC NEWTON, IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. + + ISAACUS NEWTONUS: + QUEM IMMORTALEM +TESTANTUR TEMPUS, NATURA, COELUM: + MORTALEM + HOC MARMOR FATETUR. + + +Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night +God said, Let Newton be! and all was light. + + +XIII. ON DR FRANCIS ATTERBURY,[84] BISHOP OF ROCHESTER, WHO DIED IN EXILE +AT PARIS, 1732. + +SHE. + +Yes, we have lived--one pang, and then we part! +May Heaven, dear father! now have all thy heart. +Yet ah! how once we loved, remember still, +Till you are dust like me. + +HE. + Dear shade! I will: +Then mix this dust with thine--O spotless ghost! +O more than fortune, friends, or country lost! +Is there on earth one care, one wish beside? +Yes--Save my country, Heaven! + --He said, and died. + + +XIV. ON EDMUND DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM, WHO DIED IN THE NINETEENTH YEAR OF +HIS AGE, 1735. + +If modest youth, with cool reflection crown'd, +And every opening virtue blooming round, +Could save a parent's justest pride from fate, +Or add one patriot to a sinking state; +This weeping marble had not ask'd thy tear, +Or sadly told how many hopes lie here! +The living virtue now had shone approved, +The senate heard him, and his country loved. +Yet softer honours, and less noisy fame +Attend the shade of gentle Buckingham: +In whom a race, for courage famed and art, +Ends in the milder merit of the heart; +And chiefs or sages long to Britain given, +Pays the last tribute of a saint to Heaven. + + +XV. FOR ONE WHO WOULD NOT BE BURIED IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. + +Heroes and kings! your distance keep: +In peace let one poor poet sleep, +Who never flatter'd folks like you: +Let Horace blush, and Virgil too. + + +XVI. ANOTHER, ON THE SAME. + +Under this marble, or under this sill, +Or under this turf, or e'en what they will; +Whatever an heir, or a friend in his stead, +Or any good creature shall lay o'er my head, +Lies one who ne'er cared, and still cares not a pin +What they said, or may say, of the mortal within: +But who, living and dying, serene still and free, +Trusts in God, that as well as he was, he shall be. + + +XVII. ON TWO LOVERS STRUCK DEAD BY LIGHTNING.[85] + +When Eastern lovers feed the funeral fire, +On the same pile the faithful pair expire. +Here pitying Heaven that virtue mutual found, +And blasted both, that it might neither wound. +Hearts so sincere, the Almighty saw well pleased, +Sent his own lightning, and the victims seized. + + +[Lord Harcourt, on whose property the unfortunate pair lived, was +apprehensive that the country people would not understand the above, and +Pope wrote the subjoined]:-- + + NEAR THIS PLACE LIE THE BODIES OF + JOHN HEWET AND SARAH DREW, + AN INDUSTRIOUS YOUNG MAN, + AND VIRTUOUS MAIDEN OF THIS PARISH; + WHO, BEING AT HARVEST-WORK + (WITH SEVERAL OTHERS), +WERE IN ONE INSTANT KILLED BY LIGHTNING, + THE LAST DAY OF JULY 1718. + +Think not, by rigorous judgment seized, + A pair so faithful could expire; +Victims so pure Heaven saw well pleased, + And snatch'd them in celestial fire. + +Live well, and fear no sudden fate; + When God calls virtue to the grave, +Alike 'tis justice soon or late, + Mercy alike to kill or save. + +Virtue unmoved can hear the call, + And face the flash that melts the ball. + + + + +AN ESSAY ON MAN: + +IN FOUR EPISTLES TO HENRY ST JOHN, LORD BOLINGBROKE. + + +THE DESIGN. + +Having proposed to write some pieces on human life and manners, such as +(to use my Lord Bacon's expression) come home to men's business and +bosoms, I thought it more satisfactory to begin with considering man in +the abstract, his nature and his state; since, to prove any moral duty, +to enforce any moral precept, or to examine the perfection or +imperfection of any creature whatsoever, it is necessary first to know +what condition and relation it is placed in, and what is the proper end +and purpose of its being. + +The science of human nature is, like all other sciences, reduced to a +few clear points: there are not many certain truths in this world. It is +therefore in the anatomy of the mind as in that of the body; more good +will accrue to mankind by attending to the large, open, and perceptible +parts, than by studying too much such finer nerves and vessels, the +conformations and uses of which will for ever escape our observation. +The disputes are all upon these last, and, I will venture to say, they +have less sharpened the wits than the hearts of men against each other, +and have diminished the practice, more than advanced the theory, of +morality. If I could flatter myself that this essay has any merit, it is +in steering betwixt the extremes of doctrines seemingly opposite, in +passing over terms utterly unintelligible, and in forming a _temperate_ +yet not _inconsistent_, and a _short_ yet not _imperfect_ system of +ethics. + +This I might have done in prose; but I chose verse, and even rhyme, for +two reasons. The one will appear obvious; that principles, maxims, or +precepts so written, both strike the reader more strongly at first, and +are more easily retained by him afterwards: the other may seem odd, but +is true; I found I could express them more shortly this way than in +prose itself; and nothing is more certain, than that much of the force +as well as grace of arguments or instructions, depends on their +conciseness. I was unable to treat this part of my subject more in +detail, without becoming dry and tedious; or more poetically, without +sacrificing perspicuity to ornament, without wandering from the +precision, or breaking the chain of reasoning: If any man can unite all +these without diminution of any of them, I freely confess he will +compass a thing above my capacity. + +What is now published, is only to be considered as a general map of Man, +marking out no more than the greater parts, their extent, their limits, +and their connexion, but leaving the particular to be more fully +delineated in the charts which are to follow. Consequently, these +epistles in their progress (if I have health and leisure to make any +progress) will be less dry, and more susceptible of poetical ornament. I +am here only opening the _fountains_, and clearing the passage. To +deduce the _rivers_, to follow them in their course, and to observe +their effects, may be a task more agreeable. + + +EPISTLE I. + +ARGUMENT + +OF THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN WITH RESPECT TO THE UNIVERSE. + +Of man in the abstract.-- + +I. That we can judge only with regard to our own system, being ignorant +of the relations of systems and things, ver. 17, &c. II. That Man is not +to be deemed imperfect, but a being suited to his place and rank in the +creation, agreeable to the general order of things, and conformable to +ends and relations to him unknown, ver. 35, &c. III. That it is partly +upon his ignorance of future events, and partly upon the hope of a +future state, that all his happiness in the present depends, ver. 77, +&c. IV. The pride of aiming at more knowledge, and pretending to more +perfection, the cause of Man's error and misery. The impiety of putting +himself in the place of God, and judging of the fitness or unfitness, +perfection or imperfection, justice or injustice of his dispensations, +ver. 109, &c. V. The absurdity of conceiting himself the final cause of +the creation, or expecting that perfection in the moral world, which is +not in the natural, ver. 131, &c. VI. The unreasonableness of his +complaints against Providence, while on the one hand he demands the +perfections of the angels, and on the other the bodily qualifications of +the brutes; though to possess any of the sensitive faculties in a higher +degree, would render him miserable, ver. 173, &c. VII. That throughout +the whole visible world, an universal order and gradation in the sensual +and mental faculties is observed, which causes a subordination of +creature to creature, and of all creatures to Man. The gradations of +sense, instinct, thought, reflection, reason; that reason alone +countervails all the other faculties, ver. 207. VIII. How much further +this order and subordination of living creatures may extend, above and +below us; were any part of which broken, not that part only, but the +whole connected creation must be destroyed, ver. 233. IX. The +extravagance, madness, and pride of such a desire, ver. 259. X. The +consequence of all, the absolute submission due to Providence, both as +to our present and future state, ver. 281, &c. to the end. + +AWAKE, my St John! leave all meaner things +To low ambition, and the pride of kings. +Let us (since life can little more supply +Than just to look about us and to die) +Expatiate free o'er all this scene of Man; +A mighty maze! but not without a plan; +A wild, where weeds and flowers promiscuous shoot; +Or garden, tempting with forbidden fruit. +Together let us beat this ample field, +Try what the open, what the covert yield; 10 +The latent tracts, the giddy heights, explore +Of all who blindly creep, or sightless soar; +Eye Nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies, +And catch the manners living as they rise; +Laugh where we must, be candid where we can; +But vindicate the ways of God to Man.[86] + +I. Say first, of God above, or Man below, +What can we reason, but from what we know? +Of Man, what see we but his station here, +From which to reason, or to which refer? 20 +Through worlds unnumber'd, though the God be known, +'Tis ours to trace him only in our own. +He who through vast immensity can pierce, +See worlds on worlds compose one universe, +Observe how system into system runs, +What other planets circle other suns, +What varied being peoples every star, +May tell why Heaven has made us as we are. +But of this frame the bearings, and the ties, +The strong connexions, nice dependencies, 30 +Gradations just, has thy pervading soul +Look'd through? or can a part contain the whole? + +Is the great chain, that draws all to agree, +And drawn, supports, upheld by God, or thee? + +II. Presumptuous Man! the reason wouldst thou find, +Why form'd so weak, so little, and so blind? +First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess, +Why form'd no weaker, blinder, and no less? +Ask of thy mother earth, why oaks are made +Taller or stronger than the weeds they shade? 40 +Or ask of yonder argent fields above, +Why Jove's satellites are less than Jove? + +Of systems possible, if 'tis confess'd +That Wisdom infinite must form the best, +Where all must full or not coherent be, +And all that rises, rise in due degree; +Then, in the scale of reasoning life, 'tis plain, +There must be, somewhere, such a rank as Man: +And all the question (wrangle e'er so long) +Is only this, if God has placed him wrong? 50 + +Respecting Man, whatever wrong we call, +May, must be right, as relative to all. +In human works, though labour'd on with pain, +A thousand movements scarce one purpose gain; +In God's, one single can its end produce; +Yet serves to second, too, some other use. +So Man, who here seems principal alone, +Perhaps acts second to some sphere unknown, +Touches some wheel, or verges to some goal; +'Tis but a part we see, and not a whole. 60 + +When the proud steed shall know why Man restrains +His fiery course, or drives him o'er the plains; +When the dull ox, why now he breaks the clod, +Is now a victim, and now Egypt's god:[87] +Then shall man's pride and dulness comprehend +His actions', passions', being's use and end; +Why doing, suffering, check'd, impell'd; and why +This hour a slave, the next a deity. + +Then say not Man's imperfect, Heaven in fault; +Say rather, Man's as perfect as he ought: 70 +His knowledge measured to his state and place; +His time a moment, and a point his space. +If to be perfect in a certain sphere, +What matter, soon or late, or here or there? +The blest to-day is as completely so, +As who began a thousand years ago. + +III. Heaven from all creatures hides the book of Fate, +All but the page prescribed, their present state: +From brutes what men, from men what spirits know: +Or who could suffer being here below? 80 +The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day, +Had he thy reason, would he skip and play? +Pleased to the last, he crops the flowery food, +And licks the hand just raised to shed his blood. +Oh blindness to the future! kindly given, +That each may fill the circle mark'd by Heaven: +Who sees with equal eye, as God of all, +A hero perish, or a sparrow fall, +Atoms or systems into ruin hurl'd, +And now a bubble burst, and now a world. 90 + +Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar; +Wait the great teacher, Death; and God adore. +What future bliss, He gives not thee to know, +But gives that hope to be thy blessing now. +Hope springs eternal in the human breast: +Man never Is, but always To be blest: +The soul, uneasy and confined from home, +Rests and expatiates in a life to come. + +Lo, the poor Indian! whose untutor'd mind +Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind; 100 +His soul, proud science never taught to stray +Far as the solar walk, or milky-way; +Yet simple nature to his hope has given, +Behind the cloud-topp'd hill, an humbler heaven; +Some safer world in depth of woods embraced, +Some happier island in the watery waste, +Where slaves once more their native land behold, +No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold. +To be, contents his natural desire, +He asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire; 110 +But thinks, admitted to that equal sky, +His faithful dog shall bear him company. + +IV. Go, wiser thou! and in thy scale of sense, +Weigh thy opinion against Providence; +Call imperfection what thou fanciest such, +Say, here he gives too little, there too much: +Destroy all creatures for thy sport or gust, +Yet cry, If Man's unhappy, God's unjust: +If Man alone engross not Heaven's high care, +Alone made perfect here, immortal there: 120 +Snatch from his hand the balance and the rod, +Re-judge his justice, be the God of God. +In pride, in reasoning pride, our error lies; +All quit their sphere, and rush into the skies. +Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes, +Men would be angels, angels would be gods. +Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell, +Aspiring to be angels, men rebel: +And who but wishes to invert the laws +Of ORDER, sins against the Eternal Cause. 130 + +V. Ask for what end the heavenly bodies shine, +Earth for whose use? Pride answers, ''Tis for mine: +For me kind Nature wakes her genial power, +Suckles each herb, and spreads out every flower; +Annual for me the grape, the rose renew, +The juice nectareous, and the balmy dew; +For me, the mine a thousand treasures brings; +For me, health gushes from a thousand springs; +Seas roll to waft me, suns to light me rise; +My footstool earth, my canopy the skies.' 140 + +But errs not Nature from this gracious end, +From burning suns when livid deaths descend, +When earthquakes swallow, or when tempests sweep +Towns to one grave, whole nations to the deep? +'No' 'tis replied, 'the first Almighty Cause +Acts not by partial, but by general laws; +Th' exceptions few; some change, since all began: +And what created perfect?'--Why then Man? +If the great end be human happiness, +Then Nature deviates; and can Man do less? 150 +As much that end a constant course requires +Of showers and sunshine, as of Man's desires; +As much eternal springs and cloudless skies, +As men for ever temperate, calm, and wise. +If plagues or earthquakes break not Heaven's design, +Why then a Borgia, or a Catiline? +Who knows but He, whose hand the lightning forms, +Who heaves old Ocean, and who wings the storms, +Pours fierce ambition in a Caesar's mind, +Or turns young Ammon loose to scourge mankind? 150 +From pride, from pride, our very reasoning springs; +Account for moral, as for natural things: +Why charge we Heaven in those, in these acquit? +In both, to reason right, is to submit. + +Better for us, perhaps, it might appear, +Were there all harmony, all virtue here; +That never air or ocean felt the wind, +That never passion discomposed the mind. +But all subsists by elemental strife; +And passions are the elements of life. 170 +The general order, since the whole began, +Is kept in Nature, and is kept in Man. + +VI. What would this Man? Now upward will he soar, +And, little less than angel, would be more; +Now looking downwards, just as grieved appears +To want the strength of bulls, the fur of bears. +Made for his use all creatures if he call, +Say, what their use, had he the powers of all? +Nature to these, without profusion, kind, +The proper organs, proper powers assign'd; 180 +Each seeming want compensated, of course, +Here with degrees of swiftness, there of force; +All in exact proportion to the state; +Nothing to add, and nothing to abate. +Each beast, each insect, happy in its own: +Is Heaven unkind to Man, and Man alone? +Shall he alone, whom rational we call, +Be pleased with nothing, if not bless'd with all? + +The bliss of Man (could pride that blessing find) +Is not to act or think beyond mankind; 190 +No powers of body or of soul to share, +But what his nature and his state can bear. +Why has not Man a microscopic eye? +For this plain reason, Man is not a fly. +Say, what the use, were finer optics given, +T'inspect a mite, not comprehend the heaven? +Or touch, if tremblingly alive all o'er, +To smart and agonise at every pore? +Or, quick effluvia darting through the brain, +Die of a rose in aromatic pain? 200 +If nature thunder'd in his opening ears, +And stunn'd him with the music of the spheres, +How would he wish that Heaven had left him still +The whispering zephyr, and the purling rill? +Who finds not Providence all good and wise, +Alike in what it gives, and what denies? + +VII. Far as Creation's ample range extends, +The scale of sensual, mental powers ascends: +Mark how it mounts, to Man's imperial race, +From the green myriads in the peopled grass: 210 +What modes of sight betwixt each wide extreme, +The mole's dim curtain, and the lynx's beam! +Of smell, the headlong lioness between, +And hound sagacious on the tainted green: +Of hearing, from the life that fills the flood, +To that which warbles through the vernal wood: +The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine! +Feels at each thread, and lives along the line: +In the nice bee, what sense so subtly true +From poisonous herbs extracts the healing dew! 220 +How instinct varies in the grovelling swine, +Compared, half-reasoning elephant, with thine! +'Twixt that and reason, what a nice barrier: +For ever separate, yet for ever near! +Remembrance and reflection how allied; +What thin partitions[88] sense from thought divide: +And middle natures, how they long to join, +Yet never pass th' insuperable line! +Without this just gradation, could they be +Subjected, these to those, or all to thee? 230 +The powers of all subdued by thee alone, +Is not thy reason all these powers in one? + +VIII. See, through this air, this ocean, and this earth, +All matter quick, and bursting into birth: +Above, how high progressive life may go! +Around, how wide! how deep extend below! +Vast chain of being! which from God began, +Natures ethereal, human, angel, man, +Beast, bird, fish, insect, what no eye can see, +No glass can reach; from Infinite to Thee, 240 +From Thee to Nothing.--On superior powers +Were we to press, inferior might on ours: +Or in the full creation leave a void, +Where, one step broken, the great scale's destroy'd: +From Nature's chain whatever link you strike, +Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike. + +And, if each system in gradation roll +Alike essential to th' amazing whole, +The least confusion but in one, not all +That system only, but the whole must fall. 250 +Let earth, unbalanced, from her orbit fly, +Planets and suns run lawless through the sky; +Let ruling angels from their spheres be hurl'd, +Being on being wreck'd, and world on world; +Heaven's whole foundations to their centre nod, +And Nature trembles to the throne of God. +All this dread order break--for whom? for thee? +Vile worm!--oh madness! pride! impiety! + +IX. What if the foot, ordain'd the dust to tread, +Or hand, to toil, aspired to be the head 260 +What if the head, the eye, or ear repined +To serve mere engines to the ruling mind? +Just as absurd for any part to claim +To be another, in this general frame; +Just as absurd, to mourn the tasks or pains, +The great directing Mind of All ordains. + +All are but parts of one stupendous whole, +Whose body Nature is, and God the soul; +That, changed through all, and yet in all the same; +Great in the earth, as in th' ethereal frame: 270 +Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, +Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees, +Lives through all life, extends through all extent. +Spreads undivided, operates unspent; +Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part, +As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart; +As full, as perfect, in vile Man that mourns, +As the rapt Seraph that adores and burns: +To Him no high, no low, no great, no small; +He fills, He bounds, connects, and equals all. 280 + +X. Cease then, nor Order imperfection name: +Our proper bliss depends on what we blame. +Know thy own point: this kind, this due degree +Of blindness, weakness, Heaven bestows on thee. +Submit--in this, or any other sphere, +Secure to be as bless'd as thou canst bear: +Safe in the hand of one disposing Power, +Or in the natal, or the mortal hour. +All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee; +All chance, direction, which thou canst not see; 290 +All discord, harmony not understood; +All partial evil, universal good: +And, spite of pride, in erring reason's spite, +One truth is clear, WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT. + + * * * * * + +VARIATIONS. + +In former editions, VER 64-- + +Now wears a garland, an Egyptian god. + +Altered as above for the reason given in the note. + +After VER. 68 the following lines in first edit.-- + +If to be perfect in a certain sphere, +What matters, soon or late, or here or there? +The blest to-day is as completely so +As who began ten thousand years ago. + +After VER. 88 in the MS.-- + +No great, no little; 'tis as much decreed +That Virgil's gnat should die as Caesar bleed. + +In the first folio and quarto:-- + +What bliss above He gives not thee to know, +But gives that hope to be thy bliss below. + +After VER. 108 in the first edition:-- + +But does he say the Maker is not good, +Till he's exalted to what state he would: +Himself alone high Heaven's peculiar care, +Alone made happy when he will, and where? + +VER. 238, first edition-- + +Ethereal essence, spirit, substance, man. + +After VER. 282 in the MS.-- + +Reason, to think of God when she pretends, +Begins a censor, an adorer ends. + + +EPISTLE II. + +ARGUMENT. + +OF THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN WITH RESPECT TO HIMSELF AS AN INDIVIDUAL. + +I. The business of Man not to pry into God, but to study himself. His +middle nature; his powers and frailties, ver. 1 to 19. The limits of his +capacity, ver. 19, &c. II. The two principles of Man, self-love and +reason, both necessary, ver. 53, &c. Self-love the stronger, and why, +ver. 67, &c. Their end the same, ver. 81, &c. III. The passions, and +their use, ver. 93-130. The predominant passion, and its force, ver. +132-160. Its necessity, in directing men to different purposes, ver. +165, &c. Its providential use, in fixing our principle, and ascertaining +our virtue, ver. 177. IV. Virtue and vice joined in our mixed nature; +the limits near, yet the things separate and evident: What is the office +of reason, ver. 202-216. V. How odious vice in itself, and how we +deceive ourselves into it, ver. 217. VI. That, however, the ends of +Providence and general good are answered in our passions and +imperfections, ver. 238, &c. How usefully these are distributed to all +orders of men, ver. 241. How useful they are to society, ver. 251. And +to the individuals, ver. 263. In every state, and every age of life, +ver. 273, &c. + +I. KNOW then thyself, presume not God to scan; +The proper study of mankind is Man. +Placed on this isthmus of a middle state, +A being darkly wise, and rudely great: +With too much knowledge for the sceptic side, +With too much weakness for the stoic's pride, +He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest; +In doubt to deem himself a god, or beast; +In doubt his mind or body to prefer; +Born but to die, and reasoning but to err; 10 +Alike in ignorance, his reason such, +Whether he thinks too little, or too much: +Chaos of thought and passion, all confused; +Still by himself abused, or disabused; +Created half to rise, and half to fall; +Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all; +Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd: +The glory, jest, and riddle of the world![89] + +Go, wondrous creature! mount where science guides, +Go, measure earth, weigh air, and state the tides; 20 +Instruct the planets in what orbs to run, +Correct old Time, and regulate the sun; +Go, soar with Plato to the empyreal sphere, +To the first Good, first Perfect, and first Fair; +Or tread the mazy round his followers trod, +And quitting sense call imitating God; +As eastern priests in giddy circles run, +And turn their heads to imitate the sun. +Go, teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule-- +Then drop into thyself, and be a fool! 30 + +Superior beings, when of late they saw +A mortal man unfold all Nature's law, +Admired such wisdom in an earthly shape, +And show'd a Newton as we show an ape. + +Could he, whose rules the rapid comet bind, +Describe or fix one movement of his mind? +Who saw its fires here rise, and there descend, +Explain his own beginning, or his end? +Alas, what wonder! Man's superior part +Uncheck'd may rise, and climb from art to art; 40 +But when his own great work is but begun, +What reason weaves, by passion is undone. + +Trace Science, then, with modesty thy guide; +First strip off all her equipage of pride; +Deduct what is but vanity, or dress, +Or learning's luxury, or idleness; +Or tricks to show the stretch of human brain. +Mere curious pleasure, or ingenious pain; +Expunge the whole, or lop th' excrescent parts +Of all our vices have created arts; 50 +Then see how little the remaining sum, +Which served the past, and must the times to come! + +II. Two principles in human nature reign-- +Self-love, to urge, and reason, to restrain; +Nor this a good, nor that a bad we call, +Each works its end, to move or govern all: +And to their proper operation still, +Ascribe all good; to their improper, ill. + +Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the soul; +Reason's comparing balance rules the whole. 60 +Man, but for that, no action could attend, +And, but for this, were active to no end: +Fix'd like a plant on his peculiar spot, +To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot; +Or, meteor-like, flame lawless through the void, +Destroying others, by himself destroy'd. + +Most strength the moving principle requires; +Active its task, it prompts, impels, inspires. +Sedate and quiet the comparing lies, +Form'd but to check, deliberate, and advise. 70 +Self-love, still stronger, as its objects nigh; +Reason's at distance, and in prospect lie: +That sees immediate good by present sense; +Reason, the future and the consequence. +Thicker than arguments, temptations throng, +At best more watchful this, but that more strong. +The action of the stronger to suspend +Reason still use, to reason still attend. +Attention, habit and experience gains; +Each strengthens reason, and self-love restrains. 80 + +Let subtle schoolmen teach these friends to fight, +More studious to divide than to unite; +And grace and virtue, sense and reason split, +With all the rash dexterity of wit. +Wits, just like fools, at war about a name, +Have full as oft no meaning, or the same. +Self-love and reason to one end aspire, +Pain their aversion, pleasure their desire; +But greedy that its object would devour, +This taste the honey, and not wound the flower: 90 +Pleasure, or wrong or rightly understood, +Our greatest evil, or our greatest good. + +III. Modes of self-love the passions we may call: +'Tis real good, or seeming, moves them all: +But since not every good we can divide, +And reason bids us for our own provide; +Passions, though selfish, if their means be fair, +List under reason, and deserve her care; +Those, that imparted, court a nobler aim, +Exalt their kind, and take some virtue's name. 100 + +In lazy apathy let Stoics boast +Their virtue fix'd; 'tis fix'd as in a frost; +Contracted all, retiring to the breast; +But strength of mind is exercise, not rest: +The rising tempest puts in act the soul, +Parts it may ravage, but preserves the whole. +On life's vast ocean diversely we sail, +Reason the card, but passion is the gale; +Nor God alone in the still calm we find, +He mounts the storm, and walks upon the wind. 110 + +Passions, like elements, though born to fight, +Yet, mix'd and soften'd, in his work unite: +These 'tis enough to temper and employ; +But what composes Man, can Man destroy? +Suffice that reason keep to Nature's road; +Subject, compound them, follow her and God. +Love, Hope, and Joy, fair Pleasure's smiling train, +Hate, Fear, and Grief, the family of Pain, +These mix'd with art, and to due bounds confined, +Make and maintain the balance of the mind: 120 +The lights and shades, whose well-accorded strife +Gives all the strength and colour of our life. + +Pleasures are ever in our hands or eyes; +And when, in act, they cease, in prospect, rise: +Present to grasp, and future still to find, +The whole employ of body and of mind. +All spread their charms, but charm not all alike; +On different senses different objects strike; +Hence different passions more or less inflame, +As strong or weak, the organs of the frame; 130 +And hence one master passion in the breast, +Like Aaron's serpent, swallows up the rest. +As Man, perhaps, the moment of his breath, +Receives the lurking principle of death; +The young disease, that must subdue at length, +Grows with his growth, and strengthens with his strength: +So, cast and mingled with his very frame, +The mind's disease, its ruling passion came; +Each vital humour which should feed the whole, +Soon flows to this, in body and in soul: 140 +Whatever warms the heart, or fills the head, +As the mind opens, and its functions spread, +Imagination plies her dangerous art, +And pours it all upon the peccant part. + +Nature its mother, habit is its nurse; +Wit, spirit, faculties, but make it worse; +Reason itself but gives it edge and power; +As Heaven's blest beam turns vinegar more sour. + +We, wretched subjects, though to lawful sway, +In this weak queen, some favourite still obey: 150 +Ah! if she lend not arms, as well as rules, +What can she more than tell us we are fools? +Teach us to mourn our nature, not to mend, +A sharp accuser, but a helpless friend! +Or from a judge turn pleader, to persuade +The choice we make, or justify it made; +Proud of an easy conquest all along, +She but removes weak passions for the strong: +So, when small humours gather to a gout, +The doctor fancies he has driven them out. 160 + +Yes, Nature's road must ever be preferr'd; +Reason is here no guide, but still a guard: +'Tis hers to rectify, not overthrow, +And treat this passion more as friend than foe: +A mightier power the strong direction sends, +And several men impels to several ends: +Like varying winds, by other passions tost, +This drives them constant to a certain coast. +Let power or knowledge, gold or glory, please, +Or (oft more strong than all) the love of ease; 170 +Through life 'tis follow'd, even at life's expense; +The merchant's toil, the sage's indolence, +The monk's humility, the hero's pride, +All, all alike, find reason on their side. + +Th' eternal Art educing good from ill, +Grafts on this passion our best principle: +'Tis thus the mercury of Man is fix'd, +Strong grows the virtue with his nature mix'd; +The dross cements what else were too refined +And in one interest body acts with mind. 180 + +As fruits, ungrateful to the planter's care, +On savage stocks inserted, learn to bear; +The surest virtues thus from passions shoot, +Wild nature's vigour working at the root. +What crops of wit and honesty appear +From spleen, from obstinacy, hate, or fear! +See anger, zeal and fortitude supply; +Even avarice, prudence; sloth, philosophy; +Lust, through some certain strainers well refined, +Is gentle love, and charms all womankind; 190 +Envy, to which th' ignoble mind's a slave, +Is emulation in the learn'd or brave; +Nor virtue, male or female, can we name, + +But what will grow on pride, or grow on shame. +Thus Nature gives us (let it check our pride) +The virtue nearest to our vice allied: +Reason the bias turns to good from ill, +And Nero reigns a Titus, if he will. +The fiery soul abhorr'd in Catiline, +In Decius charms, in Curtius is divine: 200 +The same ambition can destroy or save, +And makes a patriot, as it makes a knave. + +IV. This light and darkness in our chaos join'd +What shall divide? the God within the mind. + +Extremes in Nature equal ends produce, +In man they join to some mysterious use; +Though each by turns the other's bound invade, +As, in some well-wrought picture, light and shade, +And oft so mix, the difference is too nice +Where ends the virtue, or begins the vice. 210 + +Fools! who from hence into the notion fall, +That vice or virtue there is none at all. +If white and black blend, soften, and unite +A thousand ways, is there no black or white? +Ask your own heart, and nothing is so plain; +'Tis to mistake them, costs the time and pain. + +V. Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, +As, to be hated, needs but to be seen; +Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, +We first endure, then pity, then embrace. 220 +But where th' extreme of vice, was ne'er agreed: +Ask where's the north? at York, 'tis on the Tweed; +In Scotland, at the Orcades; and there, +At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where. +No creature owns it in the first degree, +But thinks his neighbour further gone than he; +Even those who dwell beneath its very zone, +Or never feel the rage, or never own; +What happier natures shrink at with affright, +The hard inhabitant contends is right. 230 + +Virtuous and vicious every man must be, +Few in th' extreme, but all in the degree; +The rogue and fool by fits is fair and wise; +And even the best, by fits, what they despise. +'Tis but by parts we follow good or ill; +For, vice or virtue, self directs it still; +Each individual seeks a several goal; +But Heaven's great view is one, and that the whole. +That counterworks each folly and caprice; +That disappoints th' effect of every vice; 240 +That, happy frailties to all ranks applied; +Shame to the virgin, to the matron pride, +Fear to the statesman, rashness to the chief, +To kings presumption, and to crowds belief: +That, virtue's ends from vanity can raise, +Which seeks no interest, no reward but praise; +And build on wants, and on defects of mind, +The joy, the peace, the glory of mankind. + +Heaven forming each on other to depend, +A master, or a servant, or a friend, 250 +Bids each on other for assistance call, +Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all. +Wants, frailties, passions, closer still ally +The common interest, or endear the tie. +To these we owe true friendship, love sincere, +Each home-felt joy that life inherits here; +Yet from the same we learn, in its decline, +Those joys, those loves, those interests to resign; +Taught half by reason, half by mere decay, +To welcome death, and calmly pass away. 260 +Whate'er the passion, knowledge, fame, or pelf, +Not one will change his neighbour with himself. +The learn'd is happy Nature to explore; +The fool is happy that he knows no more; +The rich is happy in the plenty given, +The poor contents him with the care of Heaven. +See the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing, +The sot a hero, lunatic a king; +The starving chemist in his golden views +Supremely bless'd, the poet in his Muse. 270 +See some strange comfort every state attend, +And pride bestow'd on all, a common friend; +See some fit passion every age supply, +Hope travels through, nor quits us when we die. + +Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law, +Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw: +Some livelier plaything gives his youth delight, +A little louder, but as empty quite: +Scarfs, garters, gold, amuse his riper stage, +And beads and prayer-books are the toys of age: 280 +Pleased with this bauble still, as that before; +Till, tired, he sleeps, and life's poor play is o'er. + +Meanwhile opinion gilds with varying rays +Those painted clouds that beautify our days; +Each want of happiness by hope supplied, +And each vacuity of sense by pride: +These build as fast as knowledge can destroy; +In Folly's cup still laughs the bubble, joy; +One prospect lost, another still we gain; +And not a vanity is given in vain; 290 +Even mean self-love becomes, by force divine, +The scale to measure others' wants by thine. +See! and confess, one comfort still must rise, +'Tis this, Though Man's a fool, yet God is wise. + + * * * * * + +VARIATIONS. + +VER. 2, first edition-- + +The only science of mankind is Man. + +After VER. 18, in the MS.-- + +For more perfection than this state can bear, +In vain we sigh, 'Heaven made us as we are.' +As wisely, sure, a modest ape might aim +To be like Man, whose faculties and frame +He sees, he feels, as you or I to be +An angel thing we neither know nor see. +Observe how near he edges on our race; +What human tricks! how risible of face! +'It must be so--why else have I the sense +Of more than monkey charms and excellence? +Why else to walk on two so oft essay'd? +And why this ardent longing for a maid?' +So pug might plead, and call his gods unkind, +Till set on end and married to his mind. +Go, reasoning thing! assume the doctor's chair, +As Plato deep, as Seneca severe: +Fix moral fitness, and to God give rule, +Then drop into thyself, &c. + +VER. 21, edition fourth and fifth-- + +Show by what rules the wandering planets stray, +Correct old Time, and teach the sun his way. + +VER. 35, first edition-- + +Could He, who taught each planet where to roll, +Describe or fix one movement of the soul? +Who mark'd their points to rise or to descend, +Explain his own beginning or his end? + +After VER. 86, in the MS.-- + +Of good and evil gods what frighted fools, +Of good and evil reason puzzled schools, +Deceived, deceiving, taught, &c. + +After VER. 108, in the MS.-- + +A tedious voyage! where how useless lies +The compass, if no powerful gusts arise? + +After VER. 112, in the MS.-- + +The soft reward the virtuous, or invite; +The fierce, the vicious punish or affright. + +After VER. 194, in the MS.-- + +How oft, with passion, Virtue points her charms! +Then shines the hero, then the patriot warms. +Peleus' great son, or Brutus, who had known, +Had Lucrece been a whore, or Helen none! +But virtues opposite to make agree, +That, Reason! is thy task; and worthy thee. +Hard task, cries Bibulus, and reason weak: +Make it a point, dear Marquess! or a pique. +Once, for a whim, persuade yourself to pay +A debt to reason, like a debt at play. +For right or wrong have mortals suffer'd more? +B---- for his prince, or ---- for his whore? +Whose self-denials nature most control? +His, who would save a sixpence, or his soul? +Web for his health, a Chartreux for his sin, +Contend they not which soonest shall grow thin? +What we resolve, we can: but here's the fault, +We ne'er resolve to do the thing we ought. + +After VER. 220, in the first edition, followed these-- + +A cheat! a whore! who starts not at the name, +In all the Inns of Court or Drury Lane? + +After VER. 226, in the MS.-- + +The colonel swears the agent is a dog, +The scrivener vows th' attorney is a rogue. +Against the thief th' attorney loud inveighs, +For whose ten pound the county twenty pays. +The thief damns judges, and the knaves of state; +And dying, mourns small villains hang'd by great. + + +EPISTLE III. + +ARGUMENT. + +OF THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN WITH RESPECT TO SOCIETY. + +I. The whole universe one system of society, ver. 7, &c. Nothing made +wholly for itself, nor yet wholly for another, ver. 27. The happiness of +animals mutual, ver. 49. II. Reason or instinct operate alike to the +good of each individual, ver. 79. Reason or instinct operate also to +society, in all animals, ver. 109. III. How far society carried by +instinct, ver. 115. How much farther by reason, ver. 128. IV. Of that +which is called the state of nature, 144. Reason instructed by instinct +in the invention of arts, ver. 166, and in the forms of society, ver. +176. V. Origin of political societies, ver. 196. Origin of monarchy, +ver. 207. Patriarchal government, ver. 212. VI. Origin of true religion +and government, from the same principle--of love, ver. 231, &c. Origin +of superstition and tyranny, from the same principle--of fear, ver. 237, +&c. The influence of self-love operating to the social and public good, +ver. 266. Restoration of true religion and government on their first +principle, ver. 285. Mixed government, ver. 288. Various forms of each, +and the true end of all, ver. 300, &c. + +Here then we rest: 'The Universal Cause +Acts to one end, but acts by various laws.' +In all the madness of superfluous health, +The trim of pride, the impudence of wealth, +Let this great truth be present night and day; +But most be present, if we preach or pray. + +I. Look round our world; behold the chain of love +Combining all below and all above. +See plastic Nature working to this end, +The single atoms each to other tend, 10 +Attract, attracted to, the next in place +Form'd and impell'd its neighbour to embrace. +See matter next, with various life endued, +Press to one centre still, the general Good. +See dying vegetables life sustain, +See life dissolving vegetate again: +All forms that perish other forms supply, +(By turns we catch the vital breath, and die) +Like bubbles on the sea of Matter born, +They rise, they break, and to that sea return. 20 +Nothing is foreign: parts relate to whole; +One all-extending, all-preserving Soul +Connects each being, greatest with the least; +Made beast in aid of man, and man of beast; +All served, all serving: nothing stands alone; +The chain holds on, and where it ends, unknown. + +Has God, thou fool! work'd solely for thy good, +Thy joy, thy pastime, thy attire, thy food? +Who for thy table feeds the wanton fawn, +For him as kindly spread the flowery lawn: 30 +Is it for thee the lark ascends and sings? +Joy tunes his voice, joy elevates his wings. +Is it for thee the linnet pours his throat? +Loves of his own, and raptures swell the note. +The bounding steed you pompously bestride, +Shares with his lord the pleasure and the pride. +Is thine alone the seed that strews the plain? +The birds of heaven shall vindicate their grain. +Thine the full harvest of the golden year? +Part pays, and justly, the deserving steer: 40 +The hog, that ploughs not, nor obeys thy call, +Lives on the labours of this lord of all. + +Know, Nature's children all divide her care; +The fur that warms a monarch, warm'd a bear. +While Man exclaims, 'See all things for my use!' +'See man for mine!' replies a pamper'd goose: +And just as short of reason he must fall, +Who thinks all made for one, not one for all. + +Grant that the powerful still the weak control; +Be Man the wit and tyrant of the whole: 50 +Nature that tyrant checks; he only knows, +And helps, another creature's wants and woes. +Say, will the falcon, stooping from above, +Smit with her varying plumage, spare the dove? +Admires the jay the insect's gilded wings? +Or hears the hawk when Philomela sings? +Man cares for all: to birds he gives his woods, +To beasts his pastures, and to fish his floods; +For some his interest prompts him to provide, +For more his pleasure, yet for more his pride: 60 +All feed on one vain patron, and enjoy +Th' extensive blessing of his luxury. +That very life his learned hunger craves, +He saves from famine, from the savage saves; +Nay, feasts the animal he dooms his feast. +And, till he ends the being, makes it blest; +Which sees no more the stroke, or feels the pain, +Than favour'd Man by touch ethereal slain. +The creature had his feast of life before; +Thou too must perish, when thy feast is o'er! 70 + +To each unthinking being, Heaven, a friend, +Gives not the useless knowledge of its end: +To Man imparts it; but with such a view +As, while he dreads it, makes him hope it too: +The hour conceal'd, and so remote the fear, +Death still draws nearer, never seeming near. +Great standing miracle! that Heaven assign'd +Its only thinking thing this turn of mind. + +II. Whether with reason or with instinct blest, +Know, all enjoy that power which suits them best; 80 +To bliss alike by that direction tend, +And find the means proportion'd to their end. +Say, where full instinct is th' unerring guide, +What pope or council can they need beside? +Reason, however able, cool at best, +Cares not for service, or but serves when press'd, +Stays till we call, and then not often near; +But honest instinct comes a volunteer, +Sure never to o'ershoot, but just to hit; +While still too wide or short is human wit; 90 +Sure by quick nature happiness to gain, +Which heavier reason labours at in vain. +This, too serves always, reason never long; +One must go right, the other may go wrong. +See then the acting and comparing powers +One in their nature, which are two in ours; +And reason raise o'er instinct as you can, +In this 'tis God directs, in that 'tis Man. + +Who taught the nations of the field and wood +To shun their poison, and to choose their food? 100 +Prescient, the tides or tempests to withstand, +Build on the wave, or arch beneath the sand? +Who made the spider parallels design, +Sure as De Moivre, without rule or line? +Who bid the stork, Columbus-like, explore +Heavens not his own, and worlds unknown before? +Who calls the council, states the certain day, +Who forms the phalanx, and who points the way? + +III. God, in the nature of each being, founds +Its proper bliss, and sets its proper bounds: 110 +But as he framed a whole, the whole to bless, +On mutual wants built mutual happiness: +So from the first, eternal Order ran, +And creature link'd to creature, man to man. +Whate'er of life all-quickening ether keeps, +Or breathes through air, or shoots beneath the deeps, +Or pours profuse on earth, one nature feeds +The vital flame, and swells the genial seeds. +Not Man alone, but all that roam the wood, +Or wing the sky, or roll along the flood, 120 +Each loves itself, but not itself alone, +Each sex desires alike, till two are one. +Nor ends the pleasure with the fierce embrace; +They love themselves, a third time, in their race. +Thus beast and bird their common charge attend, +The mothers nurse it, and the sires defend; +The young dismiss'd to wander earth or air, +There stops the instinct, and there ends the care; +The link dissolves, each seeks a fresh embrace, +Another love succeeds, another race. 130 +A longer care Man's helpless kind demands; +That longer care contracts more lasting bands: +Reflection, reason, still the ties improve, +At once extend the interest, and the love; +With choice we fix, with sympathy we burn; +Each virtue in each passion takes its turn; +And still new needs, new helps, new habits rise, +That graft benevolence on charities. +Still as one brood, and as another rose, +These natural love maintain'd, habitual those: 140 +The last, scarce ripen'd into perfect man, +Saw helpless him from whom their life began: +Memory and forecast just returns engage, +That pointed back to youth, this on to age; +While pleasure, gratitude, and hope, combined, +Still spread the interest, and preserved the kind. + +IV. Nor think, in Nature's state they blindly trod; +The state of Nature was the reign of God: +Self-love and social at her birth began, +Union the bond of all things, and of Man. 150 +Pride then was not; nor arts, that pride to aid; +Man walk'd with beast, joint tenant of the shade; +The same his table, and the same his bed; +No murder clothed him, and no murder fed. +In the same temple, the resounding wood, +All vocal beings hymn'd their equal God: +The shrine with gore unstain'd, with gold undress'd, +Unbribed, unbloody, stood the blameless priest: +Heaven's attribute was universal care, +And Man's prerogative to rule, but spare. 160 +Ah! how unlike the Man of times to come! +Of half that live the butcher and the tomb; +Who, foe to Nature, hears the general groan, +Murders their species, and betrays his own. +But just disease to luxury succeeds, +And every death its own avenger breeds; +The fury-passions from that blood began, +And turn'd on Man, a fiercer savage, Man. + +See him from Nature rising slow to Art! +To copy instinct then was reason's part; 170 +Thus then to Man the voice of Nature spake-- +'Go, from the creatures thy instructions take: +Learn from the birds what food the thickets yield; +Learn from the beasts the physic of the field; +Thy arts of building from the bee receive; +Learn of the mole to plough, the worm to weave; +Learn of the little nautilus to sail, +Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale. +Here, too, all forms of social union find, +And hence let reason, late, instruct mankind: 180 +Here subterranean works and cities see; +There towns aërial on the waving tree. +Learn each small people's genius, policies, +The ants' republic, and the realm of bees; +How those in common all their wealth bestow, +And anarchy without confusion know; +And these for ever, though a monarch reign, +Their separate cells and properties maintain. +Mark what unvaried laws preserve each state, +Laws wise as Nature, and as fix'd as Fate. 190 +In vain thy reason finer webs shall draw, +Entangle Justice in her net of lay, +And right, too rigid, harden into wrong; +Still for the strong too weak, the weak too strong. +Yet go! and thus o'er all the creatures sway, +Thus let the wiser make the rest obey; +And for those arts mere instinct could afford, +Be crown'd as monarchs, or as gods adored.' + +V. Great Nature spoke; observant men obey'd; +Cities were built, societies were made: 200 +Here rose one little state; another near +Grew by like means, and join'd, through love or fear. +Did here the trees with ruddier burdens bend, +And there the streams in purer rills descend? +What war could ravish, commerce could bestow; +And he return'd a friend, who came a foe. +Converse and love mankind might strongly draw, +When love was liberty, and Nature law. +Thus states were form'd, the name of king unknown, +Till common interest placed the sway in one. 210 +'Twas virtue only (or in arts or arms, +Diffusing blessings or averting harms), +The same which in a sire the sons obey'd, +A prince the father of a people made. + +VI. Till then, by Nature crown'd, each patriarch sat, +King, priest, and parent of his growing state; +On him, their second Providence, they hung, +Their law his eye, their oracle his tongue. +He from the wondering furrow call'd the food, +Taught to command the fire, control the flood, 220 +Draw forth the monsters of the abyss profound, +Or fetch the aërial eagle to the ground. +Till drooping, sickening, dying they began +Whom they revered as god to mourn as man: +Then, looking up from sire to sire, explored +One great first Father, and that first adored. +Or plain tradition that this All begun, +Convey'd unbroken faith from sire to son; +The worker from the work distinct was known, +And simple reason never sought but one: 230 +Ere wit oblique had broke that steady light, +Man, like his Maker, saw that all was right; +To virtue, in the paths of pleasure, trod, +And own'd a Father when he own'd a God. +Love all the faith, and all the allegiance then; +For nature knew no right divine in men, +No ill could fear in God; and understood +A sovereign Being, but a sovereign good. +True faith, true policy, united ran, +That was but love of God, and this of Man. 240 + +Who first taught souls enslaved, and realms undone, +The enormous faith of many made for one; +That proud exception to all Nature's laws, +To invert the world, and counterwork its cause? +Force first made conquest, and that conquest, law; +'Till Superstition taught the tyrant awe, +Then shared the tyranny, then lent it aid, +And gods of conquerors, slaves of subjects made: +She, midst the lightning's blaze, and thunder's sound, +When rock'd the mountains, and when groan'd the ground, 250 +She taught the weak to bend, the proud to pray, +To Power unseen, and mightier far than they: +She, from the rending earth and bursting skies, +Saw gods descend, and fiends infernal rise: +Here fix'd the dreadful, there the blest abodes; +Fear made her devils, and weak hope her gods; +Gods partial, changeful, passionate, unjust, +Whose attributes were rage, revenge, or lust; +Such as the souls of cowards might conceive, +And, form'd like tyrants, tyrants would believe. 260 +Zeal then, not charity, became the guide; +And hell was built on spite, and heaven on pride. +Then sacred seem'd the ethereal vault no more; +Altars grew marble then, and reek'd with gore: +Then first the Flamen tasted living food; +Next his grim idol smear'd with human blood; +With Heaven's own thunders shook the world below, +And play'd the god an engine on his foe. + +So drives self-love, through just and through unjust, +To one man's power, ambition, lucre, lust: 270 +The same self-love, in all, becomes the cause +Of what restrains him, government and laws. +For, what one likes, if others like as well, +What serves one will, when many wills rebel? +How shall he keep what, sleeping or awake, +A weaker may surprise, a stronger take? +His safety must his liberty restrain: +All join to guard what each desires to gain. +Forced into virtue thus by self-defence, +Even kings learn'd justice and benevolence; 280 +Self-love forsook the path it first pursued, +And found the private in the public good. + +'Twas then the studious head or generous mind, +Follower of God, or friend of human kind, +Poet or patriot, rose but to restore +The faith and moral Nature gave before; +Relumed her ancient light, not kindled new; +If not God's image, yet his shadow drew; +Taught power's due use to people and to kings, +Taught not to slack, nor strain its tender strings, 290 +The less, or greater, set so justly true, +That touching one must strike the other too; +Till jarring interests of themselves create +The according music of a well-mix'd state. +Such is the world's great harmony, that springs +From order, union, full consent of things: +Where small and great, where weak and mighty, made +To serve, not suffer; strengthen, not invade; +More powerful each as needful to the rest, +And in proportion as it blesses, bless'd; 300 +Draw to one point, and to one centre bring +Beast, man, or angel, servant, lord, or king. + +For forms of government let fools contest; +Whate'er is best administer'd is best: +For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight; +His can't be wrong whose life is in the right: +In faith and hope the world will disagree, +But all mankind's concern is charity: +All must be false that thwart this one great end; +And all of God that bless mankind, or mend. 310 + +Man, like the generous vine, supported lives; +The strength he gains is from the embrace he gives. +On their own axis as the planets run, +Yet make at once their circle round the sun; +So two consistent motions act the soul, +And one regards itself, and one the whole. + +Thus God and Nature link'd the general frame, +And bade self-love and social be the same. + + +VARIATIONS. + +VER. 1, in several quarto editions-- + +Learn, Dulness, learn! 'the Universal Cause,' &c. + +After VER. 46, in the former editions-- + +What care to tend, to lodge, to cram, to treat him! +All this he knew; but not that 'twas to eat him. +As far as goose could judge, he reason'd right; +But as to Man, mistook the matter quite. + +After VER. 84, in the MS.-- + +While Man, with opening views of various ways +Confounded, by the aid of knowledge strays: +Too weak to choose, yet choosing still in haste, +One moment gives the pleasure and distaste. + +VER. 197, in the first edition-- + +Who for those arts they learn'd of brutes before, +As kings shall crown them, or as gods adore. + +VER. 201, in the MSS. thus-- + +The neighbours leagued to guard their common spot: +And love was Nature's dictate, murder, not. +For want alone each animal contends, +Tigers with tigers, that removed, are friends. +Plain Nature's wants the common mother crown'd, +She pour'd her acorns, herbs, and streams around. +No treasure then for rapine to invade, +What need to fight for sunshine or for shade! +And half the cause of content was removed, +When beauty could be kind to all who loved. + + +EPISTLE IV. + +ARGUMENT. + +OF THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN WITH RESPECT TO HAPPINESS. + +I. False notions of happiness, philosophical and popular, answered from +ver. 19 to ver. 27. II. It is the end of all men, and attainable by all, +ver. 29. God intends happiness to be equal; and to be so, it must be +social, since all particular happiness depends on general, and since he +governs by general, not particular laws, ver. 35. As it is necessary for +order, and the peace and welfare of society, that external goods should +be unequal, happiness is not made to consist in these, ver. 51. But, +notwithstanding that inequality, the balance of happiness among mankind +is kept even by Providence, by the two passions of hope and fear, ver. +70. III. What the happiness of individuals is, as far as is consistent +with the constitution of this world; and that the good man has here the +advantage, ver. 77. The error of imputing to virtue what are only the +calamities of nature, or of fortune, ver. 94. IV. The folly of expecting +that God should alter his general laws in favour of particulars, ver. +121. V. That we are not judges who are good; but that, whoever they are, +they must be happiest, ver. 131, &c. VI. That external goods are not the +proper rewards, but often inconsistent with, or destructive of virtue, +ver. 167. That even these can make no man happy without virtue: +instanced in riches ver. 185; honours, ver. 193; nobility, ver. 205; +greatness, ver. 217; fame, ver. 237; superior talents, ver. 259, &c. +With pictures of human infelicity in men possessed of them all, ver. +269, &c. VII. That virtue only constitutes a happiness, whose object is +universal, and whose prospect eternal, ver. 309, &c. That the perfection +of virtue and happiness consists in a conformity to the order of +Providence here, and a resignation to it here and hereafter, ver. 326, +&c. + +O Happiness! our being's end and aim! +Good, Pleasure, Ease, Content! whate'er thy name: +That something still which prompts th' eternal sigh, +For which we bear to live, or dare to die, +Which still so near us, yet beyond us lies, +O'erlook'd, seen double, by the fool, and wise. +Plant of celestial seed! if dropp'd below, +Say, in what mortal soil thou deign'st to grow? +Fair opening to some court's propitious shine, +Or deep with diamonds in the flaming mine? 10 +Twined with the wreaths Parnassian laurels yield, +Or reap'd in iron harvests of the field? +Where grows?