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~The elegant Compliment paid to this distinguish'd Nobleman, is a juft Tribute for the ftrenuous Oppofition he made to the Playhouse Bill, which brought all theatrical Performances under the arbitrary Power of a Court Licencer; fince which the Publick has been entertain'd with nothing new but Buffoon Anticks and French Capers. As juft as this Compliment is to one Peer, the Satire in the following Defcription is as just on several others.

When lo! a Harlot-form foft gliding by,

With mincing Step, foft Voice, and languid Eye;
Foreign her Air, her Robes difcordant Pride
In Patch-work flutt'ring, and her Head aside,
By finging Peers upheld on either Hand,
She tripp'd and laugh'd, too pretty much to ftand;
Caft on the proftrate Nine a fcornful Look,
Then thus in quaint Recitativo fpoke:

Gara! Cara! Silence all that Train:
Joy to great Chaos! Let Divifion reign,

My Racks and Tortures foon fhall drive them hence,
Break all their Nerves, and fritter all their Sense.
One Trill fhall harmonize Joy, Grief and Rage,
Wake the dull Church, and lull the ranting Stage;
To the fame Notes thy Sons fhall hum or fnore,
And all thy yawning Daughters cry Encore.
Another Phoebus, thy own Phoebus reigns,
Joys in my Jigs, and dances in my Chains.

This Defcription the Author in his Notes calls a detach'd Piece; but it is excellently introduc'd, as a Satire on hiring Italians to fing detach'd Pieces of Compofition, favourite Airs, and Sonatas, huddled into an Opera for Want of a Compofer. Here the Author again pays a due Tribute to Merit, by fhewing how injudiciously our Connoifeur-Subfcribers to Operas

Operas fuffered Mr. Handel to go to Ireland, when they give more for bad, incoherent Compositions in England. What can be nobler than thefe Lines: from the Mouth of the Phantom call'd Opera, in her Addrefs to Dulness!

Soon, ah ! foon Rebellion will commence, When Mufick vainly borrows Aid from Senfe. Strong in new Arms, lo! Giant Handel ftands Like bold Briareus, with a hundred Hands; To ftir, to roufe, to fhake the Soul he comes; And Jove's own Thunder follows Mars's Drums! Arreft him, Emprefs, or you fleep no more!— She heard, and drove him to the Hibernian Shore.

Though Satire, in its Name carries a common Idea of Cenfure, not to fay Spleen or Ill-nature; yet Horace, the best Satirift, in most Mens Opinions, took an Opportunity, amidst his Ridicule of Folly and Vice, to introduce a Contraft, and fet up Merit and Virtue in Oppofition to them: The intervening Light of those were ftrong enough for the Shade of the other. Our English Horace purfues this Method: Affected Learning, Want of publick Spirit, &c. are defervedly expos'd; yet Wyndham and Talbot, Friend, Alfop and Murray, receive all the Oblations due to Men of refin'd Tafte, Learning and Merit. A

A large Part of this Poem expofes flattering Dul nefs, cultivating mistaken Talents, patronizing vile Scribblers, difcouraging living Merit, fetting up for Wits and Men of Tafte in Arts they underflood not.As this is a literary Hiftory, it is not fo agreeable to the Generality of the fair Sex; but a fhocking Dul nefs, which the Poet afterwards lathes, even every Lady who has a Son at School, will be affected with A haughty, pedantick, tyrannick Schoolmafter is a Character as odious and contemptible, as that of a humane,

235 humane, polite, and learned one is amiable and worthy! Our dramatick Poets have never introduc'd this Species of Humour on the Stage; yet I have often thought it would make no bad Farce with proper Incident. I would not lay the Scene in the School, for then it would become Tragedy; but the Character might be reprefented, as to expose several enormous Abfurdities which are attach'd to it.—As Mr. Pope's Poem is full of Machinery, you fee all the Characters enter upon the Stage, as living Dramatis Perfone, or defcending or afcending upon it, like Deities and Ghofts at a Theatre.. Among Crowds of Dunces advancing to the Throne, the Schoolmafter is thus defcribed:

