100

In Palace-yard at nine you'll find me there
At ten for certain, Sir, in Bloomsb'ry square- 95
Before the Lords at twelve my Cause comes on
There's a Rehearsal, Sir, exact at one.
« Oh but a Wit can study in the streets,
" And raise his mind above the mob he meets."
Not quite so well however as one ought;
A hackney coach may chance to spoil a thought;
And then a nodding beam, or pig of lead,
God knows, may hurt the very ableft head.
Have you not seen, at Guild-hall's narrow pass,
Two Aldermen dispute it with an Ass?

105 And Peers give way, exalted as they are, Ev'n to their own S-r. V--nce in a Car?

Go, lofty Poet! and in such a croud, Sing thy sonorous verse—but not aloud. Alas! to Grotto's and to Groves we run, To ease and silence, ev'ry Muse's son: Blackmore himself, for any grand effort, Would drink and doze at Tooting or Earl's-Court. How shall I rhyme in this eternal roar? How match the bards whom none e'er match'd before?

115 | The Man, who, stretch'd in Ifis' calm retreat, To books and study gives sev'n years compleat,

k

well as of the Bottle: and sleep was courted for inspiration, as well as to relieve a debauch.

Ibid. Tooting - Earl's-Court.] Two villages within a few miles of London. Vol. IV.

•M

Plerumque, et risu populum quatit; hic ego rerum
Flu&ibus in mediis, et tempeftatibus urbis,
Verba lyrae motura sonum connectere digner ?

m Frater erat Romae consulti rhetor; ut alter
Alterius fermone meros audiret honores:
Gracchus ut hic illi, foret huic at Mucius ille.
Quî minus argutos vexat furor iste poetas?
* Carmina compono, hic elegos; mirabile visu,
Caelatumque novem Mulis opus. afpice primum,
Quanto cum fa&u, quanto molimine circum-
spectemus vacuam Romanis valibus aedem,
Mox etiam (fi forte vacas) sequere, et procul audi,
Quid ferat, et quare fibi nectat uterque coronam,
Caedimur et totidem plagis confumimus hoftem,
Lento Samnites ad lumina prima duello,
Discedo Alcacus puncto illius; ille meo quis ?
Quis, nifi Callimachus ? fi plus adpofcere visus :

VER. 131. And shook bis bead at Murray, as a Wit.] It is the filly consolation of blockheads in all profefions, that he, whom Nature has formed to excella does it not by his superior know. ledge, but his wit: and so they keep themselves in countenance as not fairly outdone, but only out-witted.

3

129

See! ftrow'd with learned duft, his night-cap on,
He walks, an object new beneath the sun! 119
The boys flock round him, and the people stare:
So stiff, so mute! some ftatue you would swear,
Stept from its pedestal to take the air !
And here, while town, and court, and city roars,
With mobs, and duns, and soldiers, at their doors ;
Shall 1, in London, act this idle part?

125 Compofing songs, for Fools to get by heart?

m The Temple late two brother Sergeants faw, Who deem'd each other Oracles of Law; With equal talents, these congenial fouls One lull'd th Exchequer, and one luna’d the Rolls ; Each had a gravity would make you split, And shook his head ac Murray, as a Wit. “ "Twas, Şir, your law"--and “ Sir, your eloquence," “ ,

Yours, Cowper's manner--and yours,Talbot's sense. n Thus we dispose of all poetic merit,

135 Yours Milton's genius, and mine Homer's spirit. Call Tibbald Shakespear, and he'll swear the Nine, Dear Cibber! never match'd one Ode of thine. Lord! how we strut thro' Merlin's Cave, to see No Poets there, but Stephen, you, and me. Walk with respect behind, while we at ease Weave laurel Crowns, and take. what names we please, 6. My dear Tibullus !” if that will not do, « Let me be Horace, and be Ovid

you:

140

Fit Mimnermus, et optivo cognomine crescit.
Multa fero, ut placem genus irritabile vatum,
Cum scribo, et supplex populi fuffragia capto:
Idem, finitis ftudiis, et mente recepta,
Obturem patulas impune legentibus aures.

• Ridentur mala qui componunt carmina : verum
Gaudent scribentes, et le venerantur, et ultro,
Si taceas, laudant; quidquid fcripfere, beati.
At qui legitimum cupiet feciffe poema,
Cum tabulis animum censoris fumet honefti:
Audebit quaecunque parem fplendoris habebunt,
Et fine pondere erunt, et honore indigna ferentur,
Verba movere loco; quamvis invita recedant,
Et versentur adhuc intra penetralia Veftae:
Obscurata dių populo bonus eruet, atque
Proferet in lucem speciosa vocabula rerum,
Quae priscis memorata Catonibus atque Cethegis

, Nunc fitus informis premit et deserta vetuftas: Adsciscet nova, quae genitor produxerit ufus:

VER. 159. not a word they spare, That wants or force, or ligbe, op weigbt, or care,] Force and light respect figuratie

? expreffion; and signify, that it be such as awakes the imagination, and be taken from obvious subjects; for without the first quality it will want force; without the other, ligbe.

“ Or, I'm content, allow me Dryden's strains, 145
“ And you shall rise up Otway for your pains."
Much do I suffer, much, to keep in peace
This jealous, waspisk, wrong-head, rhyming raco;
And much must flatter, if the whim fhould bite
To court applause by printing what I write: 150
But let the fit pass o'er, I'm wise enough,
To stop my ears to their confounded stuff.

• In vain, bad Rhymers all mankind reject, They treat themselves with most profound respect; 'Tis to small purpose that you hold your tongue, 155

,
Each prais'd within, is happy all day long:
But how severely with themselves proceed
The men, who write such Verse as we can read?
Their own strict Judges, not a word they spare,
That wants or force, or light, or weight, or care,
Howe'er unwillingly it quits its place,

161 Nay tho at Court (perhaps) it may find grace:

' Such they'll degrade ; and sometimes, in its stead, P In downright charity revive the dead; Mark where a bold expressive phrase appears,

165 Bright thro' the rubbish of some hundred years ; Command old words that long have slept, to wake, Words, that wise Bacon, or brave Rawleigh spake ;

Weight and care respect literal expression, the first marking out, the character of the verb: the other of the noun; and signify, that, in every propofition, the attribute should be important, and the subject precise,