THE colloquial and burlesque style and measure of Swift here adopted did not suit the genius and manner of our author, who frequently falls back, as was natural, from the familiar into his own more laboured, high, and pompous manner. See particularly line 125, and also 189:

"Tell how the moon-beam," &c.

And this difference of style is more striking and perceivable, from the circumstance of their being immediately subjoined to the lighter and less ornamental verses of Swift.

The four epistles which Mr. Pitt translated; namely, the 19th, 4th, 10th, and 18th, of the first book, and which are inserted in the 43d volume of the Works of English Poets, if they were carefully and candidly inspected, will be found really equal to any of Pope's Imitations, and are executed with a dignified familiarity and ease, in the very manner of Horace.

After all that has been said of Horace by so many critics, ancient and modern, perhaps no words can describe him so exactly and justly as the following of Tully, spoken on another subject (Lib. I. de Oratore): "Accedit lepos quidam, facetiæque, et eruditio libero digna, celeritasque et brevitas respondendi et lacessendi, subtili venustate et urbanitate conjuncta."

EPISTOLA VII.

QUINQUE dies tibi pollicitus me rure futurum,

Sextilem totum mendax desideror. atqui,
Si me vivere vis sanum recteque valentem ;
Quam mihi das ægro, dabis ægrotare timenti,
Mæcenas, veniam dum ficus prima calorque
Designatorem decorat lictoribus atris :

Dum pueris omnis pater, et matercula pallet;
Officiosaque sedulitas, et opella forensis
Adducet febres, et testamenta resignat.
Quod si bruma nives Albanis illinet agris;
Ad mare descendet vates tuus, et sibi parcet,
Contractusque leget; te, dulcis amice, reviset
Cum Zephyris, si concedes, et hirundine prima.

Non, quo more pyris vesci Calaber jubet hospes, Tu me fecisti locupletem. Vescere sodes.

EPISTLE VII.

IMITATED IN THE MANNER OF DR. SWIFT.

T

Is true, my Lord, I gave my word,
I would be with you, June the third;
Chang'd it to August, and (in short)
Have kept it as you do at Court.
You humour me when I am sick,
Why not when I am splenetic?
In town, what objects could I meet?
The shops shut up in ev'ry street,
And Fun'rals black'ning all the Doors,
And yet more melancholy Whores :
And what a dust in ev'ry place!

5

10

And a thin Court that wants your Face,
And Fevers raging up and down,

And W* and H** both in town!

"The Dog-days are no more the case."

15

"Tis true, but Winter comes apace:

Then southward let your Bard retire,

Hold out some months 'twixt Sun and Fire,

And shall see, you

the first warm Weather,

20

Me and the Butterflies together.

My Lord, your Favours well I know;

'Tis with distinction you bestow;

NOTES.

Ver. 21. My Lord,] Shaftesbury laughs at modern authors for being compelled to use such terms, as His Grace, His Excel

Jam satis est. At tu quantumvis tolle. Benigne.
Non invisa feres pueris munuscula parvis.
Tam teneor dono, quam si dimittar onustus.
Ut libet: hæc porcis hodie comedenda relinques.
Prodigus et stultus donat quæ spernit et odit :
Hæc seges ingratos tulit, et feret omnibus annis.
Vir bonus et sapiens, dignis ait esse paratus ;
Nec tamen ignorat, quid distent æra lupinis.
Dignum præstabo me etiam pro laude merentis.
Quod si me noles usquam discedere ; reddes
Forte latus, nigros angusta fronte capillos :

And not to ev'ry one that comes,

Just as a Scotsman does his Plums.

66

Pray take them, Sir,-Enough's a Feast:
Eat some, and pocket up the rest"-

What rob your Boys? those pretty rogues?
"No, Sir, you'll leave them to the Hogs."
Thus Fools with Compliments besiege ye,
Contriving never to oblige ye.
Scatter your Favours on a Fop,
Ingratitude's the certain crop ;

And 'tis but just, I'll tell ye wherefore,
You give the things you never care for.
A wise man always is or should
Be mighty ready to do good:

But makes a difference in his thought
Betwixt a Guinea and a Groat.

Now this I'll say, you'll find in me
A safe Companion, and a free;
But if you'd have me always near-
A word, pray, in your Honour's ear.
I hope it is your Resolution

To give me back my Constitution!
The sprightly Wit, the lively Eye,
Th' engaging Smile, the Gaiety,

NOTES.

lency, His Honour, and My Lord. Horace, in this passage, says to the greatest man in Rome only Tu, and at the beginning only Mæcenas, without any epithet whatsoever. So also speaks Virgil at the beginning of the Georgics, "Terram vertere, Mæcenas."

Ver. 40. and a free ;] Johnson always carped at our adding the word one after an adjective, and thought it useless and inelegant-a free one. This is unexceptionable-a free.