66

EPISTLE VI.

TO MR. MURRAY.*

Nor to admire, is all the art I know,

To make men happy, and to keep them so."

Plain truth, dear MURRAY, needs no flowers of

speech,

So take it in the very words of Creech.

b

5

This vault of air, this congregated ball, Self-center'd sun, and stars that rise and fall, There are, my friend! whose philosophic eyes Look through, and trust the Ruler with his skies; To him commit the hour, the day, the year,

с

And view this dreadful all without a fear.
Admire we then what "earth's low entrails hold,
Arabian shores, or Indian seas infold;

All the mad trade of fools and slaves for gold?
Or 'popularity? or stars and strings?
The mob's applauses, or the gifts of kings?
Say with what 'eyes we ought at courts to gaze,
And pay the great our homage of amaze?

10

15

If weak the "pleasure that from these can spring, The fear to want them is as weak a thing: Whether we dread, or whether we desire, In either case, believe me, we admire;

20

NOTES.

Afterwards the celebrated Lord Mansfield. This was writ

ten in 1737.

Bowles.

iGaudeat, an doleat; cupiat, metuatne; quid ad

rem,

Si, quidquid vidit melius pejusve suâ spe,
Defixis oculis, animoque et corpore torpet?

*Insani sapiens nomen ferat, æquus iniqui; Ultrà quam satis est, virtutem si petat ipsam. 'I nunc, argentum et marmor "vetus, æraque et

artes

Suspice cum gemmis "Tyrios mirare colores: Gaude, quòd spectant oculi te mille loquentem: Gnavus manè forum, et vespertinus pete tectum; "Ne plus frumenti dotalibus emetat agris Mutus, et (indignum, quod sit pejoribus ortus) 'Hic tibi sit potiùs, quàm tu mirabilis illi. 'Quicquid sub terrâ est, in apricum proferet ætas ; Defodiet, condetque nitentia. 'Cum bene notum Porticus Agrippæ, et via te conspexerit Appî,

NOTES.

Ver. 44. Yet time ennobles, or degrades each line;

It brighten'd Craggs's, and may darken thine:] One of the noblest houses in Europe.-The original is:

66

Quicquid sub terrà est, in apricum proferet ætas ;
Defodiet, condetque nitentia."

This wants neither force nor elegance; yet is vastly inferior to the Imitation, where a very fine panegyric on two great characters, in the second line, gives dignity and ease to the masterly conciseness of the first. Warburton.

Ver. 45. It brighten'd CRAGGS's,] His father had been in a low situation; but, by industry and ability, got to be Postmaster-General and Agent to the Duke of Marlborough.

Warton.

Whether we 'joy or grieve, the same the curse,
Surprized at better, or surprized at worse.
Thus good or bad to one extreme betray
The unbalanced mind, and snatch the man away; 25
For virtue's self may too much zeal be had;
The worst of madmen is a saint run mad.

'Go then, and if you can, admire the state
Of beaming diamonds and reflected plate;
Procure a TASTE to double the surprize,
And gaze on "Parian charms with learned eyes :
Be struck with bright "brocade, or Tyrian dye,
Our birth-day nobles' splendid livery.

30

41

If not so pleased, at council-board rejoice,
To see their judgments hang upon thy voice; 35
From morn to night, at Senate, Rolls, and Hall,
Plead much, read more, dine late, or not at all.
But wherefore all this labour, all this strife?
For 'fame, for riches, for a noble wife?
Shall 'one whom nature, learning, birth, conspired
To form, not to admire, but be admired,
Sigh, while his Chloe, blind to wit and worth,
Weds the rich dulness of some son of earth?
Yet 'time ennobles, or degrades each line;
It brighten'd CRAGGS's, and may darken thine: 45
And what is fame? the meanest have their day,
The greatest can but blaze, and pass away.
Graced as thou art, 'with all the power of words,
So known, so honour'd, at the House of Lords:
Conspicuous scene! another yet is nigh,
(More silent far,) where kings and poets lie;

50

Ire tamen restat, Numa "quò devenit et Ancus.

W

Si latus aut renes morbo tentantur acuto, Quære fugam morbi. Vis rectè vivere ? quis non ? Si virtus hoc una potest dare, fortis omissis Hoc age deliciis.

NOTES.

Ver. 52. Where MURRAY, &c.] The concurring testimony of friends and enemies confirms the high panegyric here expressed on Lord Mansfield, yet the intended parallel fails in its most material part. The Roman Consul has left unequivocal proofs of the fertile and comprehensive genius attributed to him by his contemporaries; the British Chancellor will be known to posterity in the character of a wise and virtuous historian. This cannot be said of the late Lord Chief Justice, eminent, learned, and possessed of the highest endowments, as he certainly was. Bowles.

Ver. 53. TULLY-HYDE!] Equal to either, in the ministry of his profession; and, where the parallel fails, as it does in the rest of the character, superior to both. TULLY's brightest talents were frequently tarnished by vanity and feur; and HYDE's most virtuous purposes perverted and defeated by superstitious notions concerning the divine origin of government, and the unlimited obedience of the people. Warburton.

Ver. 53. than HYDE !] Much beyond the original; particularly on account of the very happy and artful use Pope has made of the neighbourhood of the House of Parliament to Westminster Abbey; and of the well-turned and unexpected compliment he has paid to his illustrious friend. The character of Lord Chancellor Clarendon seems to grow every day brighter, the more it is scrutinized; and his integrity and abilities are more ascertained and acknowledged, even from the publication of private papers, never intended to see the light. When Clarendon was going from Court, just after his profligate and ungrateful master had obliged him to resign the great seal, the Duchess of Cleveland meanly and wantonly insulted him from a window in the palace. He looked up at her, and only said, with a calm and contemptuous dignity: "Madam, if you live, you will grow old." Warton.

Ver. 57. Ward

cines.

Dover.] Celebrated for their quack medi

Where MURRAY (long enough his country's pride)
Shall be no more than TULLY, or than HYDE!
"Rack'd with sciatics, martyr'd with the stone,
Will any mortal let himself alone?

See Ward by batter'd beaus invited over,
And desperate misery lays hold on Dover.
The case is easier in the mind's disease;

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There all men may be cured, whene'er they please. Would ye be blest? 'despise low joys, low gains Disdain whatever CORNBURY disdains;

Be virtuous, and be happy for your pains.

NOTES.

Ver. 60. Would ye be blest?] This amiable young nobleman wrote from Paris, 1752, a very pressing remonstrance to Mr. Mallet, to dissuade him, but in vain, from publishing a very offensive digression on the Old Testament, in Lord Bolingbroke's Letters on History. “I must say to you, Sir, for the world's sake, and for his sake, that part of the work ought by no means to be communicated further.. If this digression be made public, it will be censured, it must be censured, it ought to be censured. It will be criticised too by able pens, whose erudition, as well as their reasonings, will not easily be answered." He concludes by saying: "I therefore recommend to you to suppress that part the work, as a good citizen of the world, for the world's peace, as one intrusted and obliged by Lord Bolingbroke, not to raise storms to his memory." Warton.

of

Ver. 61. whatever CORNBURY disdains;] When Lord Cornbury returned from his travels, the late Earl of Essex, his brother-inlaw, told him he had got a handsome pension for him. To which Lord Cornbury answered with a composed dignity: "How could you tell, my Lord, that I was to be sold; or, at least, how came you to know my price so exactly?" To this anecdote Pope alludes. Ruffhead.

Lord Cornbury, to whom Pope pays so elegant a compliment, was in all respects a most amiable man. He resided for some time at Spa, on account of his health. In a letter from Pope to

VOL. VI.

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Mrs.