--where grows it not? If vain our toil, +We ought to blame the culture, not the soil: +Fix'd to no spot is happiness sincere, +Tis nowhere to be found, or everywhere; +'Tis never to be bought, but always free, +And, fled from monarchs, St John! dwells with thee. + +I. Ask of the learn'd the way? the learn'd are blind; +This bids to serve, and that to shun mankind; 20 +Some place the bliss in action, some in ease, +Those call it Pleasure, and Contentment these; +Some, sunk to beasts, find pleasure end in pain; +Some, swell'd to gods, confess even virtue vain; +Or, indolent, to each extreme they fall, +To trust in every thing, or doubt of all. + +Who thus define it, say they more or less +Than this, that happiness is happiness? + +II. Take Nature's path, and mad Opinion's leave; +All states can reach it, and all heads conceive; 30 +Obvious her goods, in no extreme they dwell; +There needs but thinking right, and meaning well; +And, mourn our various portions as we please, +Equal is common sense, and common ease. + +Remember, Man, 'The Universal Cause +Acts not by partial, but by general laws;' +And makes what happiness we justly call +Subsist, not in the good of one, but all. +There's not a blessing individuals find, +But some way leans and hearkens to the kind: 40 +No bandit fierce, no tyrant mad with pride, +No cavern'd hermit, rests self-satisfied: +Who most to shun or hate mankind pretend, +Seek an admirer, or would fix a friend: +Abstract what others feel, what others think, +All pleasures sicken, and all glories sink: +Each has his share; and who would more obtain, +Shall find, the pleasure pays not half the pain. + +Order is Heaven's first law; and, this confess'd, +Some are, and must be, greater than the rest, 50 +More rich, more wise; but who infers from hence +That such are happier, shocks all common sense. +Heaven to mankind impartial we confess, +If all are equal in their happiness: +But mutual wants this happiness increase; +All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace. +Condition, circumstance, is not the thing; +Bliss is the same in subject or in king, +In who obtain defence, or who defend, +In him who is, or him who finds a friend: 60 +Heaven breathes through every member of the whole +One common blessing, as one common soul. +But Fortune's gifts if each alike possess'd, +And each were equal, must not all contest? +If then to all Men happiness was meant, +God in externals could not place content. + +Fortune her gifts may variously dispose, +And these be happy call'd, unhappy those; +But Heaven's just balance equal will appear, +While those are placed in hope, and these in fear: 70 +Not present good or ill, the joy or curse, +But future views of better, or of worse. + +O sons of earth! attempt ye still to rise, +By mountains piled on mountains, to the skies? +Heaven still with laughter the vain toil surveys, +And buries madmen in the heaps they raise. + +III. Know, all the good that individuals find, +Or God and Nature meant to mere mankind, +Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, +Lie in three words--Health, Peace, and Competence, 80 +But health consists with temperance alone; +And peace, O Virtue! peace is all thy own. +The good or bad the gifts of Fortune gain; +But these less taste them, as they worse obtain. +Say, in pursuit of profit or delight, +Who risk the most, that take wrong means, or right? +Of vice or virtue, whether bless'd or cursed, +Which meets contempt, or which compassion first? +Count all th' advantage prosperous vice attains, +'Tis but what virtue flies from and disdains: 90 +And grant the bad what happiness they would, +One they must want, which is, to pass for good. + +Oh, blind to truth, and God's whole scheme below, +Who fancy bliss to vice, to virtue woe! +Who sees and follows that great scheme the best, +Best knows the blessing, and will most be bless'd. +But fools, the good alone unhappy call, +For ills or accidents that chance to all. +See Falkland dies, the virtuous and the just! +See godlike Turenne prostrate on the dust! 100 +See Sidney bleeds amid the martial strife! +Was this their virtue, or contempt of life? +Say, was it virtue, more though Heaven ne'er gave, +Lamented Digby! sunk thee to the grave? +Tell me, if virtue made the son expire, +Why, full of days and honour, lives the sire? +Why drew Marseilles' good bishop[90] purer breath, +When Nature sicken'd, and each gale was death? +Or why so long (in life if long can be) +Lent Heaven a parent to the poor and me? 110 + +What makes all physical or moral ill? +There deviates Nature, and here wanders Will. +God sends not ill, if rightly understood; +Or partial ill is universal good, +Or change admits, or Nature lets it fall; +Short, and but rare, till Man improved it all. +We just as wisely might of Heaven complain +That righteous Abel was destroy'd by Cain, +As that the virtuous son is ill at ease +When his lewd father gave the dire disease. 120 + +IV. Think we, like some weak prince, th' Eternal Cause, +Prone for his favourites to reverse his laws? +Shall burning Ætna, if a sage requires, +Forget to thunder, and recall her fires? +On air or sea new motions be impress'd, +O blameless Bethel![91] to relieve thy breast? +When the loose mountain trembles from on high, +Shall gravitation cease, if you go by? +Or some old temple, nodding to its fall, +For Chartres'[92] head reserve the hanging wall? 130 + +V. But still this world (so fitted for the knave) +Contents us not. A better shall we have? +A kingdom of the just then let it be: +But first consider how those just agree. +The good must merit God's peculiar care; +But who but God can tell us who they are? +One thinks on Calvin Heaven's own spirit fell; +Another deems him instrument of hell; +If Calvin feel Heaven's blessing, or its rod, +This cries there is, and that, there is no God. 140 +What shocks one part will edify the rest, +Nor with one system can they all be bless'd. +The very best will variously incline, +And what rewards your virtue, punish mine. +Whatever is, is right.--This world, 'tis true, +Was made for Caesar--but for Titus too: +And which more bless'd? who chain'd his country, say, +Or he whose virtue sigh'd to lose a day? + +'But sometimes virtue starves, while vice is fed.' +What then? Is the reward of virtue bread? 150 +That, vice may merit, 'tis the price of toil; +The knave deserves it, when he tills the soil, +The knave deserves it, when he tempts the main, +Where Folly fights for kings, or dives for gain. +The good man may be weak, be indolent; +Nor is his claim to plenty, but content. +But grant him riches, your demand is o'er? +'No--shall the good want health, the good want power?' +Add health, and power, and every earthly thing, +'Why bounded power? why private? why no king?' 160 +Nay, why external for internal given? +Why is not man a god, and earth a heaven? +Who ask and reason thus, will scarce conceive +God gives enough, while he has more to give: +Immense the power, immense were the demand; +Say, at what part of nature will they stand? + +VI. What nothing earthly gives, or can destroy, +The soul's calm sunshine, and the heartfelt joy, +Is virtue's prize: a better would you fix? +Then give humility a coach and six, 170 +Justice a conqueror's sword, or truth a gown, +Or public spirit its great cure, a crown. +Weak, foolish man! will Heaven reward us there +With the same trash mad mortals wish for here? +The boy and man an individual makes, +Yet sigh'st thou now for apples and for cakes? +Go, like the Indian, in another life +Expect thy dog, thy bottle, and thy wife; +As well as dream such trifles are assign'd, +As toys and empires, for a godlike mind. 180 +Rewards, that either would to virtue bring +No joy, or be destructive of the thing; +How oft by these at sixty are undone +The virtues of a saint at twenty-one! +To whom can riches give repute, or trust, +Content, or pleasure, but the good and just? +Judges and senates have been bought for gold, +Esteem and love were never to be sold. +O fool! to think God hates the worthy mind, +The lover and the love of human kind, 190 +Whose life is healthful, and whose conscience clear, +Because he wants a thousand pounds a year. + +Honour and shame from no condition rise; +Act well your part; there all the honour lies. +Fortune in men has some small difference made-- +One flaunts in rags, one flutters in brocade; +The cobbler apron'd, and the parson gown'd, +The friar hooded, and the monarch crown'd. +'What differ more' (you cry) 'than crown and cowl?' +I'll tell you, friend!--a wise man and a fool. 200 +You'll find, if once the monarch acts the monk, +Or, cobbler-like, the parson will be drunk, +Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow; +The rest is all but leather or prunella. + +Stuck o'er with titles, and hung round with strings, +That thou may'st be by kings, or whores of kings, +Boast the pure blood of an illustrious race, +In quiet flow from Lucrece to Lucrece: +But by your fathers' worth if yours you rate, +Count me those only who were good and great. 210 +Go! if your ancient but ignoble blood +Has crept through scoundrels ever since the flood, +Go! and pretend your family is young; +Nor own, your fathers have been fools so long. +What can ennoble sots, or slaves, or cowards? +Alas! not all the blood of all the Howards. + +Look next on greatness; say where greatness lies? +'Where, but among the heroes and the wise?' +Heroes are much the same, the point's agreed, +From Macedonia's madman to the Swede; 220 +The whole strange purpose of their lives, to find +Or make an enemy of all mankind! +Not one looks backward, onward still he goes, +Yet ne'er looks forward further than his nose. +No less alike the politic and wise; +All sly slow things, with circumspective eyes: +Men in their loose unguarded hours they take, +Not that themselves are wise, but others weak. +But grant that those can conquer, these can cheat; +'Tis phrase absurd to call a villain great: 230 +Who wickedly is wise, or madly brave, +Is but the more a fool, the more a knave. +Who noble ends by noble means obtains, +Or failing, smiles in exile or in chains, +Like good Aurelius let him reign, or bleed +Like Socrates, that man is great indeed. + +What's fame? A fancied life in others' breath, +A thing beyond us, even before our death. +Just what you hear, you have; and what's unknown +The same (my Lord) if Tully's, or your own. 240 +All that we feel of it begins and ends +In the small circle of our foes or friends; +To all beside as much an empty shade +An Eugene living, as a Cæsar dead; +Alike or when, or where, they shone, or shine, +Or on the Rubicon, or on the Rhine. +A wit's a feather, and a chief a rod; +An honest man's the noblest work of God. +Fame but from death a villain's name can save, +As justice tears his body from the grave, 250 +When what t' oblivion better were resign'd, +Is hung on high, to poison half mankind. +All fame is foreign, but of true desert; +Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart: +One self-approving hour whole years out-weighs +Of stupid starers, and of loud huzzas; +And more true joy Marcellus exiled feels, +Than Cæsar with a senate at his heels. + +In parts superior what advantage lies? +Tell (for you can) what is it to be wise? 260 +'Tis but to know how little can be known; +To see all others' faults, and feel our own: +Condemn'd in business or in arts to drudge, +Without a second, or without a judge. +Truths would you teach, or save a sinking land? +All fear, none aid you, and few understand. +Painful pre-eminence! yourself to view +Above life's weakness, and its comforts too. + +Bring then these blessings to a strict account; +Make fair deductions; see to what they mount: 270 +How much of other each is sure to cost; +How each for other oft is wholly lost; +How inconsistent greater goods with these; +How sometimes life is risk'd, and always ease: +Think, and if still the things thy envy call, +Say, wouldst thou be the man to whom they fall? +To sigh for ribands if thou art so silly, +Mark how they grace Lord Umbra, or Sir Billy: +Is yellow dirt the passion of thy life? +Look but on Gripus, or on Gripus' wife: 280 +If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shined, +The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind: +Or, ravish'd with the whistling of a name, +See Cromwell,[93] damn'd to everlasting fame! +If all, united, thy ambition call, +From ancient story learn to scorn them all. +There, in the rich, the honour'd, famed, and great, +See the false scale of happiness complete! +In hearts of kings, or arms of queens who lay, +How happy! those to ruin, these betray. 290 +Mark by what wretched steps their glory grows, +From dirt and sea-weed as proud Venice rose; +In each how guilt and greatness equal ran, +And all that raised the hero, sunk the man: +Now Europe's laurels on their brows behold, +But stain'd with blood, or ill exchanged for gold: +Then see them broke with toils, or sunk in ease, +Or infamous for plunder'd provinces. +Oh wealth ill-fated! which no act of fame +E'er taught to shine, or sanctified from shame! 300 +What greater bliss attends their close of life? +Some greedy minion, or imperious wife. +The trophied arches, storied halls invade, +And haunt their slumbers in the pompous shade. +Alas! not dazzled with their noontide ray, +Compute the morn and evening to the day; +The whole amount of that enormous fame, +A tale that blends their glory with their shame! + +VII. Know then this truth (enough for man to know) +'Virtue alone is happiness below.' 310 +The only point where human bliss stands still, +And tastes the good without the fall to ill; +Where only merit constant pay receives, +Is bless'd in what it takes, and what it gives; +The joy unequall'd, if its end it gain, +And if it lose, attended with no pain: +Without satiety, though e'er so bless'd, +And but more relish'd as the more distress'd: +The broadest mirth unfeeling Folly wears, +Less pleasing far than Virtue's very tears: 320 +Good, from each object, from each place acquired, +For ever exercised, yet never tired; +Never elated, while one man's oppress'd; +Never dejected, while another's bless'd; +And where no wants, no wishes can remain, +Since but to wish more virtue, is to gain. + +See the sole bliss Heaven could on all bestow! +Which who but feels can taste, but thinks can know: +Yet poor with fortune, and with learning blind, +The bad must miss; the good, untaught, will find; 330 +Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, +But looks through Nature up to Nature's God; +Pursues that chain which links th' immense design, +Joins Heaven and Earth, and mortal and divine; +Sees, that no being any bliss can know, +But touches some above, and some below; +Learns, from this union of the rising whole, +The first, last purpose of the human soul; +And knows where faith, law, morals, all began, +All end, in love of God, and love of Man. 340 + +For him alone Hope leads from goal to goal, +And opens still, and opens on his soul; +Till lengthen'd on to Faith, and unconfined, +It pours the bliss that fills up all the mind. +He sees why Nature plants in Man alone +Hope of known bliss, and faith in bliss unknown: +(Nature, whose dictates to no other kind +Are given in vain, but what they seek they find) +Wise is her present; she connects in this +His greatest virtue with his greatest bliss; 350 +At once his own bright prospect to be bless'd, +And strongest motive to assist the rest. + +Self-love thus push'd to social, to divine, +Gives thee to make thy neighbour's blessing thine. +Is this too little for the boundless heart? +Extend it, let thy enemies have part; +Grasp the whole worlds of Reason, Life, and Sense, +In one close system of Benevolence: +Happier as kinder, in whate'er degree, +And height of bliss but height of charity. 360 + +God loves from whole to parts: but human soul +Must rise from individual to the whole. +Self-love but serves the virtuous mind to wake, +As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake; +The centre moved, a circle straight succeeds, +Another still, and still another spreads; +Friend, parent, neighbour, first it will embrace; +His country next; and next all human race; +Wide and more wide, th' o'erflowings of the mind +Take every creature in, of every kind; 370 +Earth smiles around, with boundless bounty bless'd, +And Heaven beholds its image in his breast. + +Come then, my friend, my genius! come along; +O master of the poet, and the song! +And while the Muse now stoops, or now ascends, +To Man's low passions, or their glorious ends, +Teach me, like thee, in various Nature wise, +To fall with dignity, with temper rise; +Form'd by thy converse, happily to steer +From grave to gay, from lively to severe; 380 +Correct with spirit, eloquent with ease, +Intent to reason, or polite to please. +Oh! while along the stream of Time thy name +Expanded flies, and gathers all its fame, +Say, shall my little bark attendant sail, +Pursue the triumph, and partake the gale? +When statesmen, heroes, kings, in dust repose, +Whose sons shall blush their fathers were thy foes, +Shall then this verse to future age pretend +Thou wert my guide, philosopher, and friend? 390 +That, urged by thee, I turn'd the tuneful art. +From sounds to things, from fancy to the heart; +For Wit's false mirror held up Nature's light; +Show'd erring pride, Whatever is, is right; +That Reason, Passion, answer one great aim; +That true Self-love and Social are the same; +That Virtue only makes our bliss below; +And all our knowledge is, Ourselves to know. + + * * * * * + +VARIATIONS. + +VER. 1, in the MS. thus-- + +O Happiness! to which we all aspire, +Wing'd with strong hope, and borne by full desire; +That ease, for which in want, in wealth we sigh; +That ease, for which we labour and we die + +After VER. 52, in the MS.-- + +Say not, 'Heaven's here profuse, there poorly saves, +And for one monarch makes a thousand slaves,' +You'll find, when causes and their ends are known, +'Twas for the thousand Heaven has made that one. + +After VER. 66. in the MS.-- + +'Tis peace of mind alone is at a stay; +The rest mad Fortune gives or takes away. +All other bliss by accident's debarr'd; +But virtue's in the instant a reward: +In hardest trials operates the best, +And more is relish'd as the more distress'd. + +After VER. 92, in the MS.-- + +Let sober moralists correct their speech, +No bad man's happy: he is great or rich. + +After VER. 116, in the MS.-- + +Of every evil, since the world began, +The real source is not in God, but man. + +After VER. 142, in some editions-- + +Give each a system, all must be at strife; +What different systems for a man and wife? + +After VER. 172, in the MS.-- + +Say, what rewards this idle world imparts, +Or fit for searching heads or honest hearts. + +VER. 207, in the MS. thus-- + +The richest blood, right-honourably old, +Down from Lucretia to Lucretia roll'd, +May swell thy heart, and gallop in thy breast, +Without one dash of usher or of priest: +Thy pride as much despise all other pride +As Christ-church once all colleges beside. + +After VER. 316, in the MS.-- + +Even while it seems unequal to dispose, +And chequers all the good man's joys with woes, +'Tis but to teach him to support each state, +With patience this, with moderation that; +And raise his base on that one solid joy, +Which conscience gives, and nothing can destroy. + +VER. 373, in the MS. thus-- + +And now transported o'er so vast a plain, +While the wing'd courser flies with all her rein, +While heavenward now her mounting wing she feels, +Now scatter'd fools fly trembling from her heels, +Wilt thou, my St John! keep her course in sight, +Confine her fury, and assist her flight? + +VER. 397, in the MS. thus-- + +That just to find a God is all we can, +And all the study of mankind is Man. + + + + +EPISTLE TO DR ARBUTHNOT; + +OR, PROLOGUE TO THE SATIRES. + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + +This paper is a sort of bill of complaint, begun many years since, and +drawn up by snatches, as the several occasions offered. I had no +thoughts of publishing it, till it pleased some persons of rank and +fortune (the authors of 'Verses to the Imitator of Horace,' and of an +'Epistle to a Doctor of Divinity from a Nobleman at Hampton Court') to +attack, in a very extraordinary manner, not only my writings (of which, +being public, the public is judge) but my person, morals, and family, +whereof, to those who know me not, a truer information may be requisite. +Being divided between the necessity to say something of myself, and my +own laziness to undertake so awkward a task, I thought it the shortest +way to put the last hand to this epistle. If it have anything pleasing, +it will be that by which I am most desirous to please, the truth and the +sentiment; and if anything offensive, it will be only to those I am +least sorry to offend, the vicious or the ungenerous. + +Many will know their own pictures in it, there being not a circumstance +but what is true; but I have, for the most part, spared their names, and +they may escape being laughed at, if they please. + +I would have some of them know, it was owing to the request of the +learned and candid friend to whom it is inscribed, that I make not as +free use of theirs as they have done of mine. However, I shall have this +advantage and honour on my side, that whereas, by their proceeding, any +abuse may be directed at any man, no injury can possibly be done by +mine, since a nameless character can never be found out, but by its +truth and likeness. + +_P_. Shut, shut the door, good John![94] fatigued, I said, +Tie up the knocker, say I'm sick, I'm dead. +The Dog-star rages! nay, 'tis past a doubt, +All Bedlam, or Parnassus, is let out: +Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand, +They rave, recite, and madden round the land. + +What walls can guard me, or what shades can hide? +They pierce my thickets, through my grot they glide, +By land, by water, they renew the charge, +They stop the chariot, and they board the barge. 10 +No place is sacred, not the church is free, +Even Sunday shines no Sabbath-day to me: +Then from the Mint[95] walks forth the man of rhyme, +Happy! to catch me, just at dinner-time. + +Is there a parson, much bemused in beer, +A maudlin poetess, a rhyming peer, +A clerk, foredoom'd his father's soul to cross, +Who pens a stanza, when he should engross? +Is there, who, lock'd from ink and paper, scrawls +With desperate charcoal round his darken'd walls? 20 +All fly to Twit'nam, and in humble strain +Apply to me, to keep them mad or vain. +Arthur, whose giddy son neglects the laws, +Imputes to me and my damn'd works the cause: +Poor Cornus sees his frantic wife elope, +And curses wit, and poetry, and Pope. + +Friend to my life! (which did not you prolong, +The world had wanted many an idle song) +What drop or nostrum can this plague remove? +Or which must end me, a fool's wrath or love? 30 +A dire dilemma! either way I'm sped, +If foes, they write, if friends, they read me dead. +Seized and tied down to judge, how wretched I! +Who can't be silent, and who will not lie: +To laugh, were want of goodness and of grace, +And to be grave, exceeds all power of face. +I sit with sad civility, I read +With honest anguish, and an aching head; +And drop at last, but in unwilling ears, +This saving counsel, 'Keep your piece nine years.' 40 + +'Nine years!' cries he, who high in Drury-lane, +Lull'd by soft zephyrs through the broken pane, +Rhymes ere he wakes, and prints before Term ends, +Obliged by hunger, and request of friends: +'The piece, you think, is incorrect? why take it, +I'm all submission, what you'd have it, make it.' + +Three things another's modest wishes bound, +My friendship, and a prologue, and ten pound. + +Pitholeon[96] sends to me: 'You know his Grace, +I want a patron; ask him for a place.' 50 +Pitholeon libell'd me--'But here's a letter +Informs you, sir, 'twas when he knew no better. +Dare you refuse him? Curll invites to dine, +He'll write a journal, or he'll turn divine.' + +Bless me! a packet.--''Tis a stranger sues, +A virgin tragedy, an orphan Muse.' +If I dislike it, 'Furies, death, and rage!' +If I approve, 'Commend it to the stage.' +There (thank my stars) my whole commission ends, +The players and I are, luckily, no friends. 60 +Fired that the house reject him, ''Sdeath! I'll print it, +And shame the fools--Your interest, sir, with Lintot.' +Lintot, dull rogue! will think your price too much: +'Not, sir, if you revise it, and retouch.' +All my demurs but double his attacks; +At last he whispers, 'Do; and we go snacks.' +Glad of a quarrel, straight I clap the door: +Sir, let me see your works and you no more. + +'Tis sung, when Midas' ears began to spring +(Midas, a sacred person and a king), 70 +His very minister who spied them first, +(Some say his queen) was forced to speak, or burst. +And is not mine, my friend, a sorer case, +When every coxcomb perks them in my face? + +_A_. Good friend, forbear! you deal in dangerous things. +I'd never name queens, ministers, or kings; +Keep close to ears, and those let asses prick, +'Tis nothing---- + +_P_. Nothing? if they bite and kick? +Out with it, Dunciad! let the secret pass, +That secret to each fool, that he's an ass: 80 +The truth once told (and wherefore should we lie?) +The queen of Midas slept, and so may I. + +You think this cruel? Take it for a rule, +No creature smarts so little as a fool. +Let peals of laughter, Codrus! round thee break, +Thou unconcern'd canst hear the mighty crack: +Pit, box, and gallery in convulsions hurl'd, +Thou stand'st unshook amidst a bursting world. +Who shames a scribbler? break one cobweb through, +He spins the slight, self-pleasing thread anew: 90 +Destroy his fib or sophistry, in vain, +The creature's at his dirty work again, +Throned in the centre of his thin designs, +Proud of a vast extent of flimsy lines! +Whom have I hurt? has poet yet, or peer, +Lost the arch'd eyebrow, or Parnassian sneer? +And has not Colly still his lord, and whore? +His butchers, Henley,[97] his freemasons, Moore?[98] +Does not one table Bavius still admit? +Still to one bishop,[99] Philips seem a wit 100 +Still Sappho---- + +_A_. Hold! for God-sake--you'll offend, +No names--be calm--learn prudence of a friend: +I too could write, and I am twice as tall; +But foes like these---- + +_P_. One flatterer's worse than all. +Of all mad creatures, if the learn'd are right, +It is the slaver kills, and not the bite. +A fool quite angry is quite innocent: +Alas! 'tis ten times worse when they repent. + +One dedicates in high heroic prose, +And ridicules beyond a hundred foes: 110 +One from all Grub-street will my fame defend, +And, more abusive, calls himself my friend. +This prints my letters, that expects a bribe, +And others roar aloud, 'Subscribe, subscribe!' + +There are, who to my person pay their court: +I cough like Horace, and, though lean, am short, +Ammon's great son one shoulder had too high, +Such Ovid's nose, and, 'Sir! you have an eye'-- +Go on, obliging creatures! make me see +All that disgraced my betters, met in me. 120 +Say for my comfort, languishing in bed, +'Just so immortal Maro held his head:' +And, when I die, be sure you let me know +Great Homer died three thousand years ago. + +Why did I write? what sin to me unknown +Dipp'd me in ink, my parents', or my own? +As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame, +I lisp'd in numbers, for the numbers came. +I left no calling for this idle trade, +No duty broke, no father disobey'd. 130 +The Muse but served to ease some friend, not wife, +To help me through this long disease, my life, +To second, Arbuthnot! thy art and care, +And teach the being you preserved to bear. + +But why then publish? Granville the polite, +And knowing Walsh, would tell me I could write; +Well-natured Garth inflamed with early praise, +And Congreve loved, and Swift endured my lays; +The courtly Talbot, Somers, Sheffield read, +Even mitred Rochester would nod the head, 140 +And St John's self (great Dryden's friends before) +With open arms received one poet more. +Happy my studies, when by these approved! +Happier their author, when by these beloved! +From these the world will judge of men and books, +Not from the Burnets,[100] Oldmixons, and Cookes. + +Soft were my numbers; who could take offence +While pure description held the place of sense? +Like gentle Fanny's was my flowery theme, +'A painted mistress, or a purling stream.' 150 +Yet then did Gildon[101] draw his venal quill; +I wish'd the man a dinner, and sat still. +Yet then did Dennis rave in furious fret; +I never answer'd--I was not in debt. +If want provoked, or madness made them print, +I waged no war with Bedlam or the Mint. + +Did some more sober critic come abroad-- +If wrong, I smiled; if right, I kiss'd the rod. +Pains, reading, study, are their just pretence, +And all they want is spirit, taste, and sense. 160 +Commas and points they set exactly right, +And 'twere a sin to rob them of their mite. +Yet ne'er one sprig of laurel graced these ribalds, +From slashing Bentley down to piddling Tibbalds: +Each wight, who reads not, and but scans and spells, +Each word-catcher, that lives on syllables, +Even such small critics some regard may claim, +Preserved in Milton's or in Shakspeare's name. +Pretty! in amber to observe the forms +Of hairs, or straws, or dirt, or grubs, or worms! 170 +The things, we know, are neither rich nor rare, +But wonder how the devil they got there. + +Were others angry--I excused them too; +Well might they rage, I gave them but their due. +A man's true merit 'tis not hard to find; +But each man's secret standard in his mind, +That casting-weight pride adds to emptiness, +This, who can gratify for who can guess? +The bard whom pilfer'd Pastorals renown, +Who turns a Persian tale[102] for half-a-crown, 180 +Just writes to make his barrenness appear, +And strains from hard-bound brains eight lines a year; +He who, still wanting, though he lives on theft, +Steals much, spends little, yet has nothing left: +And he who, now to sense, now nonsense leaning, +Means not, but blunders round about a meaning: +And he, whose fustian's so sublimely bad, +It is not poetry, but prose run mad: +All these, my modest satire bade translate, +And own'd that nine such poets made a Tate. 190 +How did they fume, and stamp, and roar, and chafe! +And swear, not Addison himself was safe. + +Peace to all such! but were there one whose fires +True genius kindles, and fair fame inspires; +Blest with each talent and each art to please, +And born to write, converse, and live with ease: +Should such a man, too fond to rule alone, +Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne, +View him with scornful, yet with jealous eyes, +And hate for arts that caused himself to rise; 200 +Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, +And, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer; +Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, +Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike; +Alike reserved to blame, or to commend, +A timorous foe, and a suspicious friend; +Dreading e'en fools, by flatterers besieged, +And so obliging, that he ne'er obliged; +Like Cato, give his little senate laws, +And sit attentive to his own applause; 210 +While wits and Templars every sentence raise, +And wonder with a foolish face of praise-- +Who but must laugh, if such a man there be? +Who would not weep, if Atticus were he? + +What though my name stood rubric on the walls, +Or plaster'd posts, with claps, in capitals? +Or smoking forth, a hundred hawkers' load, +On wings of winds came flying all abroad? +I sought no homage from the race that write; +I kept, like Asian monarchs, from their sight: 220 +Poems I heeded (now be-rhymed so long) +No more than thou, great George! a birthday song. +I ne'er with wits or witlings pass'd my days, +To spread about the itch of verse and praise; +Nor like a puppy, daggled through the town, +To fetch and carry sing-song up and down; +Nor at rehearsals sweat, and mouth'd, and cried, +With handkerchief and orange at my side; +But sick of fops, and poetry, and prate, +To Bufo left the whole Castalian state. 230 + +Proud as Apollo on his forkèd hill, +Sat full-blown Bufo,[103] puff'd by every quill; +Fed with soft dedication all day long, +Horace and he went hand in hand in song. +His library (where busts of poets dead +And a true Pindar stood without a head) +Received of wits an undistinguish'd race, +Who first his judgment ask'd, and then a place: +Much they extoll'd his pictures, much his seat, +And flatter'd every day, and some days eat: 240 +Till, grown more frugal in his riper days, +He paid some bards with port, and some with praise, +To some a dry rehearsal was assign'd, +And others (harder still) he paid in kind. +Dryden alone (what wonder?) came not nigh, +Dryden alone escaped this judging eye: +But still the great have kindness in reserve, +He help'd to bury whom he help'd to starve. + +May some choice patron bless each gray-goose quill! +May every Bavius have his Bufo still! 