Exanimat lentus fpectator, fedulus inflat:

Sic leve, fic parvum eft, animum quod laudis avarum Subruit, ac reficit: valeat res ludicra, fi me *

Palma negata macrum, donata reducit opimum.

* Saepe etiam audacem fugat hoc terretque poetam ;

Quod numero plures, virtute et honore minores,

b

Indocti, ftolidique, et depugnare parati

Si difcordet eques, media inter carmina pofcunt.

C

Aut urfum aut pugiles: his nam plebecula gaudet.

d

Verum equitis quoque jam migravit ab aure voluptas

Omnis, ad incertos oculos, et gaudia vana.

Quatuor aut plures aulaea premuntur in horas;

Dum fugiunt equitum turmae, peditumque catervae:

Mox trahitur manibus regum fortuna retortis;

NOTES.

The metaphor is fine, but inferior to the Original, in many respects.

ventofo gloria curru,

has a happy air of ridicule heightened by its allufion te the Roman Triumph. It has a great beauty too, taken in a more serious light, as representing the Poet a Slave to Fame or Glory,

Quem tulit ad fcenam-Gloria.

་

With what a shifting gale your course you ply,
For ever funk too low, or born too high!
Who pants for glory finds but short repose,
A breath revives him, or a breath o'erthrows.
z Farewell the stage! if just as thrives the play,
The filly bard grows fat, or falls away.

• There still remains, to mortify a Wit, The many-headed Monster of the Pit:

b

C

300

305

310

A fenfelefs, worthlefs, and unhonour'd croud;
Who, to disturb their betters mighty proud,
Clatt'ring their sticks before ten lines are spoke,
Call for the Farce, the Bear, or the Black-joke.
What dear delight to Britons Farce affords !
Ever the taste of Mobs, but now of Lords;
(Tafte, that eternal wanderer, which flies.
From heads to ears, and now from ears to eyes.)
The Play ftands ftill; damn action and discourse,
Back fly the scenes, and enter foot and horfe; 315
Pageants on pageants, in long order drawn,

Peers, Heralds, Bishops, Ermin, Gold and Lawn;

NOTES.

as was the custom in their triumphs. In other refpects it has the preference. It is more just. For a Poet makes his first entrance on the ftage not, immediately, to Triumph, hut to try his Fortune. However,

Who pants for Glory, etc. is much fuperior to the Original.

VER. 313. From heads to ears, and now from ears to eyes.] From Plays to Operas, and from Operas to Pantomines.

Effeda feftinant, pilenta, petorrita, naves;
Captivum portatur ebur, captiva Corinthus.
f Si foret in terris, rideret Democritus; feu
Diverfum confufa genus panthera camelo,
Sive & elephas albus vulgi converteret ora.
Spectaret populum ludis attentius ipfis,

Ut fibi praebentem mimo fpectacula plura:
Scriptores autem narrare putaret afello

i

Fabellam furdo. nam quae i pervincere voces

Evaluere fonum, referunt quem noftra theatra?

k

Garganum mugire putes nemus, aut mare Tuscum. Tanto cum ftrepitu ludi fpectantur, et artes,

m

Divitiaeque peregrinae: quibus oblitus actor

Cum ftetit in fcena, concurrit dextera laevae.

Dixit adhuc aliquid? nil fane. Quid placet ergo?

n

" Lana Tarentino violas imitata veneno.

Ac ne forte putes me, quae facere ipfe recufem,
Cum recte tractent alii, laudare maligne ;

NOTES.

VER. 319. Old Edward's Armour beams on Cibber's breast.] The Coronation of Henry VIII. and Queen Anne Boleyn, in which the Playhouses vied with each other to reprefent all the pomp of a Coronation. In this noble

The Champion too! and, to complete the jest,

Old Edward's Armour beams on Cibber's breast.

With f laughter fure Democritus had dy'd,
Had he beheld an Audience gape fo wide.
Let Bear or & Elephant be e'er fo white,

320

The people, fure, the people are the fight!
Ah lucklefsh Poet! ftretch thy lungs and roar,
That Bear or Elephant fhall heed thee more;
While all its throats the Gallery extends,

i

And all the Thunder of the Pit afcends!

Loud as the Wolves, onk Orcas' ftormy fteep,
Howl to the roarings of the Northern deep.
Such is the fhout, the long-applauding note,
At Quin's high plume, or Oldfield's 'petticoat;
Or when from Court a birth-day fuit beftow'd,
Sinks the loft Actor in the tawdry load.
Booth enters hark! the Univerfal peal!
"But has he spoken?" Not a fyllable.

325

330

335

What shook the stage, and made the people ftare?

" Cato's long Wig, flow'r'd gown, and lacquer'd chair. Yet left you think I railly more than teach,

Or praise malignly Arts I cannot reach,

NOTES.

contention, the Armour of one of the Kings of England was borrowed from the Tower, to drefs the Champion. P. VER. 328. Orcas' ftormy steep.] The fartheft Northern Promontory of Scotland, oppofite to the Orcades. P.

Ille per extentum funem mihi poffe videtur

Ire poeta; meum qui pectus inaniter angit,

Irritat, mulcet, falfis terroribus implet,

Ut magus; et modo me Thebis, modo ponit Athenis.

Verum age, et his, qui fe lectori credere malunt,

Quam fpectatoris faftidia ferre fuperbi,

Curam impende brevem: fi munus Apolline dignum

Vis complere libris; et vatibus addere calcar,

Ut ftudio majore petant Helicona virentem.

? Multa quidem nobis facimus mala faepe poetae,

(Ut vineta egomet caedam mea) cum tibi librum

t

* Solicito damus, aut feffo: cum laedimur, unum

NOTES.

VER. 347. To Thebes, to Athens, etc.] i. e. is equally knowing in the manners of the moft different people; and has the fkill to employ those manners with decorum.