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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40895 ***
+
+  [** Transcriber's Notes:
+  -[oe] ligatures have been replaced with straight oe,
+  -Greek transliterations have an "=" sign before and after
+  -each stanza has a number footnote, e.g. [1], to a corresponding
+       excerpt from Horace's The Art of Poetry. **]
+
+
+          THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY
+
+                [JAMES BRAMSTON]
+
+                     THE
+
+               ART _of_ POLITICKS
+
+                   (_1729_)
+
+               _Introduction by_
+
+                 WILLIAM KINSLEY
+
+
+
+              PUBLICATION NUMBER 177
+      WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY
+       UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
+
+                      _1976_
+
+
+
+     GENERAL EDITORS
+  William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
+  George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles
+  Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles
+  David S. Rodes, University of California, Los Angeles
+
+
+     ADVISORY EDITORS
+  James L. Clifford, Columbia University
+  Ralph Cohen, University of Virginia
+  Vinton A. Dearing, University of California, Los Angeles
+  Arthur Friedman, University of Chicago
+  Louis A. Landa, Princeton University
+  Earl Miner, Princeton University
+  Samuel H. Monk, University of Minnesota
+  Everett T. Moore, University of California, Los Angeles
+  Lawrence Clark Powell, William Andrews Clark Memorial Libr
+  James Sutherland, University College, London
+  H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., University of California, Los Angeles
+  Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
+
+
+     CORRESPONDING SECRETARY
+  Beverly J. Onley, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+The meagre information known about James Bramston's life has been ably
+summarized by F. P. Lock in his introduction to _The Man of Taste_ (ARS
+171). For our present purposes, we need only add that Bramston seems to
+have been acquainted with Pope, who saw _The Art of Politicks_ before
+it was printed and thought it "pretty".[A] Bramston quite likely met
+Pope through John Caryll, whose Sussex estate, Lady-Holt, was in the
+neighborhood of Bramston's parishes.
+
+_The Art of Politicks_, Bramston's first English poem, was published
+anonymously in 1729 and advertised in the Monthly Chronicle of 8
+December. Several reimpressions followed, as did another London
+edition, one from Edinburgh, and two from Dublin, all dated 1729, and a
+London edition of 1731.[B] It was reprinted in Robert Dodsley's
+_Collection of Poems, by Several Hands_ (1748), where it was attributed
+to Bramston, and in John Bell's _Classical Arrangement of Fugitive
+Poetry_, Volume 5 (1789), with a few notes.[C] Horace Walpole's copy of
+Dodsley's _Collection_, with a few rather uninformative manuscript
+notes, is now in the British Library (C.117.aa.16).
+
+It seems likely that the poem was completed in the summer of 1729. The
+most recent events that Bramston alludes to are Thomas Woolston's trial
+for blasphemy of 4 March (p. 27) and Sir Paul Methuen's resignation as
+Treasurer of the King's Household, which was reported in May (p.
+13).[D]
+
+      *       *       *       *       *
+
+Horace's _Ars Poetica_ was one of the most fertile sources for
+eighteenth-century imitations and adaptations. Some were completely
+serious attempts to marry one art to another or to show that all arts
+share the same fundamental principles; an example of this type is John
+Gwynn's _Art of Architecture_ (1742; ARS 144). Others, like William
+King's _Art of Cookery_ (1708) are downright burlesques.
+
+Bramston's usual method falls somewhere between these extremes. He
+often uses the dignity of poetry to show up the indignity of politics
+or political writing, as on pp. 5-6 where Horace's advice on choice of
+subject is transformed into advice to "_Weekly Writers_ of seditious
+_News_," or on page 7, where the rise and fall of South Sea stock fills
+the place of Horace's famous comparison of archaic and new-coined words
+to the leaves of the forest. But Bramston's poem more often aspires to
+the same level as its model; in this respect it resembles _Absalom and
+Achitophel_ more than _Mac Flecknoe_.
+
+Several factors help to bring _Ars Poetica_ and _The Art of Politicks_
+together. Perhaps most important, Bramston conceives of politics
+primarily as a verbal art, the use of speech to persuade others to a
+course of action. Bribes and other crasser incentives appear in the
+poem, of course, but they are clearly the result of declining
+standards. For Bramston, rhetoric should govern politics; the House of
+Commons is a reincarnation of a Roman senate or courtroom. Bramston's
+inclusion of political writing as well as politics itself in his poem
+also helps to keep him in Horace's orbit. On Horace's side, his
+conception of poetry is basically rhetorical and persuasive; it should
+instruct and delight, move to laughter or tears. Horace's readiness to
+digress into literary history gives Bramston many opportunities to
+bring in political history. The _Ars Poetica_ is very much concerned
+with the world of men; poets are seen in their social roles, and
+Horace's standards of literary decorum are usually based on social
+norms: young men in plays should behave the way young men are observed
+to behave in real life. The _Ars Poetica_ also contains several sharp
+satiric darts; Horace's contrast between the eloquence of ancient
+Greece and the commercial arithmetic of modern Rome slides easily into
+a contrast between Elizabethan learning and Hanoverian place-hunting
+(pp.32-33). Finally, Horace's urbane and chatty style is as suitable
+for other subjects as it is for poetry. To appreciate Horace's
+adaptability, one need only imagine the difficulty of writing an art of
+politics in imitation of Archibald MacLeish's "Ars Poetica" or
+Aristotle's _Poetics_.
+
+Though he does not pretend to Pope's image of himself as a new Horace
+bringing the whole weight of Roman tradition to bear on contemporary
+society, Bramston is very clever on the local level at transposing
+Horace for his own purposes. Horace recounts the increasing complexity
+and sophistication of theatrical music, Bramston the increasingly
+elaborated musical celebrations of victorious candidates (pp. 22-23),
+and Horace's implication that the sophistication of taste is really a
+decline--"an impetuous style brought in an unwonted diction"
+(217)--constitutes an unspoken comment on Bramston's subject.[E]
+Bramston's page 27 corresponds to Horace's brief history of the
+theatre, from Thespis's tragedies that he staged on wagons to the
+silencing of the excessively outspoken chorus of Old Comedy (275-84).
+Bramston replaces Thespis with Defoe, and the wagon-mounted stage with
+the cart and pillory. Instead of deploring the silencing of the chorus,
+Bramston applauds the silencing of Woolston. The contrast between
+Thespis and Defoe is clearly mock-heroic, but Bramston implies that
+Woolston's similarity to an ancient satyr is a decline from the
+character expected of a modern clergyman.
+
+Sometimes the mere fact of changing from a poetic to a political
+context produces the satire or humour. What is praiseworthy in a
+poet--the ability to mingle fact and fiction skillfully (151)--becomes
+highly ironic when applied to a politician who
+
+   In Falsehood Probability imploys,
+   Nor his old Lies with newer Lies destroys. (p. 16)
+
+Horace's "ut pictura poesis" (361) produces this bland but destructive
+couplet:
+
+   Not unlike Paintings, Principles appear,
+   Some best at distance, some when we are near. (p. 36)
+
+More humourous than satirical is the relation between Horace's
+declaration that there's no place for a mediocre poet (372-73) and
+Bramston's
+
+   The Middle way the best we sometimes call.
+   But 'tis in Politicks no way at all.
+
+      *       *       *       *       *
+
+   There is no Medium: for the term in vogue
+   On either side is, Honest Man, or Rogue. (pp. 37-38)
+
+The conclusion of the poem involves a somewhat more complex
+transformation. Horace closes with a humourously self-deprecating
+description of the "poetic itch": the afflicted poet stumbles into
+ditches as he babbles his verses aloud; people flee from him, and with
+good reason; if he catches anyone, he hangs on like a leech and reads
+his victim to death. Bramston describes another "sort of itch,"
+parliamenteering. Sir Harry Clodpole knows better than to make speeches
+to the electors; he solicits their votes by feasting them, and they run
+_towards_ him (or his table), not away. They, not he, are the leeches;
+"they never leave him while he's worth a groat" (p. 45).