250 +So when a statesman wants a day's defence, +Or envy holds a whole week's war with sense, +Or simple pride for flattery makes demands, +May dunce by dunce be whistled off my hands! +Bless'd be the great! for those they take away, +And those they left me; for they left me Gay; +Left me to see neglected genius bloom, +Neglected die, and tell it on his tomb: +Of all thy blameless life, the sole return +My verse, and Queensberry weeping o'er thy urn! 260 + +Oh let me live my own, and die so too! +(To live and die is all I have to do:) +Maintain a poet's dignity and ease, +And see what friends, and read what books I please: +Above a patron, though I condescend +Sometimes to call a minister my friend. +I was not born for courts or great affairs; +I pay my debts, believe, and say my prayers; +Can sleep without a poem in my head, +Nor know if Dennis be alive or dead. 270 + +Why am I ask'd what next shall see the light? +Heavens! was I born for nothing but to write? +Has life no joys for me? or (to be grave) +Have I no friend to serve, no soul to save? +'I found him close with Swift--Indeed? no doubt +(Cries prating Balbus) something will come out.' +'Tis all in vain, deny it as I will. +'No, such a genius never can lie still;' +And then for mine obligingly mistakes +The first lampoon Sir Will[104] or Bubo[105] makes. 280 +Poor guiltless I! and can I choose but smile, +When every coxcomb knows me by my style? + +Cursed be the verse, how well soe'er it flow, +That tends to make one worthy man my foe, +Give virtue scandal, innocence a fear, +Or from the soft-eyed virgin steal a tear! +But he who hurts a harmless neighbour's peace, +Insults fallen worth, or beauty in distress, +Who loves a lie, lame slander helps about, +Who writes a libel, or who copies out: 290 +That fop, whose pride affects a patron's name, +Yet, absent, wounds an author's honest fame: +Who can your merit selfishly approve, +And show the sense of it without the love; +Who has the vanity to call you friend, +Yet wants the honour, injured, to defend; +Who tells whate'er you think, whate'er you say, +And, if he lie not, must at least betray: +Who to the dean, and silver bell[106] can swear, +And sees at Canons what was never there; 300 +Who reads, but--with a lust to misapply, +Make satire a lampoon, and fiction, lie; +A lash like mine no honest man shall dread, +But all such babbling blockheads in his stead. +Let Sporus[107] tremble-- + +_A_. What? that thing of silk, +Sporus, that mere white curd of ass's milk? +Satire or sense, alas! can Sporus feel? +Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel? + +_P_. Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings, +This painted child of dirt, that stinks and stings; 310 +Whose buzz the witty and the fair annoys, +Yet wit ne'er tastes, and beauty ne'er enjoys; +So well-bred spaniels civilly delight +In mumbling of the game they dare not bite. +Eternal smiles his emptiness betray, +As shallow streams run dimpling all the way. +Whether in florid impotence he speaks, +And, as the prompter breathes, the puppet squeaks; +Or at the ear of Eve, familiar toad! +Half-froth, half-venom, spits himself abroad, 320 +In puns or politics, or tales, or lies, +Or spite, or smut, or rhymes, or blasphemies. +His wit all see-saw, between that and this, +Now high, now low, now master up, now miss, +And he himself one vile antithesis. +Amphibious thing! that, acting either part, +The trifling head, or the corrupted heart, +Fop at the toilet, flatterer at the board, +Now trips a lady, and now struts a lord. +Eve's tempter thus the Rabbins have express'd, 330 +A cherub's face, a reptile all the rest, +Beauty that shocks you, parts that none will trust, +Wit that can creep, and pride that licks the dust. + +Not Fortune's worshipper, nor Fashion's fool, +Not Lucre's madman, nor Ambition's tool, +Not proud, nor servile; be one poet's praise, +That, if he pleased, he pleased by manly ways: +That flattery, even to kings, he held a shame, +And thought a lie in verse or prose the same. +That not in Fancy's maze he wander'd long, 340 +But stoop'd to Truth, and moralised his song: +That not for Fame, but Virtue's better end, +He stood the furious foe, the timid friend, +The damning critic, half-approving wit, +The coxcomb hit, or fearing to be hit; +Laugh'd at the loss of friends he never had, +The dull, the proud, the wicked, and the mad; +The distant threats of vengeance on his head, +The blow unfelt, the tear he never shed; +The tale revived, the lie so oft o'erthrown,[108] 350 +Th' imputed trash,[109] and dulness not his own; +The morals blacken'd when the writings 'scape, +The libell'd person, and the pictured shape; +Abuse,[110] on all he loved, or loved him, spread, +A friend in exile, or a father dead; +The whisper that, to greatness still too near, +Perhaps yet vibrates on his sovereign's ear-- +Welcome for thee, fair Virtue! all the past: +For thee, fair Virtue! welcome even the last! + +_A_. But why insult the poor, affront the great? 360 + +_P_. A knave's a knave, to me, in every state: +Alike my scorn, if he succeed or fail, +Sporus at court, or Japhet in a jail, +A hireling scribbler, or a hireling peer, +Knight of the post corrupt, or of the shire; +If on a pillory, or near a throne, +He gain his prince's ear, or lose his own. + +Yet soft by nature, more a dupe than wit, +Sappho[111] can tell you how this man was bit: +This dreaded satirist Dennis will confess 370 +Foe to his pride, but friend to his distress: +So humble, he has knock'd at Tibbald's door, +Has drunk with Cibber, nay, has rhymed for Moore. +Full ten years slander'd, did he once reply? +Three thousand suns went down on Welsted's[112] lie. +To please a mistress one aspersed his life; +He lash'd him not, but let her be his wife: +Let Budgell[113] charge low Grub-street on his quill, +And write whate'er he pleased, except his will;[114] +Let the two Curlls of town and court[115] abuse 380 +His father, mother, body, soul, and Muse. +Yet why that father held it for a rule, +It was a sin to call our neighbour fool: +That harmless mother thought no wife a whore: +Hear this, and spare his family, James Moore! +Unspotted names, and memorable long! +If there be force in virtue, or in song. + +Of gentle blood (part shed in honour's cause, +While yet in Britain honour had applause) +Each parent sprung---- + +_A._ What fortune, pray?---- + +_P._ Their own, 390 +And better got, than Bestia's from the throne. +Born to no pride, inheriting no strife, +Nor marrying discord in a noble wife,[116] +Stranger to civil and religious rage, +The good man walk'd innoxious through his age. +No courts he saw, no suits would ever try, +Nor dared an oath,[117] nor hazarded a lie. +Unlearn'd, he knew no schoolman's subtle art, +No language but the language of the heart. +By nature honest, by experience wise, 400 +Healthy by temperance, and by exercise; +His life, though long, to sickness pass'd unknown, +His death was instant, and without a groan. +O grant me thus to live, and thus to die! +Who sprung from kings shall know less joy than I. + +O friend! may each domestic bliss be thine! +Be no unpleasing melancholy mine: +Me, let the tender office long engage, +To rock the cradle of reposing age, +With lenient arts extend a mother's breath, 410 +Make languor smile, and smooth the bed of death, +Explore the thought, explain the asking eye, +And keep a while one parent from the sky! +On cares like these if length of days attend, +May Heaven, to bless those days, preserve my friend, +Preserve him social, cheerful, and serene, +And just as rich as when he served a Queen. + +_A_. Whether that blessing be denied or given, +Thus far was right, the rest belongs to Heaven. + + * * * * * + +VARIATIONS. + +After VER. 20 in the MS.-- + +Is there a bard in durance? turn them free, +With all their brandish'd reams they run to me: +Is there a 'prentice, having seen two plays, +Who would do something in his semptress' praise? + +VER. 29 in the first edition-- + +Dear Doctor, tell me, is not this a curse? +Say, is their anger or their friendship worse? + +VER. 53 in the MS.-- + +If you refuse, he goes, as fates incline, +To plague Sir Robert, or to turn divine. + +VER. 60 in the former edition-- + +Cibber and I are luckily no friends. + +VER. 111 in the MS.-- + +For song, for silence, some expect a bribe; +And others roar aloud, 'Subscribe, subscribe!' +Time, praise, or money, is the least they crave; +Yet each declares the other fool or knave. + +After VER. 124 in the MS.-- + +But, friend, this shape, which you and Curll[118] admire +Came not from Ammon's son, but from my sire:[119] +And for my head, if you'll the truth excuse, +I had it from my mother,[120] not the Muse. +Happy, if he, in whom these frailties join'd, +Had heir'd as well the virtues of the mind. + +After VER. 208 in the MS.-- + +Who, if two wits on rival themes contest, +Approves of each, but likes the worst the best. + +After VER. 234 in the MS.-- + +To bards reciting he vouchsafed a nod, +And snuff'd their incense like a gracious god. +Our ministers like gladiators live, +'Tis half their bus'ness blows to ward, or give; +The good their virtue would effect, or sense, +Dies between exigents and self-defence. + +After VER. 270 in the MS.-- + +Friendships from youth I sought, and seek them still; +Fame, like the wind, may breathe where'er it will. +The world I knew, but made it not my school, +And in a course of flattery lived no fool. + +After VER. 282 in the MS.-- + +_P_. What if I sing Augustus, great and good? +_A_. You did so lately, was it understood? +_P_. Be nice no more, but, with a mouth profound, + As rumbling D----s or a Norfolk hound; + With George and Fred'ric roughen every verse, + Then smooth up all and Caroline rehearse. +_A_. No--the high task to lift up kings to god + Leave to court-sermons, and to birthday odes. + On themes like these, superior far to thine, + Let laurell'd Cibber and great Arnal shine. +_P_. Why write at all? +_A_. Yes, silence if you keep, + The town, the court, the wits, the dunces weep. + +VER. 368 in the MS.-- + +Once, and but once, his heedless youth was bit, +And liked that dangerous thing, a female wit: +Safe as he thought, though all the prudent chid. +He writ no libels, but my lady did: +Great odds in amorous or poetic game, +Where woman's is the sin, and man's the shame. + +After VER. 405 in the MS.-- + +And of myself, too, something must I say? +Take then this verse, the trifle of a day. +And if it live, it lives but to commend +The man whose heart has ne'er forgot a friend, +Or head, an author: critic, yet polite, +And friend to learning, yet too wise to write. + + * * * * * + + +SATIRES AND EPISTLES OF HORACE IMITATED. + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + +The occasion of publishing these 'Imitations' was the clamour raised on +some of my 'Epistles.' An answer from Horace was both more full, and of +more dignity, than any I could have made in my own person; and the +example of much greater freedom in so eminent a divine as Dr Donne, +seemed a proof with what indignation and contempt a Christian may treat +vice or folly, in ever so low or ever so high a station. Both these +authors were acceptable to the princes and ministers under whom they +lived. The satires of Dr Donne I versified, at the desire of the Earl of +Oxford while he was Lord Treasurer, and of the Duke of Shrewsbury who +had been Secretary of State; neither of whom looked upon a satire on +vicious courts as any reflection on those they served in. And, indeed, +there is not in the world a greater error than that which fools are so +apt to fall into, and knaves with good reason to encourage, the +mistaking a satirist for a libeller; whereas to a true satirist nothing +is so odious as a libeller, for the same reason as to a man truly +virtuous nothing is so hateful as a hypocrite. + +'Uni aequus virtati atque ejus amicis.' + + +SATIRE I. TO MR FORTESCUE.[121] + +_P_. There are (I scarce can think it, but am told) +There are, to whom my satire seems too bold: +Scarce to wise Peter complaisant enough, +And something said of Chartres much too rough. +The lines are weak, another's pleased to say, +Lord Fanny[122] spins a thousand such a day. +Timorous by nature, of the rich in awe, +I come to counsel learnèd in the law: +'You'll give me, like a friend both sage and free, +Advice; and (as you use) without a fee.' 10 + +_F_. I'd write no more. + +_P_. Not write? but then I think, +And for my soul I cannot sleep a wink. +I nod in company, I wake at night, +Fools rush into my head, and so I write. + +_F_. You could not do a worse thing for your life. +Why, if the nights seem tedious--take a wife: +Or rather truly, if your point be rest, +Lettuce and cowslip-wine; _probatum est_. +But talk with Celsus, Celsus will advise +Hartshorn, or something that shall close your eyes. 20 +Or, if you needs must write, write Caesar's praise, +You'll gain at least a knighthood, or the bays. + +_P_. What! like Sir Richard, rumbling, rough, and fierce, +With arms, and George, and Brunswick crowd the verse, +Rend with tremendous sound your ears asunder, +With gun, drum, trumpet, blunderbuss, and thunder? +Or, nobly wild, with Budgell's fire and force, +Paint angels trembling round his falling horse?[123] + +_F_. Then all your Muse's softer art display, +Let Carolina smooth the tuneful lay, 30 +Lull with Amelia's liquid name the Nine, +And sweetly flow through all the royal line. + +_P_. Alas! few verses touch their nicer ear; +They scarce can bear their Laureate twice a-year; +And justly Caesar scorns the poet's lays, +It is to history he trusts for praise. + +_F_. Better be Cibber, I'll maintain it still, +Than ridicule all taste, blaspheme quadrille, +Abuse the city's best good men in metre, +And laugh at peers that put their trust in Peter. 40 +Even those you touch not, hate you. + +_P_. What should ail them? + +_F_. A hundred smart in Timon and in Balaam: +The fewer still you name, you wound the more; +Bond is but one, but Harpax is a score. + +_P_. Each mortal has his pleasure: none deny +Scarsdale his bottle, Darty his ham-pie; +Ridotta sips and dances, till she see +The doubling lustres dance as fast as she; +F---- loves the Senate, Hockley-hole his brother, +Like in all else, as one egg to another. 50 +I love to pour out all myself, as plain +As downright Shippen,[124] or as old Montaigne: +In them, as certain to be loved as seen, +The soul stood forth, nor kept a thought within; +In me what spots (for spots I have) appear, +Will prove at least the medium must be clear. +In this impartial glass, my Muse intends +Fair to expose myself, my foes, my friends; +Publish the present age; but, where my text +Is vice too high, reserve it for the next: 60 +My foes shall wish my life a longer date, +And every friend the less lament my fate, +My head and heart thus flowing through my quill, +Verse-man or prose-man, term me which you will, +Papist or Protestant, or both between, +Like good Erasmus, in an honest mean, +In moderation placing all my glory, +While Tories call me Whig, and Whigs a Tory. + +Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet +To run a-muck, and tilt at all I meet; 70 +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 minister so sore. +Whoe'er offends, at some unlucky time +Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme, +Sacred to ridicule his whole life long, +And the sad burthen of some merry song. 80 + +Slander or poison dread from Delia's rage, +Hard words or hanging, if your judge be Page. +From furious Sappho scarce a milder fate, +Pox'd by her love, or libell'd by her hate. +Its proper power to hurt, each creature feels; +Bulls aim their horns, and asses lift their heels; +'Tis a bear's talent not to kick, but hug; +And no man wonders he's not stung by pug. +So drink with Walters, or with Chartres eat, +They'll never poison you, they'll only cheat. 90 + +Then, learnèd sir! (to cut the matter short) +Whate'er my fate, or well or ill at court, +Whether old age, with faint but cheerful ray, +Attends to gild the evening of my day, +Or death's black wing already be display'd, +To wrap me in the universal shade; +Whether the darken'd room to muse invite, +Or whiten'd wall provoke the skewer to write: +In durance, exile, Bedlam, or the Mint, +Like Lee[125] or Budgell,[126] I will rhyme and print. 100 + +_F_. Alas, young man! your days can ne'er be long, +In flower of age you perish for a song! +Plums and directors, Shylock and his wife, +Will club their testers, now, to take your life! + +_P_. What? arm'd for Virtue, when I point the pen, +Brand the bold front of shameless guilty men; +Dash the proud gamester in his gilded car; +Bare the mean heart that lurks beneath a star; +Can there be wanting to defend her cause, +Lights of the Church, or guardians of the laws? 110 +Could pension'd Boileau lash, in honest strain, +Flatterers and bigots even in Louis' reign? +Could Laureate Dryden pimp and friar engage, +Yet neither Charles nor James be in a rage? +And I not strip the gilding off a knave, +Unplaced, unpension'd, no man's heir, or slave? +I will, or perish in the generous cause: +Hear this, and tremble! you who 'scape the laws. +Yes, while I live, no rich or noble knave +Shall walk the world, in credit, to his grave. 120 +TO VIRTUE ONLY, AND HER FRIENDS, A FRIEND, +The world beside may murmur, or commend. +Know, all the distant din that world can keep, +Rolls o'er my grotto, and but soothes my sleep. +There, my retreat the best companions grace, +Chiefs out of war, and statesmen out of place. +There St John mingles with my friendly bowl +The feast of reason and the flow of soul: +And he, whose lightning[127] pierced th' Iberian lines, +Now forms my quincunx, and now ranks my vines, 130 +Or tames the genius of the stubborn plain, +Almost as quickly as he conquer'd Spain. + +Envy must own, I live among the great, +No pimp of pleasure, and no spy of state, +With eyes that pry not, tongue that ne'er repeats, +Fond to spread friendships, but to cover heats; +To help who want, to forward who excel;-- +This, all who know me, know; who love me, tell; +And who unknown defame me, let them be +Scribblers or peers, alike are mob to me. 140 +This is my plea, on this I rest my cause-- +What saith my counsel, learnèd in the laws? + +_F_. Your plea is good; but still, I say, beware! +Laws are explain'd by men--so have a care! +It stands on record, that in Richard's times +A man was hang'd for very honest rhymes. +Consult the statute: _quart_. I think, it is, +_Edwardi Sext_. or _prim, et quint. Eliz_. +See 'Libels, Satires'--here you have it--read. + +_P_. Libels and satires! lawless things indeed! 150 +But grave epistles, bringing vice to light, +Such as a king might read, a bishop write, +Such as Sir Robert would approve-- + +_F_. Indeed? +The case is alter'd--you may then proceed; +In such a cause the plaintiff will be hiss'd, +My lords the judges laugh, and you're dismiss'd. + + * * * * * + +SATIRE II. TO MR BETHEL. + +What, and how great, the virtue and the art +To live on little with a cheerful heart; +(A doctrine sage, but truly none of mine) +Let's talk, my friends, but talk before we dine; +Not when a gilt buffet's reflected pride +Turns you from sound philosophy aside; +Not when from plate to plate your eyeballs roll, +And the brain dances to the mantling bowl. + +Hear Bethel's sermon, one not versed in schools, +But strong in sense, and wise without the rules. 10 + +Go, work, hunt, exercise! (he thus began) +Then scorn a homely dinner, if you can. +Your wine lock'd up, your butler stroll'd abroad, +Or fish denied (the river yet unthaw'd), +If then plain bread and milk will do the feat, +The pleasure lies in you, and not the meat. + +Preach as I please, I doubt our curious men +Will choose a pheasant still before a hen; +Yet hens of Guinea full as good I hold, +Except you eat the feathers green and gold. 20 +Of carps and mullets why prefer the great, +(Though cut in pieces ere my lord can eat) +Yet for small turbots such esteem profess? +Because God made these large, the other less. + +Oldfield,[128] with more than harpy throat endued, +Cries, 'Send me, gods! a whole hog barbecued!' +Oh, blast it, south-winds! till a stench exhale +Rank as the ripeness of a rabbit's tail. +By what criterion do ye eat, d' ye think, +If this is prized for sweetness, that for stink? 30 +When the tired glutton labours through a treat, +He finds no relish in the sweetest meat, +He calls for something bitter, something sour, +And the rich feast concludes extremely poor: +Cheap eggs, and herbs, and olives still we see; +Thus much is left of old simplicity! + +The robin redbreast till of late had rest, +And children sacred held a martin's nest, +Till beccaficos sold so devilish dear +To one that was, or would have been, a peer. 40 +Let me extol a cat, on oysters fed, +I'll have a party at the Bedford-head;[129] +Or even to crack live crawfish recommend; +I'd never doubt at court to make a friend. + +'Tis yet in vain, I own, to keep a pother +About one vice, and fall into the other: +Between excess and famine lies a mean; +Plain, but not sordid; though not splendid, clean. + +Avidien, or his wife (no matter which, +For him you'll call a dog, and her a bitch) 50 +Sell their presented partridges, and fruits, +And humbly live on rabbits and on roots: +One half-pint bottle serves them both to dine, +And is at once their vinegar and wine. +But on some lucky day (as when they found +A lost bank-bill, or heard their son was drown'd) +At such a feast, old vinegar to spare, +Is what two souls so generous cannot bear: +Oil, though it stink, they drop by drop impart, 60 +But souse the cabbage with a bounteous heart. + +He knows to live, who keeps the middle state, +And neither leans on this side, nor on that; +Nor stops, for one bad cork, his butler's pay; +Swears, like Albutius, a good cook away; +Nor lets, like Naevius, every error pass, +The musty wine, foul cloth, or greasy glass. +Now hear what blessings temperance can bring: +(Thus said our friend, and what he said I sing) +First health: the stomach (cramm'd from every dish, 70 +A tomb of boil'd and roast, and flesh and fish, +Where bile, and wind, and phlegm, and acid jar, +And all the man is one intestine war) +Remembers oft the school-boy's simple fare, +The temperate sleeps, and spirits light as air. + +How pale each worshipful and reverend guest +Rise from a clergy or a city feast! +What life in all that ample body, say? +What heavenly particle inspires the clay? +The soul subsides, and wickedly inclines 80 +To seem but mortal, even in sound divines. + +On morning wings how active springs the mind +That leaves the load of yesterday behind! +How easy every labour it pursues! +How coming to the poet every Muse! +Not but we may exceed some holy time, +Or tired in search of truth, or search of rhyme; +Ill health some just indulgence may engage, +And more the sickness of long life, old age; +For fainting age what cordial drop remains, 90 +If our intemperate youth the vessel drains? + +Our fathers praised rank ven'son. You suppose, +Perhaps, young men! our fathers had no nose. +Not so: a buck was then a week's repast, +And 'twas their point, I ween, to make it last; +More pleased to keep it till their friends could come, +Than eat the sweetest by themselves at home. +Why had not I in those good times my birth, +Ere coxcomb-pies or coxcombs were on earth? + +Unworthy he, the voice of fame to hear-- 100 +That sweetest music to an honest ear-- +(For, faith! Lord Fanny, you are in the wrong, +The world's good word is better than a song,) +Who has not learn'd, fresh sturgeon and ham-pie +Are no rewards for want, and infamy! +When luxury has lick'd up all thy pelf, +Cursed by thy neighbours, thy trustees, thyself, +To friends, to fortune, to mankind a shame, +Think how posterity will treat thy name; +And buy a rope, that future times may tell 110 +Thou hast at least bestow'd one penny well. + +'Right,' cries his lordship, 'for a rogue in need +To have a taste is insolence indeed: +In me 'tis noble, suits my birth and state, +My wealth unwieldy, and my heap too great.' +Then, like the sun, let bounty spread her ray, +And shine that superfluity away. +Oh, impudence of wealth! with all thy store, +How dar'st thou let one worthy man be poor? +Shall half the new-built churches round thee fall? 120 +Make quays, build bridges, or repair Whitehall: +Or to thy country let that heap be lent, +As Marlbro's was, but not at five per cent. + +Who thinks that Fortune cannot change her mind, +Prepares a dreadful jest for all mankind. +And who stands safest? tell me, is it he +That spreads and swells in puff'd prosperity, +Or, blest with little, whose preventing care +In peace provides fit arms against a war? + +Thus Bethel spoke, who always speaks his thought, 130 +And always thinks the very thing he ought: +His equal mind I copy what I can, +And as I love, would imitate the man. +In South-sea days not happier, when surmised +The lord of thousands, than if now excised; +In forest planted by a father's hand, +Than in five acres now of rented land. +Content with little, I can piddle here +On broccoli and mutton, round the year; +But ancient friends (though poor, or out of play) 140 +That touch my bell, I cannot turn away. +'Tis true, no turbots dignify my boards, +But gudgeons, flounders, what my Thames affords: +To Hounslow Heath I point, and Bansted Down, +Thence comes your mutton, and these chicks my own: +From yon old walnut-tree a shower shall fall; +And grapes, long lingering on my only wall, +And figs from standard and espalier join; +The devil is in you if you cannot dine: +Then cheerful healths (your mistress shall have place) 150 +And, what's more rare, a poet shall say grace. + +Fortune not much of humbling me can boast; +Though double tax'd, how little have I lost? +My life's amusements have been just the same, +Before and after standing armies came. +My lands are sold, my father's house is gone; +I'll hire another's; is not that my own, +And yours, my friends? through whose free-opening gate +None comes too early, none departs too late; +(For I, who hold sage Homer's rule the best, 160 +Welcome the coming, speed the going guest). +'Pray Heaven it last!' (cries Swift) 'as you go on; +I wish to God this house had been your own: +Pity to build, without a son or wife: +Why, you'll enjoy it only all your life.' +Well, if the use be mine, can it concern one, +Whether the name belong to Pope or Vernon? +What's property, dear Swift? You see it alter +From you to me, from me to Peter Walter; +Or, in a mortgage, prove a lawyer's share; 170 +Or, in a jointure, vanish from the heir; +Or in pure equity (the case not clear) +The Chancery takes your rents for twenty year: +At best, it falls to some ungracious son, +Who cries, 'My father's damn'd, and all's my own.' +Shades, that to Bacon could retreat afford, +Become the portion of a booby lord; +And Helmsley, once proud Buckingham's[130] delight, +Slides to a scrivener or a city knight. +Let lands and houses have what lords they will, 180 +Let us be fix'd, and our own masters still. + + * * * * * + +THE FIRST EPISTLE OF THE FIRST BOOK OF HORACE. + + +TO LORD BOLINGBROKE. + +St John, whose love indulged my labours past, +Matures my present, and shall bound my last! +Why will you break the Sabbath of my days? +Now sick alike of envy and of praise. +Public too long, ah, let me hide my age! +See, modest Cibber now has left the stage: +Our generals now, retired to their estates, +Hang their old trophies o'er the garden gates, +In life's cool evening satiate of applause, +Nor fond of bleeding, even in Brunswick's cause. 10 + +A voice there is, that whispers in my ear, +('Tis reason's voice, which sometimes one can hear) +'Friend Pope! be prudent, let your Muse take breath, +And never gallop Pegasus to death; +Lest, still 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 right, what true, what fit we justly call, +Let this be all my care--for this is all: 20 +To lay this harvest up, and hoard with haste +What every day will want, and most, the last. + +But ask not, to what doctors I apply; +Sworn to no master, of no sect am I: +As drives the storm, at any door I knock: +And house with Montaigne 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: 30 +Sometimes with Aristippus,[131] or St Paul, +Indulge my candour, and grow all to all; +Back to my native moderation slide, +And win my way by yielding to the tide. + +Long, as to him who works for debt, the day, +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 slow the unprofitable moments roll, +That lock up all the functions of my soul; 40 +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 wise. +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 some comfort not to be a fool. +Weak though I am of limb, and short of sight, +Far from a lynx, and not a giant quite; 50 +I'll do what Mead and Cheselden 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 words and spells which can control +Between the fits this fever of the soul: +Know, there are rhymes, which, fresh and fresh applied, +Will cure the arrant'st puppy of his pride. 60 +Be furious, envious, slothful, 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. +But to the world no bugbear is so great, +As want of figure, and a small estate. +To either India see the merchant fly, +Scared at the spectre of pale poverty! 70 +See him, with pains of body, pangs of soul, +Burn through the tropic, freeze beneath the pole! +Wilt thou do nothing for a nobler end, +Nothing, to make philosophy thy friend? +To stop thy foolish views, thy long desires, +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.' 80 +This, this the saving doctrine, preach'd to all, +From low St James's up to high St Paul; +From him whose quill stands quiver'd at his ear, +To him who notches sticks[132] at Westminster. + +Barnard[133] in spirit, sense, and truth abounds; +'Pray then, what wants he?' Fourscore thousand pounds; +A pension, or such harness for a slave +As Bug now has, and Dorimant would have. +Barnard, thou art a cit, with all thy worth; +But Bug and D----l, their Honours, and so forth. 90 + +Yet every child another song will sing, +'Virtue, brave boys! 'tis virtue makes a king.' +True, conscious honour is to feel no sin, +He's arm'd without that's innocent within; +Be this thy screen, and this thy wall of brass; +Compared to this, a minister's an ass. + +And say, to which shall our applause belong, +This new court-jargon, or the good old song? +The modern language of corrupted peers, +Or what was spoke at Cressy and Poictiers? 