IMITATED.

TO MR. FORTESCUE.

P. THERE are (I scarce can think it, but am told,)

I There are to whom my Satire seems too bold;

Scarce to wife Peter complaifant enough,

And fomething faid of Chartres much too rough. 2 The lines are weak, another's pleas'd to fay; 5 Ford Fanny fpins a thousand fuch a day.

Tim'rous by nature, of the rich in awe,

3 I come to council learned in the law:
You'll give me, like a friend both fage and free,
Advice; and (as you use) without a fee.

F. 4 I'd write no more.

P. Not write? but then I think,
5 And for my foul I cannot fleep a wink.
I nod in company, I wake at night,
Fools rufh into my head, and fo I write.

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F. You could not do a worse thing for your life. 15 Why, if the night feem tedious-take a wife: 6 Or rather, truly, if your point be rest, Lettuce and cowflip wine: probatum eft.

HOR. LIB. II. SAT. I.

HORATIUS. TREBATIUS.

1H. SUNT quibus in Satira videar nimis acer, et ultra
Legem tendere opus: 2fine nervis altera, quidquid
Compofui, pars effe putat, fimilefque meorum
Mille die verfus deduci poffe. 3 Trebati,

Quid faciam, præfcribe.

T. 4 Quiefcas.

H. Ne faciam inquis,

Omnino verfus ?

T. Aio.

H. Peream male, fi non

Optimum erat: 5 verum nequeo dormire.

Tranínanto Tiberim, fomno quibus eft opus alto;

T. 6 Ter un&ti

But talk with Celfus, Celfus will advise

Hartshorn, or fomething that shall close your eyes. 20 1 Or if you needs must write, write Cæfar's praise; 2 You'll gain at least a knighthood or the bays.

P. What? like Sir 3 Richard, rumbling, rough and

fierce, [verfe, With arms, and George, and Brunswick, crowd the Rend with tremendous found your ears afunder, 25 With gun, drum, trumpet, blunderbufs, and thunder? Or nobly wild, with Budgell's fire and force, Paint angels trembling round his falling horse ? F4 Then all your Mufc's fofter art display, Let Carolina smooth the tuneful lay; Lull with Amelia's liquid name the Nine, And fweetly flow thro' all the royal line.

P. 5 Alas! few verfes touch their nicer ear;

They fcarce can bear their Laureat twice a-year;
And justly Cæfar fcorns the poets' lays;
It is to history he trufts for praise.

F. 6 Better be Cibber, I'll maintain it ftill,
Than ridicule all tafte, blafpheme Quadrille,
Abuse the City's beft good men in metre,
And laugh at peers that put their trust in Peter.

Irriguumque mero sub noctem corpus habento.
1 Aut, fi tantus amor fcribendi te rapit, aude
Cæfaris invicti res dicere, 2 multa laborum
Præmia laturus.

H. Cupidum, pater optime, vires
Deficiunt: 3 neque enim quivis horrentia pilis
Agmina, nec fracta pereuntes cufpide Gallos,
Aut labentis equo defcribat vulnera Parthi.

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T. 4 Attamen et juftum poteras et fcribere fortem, Scipiadem ut fapiens Lucilius.

H. Haud mihi deero, Cum res ipfa feret: 5 nifi dextro tempore, Flacci Verba per attentam non ibunt Cæfaris aurem ; Cui male fi palpere, recalcitrat undique tutus. T. Quanto rectius hoc, quam trifti lædere versu Patolabum fcurram, Nomentanumque nepotem ?

E'en those you touch not hate you.

P. What should ail 'em?

F. A hundred fmart in Timon and in Balaam :
The fewer ftill you name you wound the more;
Bond is but one, but Harpax is a score.

P. 2 Each mortal has his pleafure: none deny
Scarfdale his bottle, Darty his ham-pie:
Ridotto fips and dances till the fee

The doubling luftres dance as fast as the:

3 F-loves the fenate, Hockley-hole his brother,
Like in all elte as one egg to another.
4 I love to pour out all myself as plain

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As downright Shippen or as old Montaigne:

In them, as certain to be lov'd as feen,

The foul ftood forth, nor kept a thought within;

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In me what spots (for fpots I have) appear,
Will prove at leaft the medium must be clear.
In this impartial glafs my Mufe intends
Fair to expofe myfelf, my foes, my friends;
Publish the prefent age; but where my text
Is vice to high, referve it for the next;
My foes fhall with my life a longer date,
And ev'ry friend the lefs lament my fate.
My head and heart thus flowing thro' my quill,
5 Verfeman or Profeman, term me which you will,

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1 Cum fibi quifque timet, quanquam eft intactus, et odit,

H. 2 Quid faciam ? faltat Milonius, ut femel icto
Acceffit fervor capiti, numerufque lucernis.

3 Caftor gaudet equis; ovo prognatus eodem,
Pugnis. quot capitum vivunt, totidem ftudiorum
Millia. 4 me pedibus delectat claudere verba,
Lucilî ritu, doftrûm meliores utroque.

