A Penfion, or fuch Harness for a flave

6

As Bug now has, and Dorimant would have.
Barnard, thou art a Cit, with all thy worth;
But Bug and D*1, Their Honours, and fo forth.
Yet ev'ry P child another song will fing,
"Virtue, brave boys! 'tis Virtue makes a King."
True, confcious Honour is to feel no fin,
He's arm'd without that's innocent within;

90

Be this thy Screen, and this thy Wall of Brafs; 95 Compar'd to this, a Minister's an Ass.

And fay, to which shall our applause belong, This new Court jargon, or the good old fong?

The modern language of corrupted Peers,

Or what was spoke at CRESSY and POITIERS? 100
* Who counfels beft? who whispers, "Be but great,
"With Praise or Infamy leave that to fate;
"Get Place and Wealth, if poffible, with grace;
"If not, by any means get Wealth and Place.'
For what? to have a Box where Eunuchs fing, 105
And foremost in the Circle eye a King.

Or "he, who bids thee face with steady view
Proud Fortune, and look shallow Greatness thro:
And, while he bids thee, fets th' Example too?
If y fuch a Doctrine, in St. James's air,

Shou'd chance to make the well-dreft Rabble ftare;

NOTES.

110

VER. 97. And fay, etc.] Thefe four lines greatly fuperior to any thing in the Original.

Non, ut porticibus, fic judiciis fruar iifdem,

Nec fequar aut fugiam, quae diligit ipfe vel odit ;

2.

Olim quod vulpes aegroto cauta leoni

Refpondit, referam: Quia me veftigia terrent

Omnia te adverfum fpectantia, nulla retrorfum.

▸ Bellua multorum es capitum. nam quid fequar, aut

quem?

NOTES.

VER. 117. Full many a Beaft goes in,] This expreffion is ufed for the joke's fake; but it hurts his moral; which is, that they come out beafs. He fhould here have stuck to the terms of his Original, veftigia omnia te adverfum Spectantia.

VER. 118. Adieu to Virtue, etc.] Thefe two lines are intended for the application or moral of a fable, which needs no explaining; and, confequently, they impair the grace of it, which at beft is inferior to his Original. For Horace fpeaks of the common people, Populus Romanus, to whom one of fop's Fables was properly addressed: too fimple a method of conveying truth to the well-dreft Rabble of St. James's.

VER. 124. Alike in nothing but one Luft of Gold, Just half the land would buy, and half be fold:] Here the argument fuffers a little for the fake of the fatire. The rea

If honeft S*z take fcandal at a Spark,

That lefs admires the Palace than the Park:

a

Faith I fhall give the anfwer Reynard gave:

"I cannot like, dread Sir, your Royal Cave: "Becaufe I fee, by all the tracks about,

115

"Full many a Beaft goes in, but none come out." Adieu to Virtue, if you're once a Slave:

Send her to Court, you fend her to her grave.

Well, if a King's a Lion, at the leaft

b

The People are a many-headed Beaft:

Can they direct what measures to pursue,
Who know themselves fo little what to do?
Alike in nothing but one Luft of Gold,

120

Just half the land would buy, and half be fold:

125

NOTES.

fon why the People should not be followed is because Bellua multorum eft capitum. nam quid fequar, aut quem? they are so divers in their pursuits (fays Horace) that one cannot follow this man without being condemned by that. The imitator fays, they all go on one common principle, the luft of gold. This inaccuracy, tho' Horace has a little of it, yet he has however artfully disguised it, by speaking of the various objects of this one Paffion, avarice, as of fo many various paffions,

Pars hominum geftit conducere publica: funt qui, ett.
Cruftis et pomis

Multis occulto, etc.

but his imitator has unwarily drawn them to a point, by the introductory addition of the lines above,

Alike in nothing, etc.

on

NOTES.

VER. 126. Their Country's wealth our mightier Mifers drain,] The undertakers for advancing Loans to the Public the Funds. They have been commonly accused of making it a job. But in fo corrupt times, the fault is not always to be imputed to a Ministry: it having been found, on trial, that the wifeft and most virtuous citizen of this or any other age, with every requifite knowledge in fuch matters, and fupported by all the weight an honeft Admi

с

Their Country's wealth our mightier Misers drain,
Or cross, to plunder Provinces, the Main;

The reft, fome farm the Poor-box, fome the Pews
Some keep Affemblies, and would keep the Stews;
Some with fat Bucks on childlefs Dotards fawn; 130
Some win rich Widows by their Chine and Brawn; ;
While with the filent growth of ten per cent,
In dirt and darkness, hundreds ftink content.

e

Of all these ways, if each pursues his own,
Satire be kind, and let the wretch alone:
But show me one who has it in his pow'r,
To act confiftent with himself an hour.

140

135

Sir Job & fail'd forth, the ev'ning bright and still, "No place on earth (he cry'd) like Greenwich hill !” h Up ftarts a Palace, lo, th' obedient base Slopes at its foot, the woods its fides embrace, The filver Thames reflects its marble face. Now let fome whimfy, or that Dev'l within Which guides all those who know not what they

mean,

But give the Knight (or give his Lady) spleen; 145

NOTES.

niftration could afford him, was, they say, unable to abofifh this inveterate myftery of iniquity."

VER. 143. Now let fome whimfy, etc.] This is very spirited, but much inferior to the elegance of the Original, Cui fi vitiofa Libido

Fecerit aufpicium

which no modern imitation can reach.