100 +Who counsels best? who whispers, 'Be but great, +With praise or infamy leave that to fate; +Get place and wealth, if possible, with grace; +If not, by any means get wealth and place.' +For what? to have a box where eunuchs sing, +And foremost in the circle eye a king. +Or he, who bids thee face with steady view +Proud fortune, and look shallow greatness through: +And, while he bids thee, sets th' example too? +If such a doctrine, in St James's air, 110 +Should chance to make the well-dress'd rabble stare; +If honest S----z take scandal at a spark, +That less admires the palace than the park: +Faith, I shall give the answer Reynard gave: +'I cannot like, dread sir, your royal cave: +Because I see, by all the tracks about, +Full many a beast goes in, but none comes out.' +Adieu to virtue, if you're once a slave: +Send her to court, you send her to her grave. + +Well, if a king's a lion, at the least 120 +The people are a many-headed beast: +Can they direct what measures to pursue, +Who know themselves so little what to do? +Alike in nothing but one lust of gold, +Just half the land would buy, and half be sold: +Their country's wealth our mightier misers drain, +Or cross, to plunder provinces, the main; +The rest, some farm the poor-box, some the pews; +Some keep assemblies, and would keep the stews; +Some with fat bucks on childless dotards fawn; 130 +Some win rich widows by their chine and brawn; +While with the silent growth of ten per cent, +In dirt and darkness, hundreds stink content. + +Of all these ways, if each pursues his own, +Satire, be kind, and let the wretch alone: +But show me one who has it in his power +To act consistent with himself an hour. +Sir Job sail'd forth, the evening bright and still, +'No place on earth' (he cried) 'like Greenwich hill!' +Up starts a palace, lo, the obedient base 140 +Slopes at its foot, the woods its sides embrace, +The silver Thames reflects its marble face. +Now let some whimsy, or that devil within, +Which guides all those who know not what they mean, +But give the knight (or give his lady) spleen; +'Away, away! take all your scaffolds down, +For, snug's the word: my dear! we'll live in town.' + +At amorous Flavio is the stocking thrown? +That very night he longs to lie alone. +The fool, whose wife elopes some thrice a quarter, 150 +For matrimonial solace dies a martyr. +Did ever Proteus, Merlin, any witch, +Transform themselves so strangely as the rich? +Well, but the poor--the poor have the same itch; +They change their weekly barber, weekly news, +Prefer a new japanner to their shoes, +Discharge their garrets, move their beds, and run +(They know not whither) in a chaise and one; +They hire their sculler, and when once aboard, +Grow sick, and damn the climate--like a lord. 160 + +You laugh, half-beau, half-sloven if I stand; +My wig all powder, and all snuff my band; +You laugh, if coat and breeches strangely vary, +White gloves, and linen worthy Lady Mary![134] +But, when no prelate's lawn with hair-shirt lined +Is half so incoherent as my mind, +When (each opinion with the next at strife, +One ebb and flow of follies all my life) +I plant, root up; I build, and then confound; +Turn round to square, and square again to round; 170 +You never change one muscle of your face, +You think this madness but a common case, +Nor once to Chancery, nor to Hale apply; +Yet hang your lip, to see a seam awry! +Careless how ill I with myself agree, +Kind to my dress, my figure, not to me. +Is this my guide, philosopher, and friend? +This, he who loves me, and who ought to mend? +Who ought to make me (what he can, or none), +That man divine whom Wisdom calls her own; 180 +Great without title, without fortune bless'd; +Rich even when plunder'd, honour'd while oppress'd; +Loved without youth, and follow'd without power; +At home, though exiled; free, though in the Tower; +In short, that reasoning, high, immortal thing, +Just less than Jove, and much above a king, +Nay, half in heaven--except (what's mighty odd) +A fit of vapours clouds this demi-god. + + * * * * * + +THE SIXTH EPISTLE OF THE FIRST BOOK OF HORACE. + + +TO MR MURRAY.[135] + +'Not to admire, is all the art I know, +To make men happy, and to keep them so.' +(Plain truth, dear Murray, needs no flowers of speech, +So take it in the very words of Creech.)[136] + +This vault of air, this congregated ball, +Self-centred sun, and stars that rise and fall, +There are, my friend! whose philosophic eyes +Look through and trust the Ruler with his skies, +To Him commit the hour, the day, the year, +And view this dreadful All without a fear. 10 + +Admire we then what earth's low entrails hold, +Arabian shores, or Indian seas infold; +All the mad trade of fools and slaves for gold? +Or popularity? or stars and strings? +The mob's applauses, or the gifts of kings? +Say with what eyes we ought at courts to gaze, +And pay the great our homage of amaze? + +If weak the pleasure that from these can spring, +The fear to want them is as weak a thing: +Whether we dread, or whether we desire, 20 +In either case, believe me, we admire; +Whether we joy or grieve, the same the curse, +Surprised at better, or surprised at worse. +Thus good or bad, to one extreme betray +The unbalanced mind, and snatch the man away: +For virtue's self may too much zeal be had; +The worst of madmen is a saint run mad. + +Go then, and, if you can, admire the state +Of beaming diamonds, and reflected plate; +Procure a taste to double the surprise, 30 +And gaze on Parian charms with learnèd eyes: +Be struck with bright brocade, or Tyrian dye, +Our birthday nobles' splendid livery. +If not so pleased, at council-board rejoice, +To see their judgments hang upon thy voice; +From morn to night, at Senate, Rolls, and Hall, +Plead much, read more, dine late, or not at all. +But wherefore all this labour, all this strife? +For fame, for riches, for a noble wife? +Shall one whom nature, learning, birth, conspired 40 +To form, not to admire, but be admired, +Sigh, while his Chloe, blind to wit and worth, +Weds the rich dulness of some son of earth? +Yet time ennobles, or degrades each line; +It brighten'd Craggs's,[137] and may darken thine: +And what is fame? the meanest have their day, +The greatest can but blaze, and pass away. +Graced as thou art, with all the power of words, +So known, so honour'd, at the House of Lords: +Conspicuous scene! another yet is nigh 50 +(More silent far) where kings and poets lie; +Where Murray (long enough his country's pride) +Shall be no more than Tully, or than Hyde! + +Rack'd with sciatics, martyr'd with the stone, +Will any mortal let himself alone? +See Ward by batter'd beaux invited over, +And desperate misery lays hold on Dover. +The case is easier in the mind's disease; +There all men may be cured, whene'er they please. +Would ye be blest? despise low joys, low gains; 60 +Disdain whatever Cornbury[138] disdains; +Be virtuous, and be happy for your pains. + +But art thou one, whom new opinions sway, +One who believes as Tindal[139] leads the way, +Who virtue and a church alike disowns, +Thinks that but words, and this but brick and stones? +Fly then, on all the wings of wild desire, +Admire whate'er the maddest can admire: +Is wealth thy passion? Hence! from pole to pole, +Where winds can carry, or where waves can roll, 70 +For Indian spices, for Peruvian gold, +Prevent the greedy, and outbid the bold: +Advance thy golden mountain to the skies; +On the broad base of fifty thousand rise, +Add one round hundred, and (if that's not fair) +Add fifty more, and bring it to a square. +For, mark the advantage; just so many score +Will gain a wife with half as many more, +Procure her beauty, make that beauty chaste, +And then such friends--as cannot fail to last. 80 +A man of wealth is dubb'd a man of worth, +Venus shall give him form, and Anstis[140] birth. +(Believe me, many a German prince is worse, +Who, proud of pedigree, is poor of purse). +His wealth brave Timon gloriously confounds; +Ask'd for a groat, he gives a hundred pounds; +Or if three ladies like a luckless play,[141] +Takes the whole house upon the poet's day. +Now, in such exigencies not to need, +Upon my word, you must be rich indeed; 90 +A noble superfluity it craves, +Not for yourself, but for your fools and knaves; +Something, which for your honour they may cheat, +And which it much becomes you to forget. +If wealth alone then make and keep us bless'd, +Still, still be getting, never, never rest. + +But if to power and place your passion lie, +If in the pomp of life consist the joy; +Then hire a slave, or (if you will) a lord 100 +To do the honours, and to give the word; +Tell at your levée, as the crowds approach, +To whom to nod, whom take into your coach, +Whom honour with your hand: to make remarks, +Who rules in Cornwall, or who rules in Berks: +'This may be troublesome, is near the chair: +That makes three members, this can choose a mayor.' +Instructed thus, you bow, embrace, protest, +Adopt him son, or cousin at the least, +Then turn about, and laugh at your own jest. 110 + +Or if your life be one continued treat, +If to live well means nothing but to eat; +Up, up! cries Gluttony, 'tis break of day, +Go drive the deer, and drag the finny prey; +With hounds and horns go hunt an appetite-- +So Russel did, but could not eat at night, +Call'd, happy dog! the beggar at his door, +And envied thirst and hunger to the poor. + +Or shall we every decency confound, +Through taverns, stews, and bagnios take our round, 120 +Go dine with Chartres, in each vice outdo +K--l's lewd cargo, or Ty--y's crew; +From Latian syrens, French Circaean feasts, +Return well travell'd, and transform'd to beasts, +Or for a titled punk, or foreign flame, +Renounce our country, and degrade our name? + +If, after all, we must with Wilmot own, +The cordial drop of life is love alone, +And Swift cry wisely, '_Vive la bagatelle!_' +The man that loves and laughs, must sure do well. 130 + +Adieu--if this advice appear the worst, +E'en take the counsel which I gave you first: +Or better precepts if you can impart, +Why do, I'll follow them with all my heart. + + * * * * * + +THE FIRST EPISTLE OF THE SECOND BOOK OF HORACE. + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + +The reflections of Horace, and the judgments past in his Epistle to +Augustus, seemed so seasonable to the present times, that I could not +help applying them to the use of my own country. The author thought them +considerable enough to address them to his prince; whom he paints with +all the great and good qualities of a monarch, upon whom the Romans +depended for the increase of an absolute empire. But to make the poem +entirely English, I was willing to add one or two of those which +contribute to the happiness of a free people, and are more consistent +with the welfare of our neighbours. + +This epistle will show the learned world to have fallen into two +mistakes: One, that Augustus was a patron of poets in general; whereas +he not only prohibited all but the best writers to name him, but +recommended that care even to the civil magistrate: _Admonebat +praetores, ne paterentur nomen suum obsolefieri_, &c. The other, that +this piece was only a general discourse of poetry; whereas it was an +apology for the poets, in order to render Augustus more their patron. +Horace here pleads the cause of his contemporaries, first against the +taste of the town, whose humour it was to magnify the authors of the +preceding age; secondly against the court and nobility, who encouraged +only the writers for the theatre; and lastly against the emperor +himself, who had conceived them of little use to the government. He +shows (by a view of the progress of learning, and the change of taste +among the Romans) that the introduction of the polite arts of Greece had +given the writers of his time great advantages over their predecessors; +that their morals were much improved, and the license of those ancient +poets restrained; that satire and comedy were become more just and +useful; that whatever extravagances were left on the stage, were owing +to the ill taste of the nobility; that poets, under due regulations, +were in many respects useful to the state; and concludes, that it was +upon them the emperor himself must depend for his fame with posterity. + +We may further learn from this epistle, that Horace made his court to +this great prince by writing with a decent freedom toward him, with a +just contempt of his low flatterers, and with a manly regard to his own +character. + + +TO AUGUSTUS.[142] + +While you, great patron of mankind! sustain +The balanced world, and open all the main; +Your country, chief, in arms abroad defend, +At home, with morals, arts, and laws amend; +How shall the Muse, from such a monarch, steal +An hour, and not defraud the public weal? + +Edward and Henry, now the boast of fame, +And virtuous Alfred, a more sacred name, +After a life of generous toils endured, +The Gaul subdued, or property secured, 10 +Ambition humbled, mighty cities storm'd, +Or laws establish'd, and the world reform'd; +Closed their long glories with a sigh, to find +The unwilling gratitude of base mankind! +All human virtue, to its latest breath, +Finds envy never conquer'd, but by death. +The great Alcides, every labour past, +Had still this monster to subdue at last. +Sure fate of all, beneath whose rising ray +Each star of meaner merit fades away! 20 +Oppress'd we feel the beam directly beat, +Those suns of glory please not till they set. + +To thee, the world its present homage pays, +The harvest early, but mature the praise: +Great friend of liberty! in kings a name +Above all Greek, above all Roman fame: +Whose word is truth, as sacred and revered, +As Heaven's own oracles from altars heard. +Wonder of kings! like whom, to mortal eyes +None e'er has risen, and none e'er shall rise. 30 + +Just in one instance, be it yet confess'd, +Your people, sir, are partial in the rest: +Foes to all living worth except your own, +And advocates for folly dead and gone. +Authors, like coins, grow dear as they grow old; +It is the rust we value, not the gold. +Chaucer's worst ribaldry is learn'd by rote, +And beastly Skelton[143] heads of houses quote: +One likes no language but the 'Faery Queen'; +A Scot will fight for 'Christ's Kirk o' the Green';[144] 40 +And each true Briton is to Ben so civil, +He swears the Muses met him at The Devil.[145] + +Though justly Greece her eldest sons admires, +Why should not we be wiser than our sires? +In every public virtue we excel; +We build, we paint, we sing, we dance as well, +And learnèd Athens to our art must stoop, +Could she behold us tumbling through a hoop. + +If time improve our wit as well as wine, +Say at what age a poet grows divine? 50 +Shall we, or shall we not, account him so, +Who died, perhaps, an hundred years ago? +End all dispute; and fix the year precise +When British bards begin t' immortalise? + +'Who lasts a century can have no flaw, +I hold that wit a classic, good in law.' +Suppose he wants a year, will you compound? +And shall we deem him ancient, right and sound, +Or damn to all eternity at once, +At ninety-nine, a modern and a dunce? 60 + +'We shall not quarrel for a year or two; +By courtesy of England, he may do.' + +Then, by the rule that made the horse-tail bare,[146] +I pluck out year by year, as hair by hair, +And melt down ancients like a heap of snow: +While you, to measure merits, look in Stowe, +And estimating authors by the year, +Bestow a garland only on a bier. + +Shakspeare (whom you and every play-house bill +Style the divine, the matchless, what you will), 70 +For gain, not glory, wing'd his roving flight, +And grew immortal in his own despite. +Ben, old and poor, as little seem'd to heed +The life to come, in every poet's creed. +Who now reads Cowley? if he pleases yet, +His moral pleases, not his pointed wit; +Forgot his epic, nay, Pindaric art, +But still I love the language of his heart. + +'Yet surely, surely, these were famous men! +What boy but hears the sayings of old Ben? 80 +In all debates where critics bear a part, +Not one but nods and talks of Johnson's art, +Of Shakspeare's nature, and of Cowley's wit; +How Beaumont's judgment check'd what Fletcher writ; +How Shadwell hasty, Wycherley was slow; +But, for the passions, Southern sure and Rowe. +These, only these, support the crowded stage, +From eldest Heywood down to Cibber's age.' + +All this may be; the people's voice is odd, +It is, and it is not, the voice of God. 90 +To Gammer Gurton[147] if it give the bays, +And yet deny the 'Careless Husband' praise, +Or say our fathers never broke a rule; +Why then, I say, the public is a fool. +But let them own, that greater faults than we +They had, and greater virtues, I'll agree. +Spenser himself affects the obsolete, +And Sydney's verse halts ill on Roman feet: +Milton's strong pinion now not Heaven can bound, +Now serpent-like, in prose he sweeps the ground, 100 +In quibbles, angel and archangel join, +And God the Father turns a school-divine. +Not that I'd lop the beauties from his book, +Like slashing Bentley with his desperate hook, +Or damn all Shakspeare, like the affected fool +At court, who hates whate'er he read at school. + +But for the wits of either Charles's days, +The mob of gentlemen who wrote with ease; +Sprat, Carew, Sedley, and a hundred more, +(Like twinkling stars the Miscellanies o'er) 110 +One simile, that solitary shines +In the dry desert of a thousand lines, +Or lengthen'd thought that gleams through many a page, +Has sanctified whole poems for an age. +I lose my patience, and I own it too, +When works are censured, not as bad, but new; +While if our elders break all reason's laws, +These fools demand not pardon, but applause. + +On Avon's bank, where flowers eternal blow, +If I but ask, if any weed can grow? 120 +One tragic sentence if I dare deride +Which Betterton's grave action dignified, +Or well-mouth'd Booth with emphasis proclaims, +(Though but, perhaps, a muster-roll of names) +How will our fathers rise up in a rage, +And swear, all shame is lost in George's age! +You'd think no fools disgraced the former reign, +Did not some grave examples yet remain, +Who scorn a lad should teach his father skill, +And, having once been wrong, will be so still. 130 +He who, to seem more deep than you or I, +Extols old bards, or Merlin's prophecy, +Mistake him not; he envies, not admires, +And to debase the sons, exalts the sires. +Had ancient times conspired to disallow +What then was new, what had been ancient now? +Or what remain'd so worthy to be read +By learned critics of the mighty dead? + +In days of ease, when now the weary sword +Was sheathed, and luxury with Charles restored; 140 +In every taste of foreign courts improved, +'All, by the king's example,[148] lived and loved.' +Then peers grew proud in horsemanship t' excel, +Newmarket's glory rose, as Britain's fell; +The soldier breathed the gallantries of France, +And every flowery courtier writ romance. +Then marble, soften'd into life, grew warm, +And yielding metal flow'd to human form: +Lely[149] on animated canvas stole +The sleepy eye, that spoke the melting soul. 150 +No wonder then, when all was love and sport, +The willing Muses were debauch'd at court: +On each enervate string they taught the note +To pant, or tremble through an eunuch's throat. + +But Britain, changeful as a child at play, +Now calls in princes, and now turns away. +Now Whig, now Tory, what we loved we hate; +Now all for pleasure, now for Church and State; +Now for prerogative, and now for laws; +Effects unhappy! from a noble cause. 160 + +Time was, a sober Englishman would knock +His servants up, and rise by five o'clock, +Instruct his family in every rule, +And send his wife to church, his son to school. +To worship like his fathers, was his care; +To teach their frugal virtues to his heir; +To prove, that luxury could never hold; +And place, on good security, his gold. +Now times are changed, and one poetic itch +Has seized the court and city, poor and rich: 170 +Sons, sires, and grandsires, all will wear the bays, +Our wives read Milton, and our daughters plays, +To theatres, and to rehearsals throng, +And all our grace at table is a song. +I, who so oft renounce the Muses, lie, +Not ----'s self e'er tells more fibs than I; +When sick of muse, our follies we deplore, +And promise our best friends to rhyme no more; +We wake next morning in a raging fit, +And call for pen and ink to show our wit. 180 + +He served a 'prenticeship, who sets up shop; +Ward tried on puppies, and the poor, his drop; +E'en Radcliffe's doctors travel first to France, +Nor dare to practise till they've learn'd to dance. +Who builds a bridge that never drove a pile? +(Should Ripley[150] venture, all the world would smile) +But those who cannot write, and those who can, +All rhyme, and scrawl, and scribble, to a man. + +Yet, sir, reflect, the mischief is not great; +These madmen never hurt the Church or State: 190 +Sometimes the folly benefits mankind; +And rarely avarice taints the tuneful mind. +Allow him but his plaything of a pen, +He ne'er rebels, or plots, like other men: +Flight of cashiers, or mobs, he'll never mind; +And knows no losses while the Muse is kind. +To cheat a friend, or ward, he leaves to Peter; +The good man heaps up nothing but mere metre, +Enjoys his garden and his book in quiet; +And then--a perfect hermit in his diet. 200 + +Of little use the man you may suppose, +Who says in verse what others say in prose; +Yet let me show, a poet's of some weight, +And (though no soldier) useful to the State. +What will a child learn sooner than a song? +What better teach a foreigner the tongue? +What's long or short, each accent where to place, +And speak in public with some sort of grace? +I scarce can think him such a worthless thing, +Unless he praise some monster of a king; 210 +Or virtue or religion turn to sport, +To please a lewd or unbelieving court +Unhappy Dryden!--in all Charles's days, +Roscommon only boasts unspotted bays; +And in our own (excuse some courtly stains) +No whiter page than Addison remains. +He from the taste obscene reclaims our youth, +And sets the passions on the side of truth, +Forms the soft bosom with the gentlest art, +And pours each human virtue in the heart, 220 +Let Ireland tell, how wit upheld her cause, +Her trade supported, and supplied her laws; +And leave on Swift this grateful verse engraved, +'The rights a court attack'd, a poet saved.' +Behold the hand that wrought a nation's cure, +Stretch'd to relieve the idiot and the poor, +Proud vice to brand, or injured worth adorn, +And stretch the ray to ages yet unborn. +Not but there are, who merit other palms; +Hopkins and Sternhold glad the heart with psalms: 230 +The boys and girls whom charity maintains, +Implore your help in these pathetic strains: +How could devotion touch the country pews, +Unless the gods bestow'd a proper muse? +Verse cheers their leisure, verse assists their work, +Verse prays for peace, or sings down Pope and Turk. +The silenced preacher yields to potent strain, +And feels that grace his prayer besought in vain; +The blessing thrills through all the labouring throng, +And Heaven is won by violence of song. 240 + +Our rural ancestors, with little blest, +Patient of labour when the end was rest, +Indulged the day that housed their annual grain, +With feasts, and offerings, and a thankful strain: +The joy their wives, their sons, and servants share, +Ease of their toil, and partners of their care: +The laugh, the jest, attendants on the bowl, +Smooth'd every brow, and open'd every soul: +With growing years the pleasing license grew, +And taunts alternate innocently flew. 250 +But times corrupt, and nature, ill-inclined, +Produced the point that left a sting behind; +Till friend with friend, and families at strife, +Triumphant malice raged through private life. +Who felt the wrong, or fear'd it, took the alarm, +Appeal'd to law, and justice lent her arm. +At length, by wholesome dread of statutes bound, +The poets learn'd to please, and not to wound: +Most warp'd to flattery's side; but some, more nice, +Preserved the freedom, and forbore the vice. 260 +Hence satire rose, that just the medium hit, +And heals with morals what it hurts with wit. + +We conquer'd France, but felt our captive's charms; +Her arts victorious triumph'd o'er our arms; +Britain to soft refinements less a foe, +Wit grew polite, and numbers learn'd to flow. +Waller was smooth; but Dryden taught to join +The varying verse, the full-resounding line, +The long majestic march, and energy divine: +Though still some traces of our rustic vein 270 +And splayfoot verse remain'd, and will remain. +Late, very late, correctness grew our care, +When the tired nation breathed from civil war. +Exact Racine, and Corneille's noble fire, +Show'd us that France had something to admire. +Not but the tragic spirit was our own, +And full in Shakspeare, fair in Otway shone: +But Otway fail'd to polish or refine, +And fluent Shakspeare scarce effaced a line. +Even copious Dryden wanted, or forgot, 280 +The last and greatest art, the art to blot. +Some doubt, if equal pains, or equal fire +The humbler muse of Comedy require. +But in known images of life, I guess +The labour greater, as the indulgence less. +Observe how seldom even the best succeed: +Tell me if Congreve's fools are fools indeed? +What pert, low dialogue has Farquhar writ! +How Van[151] wants grace, who never wanted wit! +The stage how loosely does Astraea[152] tread, 290 +Who fairly puts all characters to bed: +And idle Cibber, how he breaks the laws, +To make poor Pinky eat with vast applause! +But fill their purse, our poets' work is done, +Alike to them, by pathos or by pun. + +O you! whom Vanity's light bark conveys +On Fame's mad voyage by the wind of praise, +With what a shifting gale your course you ply, +For ever sunk too low, or borne too high! +Who pants for glory finds but short repose, 300 +A breath revives him, or a breath o'erthrows. +Farewell the stage! if just as thrives the play, +The silly bard grows fat, or falls away. + +There still remains, to mortify a wit, +The many-headed monster of the pit: +A senseless, worthless, and unhonour'd crowd; +Who, to disturb their betters mighty proud, +Clattering their sticks before ten lines are spoke. +Call for the farce, the bear, or the black-joke. +What dear delight to Britons farce affords! 310 +Ever the taste of mobs, but now of lords; +(Taste, that eternal wanderer, which flies +From heads to ears, and now from ears to eyes). +The play stands still; damn action and discourse, +Back fly the scenes, and enter foot and horse; +Pageants on pageants, in long order drawn, +Peers, heralds, bishops, ermine, gold, and lawn; +The champion too; and, to complete the jest, +Old Edward's armour beams on Cibber's breast[153] +With laughter, sure, Democritus had died, 320 +Had he beheld an audience gape so wide. +Let bear or elephant be e'er so white, +The people, sure, the people are the sight! +Ah, luckless poet! stretch thy lungs and roar, +That bear or elephant shall heed thee more; +While all its throats the gallery extends, +And all the thunder of the pit ascends! +Loud as the wolves, on Orcas' stormy steep, +Howl to the roarings of the Northern deep. +Such is the shout, the long-applauding note, 330 +At Quin's high plume, or Oldfield's petticoat; +Or when from court a birthday suit bestow'd, +Sinks the lost actor in the tawdry load. +Booth enters--hark! the universal peal! +'But has he spoken?' Not a syllable. +What shook the stage, and made the people stare? +Cato's long wig, flower'd gown, and lacquer'd chair. + +Yet lest you think I rally more than teach, +Or praise malignly arts I cannot reach, +Let me for once presume to instruct the times, 340 +To know the poet from the man of rhymes: +'Tis he, who gives my breast a thousand pains, +Can make me feel each passion that he feigns; +Enrage, compose, with more than magic art, +With pity, and with terror, tear my heart: +And snatch me, o'er the earth, or through the air, +To Thebes, to Athens, when he will, and where. + +But not this part of the poetic state +Alone, deserves the favour of the great: +Think of those authors, sir, who would rely 350 +More on a reader's sense, than gazer's eye. +Or who shall wander where the Muses sing? +Who climb their mountain, or who taste their spring? +How shall we fill a library with wit, +When Merlin's cave is half unfurnish'd yet? + +My liege! why writers little claim your thought, +I guess; and, with their leave, will tell the fault: +We poets are (upon a poet's word) +Of all mankind, the creatures most absurd: +The season, when to come, and when to go, 360 +To sing, or cease to sing, we never know; +And if we will recite nine hours in ten, +You lose your patience, just like other men. +Then, too, we hurt ourselves, when to defend +A single verse, we quarrel with a friend; +Repeat unask'd; lament, the wit's too fine +For vulgar eyes, and point out every line. +But most, when straining with too weak a wing, +We needs will write epistles to the king; +And from the moment we oblige the town, 370 +Expect a place, or pension from the crown; +Or dubb'd historians by express command, +To enrol your triumphs o'er the seas and land, +Be call'd to court to plan some work divine, +As once for Louis, Boileau and Racine. + +Yet think, great sir! (so many virtues shown) +Ah think, what poet best may make them known? +Or choose, at least, some minister of grace, +Fit to bestow the Laureate's weighty place. + +Charles, to late times to be transmitted fair, 380 +Assign'd his figure to Bernini's[154] care; +And great Nassau to Kneller's hand decreed +To fix him graceful on the bounding steed; +So well in paint and stone they judged of merit: +But kings in wit may want discerning spirit. +The hero William, and the martyr Charles, +One knighted Blackmore, and one pension'd Quarles; +Which made old Ben and surly Dennis swear, +'No Lord's anointed, but a Russian bear.' + +Not with such majesty, such bold relief, 390 +The forms august of king, or conquering chief. +E'er swell'd on marble, as in verse have shined +(In polish'd verse) the manners and the mind. +Oh! could I mount on the Maeonian wing, +Your arms, your actions, your repose to sing! +What seas you traversed, and what fields you fought! +Your country's peace, how oft, how dearly bought! +How barbarous rage subsided at your word, +And nations wonder'd while they dropp'd the sword! +How, when you nodded, o'er the land and deep, 400 +Peace stole her wing, and wrapp'd the world in sleep; +Till earth's extremes your mediation own, +And Asia's tyrants tremble at your throne-- +But verse, alas! your Majesty disdains; +And I'm not used to panegyric strains: +The zeal of fools offends at any time, +But most of all, the zeal of fools in rhyme. +Besides, a fate attends on all I write, +That when I aim at praise, they say I bite. +A vile encomium doubly ridicules: 410 +There's nothing blackens like the ink of fools. +If true, a woful likeness; and if lies, +'Praise undeserved is scandal in disguise:' +Well may he blush who gives it, or receives; +And when I flatter, let my dirty leaves +(Like journals, odes, and such forgotten things +As Eusden, Philips, Settle, writ of kings) +Clothe spice, line trunks, or fluttering in a row, +Befringe the rails of Bedlam and Soho. + + * * * * * + +THE SECOND EPISTLE OF THE SECOND BOOK OF HORACE. + + +'Ludentis speciem dabit, et torquebitur.' + +--HOR. + +Dear Colonel,[155] Cobham's and your country's friend! +You love a verse, take such as I can send. +A Frenchman comes, presents you with his boy, +Bows and begins--'The lad, sir, is of Blois:[156] +Observe his shape how clean! his locks how curl'd! +My only son;--I'd have him see the world: +His French is pure: his voice, too, you shall hear. +Sir, he's your slave, for twenty pound a-year. +Mere wax as yet, you fashion him with ease, +Your barber, cook, upholsterer, what you please: 10 +A perfect genius at an opera song-- +To say too much, might do my honour wrong. +Take him with all his virtues, on my word; +His whole ambition was to serve a lord; +But, sir, to you, with what would I not part? +Though, faith! I fear, 'twill break his mother's heart. +Once (and but once) I caught him in a lie, +And then, unwhipp'd, he had the grace to cry; +The fault he has I fairly shall reveal, +(Could you o'erlook but that) it is to steal.' 