Ille velut fidis arcana fodalibus olim

Credebat libris; neque, fi male gefferat, ufquam,
Decurrens alio, neque fi bene: quo fit ut omnis
Votiva pateat veluti defcripta tabella

Vita fenis. fequor hunc, 5 Lucanus an Appulus, anceps:

Papift or Proteftant, or both between,
Like good Erafmus, in an honest mean,

In moderation placing all my glory,

While Tories call me Whig, and Whigs a Tory.
1 Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet
To run a-muck, and tilt at all I meet;

2 I only wear it in a land of Hectors,
Thieves, fupercargoes, fharpers, and directors.
3 Save but our army! and let Jove incruft
Swords, pikes, and guns, with everlasting rust !
4 Peace is my dear delight-not Fleury's more;
But touch me, and no minifter fo fore.
Whoe'er offends, at fome unlucky time
5 Slides into verfe, and hitches in a rhyme,
Sacred to ridicule his whole life long,
And the fad burthen of fome merry fong.

6 Slander or poifon dread from Delia's rage;
Hard words or hanging, if your judge be Page:
From furious Sappho fcarce a milder fate,
P-x'd by her love, or libell'd by her hate.
7 Its proper pow'r to hurt each creature feels;
Bulls aim their horns, and affes lift their heels;

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[Nam Venufinus arat finem fub utrumque colonus, Miffus ad hoc, pulfis (vetus eft ut fama) Sabellis, Quo ne per vacuum Romano incurreret hoftis; Sive quod Appula gens, feu quod Lucania bellum Incuteret violenta.] I fed hic ftylus haud petet ultro Quemquam animantem, et me veluti cuftodiet enfis Vagina tectus: quem cur diftringere coner, 2 Tutus ab infeftis latronibus; O pater et rex 3 Jupiter, ut pereat pofitum rubigine telum, Nec quifquam noceat 4 cupido mihi pacis! at ille, Qui me commôrit, (melius non tangere, clamo) 5 Flebit, et infignis tota cantabitur Urbe.

6 Cervius iratus leges minitaturet urnam; Canidia Albutî, quibus eft inimica, venenum; Grande malum Turius, fi quis fe judice certet. 7 Ut, quo quifque valet, fufpectos terreat, utque Imperet hoc natura potens, fic collige mecum. VOL. II. E

'Tis a bear's talent not to kick, but hug;
And no man wonders he's not ftung by pug.
So drink with Walters, or with Chatres eat,
They'll never poifon you, they'll only cheat.

2 Then, learned Sir! (to cut the matter short,)
Whate'er my fate, or well or ill at court,
Whether old age, with faint but cheerful ray,
Attends to gild the ev'ning of my day,
Or Death's black wing already be difplay'd,
To wrap me in the univerfal fhade;
Whether the darken'd room to mufe invite,
Or whiten'd wall provoke the fkew'r to write;
In durance, exile, Bedlam, or the Mint,

3 Like Lee or Budgell I will rhyme and print.

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F. 4Alas, young man, your days can ne'er be long; In flow'r of age you perish for a song!

Plums and directors, Shylock and his wife,
Will club their teftors now to take your life.

P. 5 What? arm'd for virtue when I point the
Brand the bold front of thameless guilty men,
Dafh the proud gamefter in his gilded car,
Bare the mean heart that lurks beneath a star;
Can there be wanting, to defend her cause,
Lights of the church or guardians of the laws?
Could penfion'd Boileau lafh in honest strain
Flatt'rers and bigots e'en in Louis' reign?

pen,

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Dente lupus, cornu taurus petit, unde. nifi intus
Monftratum? Scævæ vivacem crede nepoti
Matrem; nil faciet fceleris pia dextera: (mirum !
Ut neque calce lupus quemquam, neque dente petit
Sed mala tollet anum vitiato melle cicuta.

[bus) 2 Ne longum faciam, feu me tranquilla fenectus Expectat, feu mors atris circumvolat alis; Dives, inops, Romæ, feu fors ita jufferit, exful; 3 Quifquis erit vitæ, fcribam, color.

T. 40 puer, ut fis Vitalis metuo; et majorum ne quis amicus Frigore te feriat.

H. 5 Quid? cum est Lucil ́us aufus