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Mr. POPE was fuperior to the little pride of fuppofing that an inattention to domeftic concerns, was characteristical of a great genius. On the contrary, that fortune which his merit acquired, he was mindful to husband to the best advantage. With this view, in the year 1729, he purchased an annuity of 100 l. for his own life, and with pious folicitude, took care likewife to include his mother's life in the purchase.

Our author having taken leave of satire, we find his mufe, in the fixth volume, more agreeably engaged. In this volume of his works we find imitations of the lighter pieces of Horace, fome of them in the manner of Swift. They fhew with what happy dexterity our author defcends from grave to gay.

The most distinguished of thefe little pieces, is his imitation of the firft Ode of the fourth book of Horace. This has all the eafe and elegance of the original, and frequently furpaffes it.

Our author here takes occafion to pay a delicate compliment to his friend, then Mr. MURRAY, which in fome parts is more happily turned than the Latin.

"Ad VENEREM.

"Mater faeva cupidinum,

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"Circa luftra decem flectere mollibus
Jam durum imperiis: abi

"Quo blandae juventum te revocant preces.

"Tem

"Tempeftivius in domum

"Paulli, purpureis ales oloribus, "Comiffabere Maximi;

"Si torrere jecur quaeris idoneum*: "Namque et nobilis, et decens, "Et pro folicitis non tacitus reis, "Et centum puer artium,

"Late figna feret militiae tuae. "Et, quandoque potentior

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Largis muneribus riferit aemuli, "Albanos prope te lacus

"Ponet marmoream fub trabe citrea. "Illic plurima naribus

"Duces thura; lyraque et Berecynthiae "Delectabere tibia

"Mixtis carminibus,

"Illic bis pueri die

non fine fiftula.

"Numen cum teneris virginibus tuum "Laudantes, pede candido

"In morem Salium ter quatient humum.

"To VENUS.

"Mother too fierce of dear defires!
"Turn, turn to willing hearts your wan
"ton fires.

"To Number five direct your doves,
"There spread round MURRAY all

your

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blooming loves;

* The imitation, the reader will obferve, has all the pleafantry and fprightlinefs of the Latin, and has avoided the indelicacy of torrere jecur idoneum.

Noble

"Noble and young, who ftrikes the heart "With ev'ry sprightly, every decent part; Equal, the injur'd to defend,

"To charm the miftrefs, or to fix the "friend.

"He, with a hundred arts refin'd,

"Shall ftretch thy conquefts over half the "kind:

"To him each rival shall submit,

"Make but his riches equal to his wit. "Then shall thy form the marble grace (Thy Grecian form) and Chloe lend the "face:

66

“His house, embosom'd in the grove †,

"Sacred to focial life and focial love, "Shall glitter o'er the pendent green, "Where Thames reflects the vifionary "fcene:

"Thither, the filver-founding lyres

"Shall call the fmiling loves, and young "defires;

"There, ev'ry grace and mufe fhall throng, "Exalt the dance, or animate the fong; "There youths and nymphs, in confort gay, "Shall hail the rifing, close the parting "day."

+ He had at that sime an intention of leaving his house at Twitenham to Mr. Murray, on very eafy terms; and with this view he entertained the projects of feveral improvements and purchases. But when he found, by the growing fame and rifing ftation of his friend, that it was never likely to be of any ufe to him, he laid aside that purpose,

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The conclufion is very poetical, and much beyond the Latin. The poet laments that he is no longer fufceptible of thofe joys, though he ftill follows the goddefs in his dreams: And he thus describes the delufion of fancy.

"Nocturnis te ego fomniis

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Jam captum teneo, jam volucrem fequor "Te per gramina Martii

"Campi, te per aquas, dure, volubiles."

*

"Now, now I feize, I clasp thy charms,
"And now you burft (ah cruel!) from my
66 arms;

"And fwiftly fhoot along the Mall,
"Or foftly glide by the canal,
"Now fhown by Cynthia's filver ray,

"And now, on rolling waters fnatch'd
"away."

Among the little pieces in this volume, is an Epiftle to the Earl of Oxford, which was fent with Dr. Parnelle's poems, published by our author, after the faid Earl's imprisonment in the Tower, and retreat into the country, in the year 1721; and which is, indeed, a mafter-piece.

The following lines in this epifle feem to claim particular notice.

"Such were the notes thy once-lov'd poet fung, "Till death untimely ftopp'd his tuneful

"tongue.

"For

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"For him, thou oft haft bid the world attend, "Fond to forget the ftatefman in the friend t; "For Swift, and him, defpis'd the farce of ftate, The fober follies of the wife and great ; "Dext'rous,the craving,fawning crowd to quit, "And pleas'd to 'fcape from flattery to wit."

There is great beauty likewife in the lines, whereby our author defcribes the amiable fincerity, and all-powerful influence of his favourite mufe.

"In vain to deferts thy retreat is made;

"The muse attends thee to thy filent fhade: "'Tis hers, the brave man's lateft fteps to

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†There is perhaps too much truth in thefe lines; but whatever our author might intend, it was certainly no compliment to a fallen minifter, to remind him, that he used to make the world attend, while he was entertaining himself with a man of wit. But the fact is, that Lord Oxford, as a minifter, was negligent, if we may believe what Lord Bolingbroke ufed to fay to his friends. He added likewife, that Oxford was, in converfation, puzzled and embarrafied; and, upon the whole, unequal to his ftation. It was his wont, every day almoft, to fend idle verfes from court to the Scriblerus Club, which confifted of Swift, Arbuthnot, Parnelle, Pope, and fometimes Gay. He was likewife ufed to frequent the Club every night almoft, and would talk idly, even on the crifis of the most important concerns.

Envy itfelf, however, muft allow that this nobleman dif. played a moft manly fortitude during the courfe of his adverfity.

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