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See now, half-cur'd, and perfectly well-bred,
With nothing but a Solo in his head;

As much estate, and principle, and wit,

As Jansen, Fleetwood, Cibber shall think fit;
Stol❜n from a duel, follow'd by a nun,

And, if a Borough chuse him not, undone;
See, to my country happy I restore

325

This glorious Youth, and add one Venus more. 330 Her too receive, for her my soul adores!

So

may the sons of sons of sons of whores,

REMARKS.

inventor of Opera, who first performed to a select assembly of beasts. SCRIBL. W.

Ver. 324. With nothing but a Solo in his head;] With nothing but a Solo? Why, if it be a Solo, how should there be any thing else? Palpable tautology! Read boldly an Opera, which is enough of conscience for such a head as has lost all its Latin.

BENTL. P. W.

Ver. 326. Jansen, Fleetwood, Cibber] Three very eminent persons, all Managers of Plays; who, though not Governors by profession, had, each in his way, concerned themselves in the education of youth, and regulated their wits, their morals, or their finances, at that period of their age which is the most important, their entrance into the polite world. Of the last of these, and his talents for this end, see Book i. ver. 199, &c. P. W.

Ver. 328. And, if a Borough chuse him not,] A severe stroke on some parts of the English Parliament. Warton.

Ver. 331. Her too receive, &c.] This confirms what the learned Scriblerus advanced in his note on ver. 272, that the Governor, as well as the Pupil, had particular interest in this Lady. P. W.

Ver. 332. sons of whores,] For such have been always esteemed the ablest supports of the throne of Dulness, even by the confes

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 332. So may the sons of sons, &c.]

"Et nati natorum, et qui nascentur ab illis.”

sion

Virg. Æneid. iii.

P.t

Prop thine, O Empress ! like each neighbour throne, And make a long posterity thy own."

340

Pleas'd, she accepts the Hero and the Dame, 335
Wraps in her veil, and frees from sense of shame.
Then look'd, and saw a lazy, lolling sort,
Unseen at Church, at Senate, or at Court,
Of ever-listless Loit'rers, that attend
No cause, no trust, no duty, and no friend.
Thee too, my Paridel! she mark'd thee there,
Stretch'd on the rack of a too easy chair,
And heard thy everlasting yawn confess
The pains and penalties of idleness.
She pitied; but her pity only shed
Benigner influence on thy nodding head.

REMARKS.

345

sion of those her most legitimate sons, who have unfortunately wanted that advantage. The illustrious Vanini in his divine encomiums on our Goddess, intitled, De admirandis Naturæ Reginæ Deæque mortalium Arcanis, laments that he was not born a bastard : O utinam extra legitimum ac connubialem thorum essem procreatus ! &c. He expatiates on the prerogatives of a free birth, and on what he would have done for the Great Mother with those advantages; and then sorrowfully concludes, At quia Conjugatorum sum soboles, his orbatus sum bonis.

W.

Ver. 341. Thee too, my Paridel!] The poet seems to speak of this young gentleman with great affection. The name is taken from Spenser, who gives it to a wandering courtly Squire, that travelled about for the same reason, for which many young Squires are now fond of travelling, and especially to Paris.

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 342. Stretch'd on the rack

And heard, &c.]

"Sedet, æternumque sedebit,

Infelix Theseus, Phlegyasque miserrimus omnes

Admonet"

Virg. Æneid. vi.

P. W.

P.t

But Annius, crafty Seer, with ebon wand, And well-dissembled em'rald on his hand, False as his gems, and canker'd as his coins, Came, cramm'd with capon, from where Pollio dines. Soft, as the wily fox is seen to creep,

351

Where bask on sunny banks the simple sheep, Walk round and round, now prying here, now there, So he; but pious, whisper'd first his pray'r.

"Grant, gracious Goddess, grant me still to cheat! O may thy cloud still cover the deceit ! Thy choicer mists on this assembly shed, But pour them thickest on the noble head. So shall each youth, assisted by our eyes, See other Cæsars, other Homers rise;

REMARKS.

360

Ver. 347. Annius,] The name taken from Annius, the Monk of Viterbo, famous for many impositions and forgeries of ancient manuscripts and inscriptions, which he was prompted to by mere vanity; but our Annius had a more substantial motive. P. W.

The sudden appearance of this character, whom we never heard of before, makes this passage very obscure. By Annius, was meant Sir Andrew Fountaine. Warton.