20 + +If, after this, you took the graceless lad, +Could you complain, my friend, he proved so bad? +Faith, in such case, if you should prosecute, +I think Sir Godfrey[157] should decide the suit; +Who sent the thief that stole the cash away, +And punish'd him that put it in his way. + +Consider then, and judge me in this light; +I told you when I went, I could not write; +You said the same; and are you discontent +With laws, to which you gave your own assent? 30 +Nay worse, to ask for verse at such a time! +D' ye think me good for nothing but to rhyme? + +In Anna's wars, a soldier, poor and old, +Had dearly earn'd a little purse of gold: +Tired with a tedious march, one luckless night, +He slept, poor dog! and lost it to a doit. +This put the man in such a desperate mind, +Between revenge, and grief, and hunger join'd, +Against the foe, himself, and all mankind, +He leap'd the trenches, scaled a castle-wall, 40 +Tore down a standard, took the fort and all. +'Prodigious well!' his great commander cried, +Gave him much praise, and some reward beside. +Next, pleased his excellence a town to batter; +(Its name I know not, and it's no great matter) +'Go on, my friend,' (he cried) 'see yonder walls! +Advance and conquer! go where glory calls! +More honours, more rewards attend the brave.' +Don't you remember what reply he gave? +'D' ye think me, noble general, such a sot? 50 +Let him take castles who has ne'er a groat.' + +Bred up at home, full early I begun +To read in Greek the wrath of Peleus' son. +Besides, my father taught me from a lad, +The better art to know the good from bad: +(And little sure imported to remove, +To hunt for truth in Maudlin's learnèd grove.) +But knottier points we knew not half so well, +Deprived us soon of our paternal cell; +And certain laws, by sufferers thought unjust. 60 +Denied all posts of profit or of trust: +Hopes after hopes of pious Papists fail'd, +While mighty William's thundering arm prevail'd. +For right hereditary tax'd and fined, +He stuck to poverty with peace of mind; +And me, the Muses help'd to undergo it: +Convict a Papist he, and I a poet. +But (thanks to Homer) since I live and thrive. +Indebted to no prince or peer alive, +Sure I should want the care of ten Monroes,[158] 70 +If I would scribble, rather than repose. + +Years following years, steal something every day, +At last they steal us from ourselves away; +In one our frolics, one amusements end, +In one a mistress drops, in one a friend: +This subtle thief of life, this paltry time, +What will it leave me, if it snatch my rhyme? +If every wheel of that unwearied mill +That turn'd ten thousand verses, now stands still? + +But, after all, what would you have me do? 80 +When out of twenty I can please not two; +When this heroics only deigns to praise, +Sharp satire that, and that Pindaric lays? +One likes the pheasant's wing, and one the leg; +The vulgar boil, the learnèd roast an egg; +Hard task! to hit the palate of such guests, +When Oldfield loves, what Dartineuf[159] detests. + +But grant I may relapse, for want of grace, +Again to rhyme; can London be the place? +Who there his Muse, or self, or soul attends, 90 +In crowds, and courts, law, business, feasts, and friends? +My counsel sends to execute a deed: +A poet begs me I will hear him read: +In Palace-yard at nine you'll find me there-- +At ten for certain, sir, in Bloomsbury Square-- +Before the Lords at twelve my cause comes on-- +There's a rehearsal, sir, exact at one.-- +'Oh, but a wit can study in the streets, +And raise his mind above the mob he meets.' +Not quite so well, however, as one ought; 100 +A hackney-coach may chance to spoil a thought: +And then a nodding beam, or pig of lead, +God knows, may hurt the very ablest head. +Have you not seen, at Guildhall's narrow pass, +Two aldermen dispute it with an ass? +And peers give way, exalted as they are, +Even to their own s-r-v--nce in a car? + +Go, lofty poet! and in such a crowd, +Sing thy sonorous verse--but not aloud. +Alas! to grottos and to groves we run, 110 +To ease and silence, every Muse's son: +Blackmore himself, for any grand effort, +Would drink and doze at Tooting or Earl's Court.[160] +How shall I rhyme in this eternal roar? +How match the bards whom none e'er match'd before? + +The man, who, stretch'd in Isis' calm retreat, +To books and study gives seven years complete, +See! strew'd with learned dust, his nightcap on, +He walks, an object new beneath the sun! +The boys flock round him, and the people stare: 120 +So stiff, so mute! some statue, you would swear, +Stepp'd from its pedestal to take the air! +And here, while town, and court, and city roars, +With mobs, and duns, and soldiers, at their doors: +Shall I, in London, act this idle part? +Composing songs,[161] for fools to get by heart? + +The Temple late two brother sergeants saw, +Who deem'd each other oracles of law; +With equal talents, these congenial souls, +One lull'd th' Exchequer, and one stunn'd the Rolls; 130 +Each had a gravity would make you split, +And shook his head at Murray, as a wit. +''Twas, sir, your law'--and 'Sir, your eloquence,' +'Yours, Cowper's manner--and yours, Talbot's sense.' + +Thus we dispose of all poetic merit, +Yours Milton's genius, and mine Homer's spirit. +Call Tibbald Shakspeare, and he'll swear the Nine, +Dear Cibber! never match'd one ode of thine. +Lord! how we strut through Merlin's cave, to see +No poets there, but, Stephen,[162] you, and me. 140 +Walk with respect behind, while we at ease +Weave laurel crowns, and take what names we please. +'My dear Tibullus!' if that will not do, +'Let me be Horace, and be Ovid you:' +Or 'I'm content, allow me Dryden's strains, +And you shall rise up Otway for your pains.' +Much do I suffer, much, to keep in peace +This jealous, waspish, wrong-head, rhyming race; +And much must flatter, if the whim should bite +To court applause by printing what I write: 150 +But let the fit pass o'er, I'm wise enough +To stop my ears to their confounded stuff. + +In vain bad rhymers all mankind reject, +They treat themselves with most profound respect; +'Tis to small purpose that you hold your tongue, +Each, praised within, is happy all day long, +But how severely with themselves proceed +The men, who write such verse as we can read? +Their own strict judges, not a word they spare +That wants, or force, or light, or weight, or care, 160 +Howe'er unwillingly it quits its place, +Nay though at court (perhaps) it may find grace: +Such they'll degrade; and sometimes, in its stead, +In downright charity revive the dead; +Mark where a bold expressive phrase appears, +Bright through the rubbish of some hundred years; +Command old words, that long have slept, to wake, +Words that wise Bacon or brave Raleigh spake; +Or bid the new be English, ages hence, +(For use will father what's begot by sense) 170 +Pour the full tide of eloquence along, +Serenely pure, and yet divinely strong, +Rich with the treasures of each foreign tongue; +Prune the luxuriant, the uncouth refine, +But show no mercy to an empty line: +Then polish all, with so much life and ease, +You think 'tis nature, and a knack to please: +But ease in writing flows from art, not chance; +As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance. + +If such the plague and pains to write by rule, 180 +Better (say I) be pleased, and play the fool; +Call, if you will, bad rhyming a disease, +It gives men happiness, or leaves them ease. +There lived _in primo Georgii_ (they record) +A worthy member, no small fool, a lord; +Who, though the House was up, delighted sat, +Heard, noted, answer'd, as in full debate: +In all but this, a man of sober life, +Fond of his friend, and civil to his wife; +Not quite a madman, though a pasty fell, 190 +And much too wise to walk into a well. +Him, the damn'd doctors and his friends immured, +They bled, they cupp'd, they purged; in short, they cured: +Whereat the gentleman began to stare-- +'My friends!' he cried, 'pox take you for your care! +That from a patriot of distinguish'd note, +Have bled and purged me to a simple vote.' + +Well, on the whole, plain prose must be my fate: +Wisdom (curse on it!) will come soon or late. +There is a time when poets will grow dull: 200 +I'll e'en leave verses to the boys at school: +To rules of poetry no more confined, +I learn to smooth and harmonise my mind, +Teach every thought within its bounds to roll, +And keep the equal measure of the soul. + +Soon as I enter at my country door, +My mind resumes the thread it dropped before; +Thoughts, which at Hyde-park-corner I forgot, +Meet, and rejoin me, in the pensive grot, +There all alone, and compliments apart, 210 +I ask these sober questions of my heart: + +If, when the more you drink, the more you crave, +You tell the doctor; when the more you have, +The more you want, why not with equal ease +Confess as well your folly, as disease? +The heart resolves this matter in a trice, +'Men only feel the smart, but not the vice.' + +When golden angels cease to cure the evil, +You give all royal witchcraft to the devil: +When servile chaplains[163] cry, that birth and place 220 +Indue a peer with honour, truth, and grace, +Look in that breast, most dirty D----! be fair, +Say, can you find out one such lodger there? +Yet still, not heeding what your heart can teach, +You go to church to hear these flatterers preach. +Indeed, could wealth bestow or wit or merit, +A grain of courage, or a spark of spirit, +The wisest man might blush, I must agree, +If D---- loved sixpence more than he. + +If there be truth in law, and use can give 230 +A property, that's yours on which you live. +Delightful Abbs Court,[164] if its fields afford +Their fruits to you, confesses you its lord: +All Worldly's hens, nay, partridge, sold to town, +His ven'son, too, a guinea makes your own: +He bought at thousands, what with better wit +You purchase as you want, and bit by bit; +Now, or long since, what difference will be found? +You pay a penny, and he paid a pound. + +Heathcote himself, and such large-acred men, 240 +Lords of fat Ev'sham, or of Lincoln fen, +Buy every stick of wood that lends them heat, +Buy every pullet they afford to eat. +Yet these are wights who fondly call their own +Half that the devil o'erlooks from Lincoln town. +The laws of God, as well as of the land, +Abhor a perpetuity should stand: +Estates have wings, and hang in fortune's power +Loose on the point of every wavering hour, +Ready, by force, or of your own accord, 250 +By sale, at least by death, to change their lord. +Man? and for ever? wretch! what wouldst thou have? +Heir urges heir, like wave impelling wave. +All vast possessions (just the same the case +Whether you call them villa, park, or chase) +Alas, my Bathurst! what will they avail! +Join Cotswood hills to Saperton's fair dale, +Let rising granaries and temples here, +There mingled farms and pyramids appear, +Link towns to towns with avenues of oak, 260 +Enclose whole downs in walls,--'tis all a joke! +Inexorable death shall level all, +And trees, and stones, and farms, and farmer fall. + +Gold, silver, ivory, vases sculptured high, +Paint, marble, gems, and robes of Persian dye, +There are who have not--and, thank Heaven, there are, +Who, if they have not, think not worth their care. + +Talk what you will of taste, my friend, you'll find, +Two of a face, as soon as of a mind. +Why, of two brothers, rich and restless one 270 +Ploughs, burns, manures, and toils from sun to sun; +The other slights, for women, sports, and wines, +All Townshend's turnips,[165] and all Grosvenor's mines: +Why one like Bu----,[166] with pay and scorn content, +Bows and votes on, in court and parliament; +One, driven by strong benevolence of soul, +Shall fly, like Oglethorpe,[167] from pole to pole: +Is known alone to that Directing Power, +Who forms the genius in the natal hour; +That God of Nature, who, within us still, 280 +Inclines our action, not constrains our will; +Various of temper, as of face or frame, +Each individual: His great end the same. + +Yes, sir, how small soever be my heap, +A part I will enjoy, as well as keep. +My heir may sigh, and think it want of grace +A man so poor would live without a place: +But sure no statute in his favour says, +How free, or frugal, I shall pass my days: +I, who at some times spend, at others spare, 290 +Divided between carelessness and care. +'Tis one thing madly to disperse my store: +Another, not to heed to treasure more; +Glad, like a boy, to snatch the first good day, +And pleased, if sordid want be far away. + +What is't to me (a passenger, God wot!) +Whether my vessel be first-rate or not? +The ship itself may make a better figure, +But I that sail am neither less nor bigger. +I neither strut with every favouring breath, 300 +Nor strive with all the tempest in my teeth. +In power, wit, figure, virtue, fortune, placed +Behind the foremost, and before the last. + +'But why all this of avarice? I have none.' +I wish you joy, sir, of a tyrant gone; +But does no other lord it at this hour, +As wild and mad--the avarice of power? +Does neither rage inflame, nor fear appal? +Not the black fear of death, that saddens all? +With terrors round, can reason hold her throne, 310 +Despise the known, nor tremble at the unknown? +Survey both worlds, intrepid and entire, +In spite of witches, devils, dreams, and fire? +Pleased to look forward, pleased to look behind, +And count each birthday with a grateful mind? +Has life no sourness, drawn so near its end? +Canst thou endure a foe, forgive a friend? +Has age but melted the rough parts away, +As winter-fruits grow mild ere they decay? +Or will you think, my friend, your business done, 320 +When, of a hundred thorns, you pull out one? + +Learn to live well, or fairly make your will; +You've play'd, and loved, and eat, and drank your fill: +Walk sober off, before a sprightlier age +Comes tittering on, and shoves you from the stage: +Leave such to trifle with more grace and ease, +Whom folly pleases, and whose follies please. + + * * * * * + +BOOK I. EPISTLE VII. + + +IMITATED IN THE MANNER OF DR SWIFT. + +'Tis true, my lord, I gave my word, +I would be with you, June the third; +Changed it to August, and (in short) +Have kept it--as you do at court. +You humour me when I am sick, +Why not when I am splenetic? +In town, what objects could I meet? +The shops shut up in every street, +And funerals blackening all the doors, +And yet more melancholy whores: 10 +And what a dust in every place! +And a thin court that wants your face, +And fevers raging up and down, +And W---- and H---- both in town! + +'The dog-days are no more the case.' +'Tis true, but winter comes apace: +Then southward let your bard retire, +Hold out some months 'twixt sun and fire, +And you shall see, the first warm weather, +Me and the butterflies together. 20 + +My lord, your favours well I know; +'Tis with distinction you bestow; +And not to every one that comes, +Just as a Scotchman does his plums. +'Pray, take them, sir,--enough's a feast: +Eat some, and pocket up the rest.' +What! rob your boys? those pretty rogues +'No, sir, you'll leave them to the hogs.' +Thus fools with compliments besiege ye, +Contriving never to oblige ye. 30 +Scatter your favours on a fop, +Ingratitude's the certain crop; +And 'tis but just, I'll tell ye wherefore, +You give the things you never care for. +A wise man always is, or should, +Be mighty ready to do good; +But makes a difference in his thought +Betwixt a guinea and a groat. + +Now this I'll say, you'll find in me +A safe companion, and a free; 40 +But if you'd have me always near-- +A word, pray, in your honour's ear. +I hope it is your resolution +To give me back my constitution! +The sprightly wit, the lively eye, +Th' engaging smile, the gaiety, +That laugh'd down many a summer sun, +And kept you up so oft till one: +And all that voluntary vein, +As when Belinda[168] raised my strain. 50 + +A weasel once made shift to slink +In at a corn-loft through a chink; +But having amply stuff'd his skin, +Could not get out as he got in: +Which one belonging to the house +('Twas not a man, it was a mouse) +Observing, cried, 'You 'scape not so; +Lean as you came, sir, you must go.' + +Sir, you may spare your application, +I'm no such beast, nor his relation; 60 +Nor one that temperance advance, +Cramm'd to the throat with ortolans: +Extremely ready to resign +All that may make me none of mine. +South-Sea subscriptions take who please, +Leave me but liberty and ease. +'Twas what I said to Craggs and Child, +Who praised my modesty, and smiled. +Give me, I cried, (enough for me) +My bread, and independency! 70 +So bought an annual rent or two, +And lived--just as you see I do; +Near fifty, and without a wife, +I trust that sinking fund, my life. +Can I retrench? Yes, mighty well, +Shrink back to my paternal cell, +A little house, with trees a-row, +And, like its master, very low. +There died my father, no man's debtor, +And there I'll die, nor worse, nor better. 80 + +To set this matter full before ye, +Our old friend Swift will tell his story. + +'Harley, the nation's great support'-- +But you may read it,--I stop short. + + * * * * * + +BOOK II. SATIRE VI. THE FIRST PART IMITATED IN THE YEAR 1714, BY DR +SWIFT; THE LATTER PART ADDED AFTERWARDS. + + +I've often wish'd that I had clear, +For life, six hundred pounds a-year, +A handsome house to lodge a friend, +A river at my garden's end, +A terrace-walk, and half a rood +Of land, set out to plant a wood. + +Well, now I have all this and more, +I ask not to increase my store; +But here a grievance seems to lie, +All this is mine but till I die; 10 +I can't but think 'twould sound more clever, +To me and to my heirs for ever. + +If I ne'er got or lost a groat, +By any trick, or any fault; +And if I pray by reason's rules, +And not like forty other fools: +As thus, 'Vouchsafe, O gracious Maker! +To grant me this and t' other acre: +Or, if it be thy will and pleasure, +Direct my plough to find a treasure:' 20 +But only what my station fits, +And to be kept in my right wits. +Preserve, Almighty Providence! +Just what you gave me, competence: +And let me in these shades compose +Something in verse as true as prose; +Removed from all the ambitious scene, +Nor puff'd by pride, nor sunk by spleen. + +In short, I'm perfectly content, +Let me but live on this side Trent; 30 +Nor cross the Channel twice a-year, +To spend six months with statesmen here. + +I must by all means come to town, +'Tis for the service of the crown. +'Lewis, the Dean will be of use, +Send for him up, take no excuse.' +The toil, the danger of the seas; +Great ministers ne'er think of these; +Or let it cost five hundred pound, +No matter where the money's found, 40 +It is but so much more in debt, +And that they ne'er consider'd yet. + +'Good Mr Dean, go change your gown, +Let my lord know you're come to town.' +I hurry me in haste away, +Not thinking it is levee-day; +And find his honour in a pound, +Hemm'd by a triple circle round, +Checquer'd with ribbons blue and green: +How should I thrust myself between? 50 +Same wag observes me thus perplex'd, +And smiling, whispers to the next, +'I thought the Dean had been too proud, +To jostle here among a crowd.' +Another in a surly fit, +Tells me I have more zeal than wit, +'So eager to express your love, +You ne'er consider whom you shove, +But rudely press before a duke.' +I own, I'm pleased with this rebuke, 60 +And take it kindly meant to show +What I desire the world should know. + +I get a whisper, and withdraw; +When twenty fools I never saw +Come with petitions fairly penn'd, +Desiring I would stand their friend. + +This, humbly offers me his case-- +That, begs my interest for a place-- +A hundred other men's affairs, +Like bees, are humming in my ears. 70 +'To-morrow my appeal comes on, +Without your help the cause is gone'-- +The duke expects my lord and you, +About some great affair, at two-- +'Put my Lord Bolingbroke in mind, +To get my warrant quickly sign'd: +Consider, 'tis my first request.'-- +Be satisfied, I'll do my best: +Then presently he falls to tease, +'You may for certain, if you please; 80 +I doubt not, if his lordship knew-- +And, Mr Dean, one word from you'-- + +'Tis (let me see) three years and more, +(October next it will be four) +Since Harley bid me first attend, +And chose me for an humble friend; +Would take me in his coach to chat, +And question me of this and that; +As, 'What's o'clock?' and, 'How's the wind?' +'Who's chariot's that we left behind?' 90 +Or gravely try to read the lines +Writ underneath the country signs; +Or, 'Have you nothing new to-day +From Pope, from Parnell, or from Gay?' +Such tattle often entertains +My lord and me as far as Staines, +As once a week we travel down +To Windsor, and again to town, +Where all that passes, _inter nos_, +Might be proclaim'd at Charing Cross. 100 + +Yet some I know with envy swell, +Because they see me used so well: +'How think you of our friend the dean? +I wonder what some people mean; +My lord and he are grown so great, +Always together, tête-à-tête: +What, they admire him for his jokes-- +See but the fortune of some folks!' +There flies about a strange report +Of some express arrived at court; 110 +I'm stopp'd by all the fools I meet, +And catechised in every street. +'You, Mr Dean, frequent the great; +Inform us, will the Emperor treat? +Or do the prints and papers lie?' +Faith, sir, you know as much as I. +'Ah, Doctor, how you love to jest! +Tis now no secret'--I protest +'Tis one to me--'Then tell us, pray, +When are the troops to have their pay?' 120 +And, though I solemnly declare +I know no more than my Lord Mayor, +They stand amazed, and think me grown +The closest mortal ever known. + +Thus in a sea of folly toss'd, +My choicest hours of life are lost; +Yet always wishing to retreat, +Oh, could I see my country-seat! +There, leaning near a gentle brook, +Sleep, or peruse some ancient book, 130 +And there in sweet oblivion drown +Those cares that haunt the court and town. +O charming noons! and nights divine! +Or when I sup, or when I dine, +My friends above, my folks below, +Chatting and laughing all a-row; +The beans and bacon set before 'em, +The grace-cup served with all decorum: +Each willing to be pleased, and please, +And even the very dogs at ease! 140 +Here no man prates of idle things, +How this or that Italian sings, +A neighbour's madness, or his spouse's, +Or what's in either of the Houses: +But something much more our concern, +And quite a scandal not to learn: +Which is the happier or the wiser, +A man of merit, or a miser? +Whether we ought to choose our friends, +For their own worth, or our own ends? 150 +What good, or better, we may call, +And what, the very best of all? + +Our friend Dan Prior told (you know) +A tale extremely _á propos_: +Name a town life, and in a trice, +He had a story of two mice. +Once on a time (so runs the fable) +A country mouse, right hospitable, +Received a town mouse at his board, +Just as a farmer might a lord. 160 +A frugal mouse upon the whole. +Yet loved his friend, and had a soul, +Knew what was handsome, and would do 't, +On just occasion, coúte qui coúte, +He brought him bacon (nothing lean); +Pudding, that might have pleased a dean; +Cheese, such as men in Suffolk make, +But wish'd it Stilton, for his sake; +Yet, to his guest though no way sparing, +He eat himself the rind and paring, 170 +Our courtier scarce could touch a bit, +But show'd his breeding and his wit; +He did his best to seem to eat, +And cried, 'I vow you're mighty neat. +But, lord! my friend, this savage scene! +For God's sake, come, and live with men: +Consider, mice, like men, must die, +Both small and great, both you and I: +Then spend your life in joy and sport, +(This doctrine, friend, I learn'd at court).' 180 + +The veriest hermit in the nation +May yield, God knows, to strong temptation. +Away they come, through thick and thin, +To a tall house near Lincoln's Inn; +('Twas on the night of a debate, +When all their lordships had sat late.) + +Behold the place where, if a poet +Shined in description, he might show it; +Tell how the moonbeam trembling falls, +And tips with silver[169] all the walls; 190 +Palladian walls, Venetian doors, +Grotesco roofs, and stucco floors: +But let it (in a word) be said, +The moon was up, and men a-bed, +The napkins white, the carpet red: +The guests withdrawn had left the treat, +And down the mice sat, _tête-à-tête_. + +Our courtier walks from dish to dish, +Tastes for his friend of fowl and fish; +Tells all their names, lays down the law, 200 +'_Que ça est bon! Ah goutez ça!_ +That jelly's rich, this malmsey healing, +Pray, dip your whiskers and your tail in.' +Was ever such a happy swain? +He stuffs and swills, and stuffs again. +'I'm quite ashamed--'tis mighty rude +To eat so much--but all's so good. +I have a thousand thanks to give-- +My lord alone knows how to live.' +No sooner said, but from the hall 210 +Rush chaplain, butler, dogs, and all: +'A rat! a rat! clap to the door'-- +The cat comes bouncing on the floor. +O for the heart of Homer's mice, +Or gods to save them in a trice! +(It was by Providence they think, +For your damn'd stucco has no chink.) +'An't please your honour, quoth the peasant, +This same dessert is not so pleasant: +Give me again my hollow tree, 220 +A crust of bread, and liberty!' + + * * * * * + +BOOK IV. ODE I. TO VENUS. + + +Again? new tumults in my breast? + Ah, spare me, Venus! let me, let me rest! +I am not now, alas! the man + As in the gentle reign of my Queen Anne. +Ah, sound no more thy soft alarms, + Nor circle sober fifty with thy charms. +Mother too fierce of dear desires! + Turn, turn to willing hearts your wanton fires, +To Number Five direct your doves, + There spread round Murray all your blooming loves 10 +Noble and young, who strikes the heart + With every sprightly, every decent part; +Equal, the injured to defend, + To charm the mistress, or to fix the friend. +He, with a hundred arts refined, + Shall stretch thy conquests over half the kind; +To him each rival shall submit, + Make but his riches equal to his wit. +Then shall thy form the marble grace, + (Thy Grecian form) and Chloe lend the face: 20 +His house, embosom'd in the grove, + Sacred to social life and social love, +Shall glitter o'er the pendant green, + Where Thames reflects the visionary scene: +Thither, the silver-sounding lyres + Shall call the smiling Loves, and young Desires; +There, every Grace and Muse shall throng, + Exalt the dance, or animate the song; +There, youths and nymphs, in consort gay, + Shall hail the rising, close the parting day. 30 +With me, alas! those joys are o'er; + For me, the vernal garlands bloom no more. +Adieu![170] fond hope of mutual fire, + The still believing, still-renew'd desire; +Adieu! the heart-expanding bowl, + And all the kind deceivers of the soul! +But why? ah, tell me, ah, too dear! + Steals down my cheek th' involuntary tear? +Why words so flowing, thoughts so free, + Stop, or turn nonsense, at one glance of thee? 40 +Thee, dress'd in fancy's airy beam, + Absent I follow through th' extended dream; +Now, now I seize, I clasp thy charms, + And now you burst (ah, cruel!) from my arms; +And swiftly shoot along the Mall, + Or softly glide by the canal, +Now shown by Cynthia's silver ray, + And now on rolling waters snatch'd away. + + * * * * * + +PART OF THE NINTH ODE OF THE FOURTH BOOK. + + +1 Lest you should think that verse shall die, + Which sounds the silver Thames along, + Taught, on the wings of truth to fly + Above the reach of vulgar song; + +2 Though daring Milton sits sublime, + In Spenser, native Muses play; + Nor yet shall Waller yield to time, + Nor pensive Cowley's moral lay. + +3 Sages and chiefs long since had birth + Ere Caesar was, or Newton named; + These raised new empires o'er the earth, + And those, new heavens and systems framed. + +4 Vain was the chief's, the sage's pride! + They had no poet, and they died. + In vain they schemed, in vain they bled! + They had no poet, and are dead. + + + + +THE SATIRES OF DR JOHN DONNE, DEAN OF ST PAUL'S,[171] VERSIFIED. + + +'Quid vetat et nosmet Lucilî scripta legentes Quaerere, num illius, num +rerum dura negârit Versiculos natura magis factos, et euntes Mollius?' + +HOR. + +SATIRE II. + +Yes; thank my stars! as early as I knew +This town, I had the sense to hate it too: +Yet here, as ev'n in Hell, there must be still +One giant-vice, so excellently ill, +That all beside, one pities, not abhors; +As who knows Sappho, smiles at other whores. + +I grant that poetry's a crying sin; +It brought (no doubt) the Excise and Army in: +Catch'd like the plague, or love, the Lord knows how, +But that the cure is starving, all allow. 10 +Yet like the papist's is the poet's state, +Poor and disarm'd, and hardly worth your hate! + +Here a lean bard, whose wit could never give +Himself a dinner, makes an actor live; +The thief condemn'd, in law already dead, +So prompts, and saves a rogue who cannot read. +Thus as the pipes of some carved organ move, +The gilded puppets dance and mount above. +Heaved by the breath the inspiring bellows blow: +The inspiring bellows lie and pant below. 20 + +One sings the fair; but songs no longer move; +No rat is rhymed to death, nor maid to love: +In love's, in nature's spite, the siege they hold, +And scorn the flesh, the devil, and all--but gold. +These write to lords, some mean reward to get, +As needy beggars sing at doors for meat. +Those write because all write, and so have still +Excuse for writing, and for writing ill. + +Wretched indeed! but far more wretched yet +Is he who makes his meal on others' wit: 30 +'Tis changed, no doubt, from what it was before, +His rank digestion makes it wit no more: +Sense, pass'd through him, no longer is the same; +For food digested takes another name. + +I pass o'er all those confessors and martyrs, +Who live like Sutton, or who die like Chartres, +Out-cant old Esdras, or out-drink his heir, +Out-usure Jews, or Irishmen out-swear; +Wicked as pages, who in early years +Act sins which Prisca's confessor scarce hears. 40 +Ev'n those I pardon, for whose sinful sake +Schoolmen new tenements in hell must make; +Of whose strange crimes no canonist can tell +In what commandment's large contents they dwell. + +One, one man only breeds my just offence; +Whom crimes gave wealth, and wealth gave impudence: +Time, that at last matures a clap to pox, +Whose gentle progress makes a calf an ox, +And brings all natural events to pass, +Hath made him an attorney of an ass. 50 +No young divine, new-beneficed, can be +More pert, more proud, more positive than he. +What further could I wish the fop to do, +But turn a wit, and scribble verses too; +Pierce the soft labyrinth of a lady's ear +With rhymes of this per cent, and that per year? +Or court a wife, spread out his wily parts, +Like nets or lime-twigs, for rich widows' hearts: +Call himself barrister to every wench, +And woo in language of the Pleas and Bench? 60 +Language, which Boreas might to Auster hold +More rough than forty Germans when they scold. + +Cursed be the wretch, so venal and so vain: +Paltry and proud, as drabs in Drury-lane. +'Tis such a bounty as was never known, +If Peter deigns to help you to your own: +What thanks, what praise, if Peter but supplies, +And what a solemn face, if he denies! +Grave, as when prisoners shake the head and swear +'Twas only suretiship that brought 'em there. 70 +His office keeps your parchment fates entire, +He starves with cold to save them from the fire; +For you he walks the streets through rain or dust, +For not in chariots Peter puts his trust; +For you he sweats and labours at the laws, +Takes God to witness he affects your cause, +And lies to every lord in every thing, +Like a king's favourite, or like a king. +These are the talents that adorn them all, +From wicked Waters ev'n to godly Paul.[172] +Not more of simony beneath black gowns, 80 +Not more of bastardy in heirs to crowns. +In shillings and in pence at first they deal; +And steal so little, few perceive they steal; +Till, like the sea, they compass all the land, +From Scots to Wight, from Mount to Dover strand: +And when rank widows purchase luscious nights, +Or when a duke to Jansen punts at White's, +Or city-heir in mortgage melts away; +Satan himself feels far less joy than they. +Piecemeal they win this acre first, then that, 90 +Glean on, and gather up the whole estate. +Then strongly fencing ill-got wealth by law, +Indentures, covenants, articles they draw, +Large as the fields themselves, and larger far +Than civil codes, with all their glosses, are; +So vast, our new divines, we must confess, +Are fathers of the Church for writing less. +But let them write for you, each rogue impairs +The deeds, and dext'rously omits, _ses heires_: +No commentator can more slily pass 100 +O'er a learn'd, unintelligible place; +Or, in quotation, shrewd divines leave out +Those words, that would against them clear the doubt. + +So Luther thought the Pater-noster long, +When doom'd to say his beads and even-song; +But having cast his cowl, and left those laws, +Adds to Christ's prayer, the Power and Glory clause. + +The lands are bought; but where are to be found +Those ancient woods, that shaded all the ground? +We see no new-built palaces aspire, 110 +No kitchens emulate the vestal fire. +Where are those troops of poor, that throng'd of yore +The good old landlord's hospitable door? +Well, I could wish, that still in lordly domes +Some beasts were kill'd, though not whole hecatombs; +That both extremes were banish'd from their walls, +Carthusian fasts, and fulsome Bacchanals; +And all mankind might that just mean observe, +In which none e'er could surfeit, none could starve. +These as good works, 'tis true, we all allow; 120 +But oh! these works are not in fashion now: +Like rich old wardrobes, things extremely rare, +Extremely fine, but what no man will wear. + +Thus much I've said, I trust, without offence; +Let no court sycophant pervert my sense, +Nor sly informer watch these words to draw +Within the reach of treason, or the law. + + * * * * * + +SATIRE IV. + + +Well, 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 satires, 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 fired, +Nor the vain itch t' admire, or be admired; 10 +I hoped for no commission from his Grace; +I bought no benefice, I begg'd no place; +Had no new verses, nor new suit to show; +Yet went to court!--the devil would have it so. +But, as the fool that, in reforming days, +Would go to mass in jest (as story says) +Could not but think, to pay his fine was odd, +Since 'twas no form'd design of serving God; +So was I punish'd, as if full as proud, +As prone to ill, as negligent of good. 20 +As deep in debt, without a thought to pay, +As vain, as idle, and as false 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 posed to name; +Noah had refused it lodging in his ark, +Where all the race of reptiles might embark: +A verier monster than on Afric's shore +The sun e'er got, or slimy Nilus bore, +Or Sloane or Woodward's wondrous shelves contain, 30 +Nay, all that lying travellers can feign. +The watch would hardly let him pass at noon, +At night, would swear him dropp'd out of the moon. +One whom the mob, when next we find or make +A Popish plot, shall for a Jesuit take, +And the wise justice, starting from his chair, +Cry, By your priesthood, tell me what you are? + +Such was the wight; the apparel on his back, +Though coarse, was reverend, and though bare, was black: +The suit, if by the fashion one might guess, 40 +Was velvet in the youth of good Queen Bess, +But mere tuff-taffety what now remain'd; +So time, that changes all things, had ordain'd! +Our sons shall see it leisurely decay, +First turn plain rash, then vanish quite away. + +This thing has travell'd, speaks each language too, +And knows what's fit for every State to do; +Of whose best phrase and courtly accent join'd, +He forms one tongue, exotic and refined +Talkers I've learn'd to bear; Motteux I knew, 50 +Henley himself I've heard, and Budgell too. +The Doctor's wormwood style, the hash of tongues +A pedant makes, the storm of Gonson's lungs, +The whole artillery of the terms of war, +And (all those plagues in one) the bawling Bar: +These I could bear; but not a rogue so civil, +Whose tongue will compliment you to the devil; +A tongue, that can cheat widows, cancel scores, +Make Scots speak treason, cozen subtlest whores, +With royal favourites in flattery vie, 60 +And Oldmixon and Burnet both outlie. + +He spies me out; I whisper, Gracious God! +What sin of mine could merit such a rod? +That all the shot of dulness now must be +From this thy blunderbuss discharged on me! +Permit (he cries) no stranger to your fame +To crave your sentiment, if ----'s your name. +What speech esteem you most? 'The King's,' said I. +But the best words?--'Oh, sir, the Dictionary.' +You miss my aim; I mean the most acute 70 +And perfect speaker?--'Onslow, past dispute.' +But, sir, of writers? 'Swift, for closer style; +But Hoadley,[173] for a period of a mile.' +Why, yes, 'tis granted, these indeed may pass: +Good common linguists, and so Panurge was; +Nay, troth, the Apostles (though perhaps too rough) +Had once a pretty gift of tongues enough: +Yet these were all poor gentlemen! I dare +Affirm, 'twas travel made them what they were. + +Thus others' talents having nicely shown, 80 +He came by sure transition to his own: +Till I cried out, You prove yourself so able, +Pity you was not druggerman at Babel; +For had they found a linguist half so good, +I make no question but the tower had stood. +'Obliging sir! for courts you sure were made: +Why then for ever buried in the shade? +Spirits like you should see, and should be seen, +The king would smile on you--at least the queen.' +Ah, gentle sir! you courtiers so cajole us-- 90 +But Tully has it, _Nunquam minus solus_: +And as for courts, forgive me, if I say +No lessons now are taught the Spartan way: +Though in his pictures lust be full display'd, +Few are the converts Aretine has made; +And though the court show vice exceeding clear, +None should, by my advice, learn virtue there. + +At this, entranced, he lifts his hands and eyes, +Squeaks like a high-stretch'd lutestring, and replies: +'Oh, 'tis the sweetest of all earthly things 100 +To gaze on princes, and to talk of kings!' +Then, happy man who shows the tombs! said I, +He dwells amidst the royal family; +He every day, from king to king can walk, +Of all our Harries, all our Edwards talk, +And get by speaking truth of monarchs dead, +What few can of the living-ease and bread. +'Lord, sir, a mere mechanic! strangely low, +And coarse of phrase,--your English all are so. +How elegant your Frenchmen!' Mine, d'ye mean? 110 +I have but one, I hope the fellow's clean. +'Oh! sir, politely so! nay, let me die: +Your only wearing is your paduasoy.' +Not, sir, my only, I have better still, +And this, you see, is but my dishabille. +Wild to get loose, his patience I provoke, +Mistake, confound, object at all he spoke. +But as coarse iron, sharpen'd, mangles more, +And itch most hurts when anger'd to a sore; +So when you plague a fool, 'tis still the curse, 120 +You only make the matter worse and worse. + +He pass'd it o'er; affects an easy smile +At all my peevishness, and turns his style. +He asks, 'What news?' I tell him of new plays, +New eunuchs, harlequins, and operas. +He hears, and as a still with simples in it +Between each drop it gives, stays half a minute, +Loth to enrich me with too quick replies, +By little, and by little, drops his lies. +Mere household trash! of birthnights, balls, and shows, 130 +More than ten Hollinsheds, or Halls, or Stowes. +When the queen frown'd, or smiled, he knows; and what +A subtle minister may make of that: +Who sins with whom: who got his pension rug, +Or quicken'd a reversion by a drug: +Whose place is quarter'd out, three parts in four, +And whether to a bishop, or a whore: +Who, having lost his credit, pawn'd his rent, +Is therefore fit to have a government: +Who, in the secret, deals in stocks secure, 140 +And cheats the unknowing widow and the poor: +Who makes a trust or charity a job, +And gets an act of parliament to rob: +Why turnpikes rise, and now no cit nor clown +Can gratis see the country, or the town: +Shortly no lad shall chuck, or lady vole, +But some excising courtier will have toll. +He tells what strumpet places sells for life, +What 'squire his lands, what citizen his wife: +And last (which proves him wiser still than all) 150 +What lady's face is not a whited wall. + +As one of Woodward's patients, sick, and sore, +I puke, I nauseate,--yet he thrusts in more: +Trim's Europe's balance, tops the statesman's part. +And talks Gazettes and Postboys o'er by heart. +Like a big wife at sight of loathsome meat +Ready to cast, I yawn, I sigh, and sweat. +Then as a licensed spy, whom nothing can +Silence or hurt, he libels the great man; +Swears every place entail'd for years to come, 160 +In sure succession to the day of doom: +He names the price for every office paid, +And says our wars thrive ill, because delay'd: +Nay, hints 'tis by connivance of the court +That Spain robs on, and Dunkirk's still a port. +Not more amazement seized on Circe's guests, +To see themselves fall endlong into beasts, +Than mine, to find a subject, staid and wise, +Already half turn'd traitor by surprise. +I felt the infection slide from him to me, 170 +As in the pox, some give it to get free; +And quick to swallow me, methought I saw +One of our giant statues ope its jaw. + +In that nice moment, as another lie +Stood just a-tilt, the minister came by. +To him he flies, and bows, and bows again, +Then, close as Umbra, joins the dirty train. +Not Fannius' self more impudently near, +When half his nose is in his prince's ear. +I quaked at heart; and still afraid, to see 180 +All the court fill'd with stranger things than he, +Ran out as fast, as one that pays his bail, +And dreads more actions, hurries from a jail. + +Bear me, some god! oh quickly bear me hence +To wholesome solitude, the nurse of sense, +Where Contemplation prunes her ruffled wings, +And the free soul looks down to pity kings! +There sober thought pursued the amusing theme, +Till fancy colour'd it, and form'd a dream. +A vision hermits can to Hell transport, 190 +And forced ev'n me to see the damn'd at court. +Not Dante, dreaming all the infernal state, +Beheld such scenes of envy, sin, and hate. +Base fear becomes the guilty, not the free; +Suits tyrants, plunderers, but suits not me: +Shall I, the terror of this sinful town, +Care if a liveried lord or smile or frown? +Who cannot flatter, and detest who can, +Tremble before a noble serving-man? +O my fair mistress, Truth! shall I quit thee 200 +For huffing, braggart, puff'd nobility? +Thou, who since yesterday hast roll'd o'er all +The busy, idle blockheads of the ball, +Hast thou, O Sun! beheld an emptier sort, +Than such as swell this bladder of a court? +Now pox on those who show a court in wax! +It ought to bring all courtiers on their backs: +Such painted puppets! such a varnish'd race +Of hollow gewgaws, only dress and face! +Such waxen noses, stately staring things-- 210 +No wonder some folks bow, and think them kings. + +See! where the British youth, engaged no more +At Fig's,[174] at White's, with felons, or a whore, +Pay their last duty to the court, and come +All fresh and fragrant, to the drawing-room; +In hues as gay, and odours as divine, +As the fair fields they sold to look so fine. +'That's velvet for a king!' the flatterer swears; +'Tis true, for ten days hence 'twill be King Lear's. +Our court may justly to our stage give rules, 220 +That helps it both to fools' coats and to fools. +And why not players strut in courtiers' clothes? +For these are actors too, as well as those: +Wants reach all states; they beg, but better dress'd, +And all is splendid poverty at best. + +Painted for sight, and essenced for the smell, +Like frigates fraught with spice and cochineal, +Sail in the ladies: how each pirate eyes +So weak a vessel, and so rich a prize! +Top-gallant he, and she in all her trim, 230 +He boarding her, she striking sail to him: +'Dear Countess! you have charms all hearts to hit!' +And, 'Sweet Sir Fopling! you have so much wit!' +Such wits and beauties are not praised for nought, +For both the beauty and the wit are bought. +'Twould burst ev'n Heraclitus with the spleen, +To see those antics, Fopling and Courtin: +The Presence seems, with things so richly odd, +The mosque of Mahound, or some queer pagod. +See them survey their limbs by Durer's rules, 240 +Of all beau-kind the best proportion'd fools! +Adjust their clothes, and to confession draw +Those venial sins, an atom, or a straw; +But oh! what terrors must distract the soul +Convicted of that mortal crime, a hole; +Or should one pound of powder less bespread +Those monkey tails that wag behind their head. +Thus finish'd, and corrected to a hair, +They march, to prate their hour before the fair. +So first to preach a white-gloved chaplain goes, 250 +With band of lily, and with cheek of rose, +Sweeter than Sharon, in immaculate trim, +Neatness itself impertinent in him, +Let but the ladies smile, and they are blest: +Prodigious! how the things protest, protest: +Peace, fools! or Gonson will for Papists seize you, +If once he catch you at your Jesu! Jesu! + +Nature made every fop to plague his brother, +Just as one beauty mortifies another. +But here's the captain that will plague them both, 260 +Whose air cries, Arm! whose very look's an oath: +The captain's honest, sirs, and that's enough, +Though his soul's bullet, and his body buff. +He spits fore-right; his haughty chest before, +Like battering rams, beats open every door: +And with a face as red, and as awry, +As Herod's hangdogs in old tapestry, +Scarecrow to boys, the breeding woman's curse, +Has yet a strange ambition to look worse; +Confounds the civil, keeps the rude in awe, +Jests like a licensed fool, commands like law. 270 + +Frighted, I quit the room, but leave it so +As men from jails to execution go; +For hung with deadly sins[175] I see the wall, +And lined with giants deadlier than 'em all: +Each man an Ascapart,[176] of strength to toss +For quoits, both Temple-bar and Charing-cross. +Scared at the grisly forms, I sweat, I fly, +And shake all o'er, like a discover'd spy. + +Courts are too much for wits so weak as mine: +Charge them with Heaven's artillery, bold divine! 280 +From such alone the great rebukes endure, +Whose satire's sacred, and whose rage secure: +'Tis mine to wash a few light stains, but theirs +To deluge sin, and drown a court in tears. +Howe'er, what's now Apocrypha, my wit, +In time to come, may pass for holy writ. + + * * * * * + +EPILOGUE[177] TO THE SATIRES. + +IN TWO DIALOGUES. + +(WRITTEN IN MDCCXXXVIII.) + + +DIALOGUE I. + +_Fr_. Not twice a twelvemonth you appear in print, +And when it comes, the court see nothing in 't. +You grow correct, that once with rapture writ, +And are, besides, too moral for a wit. +Decay of parts, alas! we all must feel-- +Why now, this moment, don't I see you steal? +'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.' 10 + +But, Horace, sir, was delicate, was nice; +Bubo[178] observes, he lash'd no sort of vice: +Horace would say, Sir Billy[179] served the crown, +Blunt could do business, Huggins[180] 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, +Who cropp'd our ears,[181] and sent them to the king. +His sly, polite, insinuating style +Could please at court, and make Augustus smile: 20 +An artful manager, that crept between +His friend and shame, and was a kind of screen. +But, faith, your very friends will soon be sore; +Patriots there are, who wish you'd jest no more-- +And where's the glory? 'twill be only thought +The great man[182] never offer'd you a groat. +Go see Sir Robert-- + +_P_. See Sir Robert!--hum-- +And never laugh--for all my life to come? +Seen him I have,[183] but in his happier hour +Of social pleasure, ill-exchanged for power; 30 +Seen him, uncumber'd with the venal tribe, +Smile without art, and win without a bribe. +Would he oblige me? let me only find, +He does not think me what he thinks mankind. +Come, come, at all I laugh he laughs, no doubt; +The only difference is, I dare laugh out. + +_F_. Why, yes: with Scripture still you may be free; +A horse-laugh, if you please, at honesty; +A joke on Jekyl,[184] or some odd old Whig +Who never changed his principle, or wig: 40 +A patriot is a fool in every age, +Whom all Lord Chamberlains allow the stage: +These nothing hurts; they keep their fashion still, +And wear their strange old virtue, as they will. + +If any ask you, 'Who's the man, so near +His prince, that writes in verse, and has his ear?' +Why, answer, Lyttleton,[185] and I'll engage +The worthy youth shall ne'er be in a rage: +But were his verses vile, his whisper base, +You'd quickly find him in Lord Fanny's case. 50 +Sejanus, Wolsey,[186] hurt not honest Fleury,[187] +But well may put some statesmen in a fury. + +Laugh then at any, but at fools or foes; +These you but anger, and you mend not those. +Laugh at your friends, and, if your friends are sore, +So much the better, you may laugh the more. +To vice and folly to confine the jest, +Sets half the world, God knows, against the rest; +Did not the sneer of more impartial men +At sense and virtue, balance all again. 60 +Judicious wits spread wide the ridicule, +And charitably comfort knave and fool. + +_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, Osborn's[188] wit! +The honey dropping from Favonio's tongue, +The flowers of Bubo, and the flow of Yonge! +The gracious dew of pulpit eloquence, +And all the well-whipt cream of courtly sense, 70 +That first was Hervy's, Fox's next, and then +The senate's, and then Hervy's once again. +Oh come, that easy, Ciceronian style, +So Latin, yet so English all the while, +As, though the pride of Middleton and Bland, +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;[189] +Or teach the melancholy Muse to mourn, +Hang the sad verse on Carolina's[190] urn, 80 +And hail her passage to the realms of rest, +All parts perform'd, and all her children bless'd! +So--satire is no more--I feel it die-- +No gazetteer[191] more innocent than I-- +And let, a-God's-name! every fool and knave +Be graced through life, and flatter'd in his grave. + +_F_. Why so? if satire knows its time and place, +You still may lash the greatest--in disgrace: +For merit will by turns forsake them all; +Would you know when exactly when they fall. 90 +But let all satire in all changes spare +Immortal Selkirk,[192] and grave Delaware.[193] +Silent and soft, as saints remove to heaven, +All ties dissolved, and every sin forgiven, +These may some gentle ministerial wing +Receive, and place for ever near a king! +There, where no passion, pride, or shame transport, +Lull'd with the sweet nepenthe of a court; +There, where no father's, brother's, friend's disgrace +Once break their rest, or stir them from their place: 100 +But past the sense of human miseries, +All tears are wiped for ever from all eyes; +No cheek is known to blush, no heart to throb, +Save when they lose a question, or a job. + +_P_. Good Heaven forbid that I should blast their glory, +Who know how like Whig ministers to Tory, +And when three sovereigns died, could scarce be vex'd, +Considering what a gracious prince was next. +Have I, in silent wonder, seen such things +As pride in slaves, and avarice in kings; 110 +And at a peer, or peeress, shall I fret, +Who starves a sister,[194] or forswears a debt? +Virtue, I grant you, is an empty boast; +But shall the dignity of vice be lost? +Ye gods! shall Cibber's son,[195] without rebuke, +Swear like a lord, or Rich[195] out-whore a duke? +A favourite's porter with his master vie, +Be bribed as often, and as often lie? +Shall Ward draw contracts with a statesman's skill? +Or Japhet pocket, like his Grace, a will? 120 +Is it for Bond, or Peter, (paltry things) +To pay their debts, or keep their faith, like kings? +If Blount[196] dispatch'd himself, he play'd the man, +And so may'st thou, illustrious Passeran![197] +But shall a printer,[198] weary of his life, +Learn from their books to hang himself and wife? +This, this, my friend, I cannot, must not bear: +Vice thus abused, demands a nation's care: +This calls the Church to deprecate our sin, +And hurls the thunder of the laws on gin,[199] 130 +Let modest Foster, if he will, excel +Ten metropolitans in preaching well; +A simple Quaker, or a Quaker's wife,[200] +Outdo Landaff[201] in doctrine,--yea, in life: +Let humble Allen,[202] with an awkward shame, +Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame. +Virtue may choose the high or low degree, +'Tis just alike to virtue, and to me; +Dwell in a monk, or light upon a king, +She's still the same beloved, contented thing. 140 +Vice is undone, if she forgets her birth, +And stoops from angels to the dregs of earth: +But 'tis the fall degrades her to a whore; +Let greatness own her, and she's mean no more: +Her birth, her beauty, crowds and courts confess, +Chaste matrons praise her, and grave bishops bless: +In golden chains the willing world she draws, +And hers the gospel is, and hers the laws, +Mounts the tribunal, lifts her scarlet head, +And sees pale virtue carted in her stead. 150 +Lo! at the wheels of her triumphal car, +Old England's genius, rough with many a scar, +Dragg'd in the dust! his arms hang idly round, +His flag inverted trails along the ground! +Our youth, all liveried o'er with foreign gold, +Before her dance: behind her, crawl the old! +See thronging millions to the pagod run, +And offer country, parent, wife, or son! +Hear her black trumpet through the land proclaim, +That NOT TO BE CORRUPTED IS THE SHAME! 160 +In soldier, churchman, patriot, man in power, +'Tis avarice all, ambition is no more! +See, all our nobles begging to be slaves! +See, all our fools aspiring to be knaves! +The wit of cheats, the courage of a whore, +Are what ten thousand envy and adore! +All, all look up with reverential awe, +At crimes that 'scape, or triumph o'er the law: +While truth, worth, wisdom, daily they decry-- +'Nothing is sacred now but villany.' 170 + +Yet may this verse (if such a verse remain) +Show, there was one who held it in disdain. + + * * * * * + +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 said, +That when his name was up, he lay a-bed. +Come, come, refresh us with a livelier song, +Or, like Sir Paul, you'll lie a-bed too long. + +_P_. Sir, what I write, should be correctly writ. + +_F_. Correct! 'tis what no genius can admit. +Besides, you grow too moral for a wit. + +VER. 112 in some editions--'Who starves a mother.' + + +DIALOGUE II. + +_Fr_. 'Tis all a libel--Paxton[203] (sir) will say. + +_P_. Not yet, my friend! to-morrow, faith, it may; +And for that very cause I print to-day. +How should I fret to mangle every line, +In reverence to the sins of thirty-nine! +Vice with such giant strides comes on amain, +Invention strives to be before in vain; +Feign what I will, and paint it e'er so strong, +Some rising genius sins up to my song. + +_F_. Yet none but you by name the guilty lash; 10 +Ev'n Guthrie[204] saves half Newgate by a dash. +Spare then the person, and expose the vice. + +_P_. How, sir! not damn the sharper, but the dice? +Come on then, Satire! general, unconfined, +Spread thy broad wing, and souse on all the kind. +Ye statesmen, priests, of one religion all! +Ye tradesmen, vile, in army, court, or hall! +Ye reverend atheists---- + +_F_. Scandal! name them, who? + +_P_. Why that's the thing you bid me not to do. +Who starved a sister, who forswore a debt, 20 +I never named; the town's inquiring yet. +The poisoning dame---- + +_F_. You mean---- + +_P_. I don't. + +_F_. You do. + +_P_. See, now I keep the secret, and not you! +The bribing statesman---- + +_F_. Hold, too high you go. + +_P_. The bribed elector---- + +_F_. There you stoop too low. + +_P_. I fain would please you, if I knew with what; +Tell me, which knave is lawful game, which not? +Must great offenders, once escaped the crown, +Like royal harts, be never more run down? +Admit, your law to spare the knight requires, 30 +As beasts of nature may we hunt the 'squires? +Suppose I censure--you know what I mean-- +To save a bishop, may I name a dean? + +_F_. A dean, sir? no: his fortune is not made, +You hurt a man that's rising in the trade. + +_P_. If not the tradesman who set up to-day, +Much less the 'prentice who to-morrow may. +Down, down, proud Satire! though a realm be spoil'd, +Arraign no mightier thief than wretched Wild;[205] +Or, if a court or country's made a job, 40 +Go drench a pickpocket, and join the mob. + +But, sir, I beg you (for the love of vice!) +The matter's weighty, pray consider twice; +Have you less pity for the needy cheat, +The poor and friendless villain, than the great? +Alas! the small discredit of a bribe +Scarce hurts the lawyer, but undoes the scribe. +Then better, sure, it charity becomes +To tax directors, who (thank God) have plums; +Still better, ministers; or, if the thing 50 +May pinch ev'n there--why lay it on a king. + +_F._ Stop! stop! + +_P._ Must Satire, then, nor rise nor fall? +Speak out, and bid me blame no rogues at all. + +_F._ Yes, strike that Wild, I'll justify the blow. + +_P._ Strike! why the man was hanged ten years ago: +Who now that obsolete example fears? +Ev'n Peter trembles only for his ears. + +_F._ What, always Peter! Peter thinks you mad, +You make men desperate if they once are bad: +Else might he take to virtue some years hence 60 + +_P._ As Selkirk, if he lives, will love the Prince. + +_F._ Strange spleen to Selkirk! + +_P._ Do I wrong the man? +God knows, I praise a courtier where I can. +When I confess, there is who feels for fame, +And melts to goodness,[206] need I Scarb'rough[207] name? +Pleased, let me own, in Esher's peaceful grove[208] +(Where Kent and nature vie for Pelham's love) +The scene, the master, opening to my view, +I sit and dream I see my Craggs anew! +Ev'n in a bishop I can spy desert; 70 +Secker is decent--Rundel has a heart-- +Manners with candour are to Benson given-- +To Berkeley, every virtue under heaven. + +But does the court a worthy man remove? +That instant, I declare, he has my love: +I shun his zenith, court his mild decline; +Thus Somers once, and Halifax, were mine. +Oft, in the clear, still mirror of retreat, +I studied Shrewsbury, the wise and great: +Carleton's[209] calm sense, and Stanhope's noble flame, 80 +Compared, and knew their generous end the same: +How pleasing Atterbury's softer hour! +How shined the soul, unconquer'd in the Tower! +How can I Pulteney, Chesterfield, forget, +While Roman spirit charms, and Attic wit: +Argyll,[210] the state's whole thunder born to wield, +And shake alike the senate and the field: +Or Wyndham,[211] just to freedom and the throne, +The master of our passions, and his own. +Names, which I long have loved, nor loved in vain, 90 +Rank'd with their friends, not number'd with their train: +And if yet higher[212] the proud list should end, +Still let me say,--No follower, but a friend.[213] + +Yet think not Friendship only prompts my lays; +I follow Virtue; where she shines, I praise: +Point she to priest or elder, Whig or Tory, +Or round a Quaker's beaver cast a glory. +I never (to my sorrow I declare) +Dined with the Man of Ross, or my Lord Mayor.