192

Grove nods at grove, each Alley has a brother,
And half the platform just reflects the other.
The fuff'ring eye inverted Nature fees,
Trees cut to Statues, Statues thick as trees;

120

With here a Fountain, never to be play'd;
And there a Summer-house, that knows no fhade;
Here Amphitrite fails thro' myrtle bow'rs;
There Gladiators fight, or die in flow'rs;
Un-water'd fee the drooping fea-horse mourn, 125
And swallows rooft in Nilus' dufty Urn.
My Lord advances with majestic mien,
Smit with the mighty pleasure, to be seen :

NOTES.

VER. 117, 118. Grove nods at grove, each Alley has a brother, And half the platform juft reflects the other.] This is exactly the two puddings of the citizen in the foregoing fable, only ferved up a little more magnificently: But both on the fame abfurd principle of wrong tafte, viz. that one can never have too much of a good thing.

Ibid. Grove nods at grove, &c.] The exquifite humour of this expreffion a

rifes folely from its fignificancy. These groves, that have no meaning, but very near relation-fhip, can exprefs themselves only like twin-ideots by nods; which just ferve to let us underftand, that they know one another, as having been nurfed, and brought up by one common parent.

VER. 124. The two Statues of the Gladiator pugnans and Gladiator moriens. P.

But foft-by regular approach-not yet

First thro' the length of yon hot Terrace fweat; 130 And when up ten steep flopes you've drag'd your thighs,

Juft at his Study-door he'll bless your eyes.
His Study! with what Authors is it ftor❜d?
In Books, not Authors, curious is my Lord;
To all their dated Backs he turns you round:
These Aldus printed, those Du Suëil has bound.
Lo fome are Vellom, and the rest as good
For all his Lordship knows, but they are Wood.
For Locke or Milton 'tis in vain to look,
These shelves admit not any modern book.

NOTES.

135

140

of the print, or of the binding; fome have carried it fo far, as to cause the upper fhelves to be filled with painted books of wood; others pique themselves fo much upon books in a language they do not underftand, as to exclude the moft ufeful in one they P.

VER. 130. The Ap-light chiefly in the elegance proaches and Communication of house with garden, or of one part with another, ill judged, and inconvenient. P. VER. 133. His Study! &c.] The falfe Tafte in Books; a fatire on the vanity in collecting them, more frequent in men of Fortune than the ftudy to understand them. Many de- | do. N

And now the Chapel's filver bell you hear,
That fummons you to all the Pride of Pray'r:
Light quirks of Mufic, broken and uneven,
Make the foul dance upon a Jig to Heav'n.
On painted Cielings you devoutly ftare,
Where fprawl the Saints of Verrio or Laguerre,
On gilded clouds in fair expansion lie,
And bring all Paradife before your eye.

NOTES.

VER. 142. That fummons you to all the Pride of Pray'r] This abfurdity is very happily expreffed; Pride, of all human follies, being the first we should leave behind us when we approach the facred altar. But he who could take Meannefs for Magnificence, might eafily mistake Humility for Meannefs.

VER. 143. The falfe Tafte in Mufic, improper to the fubjects, as of light airs in churches, often practised by the organifts, &c. P.

VER. 145. And in Painting (from which even Italy is not free) <fnaked

145

figures in Churches, &c. which has obliged fome Popes to put draperies on fome of those of the best masters. P.

VER. 146. Where sprawl the Saints of Verrio, or Laguerre. ] The fine image here given in a fingle word, admirably expofes the unnatural pofition of the picture, and the too natural poftures of its female figures.

Ibid. Verrio or Laguerre.] Verrio (Antonio) painted many cielings, &c. at Windfor, Hampton-court, &c. and Laguerre at Blenheim-caftle, and other places. P.

To reft, the Cushion and foft Dean invite,
Who never mentions Hell to ears polite.
But hark! the chiming Clocks to dinner call;
A hundred footsteps fcrape the marble Hall:
The rich Buffet well-colour'd Serpents grace,
And gaping Tritons spew to wash your face.
Is this a dinner? this a Genial room?
No, 'tis a Temple, and a Hecatomb.
A folemn Sacrifice, perform'd in state,

150

You drink by measure, and to minutes eat.
So quick retires each flying course, you'd swear
Sancho's dread Doctor and his Wand were there.

NOTES.

VER. 150. Who never mentions Hell to ears polite.] This is a fact; a reverend Dean preaching at Court, threatned the finner with punishment in "a place "which he thought it not "decent to name in fo po"lite an affembly." P.

VER. 153. Taxes the incongruity of Ornaments (tho' fometimes practifed by the ancients) where an open mouth ejects the water into a fountain, or where the fhocking images of ferpents,

155

&c. are introduced in Grotto's or Buffets.

P.

VER. 155, Is this a dinner? &c.] The proud Feftivals of fome men are here fet forth to ridicule, where pride destroys the ease, and formal regularity all the pleasurable enjoyment of the entertainment. P.

VER. 156-a Hecatomb] Alluding to the hundred fouteps before.

VER.160. Sancho's dread Doctor] See Don Quixote, chap. xlvii. P.

Between each Act the trembling salvers ring, 161

From foup to sweet-wine, and God bless the King.
In plenty starving, tantaliz'd in state,
And complaifantly help'd to all I hate,

Treated, carefs'd, and tir'd, I take my leave,
Sick of his civil Pride from Morn to Eve;
I curfe fuch lavish coft, and little skill,

And fwear no Day was ever past so ill.

165

Yet hence the Poor are cloath'd, the Hungry fed; Health to himself, and to his Infants bread

The Lab'rer bears: What his hard Heart denies,
His charitable Vanity supplies.

Another age shall see the golden Ear

Imbrown the Slope, and nod on the Parterre,

170

Deep Harvests bury all his pride has plann'd,

And laughing Ceres re-affume the land.

175

Who then fhall grace, or who improve the Soil? Who plants like BATHURST, or who builds like

BOYLE.

NOTES.

VER. 169. Yet hence the Poor, &c.] The Moral of the whole, where PROVIDENCE is juftified in giving Wealth to those who fquander it in this manner. A bad Tafte employs more

hands, and diffuses Expence more than a good one. This recurs to what is laid down in Book i. Epift. II. 230 -7, and in the Epiftle preceding this, 161, &c. P.