For Attic phrase in Plato let them seek,
I poach in Suidas for unlicens'd Greek.
In ancient sense if any needs will deal,
Be sure I give them fragments, not a meal;
What Gellius or Stobæus hash'd before,
Or chew'd by blind old scholiasts o'er and o'er,
The critic eye, that microscope of wit,
Sees hairs and pores, examines bit by bit.
How parts relate to parts, or they to whole,
The body's harmony, the beaming soul,

230

235

Are things which Kuster, Burman, Wasse, shall see When man's whole frame is obvious to a flea.

240

245

"Ah, think not, mistress! more true dulness lies In folly's cap, than wisdom's grave disguise. Like buoys, that never sink into the flood, On learning's surface we but lie and nod. Thine is the genuine head of many a house, And much divinity without a Nãs. Nor could a Barrow work on every block, Nor has one Atterbury spoil'd the flock. See! still thy own, the heavy, canon roll, And metaphysic-smokes involve the pole. For thee we dim the eyes, and stuff the head With all such reading as was never read: For thee explain a thing till all men doubt it, And write about it, goddess, and about it: So spins the silk-worm small its slender store, And labours till it clouds itself all o'er.

250

"What though we let some better sort of fool Thrid every science, run through every school? 256 Never by tumbler through the hoops was shewn Such skill in passing all, and touching none.

REMARKS.

v. 228, &c. Suidas, Gellius, Stobaus.] The first a dictionarywriter, a collector of impertinent facts and barbarous words; the second a minute critic; the third an author who gave his common. place book to the public, where we find much mince-meat of old books,

v. 245, 246. Barrow-Atterbury.] Isaac Barrow, Master of Trinity---Francis Atterbury, Dean of Christ-church; both great geniuses and eloquent preachers; one more conversant in the sublime geometry, the other in classical learning; but who equally made it their care to advance the polite arts in their several societies.

He may indeed (if sober all this time)

Plague with dispute, or persecute with rhyme. 260
We only furnish what he cannot use,

Or, wed to what he must divorce, a muse:
Full in the midst of Euclid dip at once,
And petrify a genius to a dunce:
Or, set on metaphysic ground to prance,
Shew all his paces, not a step advance.
With the same cement, ever sure to bind,
We bring to one dead level every mind:
Then take him to develope, if you can,
And hew the block off, and get out the man.
But wherefore waste I words? I see advance
Whore, pupil, and lac'd governor from France.
Walker! our hat"- -nor more he deign'd to say,
But stern as Ajax spectre strode away.

265

270

275

280

285

In flow'd at once a gay embroider'd race, And titt'ring push'd the pedants off the place: Some would have spoken, but the voice was drown'd By the French horn, or by the opening hound. The first came forwards with an easy mien, As if he saw St. James's and the Queen. When thus th' attendant orator begun : "Receive, great empress! thy accomplish'd son; Thine from the birth, and sacred from the rod, A dauntless infant! never scar'd with God. The sire saw, one by one, his virtues wake; The mother begg'd the blessing of a rake. Thou gav'st that ripeness which so soon began, And ceas'd so soon, he ne'er was boy nor man; Through school and college, thy kind cloud o'ercast, Safe and unseen the young Æneas past: Thence bursting glorious, all at once let down, Stunn'd with his giddy larum half the town. Intrepid then, o'er seas and lands he flew; Europe he saw, and Europe saw him too. There all thy gifts and graces we display, Thou, only thou, directing all our way! To where the Seine, obsequious as she runs, Pours at great Bourbon's feet her silken sons;

290

295

Or Tyber, now no longer Roman, rolls,
Vain of Italian arts, Italian souls:

300

To happy convents, bosom'd deep in vines,
Where slumber abbots, purple as their wines:
To isles of fragrance, lily-silver'd vales,
Diffusing languor in the panting gales:
To lands of singing, or of dancing slaves,
Love-whispering woods, and lute-resounding waves.
But chief her shrine where naked Venus keeps,
And Cupids ride the lion of the deeps;
Where, eas'd of fleets, the Adriatic main

305

315

Wafts the smooth eunuch and enainour'd swain. 310
Led by my hand, he saunter'd Europe round,
And gather'd every vice on Christian ground;
Saw every court, heard every king declare
His royal sense of operas or the fair;
The stews and palace equally explor'd,
Intrigued with glory, and with spirit whor'd;
Tried all hors-d'œuvres, all liqueurs defin'd,
Judicious drank, and greatly-daring din'd;
Dropt the dull lumber of the Latin store,
Spoil'd his own language, and acquir'd no more; 320
All classic learning lost on classic ground;
And last turn'd air, the echo of a sound!
See now, hali-cur'd, and perfectly well-bred,
With nothing but a solo in his head;
As much estate, and principle, and wit,
As Jansen, Fleetwood, Cibber, shall think fit;

REMARKS.

