As clocks to weight their nimble motion owe, 185 Some Demon stole my pen (forgive th' offence) Did on the stage my Fops appear confin'd? 190 Yet sure, had Heav'n decreed to save the State, 195 Heav'n had decreed these works a longer date. VARIATIONS. Ver. 195. Yet sure, had Heav'n, &c.] In the former Ed. REMARKS. W. Ver. 181. As, forc'd from wind-guns, &c.] The thought of these four verses is found in a poem of our Author's of a very early date (namely written at fourteen years old, and soon after printed) to the Author of a poem called Successio. W. Ver. 185. Me Emptiness,] This first speech of the Hero is full of an impropriety that one could hardly believe our author could fall into; it being contrary to all decorum, character, and probability, that Bays should address the Goddess Dulness, without IMITATIONS. Ver. 195. had Heav'n decreed, &c.] "Me si cœlicolae voluissent ducere vitam, Has mihi servassent sedes." Virg. Æneid. ii. Could Troy be sav'd by any single hand, REMARKS. 200 disguising or mistaking her, as a despicable being; and should even call himself fool and blockhead. It is in truth outrageously unnatural and absurd. And so also is another and even more glaring breach of truth and decorum in book iv. v. 210, in making Aristarchus, that is, even the great and able Bentley, abuse himself, and laugh at his own labours. Bramstone has fallen into the same absurdity; "A Footman I would be in outward show, In sense and education truly so!" Man of Taste. Ver. 199. my Fletcher] A familiar manner of speaking, used by modern Critics, of a favourite author. Bays might as justly speak thus of Fletcher, as a French Wit did of Tully, seeing his works in a library, "Ah! mon cher Ciceron! je le connois bien; c'est le même que Marc Tulle." But he had a better title to call Fletcher his own, having made so free with him. W. Ver. 200. Take up the Bible, once my better guide?] When, according to his Father's intention, he had been a Clergyman, or (as he thinks himself) a Bishop of the Church of England. Hear his own words: “At the time that the fate of K. James, the Prince of Orange, and myself, were on the anvil, Providence thought fit to postpone mine, 'till theirs were determined: but had my father carried me a month sooner to the University, who knows but that purer fountain might have washed my Imperfections into a capacity of writing, instead of Plays and annual Odes, Sermons, and Pastoral Letters? Apology for his Life, chap. iii. W. IMITATIONS. Ver. 197, 198. Could Troy be sav'd--This gray-goose weapon] 2 "Si Pergama dextra Defendi possent, etiam hac defensa fuissent." Virg. ibid. Ver. 202. This box my Thunder, this my right hand God?] Dextra mihi Deus, et telum quod missile libro.” Virgil of the Gods of Mezcatius. 205 Or chair'd at White's amidst the Doctors sit, REMARKS. 209 Ver. 203. at White's amidst the Doctors] These Doctors had a modest and upright appearance, no air of overbearing; but like true Masters of Arts, were only habited in black and white: they were justly styled subtiles and graves, but not always irrefragabiles, being sometimes examined, and, by a nice distinction, divided and laid open. Scribl.* This learned Critic is to be understood allegorically: the DOCTORS in this place mean no more than false Dice, a cant phrase used amongst Gamesters. So the meaning of these four sonorous Lines is only this, "Shall I play fair, or foul?" P. Ver. 208. Ridpath-Mist.] George Ridpath, author of a Whig Paper, called the Flying Post; Nathaniel Mist, of a famous Tory Journal. W. Ver. 211. Or rob Rome's ancient geese of all their glories,] Relates to the well-known story of the geese that saved the Capitol ; of which Virgil, Æneid. viii. "Atque hic auratis volitans argenteus anser Porticibus, Gallos in limine adesse canebat.' A passage I have always suspected. Who sees not the antithesis of auratis and argenteus to be unworthy the Virgilian majesty? And what absurdity to say a goose sings? canebat. Virgil gives a contrary character of the voice of this silly bird, in Ecl. ix. argutos inter strepere anser olores." Read it, therefore, adesse strepebat. And why auratis porticibus? does not the very verse preceding this inform us, "Romuleoque recens horrebat regia culmo." Hold to the Minister I more incline; To serve his cause, O Queen! is serving thine. crown, At once the Bear and Fiddle of the town. VARIATIONS. Ver. 213. Hold-to the Minister-] In the former Ed. Yes, from this moment, mighty Mist! am thine. REMARKS. W. Is this thatch in one line, and gold in another, consistent? I scruple not (repugnantibus omnibus manuscriptis) to correct it aurilis. Horace uses the same epithet in the same sense, And to "Auritas fidibus canoris say that walls have ears is common even to a proverb. Scribl. Ver. 215. Gazetteers] A band of ministerial writers, hired at the price mentioned in the note on book ii. ver. 316, who, on the very day their patron quitted his post, laid down their paper, and declared they would never more meddle in Politics. W. Ver. 217, What then remains? Ourself.] A happy parody on the famous Moy of Corneille in his Medea; who unluckily weakened the force of this word by adding, et c'est assez. the original is, in Seneca's Tragedy of Medea, "Medea superest." But O born in sin, and forth in folly brought! 225 Works damn'd, or to be damn'd! (your father's fault) Go, purify'd by flames ascend the sky, My better and more Christian progeny! Unstain'd, untouch'd, and yet in maiden sheets; While all your smutty sisters walk the streets. 230 VARIATIONS. Ver. 225. O born in sin, &c.] In the former Ed. Adieu, my Children! better thus expire Unstall'd, unsold; thus glorious mount in fire, W. Var. And visit Alehouse,] Waller on the Navy, "Those tow'rs of Oak o'er fertile plains may go, REMARKS. W. Ver. 225. O born in sin, &c.] This is a tender passionate Apostrophe to his own works, which he is going to sacrifice agreeable to the nature of man in great affliction; and reflecting like a parent on the many miserable fates to which they would otherwise be subject. W. Ver. 228. My better] Notwithstanding all our author's or his commentator's efforts, to reduce to contempt Cibber's Apology for his Life, they will never be able to convince sensible and IMITATIONS. Ver. 229. Unstain'd, untouch'd, &c.] "Felix Priamëia virgo! Jussa mori: quæ sortitus non pertulit ullos, Nec victoris heri tetigit captiva cubile! Nos, patria incensa, diversa per æquora vectæ," &c. Virg. Æneid. iii, |