Still of the duchy chancellor; Durante life, I have it; And turn, as now thou dost on me, But now the servants they rush'd in ; To-morrow with thee will I fight And now the sun declining low Full gently pranc'd he o'er the lawn; Long brandish'd he the blade in air, At length he spied the merry-men brown, From out the boot bold Nicholas As pointing out the gloomy glade All in that dreadful hour so calm Was Lancastere to see, As if he meant to take the air, Or only take a fee: And so he did-for to New Court His rolling wheels did run: Not that he shunn'd the doubtful strife; Back in the dark, by Brompton park, Meanwhile Duke Guise did fret and fume, A sight it was to see, Under the greenwood tree. Then, wet and weary, home he far'd, Sore mutt'ring all the way, "The day I meet him, Nic. shall rue Mean time on every pissing-post Now God preserve our gracious king, May learn this lesson from Duke Nic., FRAGMENT OF A SATIRE.* IF meagre Gildon draw his venal quill, 'Tis hunger, and not malice, makes them print; * Thus was this Poem originally entitled, in the “Miscellanies,” published by Swift and Pope in 1727. It was afterward inserted, 1734-5, with many material alterations, in Mr. Pope's Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, being the Prologue to the Satires. N †The unexpected turn in the second line of each of these three couplets, contains as cutting and bitter strokes of satire as, perhaps, can be written. It is with difficulty we can forgive our author for upbraiding these wretched scribblers for their poverty and distresses, if we do not keep in our minds the grossly abusive pamphlets they published; and, even allowing this circumstance, we ought to sepa rate rancour from reproof: "Cur tam crudeles optavit sumere pœnas?" Dr. WARTON This great man, with all his faults, deserved to be put into better company. WARBURTON. Swift imbibed from Sir William Temple, and Pope from Swift, an inveterate and unreasonable aversion and contempt for Beutley; but I have been informed, that there was still an additional cause for Pope's resentment: that Atterbury, being in company with Bentley and Pope, insisted on knowing the Doctor's opinion of the English Homer; and that, being earnestly pressed to declare his sentiments freeTy, be said, "The verses are good verses; but the work is not Homer, Who thinks he reads when he but scans and spells; Yet e'en this creature may some notice claim, Wrapt round and sanctified with Shakspeare's name." Of hairs, or straws, or dirt, or grubs, or worms! Are others angry? I excuse them too : And strains from hardbound brains six lines a year : it is Spondanus." It may however be observed, in favour of Pope, that Dr. Clarke, whose critical exactness is well known, has not been able to point out above three or four mistakes in the sense throughout the whole Iliad. Dr. WARTON. * This couplet was afterward thus altered: "E'en such small critics some regard may claim, Philips, certainly not a very animated or first-rate writer, yet appears not to deserve quite so much contempt; if we look at his first and fifth pastoral, &c. &c. and above all, his pleasing tragedy of "The Distressed Mother." The secret grounds of Philips's malignity to Pope, are said to have been the ridicule and laughter he met with from the Hanover club, of which he was secretary, for mistaking the incomparable ironical paper in the Guardian, No. 40, which was written by Pope, for a serious criticism on pastoral poetry. The learned Hey ne also mistook this irony. Dr. WARTON. Ambrose Philips translated a book, called, "Persian Tales," a book full of fancy and imagination. POPE. In sense still wanting, tho' he lives on theft, Should modest Satire bid all these translate, How would they fume, and stamp, and roar, and chafe Blest with each talent and each art to please, * Author of the Victim, and Cobler of Preston. H. Verse of Dr. Ev. H. Thus it originally stood in the "Miscellanies," though the name was afterward altered to "Addison;" a circumstance not noticed by the learned commentators upon Pope. N. |