Behold the place, where if a poet
Shin'd in description he might show it;
Tell how the moon-beam trembling falls,
And tips with silver all the walls;
Palladian walls, Venetian doors,
Grotesco roofs, and stucco floors;
But let it (in a word) be said,
The moon was up; and men a-bed,
The napkins white, the carpet red:
The guests withdrawn had left the treat,
And down the mice sat tete a tete.
Our courtier walks from dish to dish, Tastes for his friend of fowl and fish;
Tells all their names, lays down the law,
"Que ca est bon! Ab goutez ca!
"That jelly's rich, this Malmsey healing,
"Pray dip your whiskers and your tail in."
Vive memor, quam sis ævi brevis. Hæc ubi dicta
Agrestem pepulere; domo levis exilit: inde
Ambo propositum peragunt iter, urbis aventes
Monia nocturni subrepere. jamque tenebat
Nox medium cœli spatium, cum ponit uterque
In locuplete domo vestigia: rubro ubi cocco
Tincta super lectos canderet vestis eburnos,
Multaque de magna superessent fercula coena,
Quæ procul extructis inerant hesterna canistris.
Ergo ubi purpurea porrectum in veste locavit
Agrestem; veluti succinctus cursitat hospes,
Was ever such a happy swain!
He stuffs and swills, and stuffs again.
"I'm quite asham'd---'tis mighty rude
"To eat so much---but all's so good!
"I have a thousand thanks to give---
"My Lord alone knows how to live."
No sooner said, but from the hall
Rush chaplain, butler, dogs, and al:
"A rat, a rat! clap to the door"---
The cat comes bouncing on the floor.
O for the heart of Homer's mice,
Or gods to save them in a trice!
(It was by Providence they think,
For your damn'd stucco has no chink)
"An't please your Honour," quoth the peasant,
"This same desert is not so pleasant:
"Give me again my hollow tree,
"A crust of bread, and liberty!"
Continuatque dapes ; necnon vernaliter ipsis
Fungitur officiis, prælambens omne quod affert.
Ille cubans gaudet mutata sorte, bonisque
Rebus agit lætum convivam: cum subito ingens
Valvarum strepitus lectis excussit utrumque.
Currere per totum pavidi conclave; magisque
Exanimes trepidare, simul domus alta Molossis
Personuit canibus. tum rusticus, Haud mihi vita,
Est opus hac, ait; et valeas; me sylva, cavusque,
Tutus ab insidiis, tenui solabitur ervo.
ST. JOHN, whose love indulg'd my labours past,
Matures my present, and shall bound my last!
Why will you break the sabbath of my days,
Now sick alike of envy and of praise?
Public too long, ah! let me hide my age:
See modest 2 Cibber now has left the stage;
Our gen'rals now, 3 retir'd to their estates,
Hang their old trophies o'er the garden gates,
In life's cool ev'ning satiate of applause,
Nor 4 fond of bleeding ev'n in Brunswick's cause. 10
5 A voice there is, that whispers in my ear,
('Tis Reason's voice, which sometimes one can hear)*
"Friend Pope! be prudent, let your 6 Muse take
"And never gallop Pegasus to death;
"Lest stiff and stately, void of fire, or force,
"You limp, like Blackmore, on a Lord Mayor's horse."
HOR. LIB. I. EPIST. I.
PRIMA dicte mihi, summo dicende camæna
I Spectatum satis, et donatum jam rude, quæris,
Mæcenas, iterum antiquo me includere ludo.
Non eadem est ætas, non mens. 2 Veianius, armis
3 Herculis ad postem fixis, latet abditus agro,
Ne populum 4 extrema toties excret arena.
5 Est mihi purgatam crebro qui personet aurem ;
Solve 6 senescentem mature sanus equum, ne
Peccet ad extremum ridendus, et ilia ducat.
Farewell then, i verse, and love, and ev'ry toy,
The rhymes and rattles of the man, or boy;
What right, what true, what fit, we justly call,
Let this be all my care---for this is all:
To lay this 3 harvest up, and hoard with haste
What ev'ry day will want, and most the last.
But ask not to what 4 doctors I apply;
Sworn to no master, of no sect am I:
As drives the 5 storm, at any door I knock,
And house with Montaigne now, or now with Lacke.
Sometimes a 6 patriot, active in debate,
Mix with the world, and battle for the state;
Free as young Lyttleton, her cause pursue,
Still true to virtue, 7 and as warm as true;
Sometimes with Aristippus, or St. Paul,
Indulge my candour, and grow all to all;
Back to my native moderation slide,
And win my way by yielding to the tide.
Nunc itaque et 1 versus et cætera ludicra pono; Quid 2 verum atque decens, curo et rogo, et omnis in hoc sum:
3 Condo, et compono, quæ mox depromere possim.
Ac ne forte roges, 4 quo me duce, quo lare tuter:
Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri,
5 Quo me cunque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes.
Nunc agilis fio, et mersor 6 civilibus undis,
Virtutis veræ custos, 7 rigidusque satelles;
Nunc in Aristippi & furtim præcepta relabor,
* Omnis Aristippum decuit color, et status, et res. P
I Long as to him who works for debt the day,
Long as the right to her whose love's away,
Long as the year's dull circle seems to run,
When the brisk minor pants for twenty-one;
So slow 2 th' unprofitable moments roll,
That lock up all the functions of my soul;
That keep me from myself, and still delay
Life's instant bus'ness to a future day;
That 3 task which, as we follow, or despise,
The eldest is a fool, the youngest wise;
Which done, the poorest can no wants endure;
And which not done, the richest must be poor.
4 Late as it is, I put myself to school,
And feel some 5 comfort not to be a fool.
9 Weak tho' I am of limb, and short of sight,
Far from a lynx, and not a giant quite,
I'll do what Mead and Cheselden advise,
To keep these limbs, and to preserve these eyes.
Et mihi res, non me rebus, subjungere conor.
1 Ut nox longa, quibus mentitur amica, diesque
Lenta videtur opus debentibus; ut piger annus
Pupillis, quos dura premit custodia matrum:
Sic mihi tarda 2 fluunt ingrataque tempora, quæ spem
Consiliumque morantur agendi gnaviter 3 id, quod
Æque pauperibus prodest, locupletibus æque,
que, neglectum, pueris senibusque nocebit.
4 Restat ut his ego me ipse regam s solerque elementis. Non possis oculo quantum contendere Lynceus; Non tamen idcirco contemnas lippus inungi ;
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