325

v. 307. But chief, &c.] These two lines, in their force of imagery and colouring, emulate and equal the pencil of Rubens.

v. 308. And Cupids ride the Lion of the deeps.] The winged Lion, the arms of Venice. This republic was heretofore the most considerable in Europe for her naval force, and the extent of her commerce; now illustrious for her carnivals.

P.*

v.326.---Jansen, Fleetwood, Cibber.] Three very eminent persons, all managers of plays; who, though not governors by profession, had, each in his way, concerned themselves in the education of youth, and regulated their wits, their morals, or their finances, at that period of their age which is the most important, their entrance into the polite world. Of the last of these, and his talents for this end, see Book I. ver. 199, &c. P.*

Stol'n from a duel, follow'd by a nun,
And, if a borough choose him, not undone;
See, to my country happy I restore

This glorious youth, and add one Venus more. 330
Her too receive, (for her my soul adores)

So may the sons of sons of sons of whores

Prop thine, O empress! like each neighbour throne, And make a long posterity thy own."

Pleas'd, she accepts the hero, and the dame, Wraps in her veil, and frees from sense of shame. Then look'd, and saw a lazy lolling sort,

Unseen at church, at senate, or at court,

335

Of ever listless loiterers, that attend

No cause, no trust, no duty, and no friend.

340

There too, my Paridell! she mark'd thee there,
Stretch'd on the rack of a too easy chair,
And heard thy everlasting yawn confess
The pains and penalties of idleness.
She pitied! but her pity only shed
Benigner influence on thy nodding head.

But Annius, crafty seer, with ebon wand,

345

And well-dissembled einerald on his hand,
False as his gems, and canker'd as his coins,
Came, cramm'd with capon, from where Pollio dines.
Soft, as the wily fox is seen to creep,

351

Where bask on sunny banks the simple sheep, Walk round and round, now prying here, now there, So he, but pious, whisper'd first his pray'r:

"Grant, gracious goddess! grant me still to cheat!

O may thy cloud still cover the deceit !
Thy choicer mists on this assembly shed,
But pour them thickest on the noble head.
So shall each youth, assisted by our eyes,
See other Cæsars, other Homers rise;
Through twilight ages hunt th' Athenian fowl,
Which Chaleis gods, and mortals call an owl.
Now see an Attys, now a Cecrops clear,
Nay, Mahomet! the pigeon at thine ear;
Be rich in ancient brass, though not in gold,
And keep his lares, though his house be sold;

356

360

365

To headless Phoebe his fair bride postpone,
Honour a Syrian prince above his own;
Lord of an Otho, if I vouch it true;

Bless'd in one Niger, till he knows of two."

370

Mummius o'erheard him; Mummius, fool renown'd,

Who, like his Cheops, stinks above the ground,
Fierce as a startled adder, swell'd, and said,
Rattling an ancient sistrum at his head:

"Speak'st thou of Syrian princes? traitor base!
Mine, goddess! mine is all the horned race. 376.
True, he had wit to make their value rise;
From foolish Greeks to steal them, was as wise;
More glorious yet, from barbarous hands to keep,
When Sallee rovers chas'd him on the deep:
Then taught by Hermes, and divinely bold,
Down his own throat he risk'd the Grecian gold,
Receiv'd each demigod, with pious care,
Deep in his entrails-I rever'd them there,

380

I bought them, shrouded in that living shrine, 385
And, at their second birth, they issue mine."
"Witness great Ammon! by whose horns I swore,
(Replied soft Annius) this our paunch before
Still bears them, faithful; and that thus I eat,
Is to refund the medals with the meat.
To prove me, goddess! clear of all design,
Bid me with Pollio sup as well as dine:

There all the learn'd shall at the labour stand,
And Douglas lend his soft obstetric hand."

390

The goddess smiling seem'd to give consent; 395 So back to Pollio hand in hand they went. Then thick as locusts blackening all the ground, A tribe, with weeds and shelis fantastic crown'd, Each with some wondrous gift approach'd the power, A nest, a toad, a fungus, or a flower.

But far the foremost, two, with earnest zeal

400

The first thus open'd: "Hear thy suppliant's call,

And aspect ardent, to the throne appeal.

Great queen, and common mother of us all!
Fair from its humble bed I rear'd this flower,
Suckled, and cheer'd, with air, and sun, and shower

405