"But rudely prefs before a Duke."

I own, I'm pleas'd with this rebuke,
And take it kindly meant to fhow

What I defire the World fhould know.

་་

I get a whisper, and withdraw; When twenty Fools I never faw Come with Petitions fairly penn'd, Defiring I would ftand their friend.

This humbly offers me his Cafe-
That, begs my int'reft for a Place-
A hundred other Men's affairs,

Like bees, are humming in my ears.
"To-morrow my Appeal comes on,
"Without your help the Cause is gone-
The Duke expects my Lord and you,
About fome great Affair, at Two-
"Put my Lord Bolingbroke in mind,
"To get my Warrant quickly fign'd:
"Confider 'tis my first requeft.-
Be fatisfy'd, I'll do my best :---
Then presently he falls to teize,
"You may for certain, if you please;
"I doubt not, if his Lordship knew-
"And, Mr. Dean, one word from you-

and more,

'Tis (let me fee) three years (October next it will be four) Since HARLEY bid me firft attend, And chofe me for an humble friend;

Would take me in his Coach to chat,

60

65

70

75

80

85

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

Hoc genus, Hora quota eft? Threx eft Gallina

Syro par.

Matutina parum cautos jam frigora mordent:
Et quae rimofa bene deponuntur in aure.

Per totum hoc tempus, fubjectior in diem et horam
Invidiae nofter. ludos fpectaverit una:
Luferit in campo: Fortunae filius, omnes.
Frigidus a Roftris manat per compita rumor:
Quicunque obvius eft, me confulit; O bone (nam te
Scire, Deos quoniam propius contingis, oportet)
Num quid de Dacis audisti? Nil equidem. Ut tu
Semper eris derifor! At omnes Di exagitent me,
Si quicquam. Quid? militibus promiffa Triquetra
Praedia Caefar, an eft Itala tellure daturus ?

Jurantem

Or gravely try to read the lines

Writ underneath the Country Signs;
Or, "Have you nothing new to-day

"From Pope, from Parnel, or from Gay?"
Such tattle often entertains

95

My Lord and me as far as Stains,

As once a week we travel down
To Windfor, and again to Town,
Where all that passes, inter nos,
Might be proclaim'd at Charing-Cross.

Yet fome I know with envy fwell,
Because they see me us'd fo well:

"How think you of our Friend the Dean? "I wonder what fome 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 fome Folks!
There flies about a strange report
Of fome Exprefs arriv'd at Court;
I'm stopp'd by all the fools I meet,
And catechis'd in ev'ry street.
"You, Mr. Dean, frequent the Great ;
"Inform us, will the Emp'ror treat?
"Or do the Prints and Papers lye?
Faith, Sir, you know as much as I.
"Ah Doctor, how you love to jest?
" 'Tis now no fecret I proteft

'Tis one to me" Then tell us, pray,
"When are the Troops to have their pay?
And, tho' I folemnly declare

I know no more than my Lord Mayor,

100

105

ΣΤΟ

115

120

They

Jurantem me feire nihil miratur, ut unum
Scilicet egregii mortalem altique filentî.

Perditur haec inter mifero lux; non fine votis,
O rus, quando ego te afpiciam? quandoque licebit,
Nunc veterum libris, nunc fomno et inertibus horis,
Ducere folicitae jucunda oblivia vitae ?

O quando faba Pythagorae cognata, fimulque
Uncta fatis pingui ponentur olufcula lardo?
O noctes coenaeque Deûm! quibus ipfe meique,
Ante Larem proprium vefcor, vernafque procaces
Pafco libatis dapibus: cum, ut cuique libido eft,
Siccat inaequales calices conviva, folutus

Legibus infanis feu quis capit acria fortis
Pocula; feu modicis uvefcit laetius. ergo
Sermo oritur, non de villis domibufve alienis,

Nec male necne Lepos faltet: fed quod magis ad

nos

Pertinet, et nefcire malum eft, agitamus; utrumne

Divitiis

They ftand amaz'd, and think me grown

The closest mortal ever known.

THUS in a fea of folly toss'd,
My choiceft Hours of life are loft;
Yet always wishing to retreat,
Oh, could I fee my Country Seat!
There leaning near a gentle Brook.

125

Sleep, or peruse some ancient Book,

130

And there in fweet oblivion drown

Thofe Cares that haunt the Court and Town.

O charming Noons! and Nights divine!

Or when I fup, or when I dine,
My Friends above, my Folks below,
Chatting and laughing all-a-row,

135

The Beans and Bacon fet before 'em,

The Grace-cup ferv'd with all decorum :
Each willing to be pleas'd, and please,

VER. 125. Thus in a fea, etc.] Our Poet excels his friend in his own way of modernizing Horace. But this way is infinitely inferior to his own. For tho' Horace be

eafy, he is not familiar; or, if he be, it is the familiarity of Courts, which is never without its dignity. These things burlesque verfe cannot reconcile, nor indeed any other, that I know of, but the fore-going imitations of our Poet.