While, lo! a Spectre rofe, whofe index Hand Held forth the Virtue of a dreadful Wand; His beaver'd Brow a birchen Garland bears,' Dropping with Infant's Blood, and Mother's Tears. All Flefh is humbled, Youth's bold Courage cools, Each, fhudd'ring, owns the Genius of the Schools. The Pale-boy Senator yet tingling ftands,

And holds his Breeches clofe with both his Hands. Then thus, fince Man from Beafts by Words is known,

Wordsare Man's Province, Words we teach alone..
When Reason doubtful, like the Samian Letter,
Points him two Ways, the narrower is the better.
Plac'd at the Door of Learning, Youth to guide,
We never fuffer it to ftand too wide.

To afk, to guess, to know, as they commence,
As Fancy opens the quick Springs of Senfe,
We ply the Memory, we load the Brain,
Bind rebel Wit, and double Chain on Chain;
Confine the Thought to exercise the Breath;
And keep them in the Pale of Words till Death.

In

In the Speech which this formidable Spectre makes all the Errors of common fcholaftick Education are pointed out; none are more ftrongly or more juftly mark'd, than that universal Rule in our beft-modelled Schools and royal Foundations, of making all Boys make Verfes, as if we were to have a Nation of Rhymers, inftead of Men of good Understanding. The School-mafter very humoroufly fays of his Pupils;

Whate'er the Talents, or howe'er defign'd,
We hang one jingling Padlock on the Mind;
A Poet the first Day he dips his Quill;
And what the laft?-A very Poet ftill.
Pity the Charm works only in our Wall;
Loft! loft! too foon, in yonder House or Hall.
There truant Wyndham ev'ry Mufe gave o'er;
There Talbot funk, and was a Wit no more!
How fweet an Ovid Murray was, our Boaft;
How many Martials were in Pult'ney loft!

From this the Author introduces Remarks on verbal
Criticism, and has very accurately depicted the Hat,
Form, Look, and Speech of the Mafter of Tr---ty-
Coll, Cambridge. A great Part of this Part of the
Satire is loft to moft Readers, by not knowing the
fecret Hiftory of the venerable Ariftarchus, and his
humble 'Squire Walkerus: Nor hath the profound
Scriblerus, in his Notes, fufficiently illuftrated Scipio
Maffiei's Remark, de Compotationibus Academicis.

From the Univerfity he changes the Scene to a modern fine Gentleman with his travelling Tutor, juft arriv'd from his Tour; and the Doctor makes his Exit with,

But wherefore wafte I Words! I fee advance, Whore, Pupil, and lac'd Governor from France.

The

The learned Commentator on this Author has, contrary to modern Commentators, a Note worth transcribing;

Whore, Pupil, and lac'd Governor.

"Some Criticks have objected to the Order here, "being of Opinion, that the Governor fhould have "the Precedence before the Whore, if not before "the Pupil: But were he fo plac'd, it might be "thought to infinuate, that the Governor led the "Pupil to the Whore; and were the Pupil plac'd "firft, he might be fuppofed to lead the Governor "to her. But our impartial Poet, as he is drawing "their Pictures, reprefents them in the Order in "which they are generally feen; namely, the Pupil "between the Whore and the Governor; but pla"ceth the Whore first, as fhe ufually governs both "the other."

Thefe Characteristicks are very fevere on our Pe tit Maîtres, and their polite Governors, who make the Tour of Europe only to glean every Vice and Folly they meet with; but I am forry to lay the Poet has confin'd himself to Truth, and there have very lately been known fuch Tutors and fuch Pupils. The Speech of the Governor to Dulness, in Recommendation of his Charge, is a juft Cenfure on modern Education; I fhall quote only that Part, which defcribes his foreign Tour:

Intrepid then o'er Seas and Lands he flew,
Europe he faw, and Europe faw him too.
There all thy Gifts and Graces we difplay,
Thau, only thou, directing all our Way,
To where the Seine, obfequious as he runs,
Pours at great Bourbon's Feet her filken Sons:

Or