And with a face as red, and as awry,
As Herod's hang-dogs in old Tapestry1,
Scarecrow to boys, the breeding woman's curse,
Has yet a strange ambition to look worse;
Confounds the civil, keeps the rude in awe,
Jests like a licens'd fool, commands like law.
Frighted, I quit the room, but leave it so
As men from Jails to execution go;
For hung with deadly sins I see the wall,
And lin'd with Giants deadlier than 'em all:
Each man an Askaparts, of strength to toss
For Quoits, both Temple-bar and Charing-cross.
Scar'd at the grizly forms, I sweat, I fly,
And shake all o'er, like a discover'd spy.

270

275

Courts are too much for wits so weak as mine:
Charge them with Heav'n's Artill'ry, bold Divine!
From such alone the Great rebukes endure,
Whose Satire's sacred, and whose rage secure:

280

'Tis mine to wash a few light stains, but theirs
To deluge sin, and drown a Court in tears.
Howe'er what's now Apocrypha, my Wit,
In time to come, may pass for holy writ1.

285

EPILOGUE TO THE SATIRES.

IN TWO DIALOGUES.

WRITTEN IN MDCCXXXVIII.

[THE first part of these Satires was published under the title of One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty-eight, a Dialogue something like Horace; and the second part followed in the same year. It is remarkable, says Boswell (in his Life of Johnson), that Johnson's London came out on the same morning in May as Pope's 1738; so that England had at once its Juvenal and Horace as poetical monitors.' Johnson's satire, though published anonymously and having nothing, like Pope's, to betray its author, appears to have created the stronger sensation.]

FR. NOT

DIALOGUE I.

TOT twice a twelve-month 5 you appear in Print,
And when it comes, the Court see nothing in't.

[Cf. Essay on Criticism, v. 588.]

2 For hung with deadly sins] The Room hung with old Tapestry, representing the seven deadly sins. P.

3 A giant famous in Romances. P.
'Although I yet

4

(With Maccabees modesty) the known merit Of my work lessen, yet some wise men shall, I hope, esteem my wits canonical.' Donne.

5 Not twice a twelve-month, &c.] These two lines are from Horace; and the only lines that are so in the whole Poem; being meant to be a handle to that which follows in the character of an impertinent Censurer,

'Tis all from Horace; &c. P. [The passage is at the commencement of Hor. Sat. 11. iii.]

You grow correct, that once with Rapture writ,
And are, besides, too moral for a Wit.
Decay of Parts, alas! we all must feel-
Why now, this moment, don't I see you steal?
'Tis all from Horace; Horace long before ye

Said, "Tories call'd him Whig, and Whigs a Tory;"
And taught his Romans, in much better metre,
"To laugh at Fools who put their trust in Peter."
But Horace, Sir, was delicate, was nice;
Bubo observes1, he lash'd no sort of Vice:
Horace would say, Sir Billy serv'd the Crown,
Blunt could do Bus'ness, H-ggins 3 knew the Town;
In Sappho touch the Failings of the Sex,
In rev'rend Bishops note some small Neglects,
And own, the Spaniard did a waggish thing,
Who cropt our Ears, and sent them to the King.
His sly, polite, insinuating style

Could please at Court, and make AUGUSTUS smile:
An artful Manager, that crept between

His Friend and Shame, and was a kind of Screen 5.
But 'faith your very Friends will soon be sore;
Patriots there are, who wish you'd jest no more-
And where's the Glory? 'twill be only thought
The Great man7 never offer'd you a groat.
Go see Sir ROBERT-

P. See Sir ROBERT!-hum-
And never laugh-for all my life to come?
Seen him I have, but in his happier hour
Of Social Pleasure, ill-exchang'd for Pow'r;
Seen him, uncumber'd with the Venal tribe,
Smile without Art, and win without a Bribe.
Would he oblige me? let me only find,

He does not think me what he thinks mankind 10.
Come, come, at all I laugh he laughs, no doubt;
The only diff'rence is I dare laugh out.