[214] +Some, in their choice of friends, (nay, look not grave) 100 +Have still a secret bias to a knave: +To find an honest man I beat about. +And love him, court him, praise him, in or out. + +_F_. Then why so few commended? + +_P_. Not so fierce; +Find you the virtue, and I'll find the verse. +But random praise--the task can ne'er be done; +Each mother asks it for her booby son, +Each widow asks it for 'the best of men,' +For him she weeps, and him she weds again. +Praise cannot stoop, like satire, to the ground; 110 +The number may be hang'd, but not be crown'd. +Enough for half the greatest of these days, +To 'scape my censure, not expect my praise. +Are they not rich? what more can they pretend? +Dare they to hope a poet for their friend? +What Richelieu wanted, Louis scarce could gain, +And what young Ammon wish'd, but wish'd in vain. +No power the Muse's friendship can command; +No power, when Virtue claims it, can withstand: +To Cato, Virgil paid one honest line; 120 +Oh let my country's friends illumine mine! +--What are you thinking? + +_F_. Faith, the thought's no sin-- +I think your friends are out, and would be in. + +_P_. If merely to come in, sir, they go out, +The way they take is strangely round about. + +_F_. They too may be corrupted, you'll allow? + +_P_. I only call those knaves who are so now. +Is that too little? Come then, I'll comply-- +Spirit of Arnall![215] aid me while I lie. +Cobham's a coward, Polwarth[216] is a slave, 130 +And Lyttleton a dark, designing knave, +St John has ever been a wealthy fool-- +But let me add, Sir Robert's mighty dull, +Has never made a friend in private life, +And was, besides, a tyrant to his wife. + +But pray, when others praise him, do I blame? +Call Verres, Wolsey, any odious name? +Why rail they then, if but a wreath of mine, +O all-accomplish'd St John! deck thy shrine? + +What! shall each spur-gall'd hackney of the day, 140 +When Paxton gives him double pots and pay, +Or each new-pension'd sycophant, pretend +To break my windows if I treat a friend? +Then wisely plead, to me they meant no hurt, +But 'twas my guest at whom they threw the dirt? +Sure, if I spare the minister, no rules +Of honour bind me, not to maul his tools; +Sure, if they cannot cut, it may be said +His saws are toothless, and his hatchet's lead. + +It anger'd Turenne, once upon a day, 150 +To see a footman kick'd that took his pay: +But when he heard the affront the fellow gave, +Knew one a man of honour, one a knave, +The prudent general turn'd it to a jest, +And begg'd he'd take the pains to kick the rest: +Which not at present having time to do---- + +_F_. Hold sir! for God's-sake where 'a the affront to you? +Against your worship when had Selkirk writ? +Or Page pour'd forth the torrent of his wit? +Or grant the bard[217] whose distich all commend 160 +'In power a servant, out of power a friend,' +To Walpole guilty of some venial sin; +What's that to you who ne'er was out nor in? + +The priest whose flattery bedropp'd the crown, +How hurt he you? he only stain'd the gown. +And how did, pray, the florid youth offend, +Whose speech you took, and gave it to a friend? + +_P_. Faith, it imports not much from whom it came; +Whoever borrow'd, could not be to blame, +Since the whole house did afterwards the same. 170 +Let courtly wits to wits afford supply, +As hog to hog in huts of Westphaly; +If one, through Nature's bounty, or his lord's, +Has what the frugal, dirty soil affords, +From him the next receives it, thick or thin, +As pure a mess almost as it came in; +The blessed benefit, not there confined, +Drops to the third, who nuzzles close behind; +From tail to mouth, they feed and they carouse: +The last full fairly gives it to the House. 180 + +_F_. This filthy simile, this beastly line +Quite turns my stomach---- + +_P_. So does flattery mine; +And all your courtly civet-cats can vent, +Perfume to you, to me is excrement. +But hear me further--Japhet,[218] 'tis agreed, +Writ not, and Chartres scarce could write or read, +In all the courts of Pindus guiltless quite; +But pens can forge, my friend, that cannot write; +And must no egg in Japhet's face be thrown, +Because the deed he forged was not my own? 190 +Must never patriot then declaim at gin, +Unless, good man! he has been fairly in? +No zealous pastor blame a failing spouse, +Without a staring reason on his brows? +And each blasphemer quite escape the rod, +Because the insult's not on man, but God? + +Ask you what provocation I have had? +The strong antipathy of good to bad. +When truth or virtue an affront endures, +The affront is mine, my friend, and should be yours. 200 +Mine, as a foe profess'd to false pretence, +Who think a coxcomb's honour like his sense; +Mine, as a friend to every worthy mind; +And mine, as man, who feel for all mankind. + +_F_. You're strangely proud. + +_P_. So proud, I am no slave: +So impudent, I own myself no knave: +So odd, my country's ruin makes me grave. +Yes, I am proud; I must be proud to see +Men not afraid of God, afraid of me: +Safe from the bar, the pulpit, and the throne, 210 +Yet touch'd and shamed by ridicule alone. + +O sacred weapon! left for truth's defence, +Sole dread of folly, vice, and insolence! +To all but heaven-directed hands denied, +The Muse may give thee, but the gods must guide: +Rev'rent I touch thee! but with honest zeal; +To rouse the watchmen of the public weal, +To virtue's work provoke the tardy Hall, +And goad the prelate slumbering in his stall. +Ye tinsel insects! whom a court maintains, 220 +That counts your beauties only by your stains, +Spin all your cobwebs o'er the eye of day! +The Muse's wing shall brush you all away: +All his grace preaches, all his lordship sings, +All that makes saints of queens, and gods of kings,-- +All, all but truth, drops dead-born from the press, +Like the last gazette, or the last address. + +When black ambition[219] stains a public cause, +A monarch's sword when mad vain-glory draws, +Not Waller's wreath can hide the nation's scar, 230 +Nor Boileau[220] turn the feather to a star. + +Not so, when, diadem'd with rays divine, +Touch'd with the flame that breaks from Virtue's shrine, +Her priestess Muse forbids the good to die, +And opes the temple[221] of Eternity. +There, other trophies deck the truly brave, +Than such as Anstis[222] casts into the grave; +Far other stars than ---- and ---- wear,[223] +And may descend to Mordington from Stair:[224] +(Such as on Hough's unsullied mitre shine, 240 +Or beam, good Digby,[225] from a heart like thine) +Let Envy howl, while Heaven's whole chorus sings, +And bark at honour not conferr'd by kings; +Let Flattery sickening see the incense rise, +Sweet to the world, and grateful to the skies: +Truth guards the poet, sanctifies the line, +And makes immortal verse as mean as mine. + +Yes, the last pen for freedom let me draw, +When truth stands trembling on the edge of law; +Here, last of Britons! let your names be read; 250 +Are none, none living? let me praise the dead, +And for that cause which made your fathers shine, +Fall by the votes of their degenerate line. + +_F_. Alas! alas! pray end what you began, +And write next winter more 'Essays on Man.' + + * * * * * + +VARIATIONS. + +VER. 185 in the MS.-- + +I grant it, sir; and further, 'tis agreed, +Japhet writ not, and Chartres scarce could read. + +After VER. 227 in the MS.-- + +Where's now the star that lighted Charles to rise? +--With that which follow'd Julius to the skies +Angels that watch'd the Royal Oak so well, +How chanced ye nod, when luckless Sorel fell? +Hence, lying miracles! reduced so low +As to the regal-touch, and papal-toe; +Hence haughty Edgar's title to the main, +Britain's to France, and thine to India, Spain! + +VER. 255 in the MS.-- + +Quit, quit these themes, and write 'Essays on Man.' + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[1] We may mention that Roscoe and Dr Croly (in his admirable +Life of Pope, prefixed to an excellent edition of his works) take a +different view, and defend the poet. + +[2] 'Preface:' to the miscellaneous works of Pope, 1716. + +[3] Written at sixteen years of age. + +[4] 'Trumbull:' see Life. He was born in Windsor Forest. + +[5] 'Phosphor:' the planet Venus. + +[6] 'Wondrous tree:' an allusion to the royal oak. + +[7] 'Thistle:' of Scotland. + +[8] 'Lily:' of France. + +[9] 'Garth:' Dr Samuel Garth, author of the 'Dispensary.' + +[10] 'The woods,' &c., from Spenser. + +[11] 'Wycherley:' the dramatist. See Life. + +[12] This pastoral, Pope's own favourite, was produced on +occasion of the death of a Mrs Tempest, a favourite of Mr Walsh, the +poet's friend, who died on the night of the great storm in 1703, to +which there are allusions. The scene lies in a grove--time, midnight. + +[13] 'Stagyrite: Aristotle. + +[14] 'La Mancha's knight:' taken from the spurious second part +of 'Don Quixote.' + +[15] 'Unlucky as Fungoso:' see Ben Johnson's 'Every Man in his +Humour.' + +[16] 'Timotheus:' see 'Alexander's Feast.' + +[17] 'Scotists and Thomists:' two parties amongst the schoolmen, +headed by Duns Scotus and Thomas Aquinas. + +[18] 'Duck-lane:' a place near Smithfield, where old books were +sold. + +[19] 'Milbourns:' the Rev. Mr Luke Milbourn, an opponent of +Dryden. + +[20] Hall has imitated and excelled this passage. See his +pamphlet, 'Christianity consistent with a Love of Freedom.' + +[21] In this passage he alludes to Cromwell, Charles II., and +the Revolution of 1688, and to their various effects on manners, +opinions, &c. + +[22] 'Appius:' Dennis. + +[23] 'Garth did not write:' a common slander at that time in +prejudice of that author. + +[24] 'Maeonian star:' Homer. + +[25] 'Dionysius:' of Halicarnassus. + +[26] 'Mantua:' Virgil's birth-place. + +[27] 'Such was the Muse:' Essay on poetry by the Duke of +Buckingham. + +[28] 'Caryll:' Mr Caryll (a gentleman who was secretary to Queen +Mary, wife of James II., whose fortunes he followed into France, author +of the comedy of 'Sir Solomon Single,' and of several translations in +Dryden's Miscellanies) originally proposed the subject to Pope, with the +view of putting an end, by this piece of ridicule, to a quarrel that had +arisen between two noble families, those of Lord Petre and of Mrs +Fermor, on the trifling occasion of his having cut off a lock of her +hair. The author sent it to the lady, with whom he was acquainted; and +she took it so well as to give about copies of it. That first sketch (we +learn from one of his letters) was written in less than a fortnight, in +1711, in two cantos only, and it was so printed; first, in a miscellany +of Ben. Lintot's, without the name of the author. But it was received so +well that he enlarged it the next year by the addition of the machinery +of the Sylphs, and extended it to five cantos. + +[29] 'Sylph:' the Rosicrucian philosophy was a strange offshoot +from Alchemy, and made up in equal proportions of Pagan Platonism, +Christian Quietism, and Jewish Mysticism. See Bulwer's 'Zanoni.' Pope +has blended some of its elements with old legendary stories about +guardian angels, fairies, &c. + +[30] 'Baron:' Lord Petre. + +[31] Burns had this evidently in his eye when he wrote the lines +'Some hint the lover's harmless wile,' &c., in his 'Vision.' + +[32] 'Atalantis:' a famous book written about that time by a +woman: full of court and party-scandal, and in a loose effeminacy of +style and sentiment which well suited the debauched taste of the better +vulgar. + +[33] 'Winds:' see Odyssey. + +[34] 'Thalestris:' Mrs Morley. + +[35] 'Sir Plume:' Sir George Brown. + +[36] 'Maeander:' see Ovid. + +[37] 'Partridge:' see Pope's and Swift's Miscellanies. + +[38] This poem was written at two different times: the first +part of it, which relates to the country, in the year 1704, at the same +time with the Pastorals; the latter part was not added till the year +1713, in which it was published. + +[39] 'Stuart:' Queen Anne. + +[40] 'Savage laws:' the forest-laws. + +[41] 'The fields are ravish'd:' alluding to the destruction made +in the New Forest, and the tyrannies exercised there by William I. + +[42] 'Himself denied a grave:' the place of his interment at +Caen in Normandy was claimed by a gentleman as his inheritance, the +moment his servants were going to put him in his tomb: so that they were +obliged to compound with the owner before they could perform the king's +obsequies. + +[43] 'Second hope:' Richard, second son of William the +Conqueror. + +[44] 'Queen:' Anne. + +[45] 'Still bears the name:' the river Loddon. + +[46] 'Trumbull:' see Pastorals. + +[47] 'Cooper's Hill:' celebrated by Denham. + +[48] 'Flowed from Cowley's tongue:' Mr Cowley died at Chertsey, +on the borders of the forest, and was from thence conveyed to +Westminster. + +[49] 'Noble Surrey:' Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, one of the +first refiners of English poetry; who flourished in the time of Henry +VIII. + +[50] 'Edward's acts:' Edward III., born here. + +[51] 'Henry mourn:' Henry VI. + +[52] 'Once-fear'd Edward sleeps:' Edward IV. + +[53] 'Augusta:' old name for London. + +[54] 'And temples rise:' the fifty new churches. + +[55] The author of 'Successio,' Elkanah Settle, appears to have +been as much hated by Pope as he had been by Dryden. He figures +prominently in 'The Dunciad.' + +[56] This was written at twelve years old. + +[57] This ode was written in imitation of the famous sonnet of +Adrian to his departing soul. Flaxman also supplied hints for it. See +'The Adventurer.' + +[58] See Memoir. + +[59] 'But what with pleasure:' this alludes to a famous passage +of Seneca, which Mr Addison afterwards used as a motto to his play, when +it was printed. + +[60] Done by the author in his youth. + +[61] Dr Johnson in the _Literary Review_ highly commends this +piece. + +[62] This, it is said, was intended for Queen Caroline. + +[63] 'Zamolxia:' a disciple of Pythagoras. + +[64] 'The youth:' Alexander the Great: the tiara was the crown +peculiar to the Asian princes: his desire to be thought the son of +Jupiter Ammon, caused him to wear the horns of that god, and to +represent the same upon his coins; which was continued by several of his +successors. + +[65] 'Timoleon:' had saved the life of his brother Timophanes in +the battle between the Argives and Corinthians; but afterwards killed +him when he affected the tyranny. + +[66] 'He whom ungrateful Athens:' Aristides. + +[67] 'May one kind grave:' Abelard and Eloisa were interred in +the same grave, or in monuments adjoining, in the monastery of the +Paraclete: he died in the year 1142; she in 1163. + +[68] 'Robert, Earl of Oxford:' this epistle was sent to the Earl +of Oxford with Dr Parnell's poems, published by our author, after the +said earl's imprisonment in the Tower, and retreat into the country, in +the year 1721. + +[69] 'Secretary of State:' in the year 1720. + +[70] 'Work of years:' Fresnoy employed above twenty years in +finishing his poem. + +[71] 'Worsley:' Lady Frances, wife of Sir Robert Worsley. + +[72] 'Voitnre:' a French wit, born in Amiens 1598, died in 1648; +a favourite of the Duke of Orleans, and member of the French Academy. + +[73] 'Monthansier:' Mademoiselle Paulet. + +[74] 'Coronation:' of King George the First, 1715. + +[75] 'M.B.:' Martha Blount. + +[76] 'Southern:' author of 'Oronooko,' &c. He lived to the age +of eighty-six. + +[77] 'A table:' he was invited to dine on his birthday with this +nobleman, who had prepared for him the entertainment of which the bill +of fare is here set down. + +[78] 'Harp:' the Irish harp was woven on table-cloths, &c. + +[79] 'Prologues:' Dryden used to sell his prologues at four +guineas each, till, when Southern applied for one, he demanded six, +saying, 'Young man, the players have got my goods too cheap.' + +[80] 'Mr C.:' Mr Cleland, whose residence was in St James's +Place, where he died in 1741. See preface to 'The Dunciad.' + +[81] 'Trumbull:' one of the principal Secretaries of State to +King William III., who, having resigned his place, died in his +retirement at Easthamstead, in Berkshire, 1746. + +[82] 'Heaven's eternal year is thine:' borrowed from Dryden's +poem on Mrs Killigrew. + +[83] 'Fenton:' Pope's joint-translator of Homer's Odyssey. See +Johnson's 'Lives of the Poets.' + +[84] His only daughter expired in his arms, immediately after +she arrived in France to see him. + +[85] Lady Mary Montague wrote a rejoinder to this poem, in a +caustic, sneering vein. + +[86] 'Vindicate the ways,' &c.: borrowed from Milton. + +[87] 'Egypt's God:' Apis. + +[88] 'Thin partitions' from Dryden. + +[89] 'Glory, jest, and riddle of the world:' Pascal in his +'Pensées' has a thought almost identical with this. + +[90] 'Good bishop:' De Belsance, who distinguished himself by +attention to the sick of the plague, in his diocese of Marseilles in +1720. + +[91] 'Bethel:' a benevolent gentleman in Yorkshire, a great +friend of Pope's. + +[92] 'Chartres:' Colonel, infamous for every vice--a fraudulent +gambler, &c. &c. + +[93] 'Cromwell:' it is not necessary now to answer this insult +to the greatest of Britain's kings. It is a clever ape chattering at a +dead lion. + +[94] 'Good John:' John Serle, his old and faithful servant. + +[95] 'Mint:' a place to which insolvent debtors retired, to +enjoy an illegal protection, which they were there suffered to afford +one another, from the persecution of their creditors.--P. + +[96] 'Pitholeon:' The name taken from a foolish poet of Rhodes, +who pretended much to Greek.--P. + +[97] 'Butchers, Henley:' Orator Henley used to declaim to the +butchers in Newport market. + +[98] 'Freemasons, Moore:' he was of this society, and frequently +headed their processions. + +[99] 'Bishop Boulter:' friend of Ambrose Philips. + +[100] 'Burnets, &c.:' authors of secret and scandalous history. + +[101] 'Gildon:' a forgotten critic and dramatist--a bitter +libeller of Pope. + +[102] 'A Persian tale:' Ambrose Philips translated a book called +the 'Persian Tales.' + +[103] 'Bufo:' most commentators refer this to Lord Halifax. + +[104] 'Sir Will:' Sir William Young. + +[105] 'Bubo:' Babb Dodington. + +[106] 'Who to the dean, and silver bell:' meaning the man who +would have persuaded the Duke of Chandos that Mr P. meant him in those +circumstances ridiculed in the 'Epistle on Taste.'--_P_. + +[107] 'Sporus:' Lord Hervey. + +[108] 'The lie so oft o'erthrown:' as, that he received +subscriptions for Shakspeare; that he set his name to Mr Broome's +verses, &c., which, though publicly disproved, were nevertheless +shamelessly repeated.--_P_. + +[109] 'The imputed trash:' such as profane psalms, court-poems, +and other scandalous things, printed in his name by Curll and +others.--_P_. + +[110] 'Abuse:' namely, on the Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of +Burlington, Lord Bathurst, Lord Bolingbroke, Bishop Atterbury, Dr Swift, +Dr Arbuthnot, Mr Gay, his friends, his parents, and his very nurse, +aspersed in printed papers, by James Moore, G. Ducket, L. Wolsted, Tho. +Bentley, and other obscure persons.--_P_. + +[111] 'Sappho:' Lady M.W. Montague. + +[112] 'Welsted:' accused Pope of killing a lady by a satire. + +[113] 'Budgell:' Budgell, in a weekly pamphlet called _The Bee_, +bestowed much abuse on him. + +[114] 'Except his will:' alluding to Tindal's will, by which, +and other indirect practices, Budgell, to the exclusion of the next +heir, a nephew, got to himself almost the whole fortune of a man +entirely unrelated to him.--_P_. + +[115] 'Curlls of town and court:' Lord Hervey. + +[116] 'Noble wife:' alluding to the fate of Dryden and Addison. + +[117] 'An oath:' Pope's father was a nonjuror. + +[118] Curll set up his head for a sign. + +[119] His father was crooked. + +[120] His mother was much afflicted with headaches. + +[121] 'Fortescue:' Baron of Exchequer, and afterwards Master of +the Mint. + +[122] 'Fanny:' Hervey. + +[123] 'Falling horse:' the horse on which George II. charged at +the battle of Oudenarde. + +[124] 'Shippen:' the only member of parliament Sir R. Walpole +found incorruptible. + +[125] 'Lee:' Nathaniel, a wild, mad, but true poet of Dryden's +day. + +[126] 'Budgell:' Addison's relation, who drowned himself in the +Thames. + +[127] 'And he whose lightning:' Charles Mordaunt, Earl of +Peterborough, a man distinguished by the rapidity of his military +movements--a petty Napoleon. + +[128] 'Oldfield:' this eminent glutton ran through a fortune of +fifteen hundred pounds a-year in the simple luxury of good +eating.--_P_. + +[129] 'Bedford-head:' a famous eating-house. + +[130] 'Proud Buckingham:' Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. + +[131] 'Aristippus:' the licentious parasite of Dionysius. + +[132] 'Sticks:' Exchequer tallies--an old mode of reckoning. + +[133] 'Barnard:' Sir John Barnard, an eminent citizen of the +day. + +[134] 'Lady Mary:' Montague, who was as great a sloven as a +beauty. + +[135] 'Murray:' afterwards Lord Mansfield. + +[136] 'Creech:' the translator of Horace. + +[137] 'Craggs:' his father was originally a humble man. + +[138] 'Cornbury:' an excellent and high-minded nobleman, +great-grandson of Lord Clarendon, the historian. + +[139] 'Tindal:' the infidel, author of 'Christianity as Old as +the Creation.' + +[140] 'Anstis:' Garter King-at-Arms. + +[141] 'Luckless play:' Young's 'Buseris;' the name of the +spendthrift is not known. + +[142] 'Augustus:' referring ironically to George II., then +excessively unpopular for refusing to enter into a war with Spain, which +was supposed to have insulted our commerce. + +[143] 'Skelton:' poet laureate to Henry VIII. + +[144] 'Christ's Kirk o' the Green:' a ballad made by James I. of +Scotland. + +[145] 'The Devil:' the Devil Tavern, where Ben Johnson held his +poetical club. + +[146] 'Horse-tail bare:' referring to Sertorius, who told one of +his soldiers to pluck off a horse's tail at one effort. He failed, of +course. Sertorius then told another to pluck it away, hair by hair. He +succeeded; and thus Sertorius taught the lesson of hard-working, patient +perseverance. + +[147] 'Gammer Gurton:' one of the first printed plays in English, +and therefore much valued by some antiquaries. + +[148] 'All, by the king's example:' a line from Lord Lansdown. + +[149] 'Lely:' Sir Peter, who painted Cromwell and all the +celebrities of his day. + +[150] 'Ripley:' the government architect who built the Admiralty; +no favourite except with his employers. + +[151] 'Van:' Vanbrugh. + +[152] 'Astraea:' Miss Bolin, author of obscene, but once popular +novels. + +[153] 'Old Edward's armour beams on Cibber's breast:' the +coronation of Henry VIII. and Queen Anne Boleyn, in which the +play-houses vied with each other to represent all the pomp of a +coronation. In this noble contention, the armour of one of the kings of +England was borrowed from the Tower, to dress the champion.--_P_. + +[154] 'Bernini:' a great sculptor. He is said to have predicted +Charles the First's melancholy fate from a sight of his bust. + +[155] 'Colonel:' Cotterel of Rousham, near Oxford. + +[156] 'Blois:' a town where French is spoken with great purity. + +[157] 'Sir Godfrey:' Sir Godfrey Kneller. + +[158] 'Monroes:' Dr Monroe, physician to Bedlam Hospital. + +[159] 'Oldfield, Daitineuf:' two celebrated gluttons mentioned +formerly. + +[160] 'Tooting, Earl's Court:' two villages within a few miles of +London. + +[161] 'Composing songs:' Burns imitates this in the 'Vision'-- + +'Stringin' blethers up in rhyme, + For fules to sing.' + +[162] 'Stephen:' Mr Stephen Duck. + +[163] 'Servile chaplains:' Dr Kenett, who wrote a servile +dedication to the Duke of Devonshire, to whom he was chaplain. + +[164] 'Abbs Court:' a farm over against Hampton Court. + +[165] 'Townshend's turnips:' Lord Townshend, Secretary of State +to Georges the First and Second. When this great statesman retired from +business, he amused himself in husbandry, and was particularly fond of +the cultivation of turnips; it was the favourite subject of his +conversation. + +[166] 'Bu----:' Bubb Doddington. + +[167] 'Oglethorpe:' employed in settling the colony of Georgia. +See Boswell's 'Johnson.' + +[168] 'Belinda:' in 'The Rape of the Lock.' + +[169] 'Tips with silver:' occurs also in the famous moonlight +scene in the 'Iliad'-- + +'Tips with silver every mountain's head.' + +[170] 'Adieu!' how like Burns's lines, beginning-- + +"But when life's day draws near the gloaming, +Farewell to vacant, careless roaming!" &c. + +[171] 'Donne:' Pope, it is said, imitated Donne's 'Satires' to +show that celebrated men before him had been as severe as he. Donne was +an extraordinary man--first a Roman Catholic, then a barrister, then a +clergyman in the Church of England, and Dean of St Paul's,--a vigorous +although rude satirist, a fine Latin versifier, the author of many +powerful sermons, and of a strange book defending suicide; altogether a +strong, eccentric, extravagant genius. + +[172] 'Paul:' supposed to be Paul Benfield, Esq., M.P., who was +engaged in the jobbing transactions of that period; others fill up the +blank in the original copy with Hall--as, for instance, Croly in his +excellent edition. + +[173] 'Hoadley:' Bishop, whose sentences were wire-drawn. + +[174] 'Figs:' a prize-fighting academy; 'White's:' a +gaming-house, both much frequented by the young nobility. + +[175] 'Deadly sins:' the room hung with old tapestry, +representing the seven deadly sins. + +[176] 'Ascapart:' a giant of romance. + +[177] 'Epilogue:' the first part of which was originally +published as 'One thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight.' It appeared +the same day with Johnson's 'London.' + +[178] 'Bubo:' Bubb Duddington. + +[179] 'Sir Billy:' Tonge. + +[180] 'Huggins:' formerly jailor of the Fleet prison, enriched +himself by many exactions, for which he was tried and expelled.--P. + +[181] 'Cropp'd our ears:' said to be executed by the captain of a +Spanish ship on one Jenkins, the captain of an English one. He cut off +his ears, and bid him carry them to the king his master.--P. + +[182] 'The great man:' the first minister. + +[183] 'Seen him I have:' alluding to Pope's service to Abbe +Southcot, see 'Life.' + +[184] 'Jekyl:' Sir Joseph Jekyl, master of the rolls, a true Whig +in his principles, and a man of the utmost probity.--P. + +[185] 'Lyttleton:' George Lyttleton, secretary to the Prince of +Wales, distinguished both for his writings and speeches in the spirit of +liberty.--P. + +[186] 'Sejanus, Wolsey:' the one the wicked minister of +Tiberius; the other, of Henry VIII. The writers against the court +usually bestowed these and other odious names on the minister, without +distinction, and in the most injurious manner.--P. + +[187] 'Fleury:' Cardinal; and minister to Louis XV. It was a +patriot-fashion, at that time, to cry up his wisdom and honesty.--P. + +[188] 'Henley, Osborn:' see them in their places in 'The +Dunciad.' + +[189] 'Nation's sense:' the cant of politics at that time. + +[190] 'Carolina:' Queen-consort to King George II. She died in +1737. See, for her character, 'Heart of Midlothian.' + +[191] 'Gazetteer:' then Government newspaper. + +[192] 'Immortal Selkirk:' Charles, third son of Duke of +Hamilton, created Earl of Selkirk in 1887. + +[193] 'Grave Delaware:' a title given that lord by King James +II. He was of the bed-chamber to King William; he was so to King George +I.; he was so to King George II. This Lord was very skilful in all the +forms of the House, in which he discharged himself with great gravity.-- +P. + +[194] 'Sister:' alluding to Lady M.W. Montague, who is said to +have neglected her sister, the Countess of Mar, who died destitute in +Paris. + +[195] 'Cibber's son, Rich:' two players; look for them in 'The +Dunciad.'--P. + +[196] 'Blount:' author of an impious and foolish book, called +'The Oracles of Reason,' who, being in love with a near kinswoman of +his, and rejected, gave himself a stab in the arm, as pretending to kill +himself, of the consequence of which he really died.--P. + +[197] 'Passerau:' author of another book of the same stamp, +called 'A Philosophical Discourse on Death,' being a defence of suicide. +He was a nobleman of Piedmont. + +[198] 'A printer:' a fact that happened in London a few years +past. The unhappy man left behind him a paper justifying his action by +the reasonings of some of these authors.--P. + +[199] 'Gin:' a spirituous liquor, the exhorbitant use of which +had almost destroyed the lowest rank of the people, till it was +restrained by an Act of Parliament in 1736.--P. + +[200] 'Quaker's wife:' Mrs Drummond, a preacher. + +[201] 'Landaff:' Harris by name, a worthy man, who had somehow +offended the poet. + +[202] 'Allen:' of Bath, Warburton's father-in-law, the prototype +of All-worthy in 'Tom Jones.' + +[203] 'Paxton:' late solicitor to the Treasury. + +[204] 'Guthrie:' the ordinary of Newgate, who publishes the +memoirs of the malefactors, and is often prevailed upon to be so tender +of their reputation, as to set down no more than the initials of their +name.--P. + +[205] 'Wild:' Jonathan, a famous thief, and thief-impeacher, who +was at last caught in his own train and hanged.--P. See Fielding, and +'Jack Shepherd.' + +[206] 'Feels for fame, and melts to goodness:' this is a fine +compliment; the expression showing, that fame was but his second +passion. + +[207] 'Scarb'rough:' Earl of, and Knight of the Garter, whose +personal attachments to the king appeared from his steady adherence to +the royal interest, after his resignation of his great employment of +Master of the Horse; and whose known honour and virtue made him esteemed +by all parties.--_P._ + +[208] 'Esher's peaceful grove:' the house and gardens of Esher, +in Surrey, belonging to the Hon. Mr Pelham, brother of the Duke of +Newcastle. + +[209] 'Carleton:' Lord, nephew of Robert Boyle. + +[210] 'Argyll:' see 'Heart of Midlothian.' + +[211] 'Wyndham:' Chancellor of Exchequer; for the rest, see +history. + +[212] 'Yet higher:' he was at this time honoured with the esteem +and favour of his Royal Highness the Prince. + +[213] 'A friend:' unrelated to their parties, and attached only +to their persons. + +[214] 'Lord Mayor:' Sir John Barnard, Lord Mayor in the year of +the poem, 1738. + +[215] 'Spirit of Arnall:' look for him in his place, Dunciad, b. +ii., ver. 315. + +[216] 'Polwarth:' the Hon. Hugh Hume, son of Alexander Earl of +Marchmont, grandson of Patrick Earl of Marchmont, and distinguished, +like them, in the cause of liberty.--P. + +[217] 'The bard:' a verse taken out of a poem to Sir R.W.--P. + +[218] 'Japhet, Chartres:' see the epistle to Lord Bathurst. + +[219] 'Black ambition:' the case of Cromwell in the civil war of +England; and of Louis XIV. in his conquest of the Low Countries.--P. + +[220] 'Boileau:' see his 'Ode on Namur.' + +[221] 'Opes the temple:' from Milton--'Opes the palace of +Eternity.' + +[222] 'Anstis:' the chief herald-at-arms. It is the custom, at +the funeral of great peers, to cast into the grave the broken staves and +ensigns of honour.--P. + +[223] 'Ver. 238:' some fill up the blanks with George II., and +Frederick, Prince of Wales--others, with Kent and Grafton. + +[224] 'Stair:' John Dalrymple, Earl of Stair, Knight of the +Thistle.--P. + +[225] 'Hough and Digby:' Dr John Hough, Bishop of Worcester, and +the Lord Digby. + + +END OF VOL. I. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE POETICAL WORKS OF ALEXANDER POPE, VOL. 1 *** + +This file should be named 9413-8.txt or 9413-8.zip + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8pop111.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8pop110a.txt +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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