+
+      *       *       *       *       *
+
+Bramston--it seems an excessive refinement to speak of a persona or
+narrator--presents himself as a rather simple, naive political observer
+who yearns for clear-cut distinctions between parties; he wants to know
+where politicians stand on issues. The confusion, the blurring of old
+party lines, in present-day England is like the monster in the
+frontispiece. Though simple, he is also well informed. He seems to have
+a good knowledge of British history since the Restoration, referring
+casually to the Exclusion Crisis of 1680-81 (p. 15), the Kentish
+Petition of 1701 (p. 10), and the South Sea Bubble of 1720 (p. 7). All
+these past events are used to reinforce present lessons. He is
+up-to-date, as shown by his reference to the recent events in the
+careers of Methuen and Woolston. He professes familiarity with the
+characters of the leading politicians and also knows something about
+what is going on in the constituencies. He knows, or claims to know,
+how different kinds of listeners will react to different kinds of
+speeches.
+
+For a son of Christ Church, one of the most Tory Colleges of Tory
+Oxford, he seems remarkably non-partisan, though his Opposition biases
+do show through. When he says that "Addison's immortal Page" shows us
+how "to screen good Ministers from Publick rage" (p. 9), he is clearly
+aiming at Walpole, known as the "Screenmaster General" since his
+success in shielding many of the perpetrators of the South Sea Bubble
+in 1720. (I have not been able to discover the passage of Addison that
+Bramston had in mind.) When the aspiring orator is urged not to "join
+with silver Tongue a brazen Face" (p. 24), Walpole is again present by
+innuendo, for "brazen-face" was another of his nicknames. On the other
+hand, Bramston also makes fun of the "everlasting Fame" that results
+from quibbling on Sir Robert's name (p. 6). Bramston perhaps has it
+both ways here; while ridiculing commonplace puns, he also invites us
+to remember that "Robin" does indeed sound very much like "robbing."
+
+Sometimes he is more subtle and ironic. This subtlety caused difficulty
+for at least one contemporary reader, and may do the same for us.
+Consider the following passage, which parallels Horace's advice always
+to show Achilles wrathful, Orestes mourning, and the like:
+
+     To _Likelihood_ your _Characters_ confine;
+   Don't turn _Sir Paul_ out, let _Sir Paul_ resign.
+   In _Walpole_'s Voice (if Factions Ill intend)
+   Give the two _Universities_ a Friend;
+   Give _Maidston_ Wit, and Elegance refin'd;
+   To both the _Pelhams_ give the _Scipios_ Mind;
+   To _Cart'ret_, Learning, Eloquence, and Parts;
+   To _George_ the _Second_, give all _English_ Hearts. (p. 13)
+
+One of Bramston's early readers found his poem very faulty, and many of
+his complaints were directed against the passage just quoted.
+
+   Such artless art did ever mortal see,
+   Or politicks so void of policy?
+
+      *       *       *       *       *
+
+   What bard but this could Pelham's train compare
+   To Roman Scipio's thunder-bolts of war?
+   Did e'er their wars enrich their native isle,
+   With foreign treasures and with Spanish spoil?
+   But hark! and stare with all your ears and eyes!
+   Walpole is friend to Universities!
+
+      *       *       *       *       *
+
+   Hail politician bard! we ask not whether
+   A whig or tory; thou art both and neither.
+   Poultney and Walpole each adorn thy lays,
+   Which one for love, and one for money praise.
+   Alike are mention'd, equally are sung
+   Will. Shippen staunch, and slight Sir Wm. Young.
+   Bromley and Wyndham share the motley strain,
+   With Cart'ret, Maidstone, and the Pelhams twain.[F]
+
+This critic finds two main faults in the poem: misinformation and
+confusion about particular individuals and, more generally, an
+inability to distinguish Whigs from Tories and give each their due.
+This last complaint of course mocks Bramston's lament at the beginning
+of the poem about the current lack of distinction between parties.
+
+To what extent is this critique justified? What is Bramston trying to
+do in this passage? There is no problem with the second line: Sir Paul
+Methuen did indeed resign his office, and one gets the impression from
+Hervey (pp. 101-2, 250) that he never let anyone forget that he
+resigned. Thus we have here the most conventional of truisms. Walpole
+is more difficult. He was certainly no friend of the universities,
+which were Tory hotbeds. On the other hand, he was reluctant to try to
+reduce their privileges or bring them more closely under government
+control, for fear of rousing them to keener opposition. Nowhere else
+did he follow so faithfully his policy of letting sleeping dogs lie.[G]
+In a certain sense, then, he might be called a friend of the
+universities. I have been unable to determine whom Bramston means by
+"Maidston"--perhaps one of the Finches, the most prominent family in
+the area of Maidstone, Kent. Bramston's critic is certainly right about
+the Pelhams: they have nothing whatever in common with the Scipios.
+Scipio Africanus Major (236-184/3) was one of the most illustrious
+Roman heroes, consul during the Second Punic War and an outstanding
+military tactician. Scipio Africanus Minor (c. 185-129) was not only a
+consul and a military hero but a great patron of letters whom Cicero
+considered the greatest Roman of them all.[H] Thomas Pelham-Holles,
+Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1693-1768), Walpole's chief election
+manager, was notoriously muddle-headed, nervous, embarrassed, swamped
+in petty detail, suspicious, fretful, pompous, and indecisive.[I] His
+brother, Henry Pelham (1695?-1754), was much less well known; reserved
+and withdrawn, he preferred to work in the background, and his tactical
+and organizational abilities were not recognized until considerably
+later.[J] As far as their public image was concerned, then, no two men
+could be less like the Scipios. Most contemporaries agreed with
+Bramston's praise of John Carteret, Earl Granville (1690-1763), though
+many of them also mention other, less admirable traits.[K] As for
+George II, it depends on whose hearts you consult. An anonymous
+journalist:
+
+    What an Assurance has the Kingdom already given of an
+    unfeigned Affection to their Majesties Persons and
+    Government? How do the People shew that none are acceptable
+    to them, but those that are so to their Majesties? How can
+    Subjects give stronger Proofs of the high Esteem they have
+    their Sovereign in, for Penetration and Wisdom, than those
+    who entirely rely upon the Royal Discerning, and regulate
+    their Conduct by the King's Direction?[L]
+
+William Pultney:
+
+    The Queen is hated, the King despised, their son both the
+    one and the other, and such a spirit of disaffection to the
+    family and general discontent with the present Government is
+    spread all over the Kingdom, that it is absolutely
+    impossible for things to go on in the track they are now
+    in.[M]
+
+By now Bramston's method should be clear: he is praising everyone, but
+the praise fits the Opposition (such as Carteret) much better than it
+does the Government (the Pelhams). There is perhaps room for doubt
+about Walpole and George II, but Bramston's critic's failure to see the
+irony in the comparison of Pelhams to Scipios must be the result of
+sheer obtuseness. The rationale for Bramston's technique becomes
+clearer if we look again at Horace and recall that the basis of his
+advice is to follow conventional opinion. The conventional opinions
+that Bramston is by implication urging his pupil to follow are those of
+the politician's supporters and dependents. It just happens that
+Bramston has chosen his examples so that the Opposition conventions are
+closer to reality than the Government conventions.[N]
+
+      *       *       *       *       *
+
+All this is fun, but it is quite inoffensive. There's no animus, no
+vehemence, no bite. Politics do not really engage any of Bramston's
+strong convictions. The self-portrait he offers us on pages 29-30 would
+be for many political satirists of the period a transparent facade of
+mock-innocence, but it seems to fit Bramston very accurately:
+
+   Alas Poor Me, you may my fortune guess:
+   I write, and yet Humanity profess:
+
+      *       *       *       *       *
+
+   I love the King, the Queen, and Royal Race:
+   I like the Government, but want no Place:
+
+      *       *       *       *       *
+
+   Was never in a Plot, my Brain's not hurt;
+   I Politicks to Poetry convert.
+
+By contrast to the increasing acrimony of most political satire of the
+late 1720's, this attitude is at least refreshing.
+
+
+
+
+NOTES TO _THE ART OF POLITICKS_
+
+
+Given the topical nature of _The Art of Politicks_, the best use of my
+remaining space is probably to annotate the poem. From what I have
+learned about its background--and many mysteries remain--I have tried
+to choose what seems most relevant. In the interests of saving space,
+and since full annotation is not possible anyway, I have kept
+documentation to a minimum, especially where the information comes from
+easily available sources like the DNB or, conversely, has been pieced
+together from several sources. Some works are occasionally referred to
+by abbreviation or author's name; the ones not mentioned in the Notes
+to the Introduction are the following:[O]
+
+Cobbett: William Cobbett, _The Parliamentary History of England from
+the Earliest Period to the Year 1803_ (London: T. C. Hansard, 1806-20).
