O you! whom 94 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 funk too low, or born too high!
Who pants for glory finds but short repose,
A breath revives him, or a breath o'erthrows.
95 Farewel the stage! if juft as thrives the play,
The filly bard grows fat, or falls away.

96 There still remains to mortify a Wit,
The many-headed Monster of the Pit :
A fenfe-less, worthless, and un-honour'd croud;
Who 97 to disturb their betters mighty proud,
Clatt'ring their sticks before ten lines are spoke,
Call for the Farce, the 98 Bear, or the Black-joke,
What dear delight to Britons Farce affords!
Farce once the tafte of Mobs, but now 99
(For Tafte, eternal wanderer, now flies
From heads to ears, and now from ears to eyes.)

300

305

310 of Lords ;

Quem tulit ad fcenam 94 ventofo gloria curru, Exanimat lentus fpectator, fedulus inftat: Sic leve, fic parvum eft, animum quod laudis avarum Subruit, aut reficit :'95 valeat res ludicra! fi me Palma negata macrum, donata reducit opimum.

96 Sæpe etiam audacem fugat hoc terretque poetam ; Quod numero plures, virtute & honore minores, Indocti, ftolidique, & 97 depugnare parati Si difcordet eques, media inter carmina poscunt Aut 98 urfum aut pugiles: bis nam plebecula gaudet. Verum 99 Equitis quoque jam migravit ab aure voluptas Omnis, ad incertos oculos, & gaudia vana.

The

The Play ftands ftill; damn action and discourse,
Back fly the scenes, and enter foot 100 and horfe; 315
Pageants on pageants, in long order drawn,
Peers, Heralds, Bifhops, Ermin, Gold and Lawn;
The Champion too! and, to complete the jeft,
*Old Edward's Armour beams on Cibber's breast.
With or laughter fure Democritus had dy'd, 320
Had he beheld an Audience gape fo wide.
Let Bear or 102 Elephant be e'er fo white,
The people, fure, the people are the fight!
Ah lucklefs 103 Poet! ftretch thy lungs and roar,
That Bear or Elephant fhall heed thee more;

325

Quatuor aut plures aulæa premuntur in horas;
Dum fugiunt 100 equitum turma, peditumque catervæ :
Mox trabitur manibus Regum fortuna retortis ;
Effeda feftinant, pilenta, petorrita, naves,
Captivum portatur ebur, captiva Corinthus.
101 Si foret in terris, rideret Democritus ; feu
Diverfum confufa genus panthera camelo,
Sive 102 elephas albus vulgi converteret ora:
Spectaret populum ludis attentius ipfis,
Ut fibi præbentem mimo fpectacula plura :
Scriptores autem 103 narrare putaret afello
Fabellam furdo.

The Coronation of Henry the Eighth and Queen Anne Boleyn, in which the Playhoufes vyed with each other to reprefent 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 drefs the Champion.

E 2

While

While all its 104 throats the Gallery extends,
And all the Thunder of the Pit afcends!

330

Loud as the Wolves, on 105 Orcas'* stormy steep,
Howl to the roarings of the Northern deep.
Such is the fhout, the long-applauding note,
At Quin's high plume, or Oldfield's 106 petticoat;
Or when from Court a birth-day fuit bestow'd,
Sinks the 107 loft Actor in the tawdry load.

Booth enters

hark! the Univerfal peal!

"But has he spoken ?" Not a fyllable.

335

"What shook the stage, and made the people stare? 108 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, Let me for once presume t'instruct the times, To know the Poet from the Man of

rymes :

Nam qua 104 pervincere voces

Evaluere fonum referunt quem noftra theatra?

340

105 Garganum mugire putes nemus, aut mare Tufcam; Tanto cum ftrepitu ludi fpectantur, & artes,

106 Divitiæque peregrinæ, quibus 107 oblitus actor
Cum ftetit in feena, concurrit dextera lava.
"Dixit adbuc aliquid?" Nil fane. Quid placet ergo?
108 Lana Tarentino violas imitata veneno.

Ac ne forte putes, me, qua facere ipfe recufem,
Cum recte traitent alii, laudare maligne ;
Ille per extentum funem mibi poffe videtur

Orcas' formy steep] The fartheft Northern Promontory of Scotland, oppofite to the Orcades.

L 'Tis

'Tis He, 110 who gives my breaft a thousand pains,
Can make me feel each paffion that he feigns,
Inrage, compofe, with more than magic Art,
With Pity, and with Terror, tear my heart,
And fnatch me, o'er the earth, or thro' the air,
To Thebes, to Athens, when he will, and where.

345'

111 But not this part of the Poetic state. Alone, deferves the favour of the Great: Think of thofe Authors, Sir, who would rely 350 More on a Reader's fenfe, than Gazer's eye. Or who fhall wander where the Muses fing? Who climb their Mountain, or who taste their spring? How fhall we fill 112 a* Library with Wit, When + Merlin's Cave is half unfurnish'd yet? 355

Ira Poeta, 110 meum qui pectus inaniter angit,
Irritat, mulcet, falfis terroribus implet,
Ut magus, & modo me Thebis, modo ponit Athenis.
111 Verum age, & his, qui fe lectori credere malunt,
Quam fpectatoris faftidia ferre fuperbi,

Curam redde brevem; fi 112 manus Apolline dignum
Vis complere libris, & vatibus addere calcar,
Ut ftudio majore petant Helicona virentem.

Munus Apolline dignum.] The Palatine Library then building by Auguftus.

Merlin's Cave.] A Building in the Royal Gardens of Richmond, where is a small, but choice Collection of Books,

E3

My

My Liege! why Writers little claim your thought, I guess; and, with their leave, will tell the fault: We 113 Poets are (upon a Poet's word)

Of all mankind, the creatures most abfurd;

The 114 feason, when to come, and when to go, 360 To fing, or ceafe to fing, we never know;、

And if we will recite nine hours in ten,

365

You lofe your patience, just like other men.
Then too we hurt our felves, when to defend
A 115 fingle verfe, we quarrel with a friend;
Repeat 116 unask'd; lament, the 117 Wit's too fine
For vulgar eyes, and point out ev'ry line.

But moft, when training with too weak a wing,
We needs will write Epiftles to the King;

And 118 from the moment we oblige the town, 370
Expect a place, or penfion from the Crown ;
Or dubb'd Hiftorians by exprefs command,
T'enroll your triumphs o'er the feas and land,
Be call'd to Court to plan fome work divine,
As once for Loüis, Boileau and Racine.

115

113 Multa quidem nobis facimus mala fæpe pocte,
(Ut vineta egomet cædam mea) cum tibi librum
114
Sollicito damus aut feffo: cum lædimur,
Si quis amicorum eft aufus reprendere versum:
Cum loca iam 116 recitata revolvimus irrevocati
Cum 117 lamentamur non apparere labores
Noftros,& tenui deduta poemata filo:

375

unum

Cum 118 fperamus eo ven venturam, ut fimul atque
Carmina refcieris nos fingere, commodus ultro
Arceffas,&egere vetes, fcribere cogas.

Yet