Annius appears in his place; nor does there seem to be any particular reason why he should have been heard of before. It is not likely that Pope meant to allude to Sir Andrew Fountaine, who was a particular friend of Swift. Vide Journal to Stella.

Ver. 355. still to cheat !] Some read skill, but this is frivolous; for Annius hath that skill already; or if he had not, skill were not wanting to cheat such persons. BENTLEY. P. W.

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Noctem peccatis et fraudibus objice nubem." Hor. P.†

365

Thro' twilight ages hunt th' Athenian fowl,
Which Chalcis, Gods, and mortals call an Owl;
Now see an Attys, now a Cecrops clear,
Nay, Mahomet! the pigeon at thine ear;
Be rich in ancient brass, tho' not in gold,
And keep his Lares, though his house be sold;
To heedless Phœbe his fair bride postpone,
Honour a Syrian Prince above his own;
Lord of an Otho, if I vouch it true;
Blest in one Niger, till he knows of two."

370

Mummius o'erheard him; Mummius, fool-re

nown'd,

Who like his Cheops stinks above the ground,

REMARKS.

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Ver. 361. hunt th' Athenian fowl,] The Owl stamped on the reverse of the ancient money of Athens.

"Which Chalcis, Gods, and mortals call an Owl,”

is the verse by which Hobbes renders that of Homer,

P. W.

Χαλκίδα κικλήσκεσι Θεοὶ, ἄνδρες δὲ Κύμινδιν. Ver. 363. Attys and Cecrops] The first Kings of Athens, of whom it is hard to suppose any coins are extant; but not so improbable as what follows, that there should be any of Mahomet, who forbade all images; and the story of whose pigeon was a monkish fable. Nevertheless one of these Anniuses made a counterfeit medal of that impostor, now in the possession of a learned Nobleman. P. W.

Ver. 364. Nay, Mahomet!] The circumstance of Mahomet professing to receive his inspiration from Heaven through the means of a pigeon, is well known.

Ver. 367. To heedless Phabe his fair bride postpone,—

Lord of an Otho,]

Bowles.

A trivial variation from himself, in his Epistle to Addison: "And Curio, restless by the fair-one's side,

Sighs for an Otho, and neglects his bride." Wakefield. Ver. 371. Mummius] This name is not merely an allusion to the Mummies he was so fond of, but probably referred to the Roman General

Fierce as a startled adder, swell'd, and said,
Rattling an ancient Sistrum at his head:

"Speak'st thou of Syrian Princes? Traitor base! 375 Mine, Goddess! mine is all the horned race.

REMARKS.

General of that name, who burned Corinth, and committed the curious statues to the captain of a ship, assuring him, "that if any were lost or broken, he should procure others to be made in their stead:" by which it should seem (whatever may be pretended) that Mummius was no Virtuoso. P. W.

Who, or from whence, was Mummius? we know as little of him, thus abruptly brought out, as of Annius in the preceding passage, ver. 347. It is painful, but necessary, to make an observation on such a fault in our poet. To say the name alluded to Egyptian Mummies, is frigid enough! I have been lately informed, that by Mummius was meant Dr. Mead, a man too learned and too liberal to be thus satirized. Warton.

Dr. Warton was probably misinformed on this head. Pope was not in the habit of abusing those anonymously whom he openly praised. He had a high opinion of Dr. Mead, whom he occasionally consulted, as appears by the lines,

I'll do what Mead and Cheselden advise,

To save these limbs and to preserve these eyes. Ver. 371. fool-renown'd,] A compound epithet in the Greek manner, renowned by fools, or renowned for making fools. P. W.

Ver. 372. Cheops] A King of Egypt, whose body was certainly to be known, as being buried alone in his Pyramid, and is therefore more genuine than any of the Cleopatras. This Royal Mummy, being stolen by a wild Arab, was purchased by the Consul of Alexandria, and transmitted to the Museum of Mummius; for proof of which he brings a passage in Sandys's Travels; where that accurate and learned voyager assures us that he saw the sepulchre empty, which agrees exactly (saith he) with the time of the theft above-mentioned.-But he omits to observe that Herodotus tells us it was empty in his time. P. W.

Ver. 375. "Speak'st thou of Syrian Princes? &c.] The strange story following, which may be taken for a fiction of the poet, is justified by a true relation in Spon's Voyages. Vaillant (who wrote the History of the Syrian Kings, as it is to be found on

medals)

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