+
+Ellis: Jonathan Swift, _A Discourse of the Contests and Dissentions
+between the Nobles and Commons in Athens and Rome_, ed. Frank H. Ellis
+(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967).
+
+Grey: Anchitel Grey, _Debates of the House of Commons from the Year
+1667 to the Year 1694_ (London, 1763).
+
+Thomas: Peter D. G. Thomas, _The House of Commons in the Eighteenth
+Century_ (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971).
+
+Realey: Charles B. Realey, _The Early Opposition to Sir Robert Walpole
+1720-1727_ (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1931).
+
+
+P. 1, line 1. Sir James: Sir James Thornhill (c. 1675-1734). As MP for
+Weymouth and Melcombe Regis (1722-34) and Serjeant Painter to the King
+(1720-32), he embodies the parallel between art and politics that
+underlies Bramston's poem. His best-known works were the dome of St.
+Paul's and the paintings in Greenwich Hospital. Hogarth married his
+daughter in 1729.
+
+P. 2, line 4. Cf. Hervey's comment on Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London,
+who "affected to conciliate in himself both characters of Whig and
+Tory, declaring himself always a Whig in the State and a Tory in the
+Church" (pp. 90-91). Gibson's attitude can be traced back at least as
+far as Swift's _Sentiments of a Church of England Man_ (1711).
+
+      line 11. Patriots: the self-awarded designation of the major
+ group of Walpole's opponents.
+
+P. 3, line 6. Parliament devoted considerable time to fixing turnpike
+tolls.
+
+Fleury: André Hercule de (1653-1743). Created a cardinal in 1726, he
+was chief adviser to Louis XV of France from that date till his death,
+and therefore a person of great interest to England. His guiding
+principle was to keep France at peace with the rest of Europe.
+
+P. 4, lines 2-3. "Tory" originally meant an Irish outlaw, and "Whig" a
+Scottish rebel. For other theories of the origin of "Whig" that were
+current in 1729, see OED.
+
+      line 12. Repetition Day: a day on which schoolboys recite
+ memorized lessons.
+
+P. 5, line 7. The human face in Bramston's frontispiece has been said
+to resemble Heidegger, but it does not seem to match his reputation for
+extreme ugliness. See _TE_, 5, 92, 290, 443-44.
+
+P. 6, lines 3-4. Ridpath: George Ridpath (d. 1726), Whig journalist.
+Abel Roper (1665-1726), publisher of the _Tory Post Boy_.
+
+P. 7, line 10. Pinkethman: William Pinkethman (or Penkethman) (d.
+1725), a comic actor said to have once eaten three chickens in two
+seconds. See TE, 4, 220, 377.
+
+      line 12. Maypole: This remarkable barometer of intellectual
+history was razed by the Puritan parliament in 1644. A new one, 134
+feet tall, was set up at the Restoration; it, or a successor, had
+decayed to a height of twenty feet in 1717 when Sir Isaac Newton
+acquired it and presented it to James Pound to use as a telescope
+mount.
+
+P. 8, line 2. Newer Square: Cavendish Square, according to Horace
+Walpole's annotation.
+
+      line 6. The bridge at Putney Ferry was completed in 1729.
+
+P. 9, lines 4-5. Thomas Tickell's poetical _Epistle from a Lady in
+England to a Gentleman at Avignon_ went through five editions in 1717.
+
+      lines 6-7. "Caleb D'Anvers" was the pseudonym under which
+appeared _The Craftsman_, the opposition journal directed by
+Bolingbroke and Pultney. Bramston's expression of ignorance must
+be ironic.
+
+P. 10, lines 1-2. Arthur Onslow, who became Speaker in 1728, insisted
+that all members bow to the Speaker's Chair when entering or leaving
+the House (Thomas, p. 356).
+
+      line 12. The "Kentish Petition" was presented to the
+Tory-controlled Parliament on 8 May 1701 by five gentlemen of Kent.
+It urged Parliament to grant speedily to King William the subsidies
+that would enable him to pursue his European wars against Louis XIV.
+Parliament did not consider its words soft; it voted the petition
+seditious, scandalous, and insolent, and arrested the five gentlemen,
+who thereupon became popular heroes, at least among the Whigs. See
+Defoe's _History of the Kentish Petition_ (1701) and Ellis,
+pp. 53-56, 65-66.
+
+P. 11, lines 3-8. Pultney: William Pultney (1684-1764), later Earl of
+Bath. The leader of the "Patriot" opposition to Walpole in the House of
+Commons. Hervey reluctantly concedes that his abilities were
+outstanding (pp. 790-91).
+
+P. 12, line 4. the Rod: that is, the rod of the Serjeant-at-Arms, the
+officer responsible for keeping order in the House of Commons.
+
+      line 6. the Bar: The Bar marked the outer limit of the House,
+and, as the lines imply, was where offenders stood to be reprimanded.
+
+      lines 11-12. The "one cause" is presumably Walpole's patronage.
+The Cornish constituencies were notoriously corrupt even by
+eighteenth-century standards, and Walpole cultivated the Scots
+assiduously. A Scottish "laird" is a landowner, not a "lord" in the
+English sense.
+
+P. 13, line 12. Flying-Squadron: apparently a group which claimed to
+vote by principle rather than from attachment to any party. Sir Joseph
+Jekyll was considered its leader. See Sedgwick, _House of Commons_, 2,
+175; Realey, p. 54; and OED, "Squadron 7," "Squadrone b.," and
+"Squadronist."
+
+P. 15, lines 2ff. The famous speech of Colonel Silius Titus (7 Jan.
+1681) was widely reported in two slightly different versions; see Grey,
+8, 279 and Cobbett, 4, 1291. In both these versions the question is
+whether to keep the lion out or to let him in and chain him. Bramston
+may have been following an independent tradition or merely exercising
+poetic license. The lion is, of course, James, Duke of York, the Roman
+Catholic heir to the throne.
+
+Lane: Sir Richard Lane (c. 1667-1756), MP for Worcester 1727-34. He was
+a merchant, sugar baker, and salt trader, and a consistent supporter of
+the administration. For examples of his indecorous use of biblical
+allusions see Sedgwick, 2, 197-98 (the "bantering speech" mentioned
+there used the Book of Revelation to prove that merchants were the best
+people on earth); and Knatchbull, p. 137.
+
+P. 16, line 5. Rufus: King William II, son of William the Conqueror,
+known as William Rufus, was often evoked as an example of tyranny, as
+in Pope's _Windsor-Forest_.
+
+P. 17, lines 9-10. Prince William: younger son of George II, eight
+years old in 1729; Louisa: youngest daughter of King George, then five.
+
+P. 18, line 4. William Shippen (1673-1743) was an extreme Tory, noted
+for his outspoken attacks on the Walpole ministry, one of which landed
+him in the Tower. Sir William Yonge (c. 1693-1755) was notorious, at
+least among the opposition, for voluble but empty speeches in support
+of Walpole, "melodious nothings" as one satirist put it. See also
+Hervey, p. 36, and TE, 4, 394. The attack on _The Art of Politicks_
+quoted above complains that Shippen and Yonge should be mentioned in
+the same breath, but Bramston's point obviously is that the young MP
+cares nothing for either side.
+
+P. 20, line 8. Polly Peachum is of course the heroine of Gay's
+_Beggar's Opera_. The role was played by Lavinia Fenton, who
+immediately became the toast of London. "Old Sir John" may be Sir John
+Hobart (1693-1756), although he was only fifteen years older than Miss
+Fenton (see Sedgwick, 2, 142). His name was sometimes spelled
+"Hubbard," and the following stanza appears in "A New Ballad Inscrib'd
+to Polly Peachum" (British Library C-116.i.4 #38), the cavalier
+typography of which perhaps indicates hasty composition:
+
+       Then came Sir J---- H----
+       Thundring at thy Cubboard:
+   But you cast them like a Lubboard
+   And did soon dispatch him.
+
+Whoever he was, Sir John lost out to Charles Paulet, third Duke of
+Bolton, who kept Miss Fenton faithfully as his mistress, had three
+children by her, and married her on the death of his wife in 1751.
+
+P. 21, line 10. The House of Commons had used St. Stephen's Chapel as
+its meeting place since the mid-sixteenth century. Dover-Court is "a
+proverbial term for a company, in which all are speakers and none
+hearers" (Bell).
+
+P. 23, line 2. Waits: "a small body of wind instrumentalists maintained
+by a city or town at the public charge" (OED).
+
+       line 10. To sell bargains is to return indecent answers to
+civil questions.
+
+P. 24, line 6. Mother Needham was a prominent bawd, notorious for her
+foul language. See TE, 4, 374-75, and 5, 293-94.
+
+       lines 7-8. "Oldfieldismus" and "Kibberismus" refer respectively
+to the styles of Anne Oldfield, a well-known actress, and Colley Cibber,
+playwright, stage manager, and hero of the _Dunciad_. Mrs. Oldfield was
+generally respected, but Pope, like Bramston, seems to have disliked
+her (TE, 4, 375).
+
+       line 11. Tallboy was a booby young lover in Richard Brome's
+comedy _The Jovial Crew_ (1641), popular throughout the eighteenth
+century.
+
+P. 26, line 12. Mist: Nathaniel Mist, Tory journalist. See TE, 5, 448.
+Eusden: Laurence Eusden, Poet Laureate 1718-30, often ridiculed by
+Pope.
+
+       line 14. Cibber's opera is _Love in a Riddle_ (1729), designed
+to capitalize on the craze for ballad opera created by _The Beggar's
+Opera_.
+
+P. 27, line 5. Censor: Sir Richard Steele as Isaac Bickerstaffe, the
+nominal author of _The Tatler_.
+
+P. 29, line 6. Where Edmund Curll stood was in the pillory.
+
+P. 31, line 3. Hugo Grotius's classic of political science, _De jure
+belli ac pacis_, was published in 1625 and translated in 1654.
+
+P. 32, line 1. Wickfort: Abraham de Wicquefort, _l'Ambassadeur et ses
+fonctions_ (La Haye, 1680). It was summarized in _The Craftsman_ of 23
+Sept. 1727.
+
+       line 4. John Banks was the author of _The Unhappy Favourite; or
+the Earl of Essex_ (1681) and of _The Island Queens, or the Death of
+Mary, Queen of Scotland_ (prohibited in 1684; a revision was produced
+in 1704). Bell says that although "written in the most contemptible
+language, yet they never fail to melt the audience into tears, merely
+by the force of judicious and well-arranged plots and incidents."
+
+P. 33, line 1. Arch-Bishop: William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury
+since 1716. He was 72 in 1729. Master of the Rolls: Sir Joseph Jekyll,
+who had held the office since 1717, was about 66 in 1729.
+
+       line 12. Spence: Thomas Spence (d. 1737), Serjeant-at-Arms.
+
+P. 34, line 3. Toft: In 1726 one Mary Toft claimed to have given birth
+to seventeen live rabbits, and some who should have known better
+believed her. See Pope's poem on her, _TE_, 6, 259, and Hogarth's
+engraving.
+
+throws: i.e., throes, labor pains.
+
+       line 8: Bromley and Hanmer: William Bromley (?1663-1732),
+MP for Oxford 1701-32, Speaker 1710-13; Sir Thomas Hanmer (1677-1746),
+who represented several constituencies from 1701-27 and was Speaker
+1714-15. They were Tory heroes, at least to Atterbury, for having
+refused the places offered them by George I in 1715 (Foord, p. 51).
+
+P. 35, line 1. Tonson: Jacob Tonson, prominent bookseller.
+
+       line 9. Cler. Dom. Com.: "Clerk of the House of Commons."
+
+P. 36, line 2. Die Martis is Tuesday; Thursday is Die Jovis.
+
+line 6. Wyndham: Sir William Wyndham, MP for Somerset 1710-40,
+prominent opposition leader from the 1720s. See Sedgwick, 2, 562-64,
+for his reputation. Hervey believed that his high reputation was partly
+due to Walpole's henchmen, who inflated it in order to deflate
+Pultney's (p. 21).
+
+P. 44, line 4. Sir Robert Fagg was better known for horse-racing and
+wenching than for politics; he appears in Hogarth's painting of _The
+Beggar's Opera_ admiring Lavinia Fenton and in the ballad cited in my
+note to p. 20, line 8. Running for Parliament in the borough of
+Steyning, Sussex, in 1722, he came in third in a five-man race with
+nineteen votes. He also ran third in 1727; the vote is not recorded,
+unless Bramston's "two Voices" is to be taken literally.
+
+
+
+Université de Montréal
+
+
+
+
+NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION
+
+
+[A] Letter to John Caryll, 6 Feb. 1731. _Correspondence_, ed. George
+Sherburn (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956), 3, 173. See also Antony
+Coleman's introduction to James Miller's _Harlequin-Horace_ (1731; ARS
+178).
+
+[B] D. F. Foxon, _English Verse 1701-1750_ (Cambridge: The University
+Press, 1975), 1, 77. I should also like to thank Mr. Foxon for generous
+personal help.
+
+[C] I owe my knowledge of Bell's edition to Kent Mullikin of the
+University of North Carolina.
+
+[D] Woolston was convicted on four counts of blasphemy on 4 March 1729.
+His offending works were six _Discourses on the Miracles of our
+Saviour_ (1727-29). He never succeeded in paying his fine of £100
+(Pope, _Poems_ (Twickenham Edition, genl. ed. John Butt; London:
+Methuen, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1939-69), 5, 459). Hereafter
+referred to as _TE_.
+
+Methuen's resignation is erroneously dated in 1730 in _DNB_ and in
+Romney Sedgwick, _The House of Commons 1715-1754_ (New York: Oxford
+University Press, 1970), 2, 254. See Abel Boyer, _The Political State
+of Great Britain, 37_ (May 1729), 523, and John, Lord Hervey. _Some
+Materials towards Memoirs of the Reign of King George II_, ed. Romney
+Sedgwick (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1931), pp. 101-02. According
+to Hervey, Methuen's ostensible reason for resigning was his dislike of
+the general conduct of the court, his real reason his failure to be
+appointed Secretary of State.
+
+[E] Translations of Horace are taken from the Loeb Library edition,
+trans. H. Rushton Fairclough (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University
+Press, 1961). Line numbers of the Latin verse are in the text.
+
+[F] "Verses on the Art of Politicks," _Additions to the Works of
+Alexander Pope, Esq. Together with Many Original Poems and Letters, of
+Contemporary Writers, Never Before Published_ (London, 1776). 1.
+158-59. I have been unable to discover where the poem was first
+printed.
+
+[G] J. H. Plumb. _Sir Robert Walpole_ (London: Cresset). Vol. I (1956).
+pp. 249-50; Sir Edward Knatchbull, _Parliamentary Diary, 1722-30_, ed.
+A. N. Newman (London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1963),
+p. 42.
+
+[H] Most of my information about the Scipios comes from the _Oxford
+Companion to Classical Literature_.
+
+[I] _DNB_; Ray A. Kelch, _Newcastle: A Duke without Money_ (Berkeley
+and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1974), pp. 9-11; Reed
+Browning, _The Duke of Newcastle_ (New Haven and London: Yale
+University Press, 1975), pp. xi-xiii, 80-88.
+
+[J] _DNB_; Browning, p. 18.
+
+[K] Plumb, _Walpole, 2_ (1960), 52-53; Hervey, pp. 411-12; Browning, p.
+113; Archibald S. Foord, _His Majesty's Opposition_, 1714-1830 (Oxford:
+Clarendon Press, 1964), pp. 142-45.
+
+[L] _The British Journal_, 258 (2 Sept. 1727), p. 1.
+
+[M] Reported by Hervey toward the end of 1729 (p. 105).
+
+[N] For illuminating discussions of Opposition ideology and literary
+strategies, see Maynard Mack, _The Garden and the City: Retirement and
+Politics in the Later Poetry of Pope, 1731-1743_ (Toronto and Buffalo:
+University of Toronto Press, 1969); Isaac Kramnick, _Bolingbroke and
+his Circle: The Politicks of Nostalgia in the Age of Walpole_
+(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968); and J.V. Guerinot and
+Rodney D. Jilg, eds., _The Beggar's Opera: Contexts_ (Hamden, Conn.:
+Archon Books, 1976), esp. pp. 69-95.
+
+[O] Part of the research for this introduction was done while I held a
+Leave Fellowship from the Canada Council, whom I should like to thank
+for their support.