F. Why yes: with Scripture still you may be free;
A Horse-laugh, if you please, at Honesty;

1 Bubo observes,] Some guilty person very fond of making such an observation. P.

2 [V. Epistle to Arbuthnot, v. 280.]

3 H-ggins] Formerly Jailor of the Fleet prison, enriched himself by many exactions, for which he was tried and expelled. P. [This Huggins] was the father of the author of the absurd and prosaic Translation of Ariosto. Warton.

4 Who cropt our Ears,] Said to be executed by the Captain of a Spanish ship on one Jenkins, a Captain of an English one. He cut off his ears, and bid him carry them to the King his master. P. [Vide Mr Carlyle's History of Frederick the Great, passim.]

5 Omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico Tangit, et admissus circum præcordia ludit. PERS. [Sat. 1. 116.] P. Screen] A metaphor peculiarly appropriated to a certain person in power. P.

5

ΙΟ

15

20

25

30

135

6 Patriots there are, &c.] This appellation was generally given to those in opposition to the Court. Though some of them (which our author hints at) had views too mean and interested to deserve that Name. P.

7 The Great man] A phrase by common use appropriated to the first minister. P.

8 [Explained by Warburton to refer to the favour conferred by Walpole at Pope's request upon the Catholic priest Southcote. See Introductory Memoir, p. xi.].

9 Seen him, uncumber'd] These two verses were originally in the poem, though omitted in all the first editions. P.

10 [Bowles quotes Coxe's correction of the cynical saying commonly attributed to Sir R. Walpole. The political axiom was perverted by leaving out the word those' (referring to certain pretended patriots).]

A Joke on JEKYL1, or some odd Old Whig
Who never chang'd his Principle, or Wig:
A Patriot is a Fool in ev'ry age,

Whom all Lord Chamberlains allow the Stage:
These nothing hurts 2; they keep their Fashion still,
And wear their strange old Virtue, as they will.
If any ask you, "Who's the Man, so near

"His Prince, that writes in Verse, and has his ear?"
Why, answer, LYTTELTON3, and I'll engage
The worthy Youth shall ne'er be in a rage;
But were his Verses vile, his Whisper base,
You'd quickly find him in Lord Fanny's case.
Sejanus, Wolsey 4, hurt not honest FLEURY 5,
But well may put some Statesmen 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 sore,
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 Sense and Virtue, balance all again.
Judicious Wits spread wide the Ridicule,
And charitably comfort Knave and Fool.

P. Dear Sir, forgive the Prejudice of Youth:
Adieu Distinction, Satire, Warmth, and Truth!
Come, harmless Characters, that no one hit;
Come, Henley's Oratory, Osborne's Wit!
The Honey dropping from Favonio's tongue,
The Flow'rs of Bubo, and the Flow of Y-ng!
The gracious Dew of Pulpit Eloquence,
And all the well-whipt Cream of Courtly Sense,
That First was H-vy's, F-'s next, and then
The S-te's, and then H-vy's once again.
O come, that easy Ciceronian style 9,

! A Joke on Jekyl,] Sir Joseph Jekyl, Master of the Rolls, a true Whig in his principles, and a man of the utmost probity. He sometimes voted against the Court, which drew upon him the laugh here described of ONE who bestowed it equally upon Religion and Honesty. He died a few months after the publication of this poem. P.

2 These nothing hurts;] i. e. offends. Warburton.

3 Why, answer, Lyttelton,] George Lyttelton, Secretary to the Prince of Wales, distinguished both for his writings and speeches in the spirit of Liberty. P. [V. Im. of Hor. Bk. 1. Ep. i. v. 29.1

Sejanus, Wolsey,] The one the wicked minister of Tiberius; the other, of Henry VIII. The writers against the Court usually bestowed these and other odious names on the Minister, without distinction, and in the most injurious manner. See Dial. II. v. 137. P.

5 Fleury,] Cardinal: and Minister to Louis

XV. It was a Patriot-fashion, at that time, to cry up his wisdom and honesty. P.

Henley-Osborne] See them in their places in the Dunciad. P.

