But if the first Eve Hard doom did receive, When only one apple had she, Shall be found out for you, Who tasting, have robb'd the whole tree? THE FOURTH EPISTLE OF THE FIRST BOOK OF HORACE'S EPISTLES*. A modern Imitation. SAY+, St. John, who alone peruse With candid eye, the mimic muse, Or, urg'd by unquench'd native heat, Does St. John Greenwich sports repeat? * This satire on Lord Bolingbroke, and the praise bestowed on him in a letter to Mr. Richardson, where Mr. Pope says, The sons shall blush their fathers were his foes: being so contradictory, probably occasioned the former to be suppressed. S. Ad Albium Tibullum. † Albi, nostrorum sermonum candide judex, Quid nunc te dicam facere in regione Pedana ? Scribere, quod Cassi Parmensis opuscula vincat ? The lines here quoted occur in the Essay on Man. § An tacitam silvas inter reptare salubres ? Where (emulous of Chartres' fame) And, to enjoy that gift, the art. What could a tender mother's care I Amidst thy various ebbs of fear, In spite of fears, of mercy spite, Di tibi formam Di tibi divitias dederant, artemque fruendi. ↑ Quid voveat dulci nutricula majus alumno, Quam sapere, et fari posset quæ sentiat, et cui Gratia, fama, valetudo contingat abunde, ---, bon deficiente crumena? Inter spem, curamque, timores inter et iras. Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum. Me pinguem, et nitidum bene curata cute vises, Cum ridere voles Epicuri de grege porcum. EPIGRAM ON MRS. TOFTS, A handsome Woman with a fine Voice, but very copetous and proud*.' So bright is thy beauty, so charming thy song, along; But such is thy avarice, and such is thy pride, That the beasts must have starv'd, and the poet have died. EPIGRAM, On one who made long Epitaphsť. FRIEND, for your epitaphs I'm griev'd, Where still so much is said; One half will never be believ'd, *This epigram, first printed anonymously in Steele's Collection, and copied in the Miscellanies of Swift and Pope, is ascribed to Pope by sir John Hawkins, in his History of Music.---Mrs. Tofts, who was the daughter of a person in the family of Bishop Burnet, is celebrated as a singer little inferior, either for her voice or manner, to the best Italian women. She lived at the introduction of the opera into this kingdom, and sung in company with Nicolini; but, being ignorant of Italian, chanted her recitative in English, in answer to his Italian; yet the charms of their voices overcame the absurdity. + It is not generally known that the person here meant was Dr. Robert Freind, head master of Westminster-school. TO SIR GODFREY KNELLER, On his painting for me the Statues of Apollo Venus, and Hercules. WHAT god, what genius, did the pencil move When Kneller painted these? 'Twas friendship---warm as Phœbus, kind as love, And strong as Hercules. DE A FAREWEL TO LONDON, In the Year 1715. 1 1 EAR, damn'd, distracting town, farewel! This year in peace, ye critics, dwell, Ye harlots sleep at ease! Soft B*** and rough C*****, adieu ! The lively H*****k and you May knock up whores alone. To drink and droll be Rowe allow'd And Garth, the best good Christian he, Lintot, farewel! thy bard must go ; Farewel, unhappy Tonson! Heaven gives thee, for thy loss of Rowe, Why should I stay? Both parties rage; My vixen mistress squalls; The love of arts lies cold and dead And not one muse of all he fed, My friends, by turns, my friends confound, Poor Y***r's sold for fifty pound, Why make I friendships with the great, Or follow girls seven hours in eight?--- Still idle, with a busy air, Solicitous for others' ends, Luxurious lobster-nights, farewel, Adieu to all but Gay alone, Whose soul sincere and free, Loves all mankind, but flatters none, And so may starve with me. |