+
+[P] _All_ Mr. Heydegger's _Letters come directed to him from abroad_, A
+Monsieur, Monsieur _Heydegger_, Surintendant des Plaisirs d'
+Angleterre.
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
+
+The facsimile of _The Art of Politicks_ (1729) is reproduced by
+permission from a copy of the first edition (Shelf Mark:
+*PR3326/B287A8; Foxon B383) in the William Andrews Clark Memorial
+Library. The total type-page (p. 19) measures 152 x 93 mm.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+                          THE
+
+                   ART of POLITICKS,
+
+                    In IMITATION of
+
+                       _HORACE_'s
+
+                     ART of POETRY.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+                       _LONDON_:
+
+          Printed for LAWTON GILLIVER, at _Homer_'s
+   _Head_ against St. _Dunstan_'s Church in _Fleet-Street_.
+
+                       MDCCXXIX.
+
+
+
+
+                          THE
+
+                   ART of POLITICKS,
+
+                    In IMITATION of
+
+                       _HORACE_'s
+
+                     ART of POETRY.
+
+
+
+
+    [1]
+    [Illustration]
+    If to a Human Face Sir _James_ should draw
+    A Gelding's Mane, and Feathers of Maccaw,
+    A Lady's Bosom, and a Tail of Cod,
+    Who could help laughing at a Sight so odd?
+    Just such a Monster, Sirs, pray think before ye,
+    When you behold one Man both _Whig_ and _Tory_.
+    Not more extravagant are Drunkard's Dreams,
+    Than _Low-Church_ Politicks with _High-Church_ Schemes.
+      Painters, you'll say, may their own Fancies use,
+    And Freeborn _Britons_ may their _Party_ chuse;
+    That's true, I own: but can one Piece be drawn
+    For Dove and Dragon, Elephant and Fawn?
+
+    [2] Speakers profess'd, who Gravity pretend,)
+    With motley Sentiments their Speeches blend:)
+    Begin like Patriots, and like Courtiers end.)
+    Some love to roar, _the Constitution's broke_,
+    And others on the _Nation's Debts_ to joke;
+    Some rail, (they hate a Commonwealth so much,)
+    What e'er the Subject be, against the _Dutch_;
+    While others, with more fashionable Fury,
+    Begin with _Turnpikes_, and conclude with _Fleury_;
+    Some, when th' Affair was _Blenheim_'s glorious Battle,
+    Declaim'd against importing _Irish Cattle_.
+    But you, from what e'er Side you take your Name,
+    Like _Anna_'s _Motto_, always be the same.
+
+    [3] Outsides deceive, 'tis hard the Truth to know;)
+    _Parties_ from quaint Denominations flow,)
+    As _Scotch_ and _Irish_ Antiquaries show.)
+    The _Low_ are said to take Fanaticks Parts,
+    The _High_ are bloody _Papists_ in their Hearts.
+    Caution and Fear to highest Faults have run;
+    In pleasing both the Parties, you please none.
+    Who in the _House_ affects declaiming Airs,
+    _Whales_ in _Change-Alley_ paints: in _Fish-Street, Bears_.
+    Some Metaphors, some Handkerchiefs display;)
+    These peep in Hats, while those with Buttons play,)
+    And make me think it _Repetition-Day_;)
+    There Knights haranguing hug a neighb'ring Post,
+    And are but _Quorum_ Orators at most.
+    Sooner than thus my want of Sense expose,)
+    I'd deck out Bandy-Legs with Gold-Clock't Hose,)
+    Or wear a Toupet-Wig without a Nose.)
+    Nay, I would sooner have thy Phyz, I swear,
+    _Surintendant des Plaisirs d' Angleterre_[P].
+
+    [4] Ye _Weekly Writers_ of seditious _News_,
+    Take Care your _Subjects_ artfully to chuse,
+    Write _Panegyrick_ strong, or boldly _rail_,
+    You cannot miss _Preferment_, or a _Goal_.
+    Wrap up your Poison well, nor fear to say
+    What was a Lye last Night is Truth to Day;
+    Tell this, sink that, arrive at _Ridpath_'s Praise,
+    Let _Abel Roper_ your Ambition raise.
+    To Lye fit Opportunity observe,
+    Saving some double Meaning in reserve;
+    But oh, you'll merit everlasting Fame,
+    If you can quibble on Sir _Robert_'s Name.
+    In _State-Affairs_ use not the Vulgar Phrase,
+    Talk Words scarce known in good Queen _Besse_'s days.
+    New Terms let War or Traffick introduce,
+    And try to bring _Persuading Ships_ in Use.
+    Coin Words: in coining ne'er mind common Sense,
+    Provided the Original be _French_.
+
+    [5] Like _South-Sea Stock_, Expressions rise and fall:
+    King _Edward_'s Words are now no Words at all.
+    Did ought your Predecessors Genius cramp?
+    Sure ev'ry Reign may have it's proper Stamp.
+    All Sublunary things of Death partake;
+    What Alteration does a Cent'ry make?
+    Kings and Comedians all are mortal found,
+    _Cæsar_ and _Pinkethman_ are under Ground.
+    What's not destroy'd by Times devouring Hand?
+    Where's _Troy_, and where's the _May-Pole_ in the _Strand_?
+    Pease, Cabbages, and Turnips once grew, where
+    Now stands new _Bond-street_, and a newer Square;
+    Such Piles of Buildings now rise up and down;
+    London itself seems going out of _Town_.
+    Our Fathers cross'd from _Fulham_ in a Wherry,
+    Their Sons enjoy a Bridge at _Putney-Ferry_.
+    Think we that modern Words eternal are?
+    _Toupet_, and _Tompion_, _Cosins_, and _Colmar_
+    Hereafter will be call'd by some plain Man
+    A _Wig_, a _Watch_, a _Pair of Stays_, a _Fan_.
+    To Things themselves if Time such change affords,
+    Can there be any trusting to our Words.
+
+    [6] To screen good Ministers from Publick rage,)
+    And how with Party Madness to engage,)
+    We learn from _Addison_'s immortal Page.)
+    The _Jacobite_'s ridiculous Opinion
+    Is seen from _Tickel_'s Letter to _Avignon_.
+    But who puts _Caleb_'s _Country-Craftsman_ out,
+    Is still a secret, and the World's in doubt.
+
+    [7] Not long since _Parish-Clerks_, with saucy airs,
+    Apply'd _King David_'s _Psalms_ to _State-Affairs_.
+    Some certain _Tunes_ to Politicks belong,
+    On both Sides Drunkards love a Party-Song.
+
+    [8] If full a-cross the Speaker's Chair I go,
+    Can I be said the _Rules_ o'th' _House_ to know?
+    I'll ask, nor give offence without intent,
+    Nor through meer Sheepishness be impudent.
+
+    [9] In _Acts of Parliament_ avoid Sublime,
+    Nor e'er Address his Majesty in Rhime;
+    An _Act of Parliament_'s a serious thing,
+    Begins with Year of Lord and Year of King;
+    Keeps close to Form, in every word is strict,
+    When it would _Pains_ and _Penalties_ inflict.
+    Soft Words suit best _Petitioners_ intent;
+    Soft Words, O ye _Petitioners_ of Kent!
+
+    [10] Who e'er harangues before he gives his Vote,
+    Should send sweet Language from a tuneful Throat.
+    _Pultney_ the coldest Breast with Zeal can fire,
+    And _Roman Thoughts_ by _Attick Stile_ inspire;
+    He knows from tedious Wranglings to beguile
+    The serious _House_ into a chearful Smile;
+    When the great Patriot paints his anxious Fears
+    For _England_'s Safety, I am lost in Tears.
+    But when dull Speakers strive to move compassion,
+    I pity their poor Hearers, not the Nation:
+    Unless young _Members_ to the purpose speak,
+    I fall a laughing, or I fall asleep.
+
+    [11] Can Men their inward Faculties controul?
+    Is not the Tongue an Index to the Soul?
+    Laugh not in time of _Service_ to your God,
+    Nor bully, when in _Custody_ o'th' _Rod_;
+    Look Grave, and be from Jokes and Grinning far,
+    When brought to sue for Pardon at the _Bar_.
+    If then you let your ill-tim'd Wit appear,
+    Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses will sneer.
+
+    [12] For Land, or Trade, not the same Notions sire
+    The _City-Merchant_, and the _Country-Squire_;
+    Their Climes are distant, tho' one Cause unites
+    The _Lairds_ of _Scotland_, and the _Cornish Knights_.