7 [Sir William Yonge, not, as Bowles conjectures to be possible, Dr Edward Young, author of The Night Thoughts, although to the latter Doddington (Bubo) was a constant friend].

8 The gracious Dew] Alludes to some court sermons, and florid panegyrical speeches; particularly one very full of puerilities and flatteries; which afterwards got into an address in the same pretty style; and was lastly served up in an Epitaph, between Latin and English, published, by its author. P. An 'Epitaph' on Queen Caroline was written hy Lord Hervey, and an address moved in the House of Commons (the Senate) on the occasion by H. Fox. Carruthers.

9 that easy Ciceronian style,] A joke upon absurd Imitators; who in light and familiar compositions, which require case, affect a Ciceronian

So Latin, yet so English all the while,
As, tho' the Pride of Middleton1 and Bland 2,
All Boys may read, and Girls may understand!
Then might I sing, without the least offence,
And all I sung should be the Nation's Sense;
Or teach the melancholy Muse to mourn,
Hang the sad Verse on CAROLINA'S Urn,
And hail her passage to the Realms of Rest,
All Parts perform'd, and all her Children blest!
So-Satire is no more-I feel it die-
No Gazetteer more innocent than I5-

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

F. Why so? if Satire knows its Time and Place,

You still may lash the greatest-in Disgrace :
For Merit will by turns forsake them all;

Would you know when? exactly when they fall.
But let all Satire in all Changes spare
Immortal S-k, and grave De-re 6.

75

80

85

90

These may some gentle ministerial Wing
Receive, and place for ever near a King!

There, where no Passion, Pride, or Shame transport,
Lull'd with the sweet Nepenthe of a Court;
There, where no Father's, Brother's, Friend's disgrace
Once break their rest, or stir them from their Place :
But past the Sense of human Miseries,
All Tears are wip'd for ever from all eyes7;
No cheek is known to blush, no heart to throb,
Save when they lose a Question, or a Job.

P. Good Heav'n forbid, that I should blast their glory,
Who know how like Whig Ministers to Tory,
And, when three Sov'reigns died, could scarce be vext,
Consid'ring what a gracious Prince was next,
Have I, in silent wonder, seen such things
As Pride in Slaves, and Avarice in Kings;
And at a Peer, or Peeress, shall I fret,

95

100

105

ΠΟ

Secretary of State's office, to write the government's newspaper, published by authority. Sir Richard Steele had once this post. Warburton.

6 Immortal S-k, and grave De-re!] A title given that Lord by King James II. He was of the Bedchamber to King William; he was so to King George I.; he was so to King George II. This Lord was very skilful in all the forms of the House, in which he discharged himself with great gravity. P. Pope_alludes to Charles Hamilton, third son of the Duke of Hamilton, who was created Earl of Selkirk in 1667. Bowles. [Is Lord Delaware the other?] [Cf. Messiah, v. 46—a line altered at Steele's request.]

Who starves a Sister, or forswears a Debt1?
Virtue, I grant you, is an empty boast;
But shall the Dignity of Vice be lost?

Ye Gods! shall Cibber's Son, without rebuke,

Swear like a Lord, or Rich3 out-whore a Duke 4?

A Fav'rite's Porter with his Master vie,

Be brib'd as often, and as often lie?

Shall Ward 5 draw Contracts with a Statesman's skill?

Or Japhet pocket, like his Grace, a Will?

Is it for Bond', or Peter, (paltry things)

To pay their Debts, or keep their Faith, like Kings?
If Blount despatch'd himself, he play'd the man,
And so may'st thou, illustrious Passeran 9 !
But shall a Printer, weary of his life,

Learn, from their Books, to hang himself and Wife 10?
This, this, my friend, I cannot, must not bear;
Vice thus abus'd, demands a Nation's care;
This calls the Church to deprecate our Sin11,
And hurls the Thunder of the Laws on Gin 12.
Let modest FOSTER, if he will, excel
Ten Metropolitans in preaching well 13 ;
A simple Quaker, or a Quaker's Wife 14,
Out-do Llandaff 15 in Doctrine,—yea in Life: