Our Court may justly to our stage give rules1, Painted for sight, and essenc'd for the smell, So weak a vessel, and so rich a prize! 220 225 Top-gallant he, and she in all her trim, 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 prais'd for nought, For both the beauty and the wit are bought. 230 235 240 245 They march, to prate their hour before the Fair. 250 Neatness itself impertinent in him. Let but the Ladies smile, and they are blest: Prodigious! how the things protest, protest: 255 Peace, fools, or Gonson will for Papists seize you, If once he catch you at your Jesu! Jesu! Just as one Beauty mortifies another. But here's the Captain that will plague them both, 260 265 our stage give rules,] Alluding to the Chamberlain's Authority [as licenser of plays]. Warburton. 2["The weeping philosopher.'] theory of his art, published a work on the Proportions of the human figure.] 4 Much resembling Noll Bluff in Congreve's Old Bachelor, who was copied from Thraso, and also from Ben Jonson. Warton. And with a face as red, and as awry, 270 275 Courts are too much for wits so weak as mine: 280 'Tis mine to wash a few light stains, but theirs 285 EPILOGUE TO THE SATIRES. IN TWO DIALOGUES. WRITTEN IN MDCCXXXVIII. [THE first part of these Satires was published under the title of One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty-eight, a Dialogue something like Horace; and the second part followed in the same year. It is remarkable, says Boswell (in his Life of Johnson), that Johnson's London came out on the same morning in May as Pope's 1738; so that England had at once its Juvenal and Horace as poetical monitors.' Johnson's satire, though published anonymously and having nothing, like Pope's, to betray its author, appears to have created the stronger sensation.] FR. DIALOGUE 1. twice a twelve-month you appear in Print, And when it comes, the Court see nothing in't. NOT [Cf. Essay on Criticism, v. 588.] For hung with deadly sins] The Room hung with old Tapestry, representing the seven deadly sins. P. 3 A giant famous in Romances. 4 P. (With Maccabees modesty) the known merit Of my work lessen, yet some wise men shall, I hope, esteem my wits canonical.' Donne. Not twice a twelve-month, &c.] These two lines are from Horace; and the only lines that are so in the whole Poem; being meant to be a handle to that which follows in the character of an impertinent Censurer, 'Tis all from Horace; &c. P. [The passage is at the commencement of Hor. Sat. 11. iii.] You grow correct, that once with Rapture writ, Said, "Tories call'd him Whig, and Whigs a Tory;" Blunt could do Bus'ness, H-ggins 3 knew the Town; In Sappho touch the Failings of the Sex, Who cropt our Ears, and sent them to the King. Could please at Court, and make AUGUSTUS smile: His Friend and Shame, and was a kind of Screen 5. P. See Sir ROBERT!-hum- He does not think me what he thinks mankind 10. F. Why yes: with Scripture still you may be free; 1 Bubo observes,] Some guilty person very fond of making such an observation. P. 2 [V. Epistle to Arbuthnot, v. 280.] 3 H-ggins] Formerly Jailor of the Fleet prison, enriched himself by many exactions, for which he was tried and expelled. P. [This Huggins] was the father of the author of the absurd and prosaic Translation of Ariosto. Warton. Who cropt our Ears,] Said to be executed by the Captain of a Spanish ship on one Jenkins, a Captain of an English one. He cut off his ears, and bid him carry them to the King his master. P. [Vide Mr Carlyle's History of Frederick the Great, passim.] 5 Omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico Tangit, et admissus circum præcordia ludit. PERS. [Sat. 1. 116.] P. Screen] A metaphor peculiarly appropriated to a certain person in power. P. 6 Patriots there are, &c.] This appellation was generally given to those in opposition to the Court. Though some of them (which our author hints at) had views too mean and interested to deserve that Name. P. 7 The Great man] A phrase by common use appropriated to the first minister. P. 8[Explained by Warburton to refer to the favour conferred by Walpole at Pope's request upon the Catholic priest Southcote. See Introductory Memoir, p. xi.]. 9 Seen him, uncumber'd] These two verses were originally in the poem, though omitted in all the first editions. P. 10 [Bowles quotes Coxe's correction of the cynical saying commonly attributed to Sir R. Walpole. The political axiom was perverted by leaving out the word those' (referring to certain pretended patriots).] A Joke on JEKYL1, or some odd Old Whig Whom all Lord Chamberlains allow the Stage: "His Prince, that writes in Verse, and has his ear?" Sets half the world, God knows, against the rest; P. Dear Sir, forgive the Prejudice of Youth: 3 Why, answer, Lyttelton,] George Lyttelton, Secretary to the Prince of Wales, distinguished both for his writings and speeches in the spirit of Liberty. P. [V. Im. of Hor. Bk. 1. Ep. i. v. 29.1 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. See Dial. II. v. 137. P. 5 Fleury,] Cardinal: and Minister to Louis 40 45 50 55 бо 65 70 XV. It was a Patriot-fashion, at that time, to cry up his wisdom and honesty. P. Henley-Osborne] See them in their places in the Dunciad. P. 7 [Sir William Yonge, not, as Bowles conjectures to be possible, Dr Edward Young, author of The Night Thoughts, although to the latter Doddington (Bubo) was a constant friend]. 8 The gracious Dew] Alludes to some court sermons, and florid panegyrical speeches; particularly one very full of puerilities and flatteries: which afterwards got into an address in the same pretty style; and was lastly served up in an Epitaph, between Latin and English, published, by its author. P. An 'Epitaph' on Queen Caroline was written by Lord Hervey, and an address moved in the House of Commons (the Senate) on the occasion by H. Fox. Carruthers. 9 that easy Ciceronian style,] A joke upon absurd Imitators; who in light and familiar compositions, which require ease, affect a Ciceronian So Latin, yet so English all the while, No Gazetteer more innocent than 15— And let, a' God's name, ev'ry Fool and Knave F. Why so? if Satire knows its Time and Place, Would you know when? exactly when they fall. Immortal S-k, and grave De—re 6. Silent and soft, as Saints remove to Heav'n, All Ties dissolv'd and ev'ry Sin forgiv'n, These may some gentle ministerial Wing 95 There, where no Passion, Pride, or Shame transport, 100 P. Good Heav'n forbid, that I should blast their glory, 105 ΠΟ Sir Secretary of State's office, to write the government's newspaper, published by authority. Richard Steele had once this post. Warburton. 6 Immortal S-k, and grave De-re!] A title given that Lord by King James II. He was of the Bedchamber to King William; he was so to King George I.; he was so to King George 11. This Lord was very skilful in all the forms of the House, in which he discharged himself with great gravity. P. Pope alludes to Charles Hamilton, third son of the Duke of Hamilton, who was created Earl of Selkirk in 1667. Bowles. [Is Lord Delaware the other?] request.] [Cf. Messiah, v. 46—a line altered at Steele's |