+
+    [13] To _Likelihood_ your _Characters_ confine;
+    Don't turn _Sir Paul_ out, let _Sir Paul_ resign.
+    In _Walpole_'s Voice (if Factions Ill intend)
+    Give the Two _Universities_ a Friend;
+    Give _Maidston_ Wit, and Elegance refin'd;
+    To both the _Pelhams_ give the _Scipios_ Mind;
+    To _Cart'ret_, Learning, Eloquence, and Parts;
+    To _George_ the _Second_, give all _English_ Hearts.
+
+    [14] Sometimes fresh Names in Politicks produce,
+    And Factions yet unheard of introduce;
+    And if you dare attempt a thing so new,
+    Make to itself the _Flying-Squadron_ true.
+
+    [15] To speak is free, no _Member_ is debarr'd:
+    But _Funds_ and _National Accounts_ are hard:
+    Safer on common Topicks to discourse,
+    The _Malt-Tax_, and a _Military Force_.
+    On these each Coffee-House will lend a hint,
+    Besides a thousand things that are in Print.
+    But steal not Word for Word, nor Thought for Thought:
+    For you'll be teaz'd to death, if you are caught.
+    When Factious Leaders boast increasing strength,
+    Go not too far, nor follow ev'ry Length:
+    Leave room for Change, turn with a grace about,
+    And swear you left 'em, when you found 'em out,
+
+    [16] With Art and Modesty your Part maintain:
+    And talk like _Col'nel Titus_, not like _Lane_;
+    The Trading-Knight with Rants his Speech begins,
+    Sun, Moon, and Stars, and Dragons, Saints, and Kings:
+    But _Titus_ said, with his uncommon Sense,
+    When the _Exclusion-Bill_ was in suspense,
+    I hear a Lyon in the Lobby roar;
+    Say, Mr. Speaker, shall we shut the door
+    And keep him there, or shall we let him in
+    To try if we can turn him out again?
+
+    [17] Some mighty Blusterers _Impeach_ with noise,
+    And call their Private Cry, the Nation's Voice;
+
+    [18] From Folio's of Accounts they take their handles,
+    And the whole Ballance proves a pound of Candles;
+    As if _Paul_'s Cupola were brought to bed,
+    After hard Labour, of a small Pin's Head.
+
+    [19] Some _Rufus_, some the _Conqueror_ bring in,
+    And some from _Julius Cæsar_'s days begin.
+    A cunning Speaker can command his chaps,
+    And when the _House_ is not in humour, stops;
+    In Falsehood Probability imploys,
+    Nor his old Lies with newer Lies destroys.
+
+    [20] If when you speak, you'd hear a Needle fall,
+    And make the frequent _hear-hims_ rend the wall,
+    In matters suited to your Taste engage,
+    Remembring still your Quality and Age.
+    Thy task be this, young Knight, and hear my Song
+    What Politicks to ev'ry Age belong.
+
+    [21] When _Babes_ can speak, _Babes_ should be taught to say,
+    _King George the Second_'s Health, Huzza, Huzza!
+    _Boys_ should learn _Latin_ for _Prince William_'s sake,
+    And Girls _Louisa_ their Example make.
+
+    [22] More loves the _Youth_, just come to his Estate,
+    To range the fields, than in the _House_ debate;
+    More he delights in fav'rite Jowler's Tongue,
+    Than in _Will Shippen_, or _Sir William Yong_:
+    If in one Chase he can two Horses kill,
+    He cares not twopence for the Land-Tax Bill:
+    Loud in his Wine, in Women not o'er nice,
+    He damns his Uncles if they give advice;
+    Votes as his Father did, when there's a _Call_,
+    But had much rather, never Vote at all.
+
+    [23] We take a diff'rent Turn at _Twenty-six_,
+    And lofty thoughts on some Lord's Daughter fix;
+    With Men in Pow'r strict Friendship we persue,
+    With some considerable Post in view.
+     A Man of _Forty_ fears to change his Note,
+    One way to Speak, and t'other way to Vote;
+    Careful his Tongue in Passion to command,
+    Avoids the Bar, and Speaker's Reprimand.
+
+    [24] In Bags the _Old Man_ lets his Treasure rust,
+    Afraid to use it, or the Funds to trust;
+    When Stocks are low, he wants the heart to buy,
+    And through much caution sees 'em rise too high;
+    Thinks nothing rightly done since _Seventy-eight_,
+    Swears present _Members_ do not talk, but prate:
+    In _Charles the Second_'s days, says he, ye Prigs,
+    _Torys_ were _Torys_ then, and _Whigs_ were _Whigs_.
+    Alas! this is a lamentable Truth,
+    We lose in age, as we advance in youth:
+    I laugh, when twenty will like eighty talk,
+    And old _Sir John_ with _Polly Peachum_ walk.
+
+    [25] Now as to _Double_, or to _False Returns_,
+    When pockets suffer, and when anger burns,
+    O Thing surpassing faith! Knight strives with Knight,
+    When both have brib'd, and neither's in the right.
+    The Bayliff's self is sent for in that case,
+    And all the Witnesses had face to face.
+    Selected _Members_ soon the fraud unfold,
+    In full Committee of the _House_ 'tis told;
+    Th' incredible Corruption is destroy'd,
+    The Chairman's angry, and th' Election void.
+
+    [26] Those who would captivate the well-bred throng,
+    Should not too often speak, nor speak too long:
+    Church, nor Church Matters ever turn to Sport,
+    Nor make _St. Stephen's Chappel_, _Dover-Court_.
+
+    [27] The _Speaker_, when the Commons are assembl'd,
+    May to the _Græcian Chorus_ be resembl'd;
+    'Tis his the Young and Modest to espouse,
+    And see none draw, or challenge in the _House_:
+    'Tis his Old Hospitality to use,
+    And three good Printers for the _House_ to chuse;
+    To let each Representative be heard,
+    And take due care the _Chaplain_ be preferr'd,
+    To hear no _Motion_ made that's out of joint,
+    And where he spies his _Member_, make his point.
+
+    [28] To Knights new chosen in old time would come
+    The _County Trumpet_, and perhaps a _Drum_;
+    Now when a Burgess new Elect appears,
+    Come Trainbands, Horseguards, Footguards, Grenadeers;
+    When the majority the Town-clerk tells,
+    His Honour pays the Fiddles, Waits, and Bells:
+    Harangues the _Mob_, and is as wise and great,
+    As the most Mystic Oracle of State.
+
+    [29] When the Duke's Grandson for the County stood,
+    His Beef was fat, and his October good;
+    His Lordship took each Ploughman by the fist,
+    Drunk to their Sons, their Wives and Daughters kiss'd;
+    But when strong Beer their Freeborn Hearts inflames,
+    They sell him Bargains, and they call him Names.
+    Thus is it deem'd in _English_ Nobles wise
+    To stoop for no one reason but to rise.
+
+    [30] Election matters shun with cautious awe,
+    O all ye Judges Learned in the Law;
+    A Judge by Bribes as much himself degrades,
+    As Dutchess Dowager by Masquerades.
+
+    [31] Try not with Jests obscene to force a Smile,
+    Nor lard your Speech with Mother _Needham_'s Stile:
+    Let not your tongue to =Ôldphieldismus= run,
+    And =Kibberismus= with abhorrence shun;
+    Let not your looks affected words disgrace,
+    Nor join with silver Tongue a brazen Face;
+    Let not your hands, like Tallboys, be employ'd,
+    And the mad rant of Tragedy avoid.
+    Just in your Thoughts, in your Expression clear,
+    Neither too modest, nor too bold appear.
+
+    [32] Others in vain a like Success will boast,
+    He speaks most easy, who has study'd most.
+
+    [33] A Peer's pert Heir has to the Commons spoke
+    A vile Reflection, or a Bawdy Joke;
+    Call'd to the House of Lords, of this beware,
+    'Tis what the _Bishops Bench_ will never bear.
+    Amongst the _Commons_ is such freedom shown,
+    They lash each other, and attack the Throne:
+    Yet so unskilful or so fearful some,
+    For nine that speak there's nine-and-forty dumb.
+
+    [34] When _James_ the _first_, at great _Britannia_'s helm,
+    Rul'd this word-clipping and word-coining Realm,
+    No words to Royal favour made pretence,
+    But what agreed in sound and clash'd in sense.
