EPIGRAM. ENGRAVED ON THE COLLAR OF A DOG WHICH I GAVE TO HIS I AM his Highness' dog at Kew; Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you? LINES SUNG BY DURASTANTI WHEN SHE TOOK LEAVE OF THE ENGLISH STAGE. THE WORDS WERE IN HASTE PUT TOGETHER BY MR POPE, AT THE REQUEST OF EN'ROUS, gay, and gallant nation, Let old charmers yield to new; GBold in arms, and bright in arts; Land secure from all invasion, All but Cupid's gentle darts! In arms, in arts, be still more shining; All your jars for ever ceasing: ON HIS GROTTO AT TWICKENHAM, COMPOSED OF Marbles, Spars, Gems, Ores, and Minerals3. TH HOU who shalt stop, where Thames' translucent wave Where ling'ring drops from min'ral Roofs distill, 5 Approach! Great NATURE studiously behold; Where, nobly-pensive, ST JOHN sate and thought; Where British sighs from dying WYNDHAM stole*, And the bright flame was shot thro' MARCHMONT's Soul. Who dare to love their Country, and be poor. 1 [Frederick, Prince of Wales. Roscoe traces the idea of this epigram to Sir W. Temple's Heads designed for an Essay on Conversation.] 2 [Margherita Durastanti was brought out at the English Opera-house by Handel, and sang in his operas and those of Bononisni from 1719 to 1723. She then retired, finding herself unable to contend with the superior powers of Cuzzoni. She took a formal leave of the English stage, for which occasion the above lines were composed ΤΟ F VERSES TO MR C.1 ST JAMES'S PALACE. LONDON, Oct. 22. EW words are best; I wish you well; The falling leaf and coming frost, TO MR GAY, WHO HAD CONGRATULATED MR POPE ON FINISHING HIS HOUSE AND GARDENS. H, friend! 'tis true-this truth you lovers know Ai In vain my structures rise, my gardens grow; In vain fair Thames reflects the double scenes To sigh unheard in, to the passing winds? UPON THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH'S HOUSE Atria longa patent; sed nec cœnantibus usquam, ΙΟ [BLENHEIM, built by Vanbrugh. In his buildings,' says Sir Joshua Reynolds, 'there is a greater display of imagination than we shall find perhaps in any other.' At the same time the heaviness of his style of architecture was the subject of the constant ridicule of Horace Walpole and others.] ham.] [Probably Craggs, who was in office at the time when Pope established himself at Twicken SEP EE, sir, here's the grand approach; There lies the bridge, and here's the clock, The spacious court, the colonnade, And mark how wide the hall is made! But where d'ye sleep, or where d'ye dine? 5 ΤΟ 15 ON BEAUFORT HOUSE GATE AT CHISWICK. [THE Lord Treasurer Middlesex's house at Chelsea, after passing to the Duke of Beaufort, was called Beaufort House. It was afterwards sold to Sir Hans Sloane. When the House was taken down in 1740, its gateway, built by Inigo Jones, was given by Sir Hans Sloane to the Earl of Burlington, who removed it with the greatest care to his garden at Chiswick, where it may be still seen. See Cunningham's London.] [IN illustration Mitford refers to Pope's letter to Lord Bathurst of September 13, 1732, where Mr L.' is spoken of as 'more inclined to admire God in his greater works, the tall timber.' From Mr Mitford's notes to his edition of Gray's Correspondence with the Rev. Norton Nichols. As to Lord Bathurst's improvements at Cirencester, to which these lines allude, see Moral Essays, Ep. IV. vv. 186 ff.] It is, my lord, a mere conundrum To call things woods for what grows under 'em. For shrubs, when nothing else at top is, Can only constitute a coppice. But if you will not take my word, See anno quint. of Richard Third; And that's a coppice call'd, when dock'd, An honest man, because not hang'd." INSCRIPTION ON A PUNCH-BOWL, IN THE SOUTH-SEA YEAR [1720], FOR A CLUB, CHASED WITH JUPITER PLACING CALLISTO IN THE SKIES, AND EUROPA WITH THE BULL. OME, fill the South Sea goblet full; The gods shall of our stock take care; Europa pleas'd accepts the Bull, And Jove with joy puts off the Bear'. ΙΟ 15 20 Ο VERBATIM FROM BOILEAU. Un Jour dit un Auteur, etc.3 NCE (says an Author; where, I need not say) 1 Thomas, first Lord Coningsby, a zealous promoter of the Revolution of 1688. Carru thers. [There seems no doubt that these terms originated in the South-Sea year; and that they gradually came into general use. See a lively discussion of the subject, and of the meaning of the terms, in Notes and Queries for 1859.] 3 [This famous fable is narrated at the close of Boileau's Second Epistle; and is said to be EPIGRA M. M Lord1 complains that Pope, stark mad with gardens, Has cut three trees, the value of three farthings. "But he's my neighbour," cries the peer polite: 66 'And if he visit me, I'll waive the right." What! on compulsion, and against my will, A lord's acquaintance? Let him file his bill! EPIGRAM. 5 [EXPLAINED by Carruthers to refer to the large sums of money given in charity on account of the severity of the weather about the year 1740.] 7ES! 'tis the time, (I cried,) impose the chain, But when I saw such charity remain, I half could wish this people should be saved. Faith lost, and Hope, our Charity begins; If this can cover multitude of sins, To take the only way to be forgiven. OCCASIONED BY READING THE TRAVELS OF CAPTAIN LEMUEL GULLIVER. On the publication of Gulliver's Travels Pope wrote several pieces of humour intended to accompany the work, which he sent to Swift; and they were printed in 1727 under the title of Poems occasioned by reading the Travels of Captain Lemuel Gulliver explanatory and commendatory. Roscoe. [I. II. IV. were also published in the joint Miscellanies.] I. TO QUINBUS FLESTRIN, THE MAN-MOUNTAIN. An Ode by Tilly-Tit, Poet Laureate to His Majesty of Lilliput. N amaze, IN Lost I gaze, Can our eyes Muse, inspire, All thy fire! Bards of old Of him told, When they said Propp'd the skies: See! and believe your eyes! See him stride Valleys wide, 1 Lord Radnor. Warton. |