Some doubt, if equal pains, or equal fire, The humbler Mufe of Comedy require. But in known Images of life, I guess
The labour greater, as th' indulgence lefs s, Obferve how feldom ev'n the best fucceed:
Tell me ift Congreve's Fools are Fools indeed? What pert low Dialogue has Farquhar writ! How Van wants grace, who never wanted wit! The stage how loosely " does Aftræa tread, Who fairly puts all Characters to bed! And idle Cibber, how he breaks the laws, To make poor Pinkey w eat with vast applause! But fill their × purse, our Poet's work is done, Alike to them, by Pathos or by Pun.
O you! whom y Vanity's light bark conveys On Fame's mad voyage by the wind of praise, With what a shifting gale your courfe you ply, For ever funk too low, or borne too high!
Creditur, ex medio quia res arceffit, habere Sudoris minimum; fed habet Comoedia tanto
Plus oneris, quanto veniae minus §. afpice, Plautus Quo pacto partes tutetur amantis ephebi,
Ut patris attenti, lenonis ut infidiofi:
Quantus fit Doffennus w edacibus in parafitis;
Quam " non aftricto percurrat pulpita focco.
Gestit enim x nummum in loculos demittere: poft hoc
Securus, cadat an recto ftet fabula talo.
Quem tulit ad fcenam y ventoso gloria curru, Exanimat lentus spectator, fedulus inflat :
Who pants for glory finds but fhort repose,
A breath revives him, or a breath o'erthrows.
z Farewell the stage! if just as thrives the play, The filly bard grows fat, or falls away.
a There still remains, to mortify a Wit, The many-headed Monster of the Pit; A fenfelefs, worthlefs, and unhonour'd crowd: Who, to disturb their betters mighty proud, Clattering their sticks before ten lines are spoke. Call for the Farce, the Bear, or the Black-joke. What dear delight to Britons Farce affords! Ever the Tafte of Mobs, but now d of Lords; (Tafte, that eternal wanderer, which flies From heads to ears, and now from ears to eyes) The Play ftands ftill; damn action and discourse, Back fly the scenes, and enter foot, and horse;
Sic leve, fic parvum eft, animum quod laudis avarum Subruit, ac reficit: z valeat res ludicra, fi me Palma negata macrum, donata reducit opimum. Saepe etiam audacem fugat hoc terretque poetam Quod numero plures, virtute et honore minores Indocti, ftolidique, et b depugnare parati
Si difcordet eques, media inter carmina poscunt Aut curfum aut pugiles: his nam plebecula gaudet, Verum equitis quoque jam migravit ab aure voluptas Omnis, ad incertos oculos, et gaudia vana. Quatuor aut plures aulaea premuntur in horas; Dum fugiunt equitum turmae, peditumque catervae : Mox trahitur manibus regum fortuna rétortis;
Pageants on pageants, in long order drawn, Peers, Heralds, Bishops, Ermin, Gold and Lawn; The Champion too! and, to complete the jest,
Old Edward's Armour beams on Cibber's breast. With f laughter fure Democritus had dy'd, Had he beheld an Audience gape fo wide. Let Bear or 8 Elephant be e'er fo white, The people, fure, the people are the fight! Ah lucklefsh Poet! ftretch thy lungs and roar, That Bear or Elephant shall heed thee more; While all its i throats the gallery extends, And all the Thunder of the Pit afcends! Loud as the Wolves, on k Orca's ftormy steep, Howl to the roarings of the Northern deep. Such is the fhout, the long-applauding note, At Quin's high plume, or Oldfield's 1 petticoat;
Effeda feftinant, pilenta, petorrita, naves; Captivum portatur ebur, captiva Corinthus. f Si foret in terris, rideret Democritus ; feu Diverfum confufa genus panthera camelo, Sive g elephas albus vulgi converteret ora. Spectaret populum ludis attentius ipfis, Ut fibi praebentem mimo spectacula plura : Scriptores autem h narrare putaret afello Fabellam furdo. nam quae i pervincere voces Evaluere fonum, referunt quem noftra theatra? k Garganum mugire putes nemus, aut mare Tufcum. Tanto cum ftrepitu ludi fpectantur, et artes, 1 Divitiaeque peregrinae: quibus m oblitus actor
Or when from Court a birth-day fuit bestow'd, Sinks the m loft Actor in the tawdry load. Booth enters-hark! the universal peal! "But has he spoken?" Not a fyllable.
What shook the stage, and made the people ftare Cato's long wig, flower'd gown, and lacquer'd chair. Yet, left you think I railly more than teach,
Or praise malignly Arts I cannot reach, Let me for once presume t' inftru&t the times, To know the Poet from the man of rhymes: 'Tis he who gives my breast a thousand pains, Can make me feel each Paffion that he feigns; Inrage, compofe, with more than magic Art, With pity, and with terror, tear my heart; And fnatch me, o'er the earth, or through the air, To Thebes, to Athens, when he will, and where. P But not this part of the Poetic state Alone, deferves the favour of the Great:
Cum ftetit in fcena, concurrit dextera laevae. Dixit adhuc aliquid? nil fane. Quid placet ergo? n Lana Tarentino violas imitata veneno. Ac ne forte putes me, quae facere ipfe recufem, Cum recte tractent alii, laudare maligne; Ille per extentum funem mihi poffe videtur Ire poeta; meum qui pectus inaniter angit, Irritat, mulcet, falfis terroribus implet,
Ut magnus; et modo me Thebis, modo ponit Athenis. P Verum age, et his, qui se lectori credere malunt, Quam fpectatoris faftidia ferre fuperbi,
Think of thofe Authors, Sir, who would rely More on a Reader's fenfe, than Gazer's eye.
Or who fhall wander where the Muses fing?
Who climb their mountain, or who tafte their spring? How fhall we fill 9 a Library with Wit,
When Merlin's Cave is half unfurnish'd yet?
My Liege! why Writers little claim your thought,
I guess; and, with their leave, will tell the fault: We Poets are (upon a Poet's word)
Of all mankind, the creatures most abfurd:
The feafon, when to come, and when to go, To fing, or ceafe to fing, we never know; And if we will recite nine hours in ten, You lofe your patience just like other men. Then too we hurt ourselves, when, to defend A fingle verfe, we quarrel with a friend; Repeat "unafk'd; w lament, the Wit's too fine For vulgar eyes, and point out every line; But most, when, straining with too weak a wing, We needs will write Epiftles to the King;
Curam impende brevem: fi 9 munus Apolline dignum Vis complere libris ; et vatibus addere calcar,
Ut ftudio majore petant Helicona virentem.
r Multa quidem nobis facimus mala faepe poetae, (Ut vineta egomet caedam mea) cum tibi librum s Solicito damus, aut feffo: cum laedimur, unum Si quis amicorum eft aufus reprendere versum : Cum loca jam " recitata revolvimus irrevocati : Cum w lamentamur non apparere labores
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