24. Si quis nunc mergos suaves edixerit affos, Parebit pravi docilis Romana juventus *. Let me extol a cat, on oysters fed, To dine upon a cat fattened with oysters, and to crack live craw-filh, is infinitely more pleasant and ridiculous than to eat mergos afos. But then the words extol, and recommend, fall far below edixerit ; give out a decree : So Virgil, Georgic the third, line 295, does not advise but raises his subject by saying, Incipiens ftabulis edico in mollibus herbam 25. Ille reporia natales aliosque dierum Feftos albatus celebret- - § But on some lucky day (as when they found Much heightened and improved by two . Ver. 5! + This fourth line is feeble and unmeaning. # Ver. 55 such j such supposed occasions of the unnatural festivity and joy of a true miser. 26. Dulcia se in bilem vertent, ftomachoque tumulum Lenta feret pituita When bile, and phlegm, and wind, and acid jar, Τα γαρ ανομοια στασιαζε, fays Ηίρροcrates: the very metaphor here employed by Horace. Two writers of science, in Greek, have used a style eminently pure, precise, and elegant, Hippocrates and Euclid. 27. vides, ut pallidus omnis Cæna desurgat dubia - 1. How pale each worthipful and rev'rend guest Our author has been strangely guilty here of false English and false grammar, by using rise for rises. The expression in the original is from Terence; in the second act of the Pbormio. .Ver. 75. + Ver, 71. I Ver. 77. $ Ver. 76. PH. Cena PH. Cæna dubia apponitur : quid sumas potillimum. From which passage it is worth observing, that Terence was the first writer that used this expression. 28. Hos utipam inter Why had I not in these good times my birth, The last line, and the conceit of coxa comb-pyes and coxcombs, link it below the original ; which, by the way, fays Cruquius, seems to allude to that of Hefiod, Oper. & Dieb. Murst' ITHT' wpier rye pour)0191 PETHAU 19. Das aliquid Famæ, quæ carmine gratior aurem Occuper humanami Unworthy he, the voice of Fame to hear, Ver. 93• Ver. 94. + Ver. 97 X 3 Ver. 99. Two Two very beautiful lines, that excel the original; though in truth the word occupat has much force. Horace again alludes to his favourite Grecians. Antisthenes philosophus, says the old commentator, cum vidiffet adolescentem Acroamatibus multum delectari, O te, ait, infelicem, qui fummum Acroama, hoc est, Laudem tuam non audivisti. 30. Cur * eget indignus quisquam te divite + ? How dar'A thou let one worthy man be poor I? VERY spirited, and superior to the ori, ginal; for darf is far beyond the mere eget. 31. Non aliquid patriz tanto emetiris acervo 8 ? Or to thy country let that heap be lent, He could not forbear this stroke against a nchleman, whom he had been for many years accustomed to hear abused by his « Ev'n modc: want may bless hand uoseen, • Tho'huih'd in patient wretchedness at home." Whichi second line (of Dr. Armstrong) is exquisitely tender, # Ver. 103. Ver. 118, R Ver. 105. Il Ver. 121. most most intimate friends, A certain parasite, who thought to please Lord Bolingbroke by ridiculing the avarice of the Duke of M. was stopt hort by Lord Bolingbroke ; who faid, He was so very great a man, that I forget he had tnat vice. 39. Non ego, narrantem, temere edi luce profefta Quidquam, &c. This speech of Ofellus continues in the original to the end of this satire. Pope has taken all that follows out of the mouth of Bethell, and speaks entirely in his own person. 'Tis impoflible not to transcribe the pleasing picture of his way of life, and the account he gives of his own table, in lines that express common and familiar objects with dignity and elegance. See therefore his bill of fare, of which you will long to partake, and wish you could have dined at Twickenbam. 32. 'Tis true, no turbots dignify my boards, But gudgeons, founders, what my Thames affords : : |