Would he oblige me? let me only find,

He does not think me what he thinks mankind.
Come, come, at all I laugh he laughs, no doubt;
The only diff'rence is, I dare laugh out.

35

F. Why yes: with Scripture ftill you may be free; A Horfe laugh, if you please, at Honesty;

A Joke on JEKYL, or fome odd Old Whig
Who never chang'd his Principle, or Wig:
A Patriot is a Fool in ev'ry age,

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Whom all Lord Chamberlains allow the Stage:
These nothing hurts; they keep their Fashion ftill,
And wear their ftrange old Virtue, as they will.
If any afk you, "Who's the Man, so near
"His Prince, that writes in Verfe, and has his ear?”
Why, anfwer, LYTTLETON, and I'll engage.
The worthy Youth shall ne'er be in a rage:

NOTES.

45

originally in the poem, though omitted in all the first edi

tions. P.

VER. 37. Why yes: with Scripture fill you may be free ;] Thus the Man commonly called Mother Ofborn, who was in the Minifter's pay, and wrote Journals; for one Paper in behalf of Sir Robert, had frequently two againft J. C.

VER. 39. A Joke on Jekyl] Sir Jofeph Jekyl, Mafter of the Rolls, a true Whig in his principles, and a man of the utmost probity. He fometimes voted against the Court, which drew upon him the laugh here described of ONE who bestowed it equally upon Religion and Honefly. He died a few months after the publication of this poem. VER. 43. Thefe nothing hurts ;], i. e. offends. VER. 47. Why, anfwer, Lyttleton,] George Lyttelton,

P.

50

But were his Verfes vile, his Whisper base,
You'd quickly find him in Lord Fanny's cafe.
Sejanus, Wolfey, hurt not honeft FLEURY,
But well may put some Statesman in a fury.
Laugh then at any, but at Fools or Foes;
These you but anger, and you mend not those.
Laugh at your friends, and, if your Friends are fore,
So much the better, you may laugh the more.
To Vice and Folly to confine the jest,

Sets half the world, God knows, against the rest;
Did not the Sneer of more impartial men

At Senfe and Virtue, balance all agen.
Judicious Wits fpread wide the Ridicule,
And charitably comfort Knave and Fool.

P. Dear Sir, forgive the Prejudice of Youth:
Adieu Diftinction, Satire, Warmth, and Truth!

NOTES.

56

60

Secretary to the Prince of Wales, diftinguished both for his writings and speeches in the spirit of Liberty. P.

VER. 51. Sejanus, Wolfey.] The one the wicked minifter of Tiberius; the other, of Henry VIII. The writers against the Coart usually bestowed these and other odious names on the Minifter, without diftinction, and in the most injurious manner. See Dial. II. 137. P.

Ibid. Fleury,] Cardinal: and Minifter to Louis XV. It was a Patriot fashion, at that time, to cry up his wisdom and honesty. P

Come, harmless Characters that no one hit;
Come, Henley's Oratory, Ofborn's Wit!
The Honey dropping from Favonio's tongue,
The Flow'rs of Bubo, and the Flow of Y-ng!
The gracious Due of Pulpit Eloquence,

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And all the well-whipt Cream of Courtly Sense, 70
That First was H-vy's, F-'s next, and then
The S-te's, and then H-vy's once agen.
O come, that eafy Ciceronian style,

So Latin, yet fo English all the while,

As, tho' the Pride of Middleton and Bland,

75

All Boys may read, and Girls may understand!
Then might I fing, without the leaft offence,
And all I fung should be the Nation's Sense;
Or teach the melancholy Muse to mourn,
Hang the fad Verfe on CAROLINA's Urn,

NOTES.

80

VER. 66. Henley-Ofborn,] See them in their places in the Dunciad. P.

VER. 69. The gracious Dew] Alludes to fome court fermons, and florid panegyrical ipeeches; particularly one very full of puerilities and flatteries; which afterwards got into an addrefs in the fame pretty ftyle; and was laftly ferved up in an Epitaph, between Latin and English, publifhed by its author. P.

VER. 76. All Boys may read, and Girls may understand!] i. e. full of school-book phrafes and Anglicisms.

VER. 78. Nation's Senfe ;] The cant of Politics at that time.

་་

VER. 80. Carolina] Queen confort to King George II.

And hail her paffage to the Realms of Reft,

All Parts perform'd, and all her Children bleft!

No Gazetteer more innocent than I —

And let, a God's-name, ev'ry Fool and Knave
Be grac'd thro' Life, and flatter'd in his Grave.

F. Why fo? if Satire knows its Time and Place, You ftill may lash the greatest— in Disgrace: For Merit will by turns forfake them all;

85

Would you know when! exactly when they fall. 90 But let all Satire in all Changes spare

Immortal S―k, and grave De

NOTES.

re.

She died in 1737. Her death gave occafion, as is observed above, to many indifcreet and mean performances unworthy of her memory, whose last moments manifested the utmost courage and resolution. P.

How highly our Poet thought of that truly great personage may be seen by one of his letters to Mr. Allen, written at that time; in which, amongst others, equally refpectful, are the following words: "The Queen fhewed, by the confeffion of all about her, the utmost firmness "and temper to her last moments, and through the course "of great torments. What character hiftorians will al"low her, I do not know; but all her domestic fervants, "and those nearest her, give her the best teftimony, that "of fincere tears."

VER. 92. Immortal S-k, and grave De-re!] A title given that Lord by King James II. He was of the Bed. chamber to King William; he was fo to King George I. he was fo to King George II. This Lord was very skilful

95

Silent and foft, as Saints remove to Heav'n,
All Tyes diffolv'd, and ev'ry Sin forgiv❜n,
These may fome gentle ministerial Wing
Receive, and place for ever near a King!
There, where no Paffion, Pride, or Shame transport,
Lull'd with the sweet Nepenthe of a Court;

NOTES.

in all the forms of the Houfe, in which he discharged himself with great gravity. P.

66

VER. 97. There, where no Paffion, etc.] The excellent writer De l'Esprit des Loix gives the following character of the Spirit of Courts, and the Principle of Monarchies: Qu'on life ce que les Hiftoriens de tous les tems ont dit "fur la Cour des Monarques; qu'on fe rapelle les con"verfations des hommes de tous les Païs fur le miferable "caractère des COURTISANS; ce ne font point des choses "de fpeculation, mais d'une trifte expérience. L'ambi❝tion dans l'oisiveté, la bassesse dans l'orgueil, le defir de "s'enrichir fans travail, l'averfion pour la vérité; la flaterie, la trahison, la perfidie, l'abandon de tous fes engagemens, le mepris des devoirs du Citoyen, la crainte "de la vertu du Prince, l'efperance de fes foibleffes, et plus, que tout cela, LE RIDICULE PERPETUEL JETTE SUR LA VERTU, font, je crois, le Caractère de la plu part des Courtifans marqué dans tous les lieux et dans "tous les tems. Or il est très mal-aifé que les Principaux "d'un Etat foient malhonnêtes-gens, et que les inferieurs "foient gens-de-bien, que ceux-là foyent trompeurs, &

66

que ceux-ci confentent à n'être que dupes. Que fi dans "le Peuple il fe trouve quelque malheureux honnête"homme, le Cardinal de Richelieu dans fon Teftament "politique infinue, qu'un Monarque doit fe garder de s'en "fervir. Tant-il est vrai que la Vertu n'eft pas le reffort "de ce Gouvernment.

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