+    Thrice happy he! how great that Speaker's praise,
+    Whose ev'ry Period look'd an hundred ways.
+    What then? we now with just abhorrence shun
+    The trifling Quibble, and the School-boys Pun;
+    Tho' no great Connoisseur, I make a shift
+    Just to find out a _Durfey_ from a _Swift_;
+    I can discern with half an eye, I hope,
+    _Mist_ from _Jo Addison_, from _Eusden Pope_:
+    I know a Farce from one of _Congreve_'s Plays,
+    And _Cibber_'s Opera from _Johnny Gay_'s.
+
+    [35] When pert _Defoe_ his sawcy Papers writ,
+    He from a Cart was Pillor'd for his Wit:
+    By Mob was pelted half a Morning's space,
+    And rotten Eggs besmear'd his yellow face;
+    The _Censor_ then improv'd the list'ning Isle,
+    And held both Parties in an artful Smile.
+    A Scribbling Crew now pinching Winter brings,)
+    That spare no earthly nor no heav'nly things,)
+    Nor Church, nor State, nor Treasurers, nor Kings.)
+    But Blasphemy displeases all the Town;)
+    And for defying Scripture, Law, and Crown,)
+    _Woolston_ should pay his Fine, and lose his Gown,)
+
+    [36] It must be own'd the _Journals_ try all ways
+    To merit their respective Party's praise:
+    They jar in every Article from _Spain_;
+    A War these threaten, those a Peace maintain:
+    Tho' Lye they will, to give 'em all their due,
+    In Foreign matters, and Domestick too.
+    Whoe'er thou art that would'st a _Postman_ write,
+    Enquire all day, and hearken all the night.
+    Sure, _Gazetteers_ and Writers of _Courants_
+    Might soon exceed th' Intelligence of _France_:
+    To be out-done old _England_ should refuse,
+    As in her Arms, so in her Publick News;
+    But Truth is scarce, the Scene of Action large,
+    And Correspondence an excessive Charge.
+
+    [37] There are who say, no Man can be a Wit
+    Unless for _Newgate_ or for _Bedlam_ fit;
+    Let Pamphleteers abusive Satyr write,
+    To shew a Genius is to shew a Spite:
+    That Author's Works will ne'er be reckon'd good
+    Who has not been where _Curl_ the Printer stood.
+
+    [38] Alass Poor Me, you may my fortune guess:
+    I write, and yet Humanity profess;
+    (Tho' nothing can delight a modern Judge,
+    Without ill-nature and a private Grudge)
+    I love the King, the Queen, and Royal Race:
+    I like the Government, but want no Place:
+    Too low in Life to be a _Justice_ I,
+    And for a Constable, thank God, too high;
+    Was never in a Plot, my Brain's not hurt;
+    I Politicks to Poetry convert.
+
+    [39] A Politician must (as I have read)
+    Be furnish'd, in the first place, with a _Head_:
+    A _Head_ well fill'd with _Machiavelian_ Brains,
+    And stuff'd with Precedents of former Reigns:
+    Must Journals read, and _Magna Charta_ quote;
+    But acts still wiser, if he speaks by _Note_:
+    Learns well his Lesson, and ne'er fears mistakes:
+    For Ready Money Ready Speakers makes;
+    He must Instructions and Credentials draw,
+    Pay well the Army, and protect the Law:
+    Give to his Country what's his Country's due,
+    But first help _Brothers_, _Sons_, and _Cousins_ too.
+    He must read _Grotius_ upon War and Peace,
+    And the twelve Judges Salary encrease.
+    He must oblige old Friends and new Allies,
+    And find out _Ways and Means_ for fresh _Supplies_.
+    He must the Weavers Grievances redress,
+    And Merchants wants in Merchants words express.
+
+    [40] Dramatick Poets that expect the Bays,
+    Should cull our Histories for Party Plays;
+    _Wickfort's Embassador_ should fill their head,
+    And the _State-Tryals_ carefully be read:
+    For what is _Dryden_'s Muse and _Otway_'s Plots
+    To th' _Earl of Essex_ or the _Queen of Scots_?
+
+    [41] 'Tis said that _Queen Elizabeth_ could speak,
+    At twelve years old, right _Attick_ full-mouth'd _Greek_;
+    Hence was the Student forc'd at _Greek_ to drudge,
+    If he would be a Bishop, or a Judge.
+    Divines and Lawyers now don't think they thrive,
+    'Till promis'd places of men still alive:
+    How old is such an one in such a Post?
+    The answer is, he's seventy-five almost:
+    Th' Arch-Bishop, and the Master of the Rolls?
+    Neither is young, and one's as old as _Paul_'s.
+    Will Men, that ask such Questions, publish books
+    Like learned _Hooker_'s or _Chief Justice Cook_'s?
+
+    [42] On Tender Subjects with discretion touch,
+    And never say too little, or too much.
+    On Trivial Matters Flourishes are wrong,
+    Motions for Candles never should be long:
+    Or if you move, in case of sudden Rain,
+    To shut the Windows, speak distinct and plain.
+    Unless you talk good _English_ downright Sense,
+    Can you be understood by Serjeant _Spence_?
+
+    [43] New Stories always should with Truth agree
+    Or Truth's half-Sister, Probability:
+    Scarce could _Toft_'s Rabbits and pretended throws
+    On half the Honourable _House_ impose.
+
+    [44] When _Cato_ speaks, young _Shallow_ runs away,
+    And swears it is so dull he cannot stay:
+    When Rakes begin on Blasphemy to border,
+    _Bromley_ and _Hanmer_ cry aloud---- _To Order_.
+    The point is this, with manly Sense and ease
+    T' inform the Judgment, and the Fancy please.
+    Praise it deserves, nor difficult the thing,
+    At once to serve one's Countrey and one's King.
+    Such Speeches bring the wealthy _Tonson_'s gain,)
+    From Age to Age they minuted remain,)
+    As Precedents for George the twentieth's Reign.)
+
+    [45] Is there a Man on earth so perfect found,
+    Who ne'er mistook a word in Sense or Sound?
+    Not Blund'ring, but persisting is the fault;
+    No mortal Sin is _Lapsus Linguæ_ thought:
+    Clerks may mistake; consid'ring who 'tis from,
+    I pardon little Slips in _Cler. Dom. Com._
+    But let me tell you I'll not take his part,
+    If ev'ry _Thursday_ he date _Die Mart_.
+    Of Sputt'ring mortals 'tis the fatal curse,
+    By mending Blunders still to make 'em worse.
+    Men sneer when---- gets a lucky Thought,
+    And stare if _Wyndham_ should be nodding caught.
+    But sleeping's what the wisest men may do,
+    Should the Committee chance to sit 'till Two.
+
+    [46] Not unlike Paintings, Principles appear,
+    Some best at distance, some when we are near.
+    The love of Politicks so vulgar's grown,
+    My Landlord's Party from his Sign is known:
+    Mark of _French_ wine, see _Ormond_'s Head appear,
+    While _Marlb'rough_'s Face directs to Beer and Beer:
+    Some _Buchanan_'s, the _Pope_'s Head some like best,
+    The _Devil Tavern_ is a standing jest.
+
+    [47] Whoe'er you are that have a Seat secure,
+    Duly return'd, and from _Petition_ sure,
+    Stick to your Friends in whatsoe'er you say;
+    With strong aversion shun the Middle way:
+    The Middle way the best we sometimes call,
+    But 'tis in Politicks no way at all.
+    A _Trimmer_'s what both Parties turn to sport,
+    By Country hated, and despis'd at Court.
+    Who would in earnest to a Party come,
+    Must give his Vote, not whimsical, but plumb.
+    There is no Medium: for the term in vogue
+    On either side is, Honest Man, or Rogue.
+    Can it be difficult our Minds to show,
+    Where all the Difference is, Yes, or No?
+
+    [48] In all Professions, Time and Pains give Skill,
+    Without hard Study, dare Physicians kill?
+    Can he that ne'er read Statutes or Reports,
+    Give Chamber-Counsel, or urge Law in Courts?
+    But ev'ry Whipster knows Affairs of State,
+    Nor fears on nicest Subjects to debate.
+    A Knight of eighteen hundred pounds a year--
+    Who minds his Head, if his Estate be clear?
