Cum fis, et prave fectum ftomacheris ob unguem, De te pendentis, te refpicientis amici. a C Ad fummam, fapiens uno minor eft Jove, dives, * Liber, honoratus, pulcher, rex denique regum; Præcipue fanus, nifi cum pituita molesta est. NOTES. the throne, with any Party, fo he could have gratified his ambition, and the lofty idea he entertained of himself. When he was in the fervice of the Pretender, he difdained the employment and the employer. "Eftuat indignans angufto limite." He merely wanted a prouder scene of action, and the foremost rank among th actors. VER. 188. clouds this Demy-God.] In this Imitation, Pope evidently dwells con amore, as usual, on his own virtues, opulence, &c. It is fingular, however, that he should have made fuch a boast of his native moderation" All his friends were Tories, many of them profeffed Jacobites. Blount had fome connection, it was thought, with the leaders of the Rebellion in 1715. Atterbury was convicted; Bolingbroke, "his guide and friend,” bad been in the fervice of the Pretender; Shippen never denied his real politics, though the heat of Party dignified him with the name of Patriot." Sir William Wyndham, Murray, &c. were all of the fame fide. Pope fhews evident caution whenever he introduces Sir Robert Walpole; he treats him with a fort of` diftant refpect, but he was indebted to him for recommending his friend the Abbe Southcote to Cardinal Fleuri, and it might be more wife to attack kings, than their prime minifier. He courted Craggs and Addifon, before he felt his own import ance. Warton has paid a just tribute of applause to Lyttelton. Lyttelton confulted Pope about his Paftorals*. As it elucidates Pope's concern in his young Friend's Poems, the reader, perhaps, will excufe my inferting an original letter from Lyttelton to Dodington, on this subject. "Dear • Four Paftorals by Lord Lyttelton, published in DodЛley's collection. Great without Title, without Fortune blefs'd; Rich' ev'n when plunder'd, " honour'd while opprefs'd; b Lov'd without youth, and follow'd without pow'r; d Nay, half in heav'n- except (what's mighty odd) A Fit of Vapours clouds this Demy-God. 46 ་་ "Dear Sir, NOTES. Hagley, November 24, 131. "The approbation you exprefs of my verses, and the praise you bestow, cannot but be extremely pleafing to me, as they are the effects of a friendship upon which I set so high a value. "When I fent my Paftorals to Mr. Pope, I defired him to make "any corrections he should judge proper, and accordingly he has "favoured me with fome alterations, which I beg you will give "yourself the trouble of inferting in your copy. At the end of "the first page, after this line, "When now the setting-fun lefs fiercely burn'd," "be pleased to add the two following: "Blue vapours rofe along the mazy rills, And light's laft blushes ting'd the diftant hills." "In the second, read the following lines thus: "Aufpicious Pan, the monarch of the plain, Shall come a fuitor for his fav'rite swain, For him, their lov'd musician, evr'y fawn, For him each blooming fifter of the lawn." "In the third, instead of " And fills with frantic pains, Etc." "And blackens each fair image in our breast " Again, inftead of "Pleas'd by not ftudying, &c." "He pleas'd, because he studied not to please." Perhaps, too, the verses would run better, if, instead of " A "Town, with fpiring towers is crown'd;" you were to put, " with fpiring turrets crown'd;" but then the verb "is," muft "be understood. "I don't "I don't know whether you won't have reason to think I am "too folicitous about those trifles, by my giving you the trouble "to alter them; but I would have them appear in as good a "drefs as poffible, for fear of their being a difgrace to the per"fons I have addreffed them to. My Father and Mother defire "their compliments. I am, with great respect and truth, your "moft obliged humble fervant, G. LYTTELTON." I have admitted this as a circumftance connected with literature, and with Pope. After Pope's death, the GREAT PHILOSOPHER AND Friend, to whom this Epiftle is addreffed, became the most implacable ENEMY to his memory. Pope had printed privately 1500 copies of the "Patriot King," the MS. of which pamphlet Bolingbroke had intrusted to him, and these were found after his death. Bolingbroke felt that Pope had violated his honour, and he employed Mallet to abuse him, and ftigmatize his memory. Mallet, it is faid, had for the taflx the copy-right of Bolingbroke's philcfophic labours. So end ed the History of this "Friendship and Philofophy!" NIL EPISTOLA VI. IL admirari, prope res est una, Numici, Tempora momentis, funt qui formidine nulla. e Ludicra, quid, plaufus, et amici dona Quiritis? NOTES. Qui VER 2. dear MURRAY,] This piece is the most finished of all his Imitations, and executed in the high manner the Italian Painters call con amore. By which they mean, the exertion of that principle, which puts the faculties on the ftretch, and produces the fupreme degree of excellence. For the Poet had all the warmth of affection for the great Lawyer to whom it is addressed: and, indeed, no man ever more deserved to have a Poet for his friend. In the obtaining of which, as neither vanity, party, nor fear had any fhare, (which gave birth to the attachments of many of his noble acquaintance,) fo he fupported his title to it by all the good offices. of a generous and true Friendship. WARBURTON. VER. 4. Creech.] From whofe Translation of Horace the two firft lines are taken. POPE. VER. 4. Words of Creech.] Who, in truth, is a much better tranflator than he is ufually fuppofed and allowed to be. He is a nervous and vigorous writer; and many parts, not only of his Lucretius, but of his Theocritus and Horace, (though now decried,) have not been excelled by other translators. One of his pieces may be pronounced excellent: his tranflation of the thirteenth Satire of Juvenal; equal to any Dryden lias given us of at author. WARTON. |