+    Sure he may speak his mind, and tell the _House_,
+    He matters not the Government a Louse.
+    Lack-learning Knights, these things are safely said
+    To Friends in private, at the _Bedford-Head_:
+    But in the _House_, before your Tongue runs on,
+    Consult _Sir James_, _Lord William_'s dead and gone.
+    Words to recall is in no Member's power,
+    One single word may send you to the _Tower_.
+
+    [49] The wrong'd to help, the lawless to restrain,
+    Thrice ev'ry Year, in ancient _Egbert_'s Reign,
+    The _Members_ to the _Mitchelgemot_ went,
+    In after Ages call'd the _Parliament_;
+    Early the _Mitchelgemot_ did begin
+    T' enroll their Statutes, on a Parchment Skin:
+    For impious Treason hence no room was left,
+    For Murder, for Polygamy, or Theft:
+    Since when the Senates power both Sexes know
+    From Hops and Claret, Soap and Callico.
+    Now wholesom Laws young Senators bring in
+    'Gainst _Goats_, _Attornies_, _Bribery_, and _Gin_.
+    Since such the nature of the _British_ State,
+    The power of _Parliament_ so old and great,
+    Ye 'Squires and _Irish_ Lords, 'tis worth your care)
+    To be return'd for City, Town, or Shire,)
+    By Sheriff, Bailiff, Constable, or Mayor.)
+
+    [50] Some doubt, which to a Seat has best Pretence,
+    A man of Substance, or a man of Sense:
+    But never any Member feats will do,
+    Without a Head-piece and a Pocket too;
+    Sense is requir'd the depth of Things to reach,
+    And Money gives Authority to Speech.
+
+    [51] A Man of Bus'ness won't 'till ev'ning dine;
+    Abstains from Women, Company, and Wine:
+    From _Fig_'s new Theatre he'll miss a Night,
+    Tho' Cocks, and Bulls, and _Irish_ Women fight:
+    Nor sultry Sun, nor storms of soaking Rain,
+    The Man of Bus'ness from the _House_ detain:
+    Nor speaks he for no reason but to say,
+    I am a _Member_, and I spoke to day.
+    I speak sometimes, you'll hear his Lordship cry,
+    Because Some speak that have less Sense than I.
+
+    [52] The Man that has both Land and Money too
+    May wonders in a Trading Borough do:
+    They'll praise his Ven'son, and commend his Port,)
+    Turn their two former Members into Sport,)
+    And, if he likes it, Satyrize the Court.)
+    But at a Feast 'tis difficult to know
+    From real Friends an undiscover'd Foe;
+    The man that swears he will the Poll secure,
+    And pawns his Soul that your Election's sure,
+    Suspect that man: beware, all is not right,
+    He's, ten to one, a Corporation-Bite.
+
+    [53] Alderman _Pond_, a downright honest Man,
+    Would say, I cannot help you, or I can:
+    To spend your Money, Sir, is all a jest;
+    Matters are settled, set your heart at rest:
+    We've made a Compromise, and, Sir, you know,
+    That sends one Member _High_, and t'other _Low_.
+    But if his good Advice you would not take,
+    He'd scorn your Supper, and your Punch forsake:
+    Leave you of mighty Interest to brag,
+    And poll two Voices like _Sir Robert Fag_.
+
+    [54] _Parliamenteering_ is a sort of Itch,
+    That will too oft unwary Knights bewitch.
+    Two good Estates Sir _Harry Clodpole_ spent;
+    Sate thrice, but spoke not once, in Parliament:
+    Two good Estates are gone--Who'll take his word?
+    Oh! should his Uncle die, he'd spend a third:
+    He'd buy a House, his happiness to crown,
+    Within a mile of some good _Borough-Town_;
+    Tag, Rag, and Bobtail to Sir _Harry_'s run,
+    Men that have Votes, and Women that have none:
+    Sons, Daughters, Grandsons, with his Honour dine;
+    He keeps a Publick-House without a Sign.
+    Coolers and Smiths extol th' ensuing Choice,
+    And drunken Taylors boast their right of Voice.
+    Dearly the free-born neighbourhood is bought,
+    They never leave him while he's worth a groat:
+    So Leeches stick, nor quit the bleeding wound,
+    Till off they drop with Skinfuls to the ground.
+
+
+
+
+                    _FINIS_.
+
+
+  [1] Humano capiti cervicem Pictor equinam
+      Jungere si velit, & varias inducere plumas,
+      Undiq; collatis membris, ut turpiter atrum
+      Desinat in piscem mulier formosa superne:
+      Spectatum admissi, risum teneatis, amici?
+      Credite, Pisones, isti tabulæ fore librum
+      Persimilem, cujus, velit ægri somnia, vanæ
+      Fingentur species. Pictoribus atq; Poetis
+      Quidlibet audendi semper fuit æqua potestas;
+      Scimus, & hanc veniam petimusq; damusq; vicissim:
+      Sed non ut placidis coeant immitia, non ut
+      Serpentes avibus geminentur, tigribus agni.
+
+  [2] Incoeptis gravibus plerumq; & magna professis
+      Purpureus late qui splendeat unus & alter
+      Assuitur pannus, cum lucus & ara Dianæ,
+      Aut properantis aquæ per amænos ambitus agros,
+      Aut flumen Rhenum, aut pluvius describitur arcus;
+      Sed nunc non erar his locus: & fortasse cupressum,
+      Scis simulare, quid hoc, si fractis enatat exspes
+      Navibus, ære dato qui pingitur? amphora cæpit
+      Institui, currente rota cur urceus exit?
+      Deniq; sit quidvis simplex duntaxat & unum.
+
+
+  [3] Decipimur specie recti; brevis esse laboro,
+      Obscurus fio: sectantem lævia, nervi
+      Deficiunt animique: professus grandia, turget.
+      Qui variare cupit rem prodigialiter unam
+      Delphinum sylvis appingit, fluctibus aprum.
+      In vitium ducit culpæ fuga, si caret arte.
+      Æmilium circa ludum faber imus & ungues
+      Exprimet, & molles imitabitur ore capillos;
+      Infelix operis summa, quia ponere totum
+      Nesciet; hunc ego me, si quid componere curem,
+      Non magis esse velim, quam pravo vivere naso
+      Spectandum nigris oculis nigroq; capillo.
+
+  [4] Sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, æquam
+      Viribus; & versate diu, quid ferre recusent,
+      Quid valeant humeri: cui lecta potenter erit res,
+      Nec facundia deseret hunc nec lucidus ordo.
+      Ordinis hæc virtus erit & venus, aut ego fallor,
+      Ut jam nunc dicat jam nunc debentia dici:
+      Pleraq; differat, & præsens in tempus omittat.
+      Dixeris egregie, notum si callida verbum
+      Reddiderit junctura novum; si forte necesse est
+      Indiciis monstrare recentibus abdita rerum
+      Fingere cinctutis non exaudita Cethegis
+      Continget, dabiturq; licentia sumpta pudenter
+      Et nova sictaq; nuper habebunt verba fidem, si
+      Græco fonte cadant.
+
+  [5] ---- licuit, semperque licebit
+      Signatum præsente nota procudere nomen.
+      Ut Sylvæ foliis pronos mutantur in annos:
+      Prima cadunt, ita verborum vetus interit ætas,
+      Debemur morti nos nostraq; sive receptus
+      Terra Neptunus classes aquilonibus arcet,
+      Regis opus, sterilisve diu palus aptaque remis
+      Vicinas urbes alit & grave sentit aratrum.
+      Seu cursum mutavit iniquum frugibus amnis
+      Doctus iter melius; mortalia facta peribunt,
+      Nedum sermonum stet honos & gratia vivax.
+      Multa renascentur quæ jam cecidere, cadentq;
+      Quæ nunc sunt in honore vocabula, si volet usus,
+      Quem penes arbitrium est & jus norma loquendi.
+
+  [6] Res gestæ regumq; ducumq; & tristia bella
+      Quo scribi possent numero, monstravit Homerus.
+      Versibus impariter junctis querimonia primum,
+      Post etiam voti inclusa est voti sententia compos.
+      Quis tamen exiguos elegos emiserit auctor
+      Grammatici certant, & adhuc sub judice lis est.
+
+  [7] Musa dedit fidibus Divos puerosq; Deorum,
+      Et pugilem victorem, & equum certamine primum,
+      Et juvenum curas, & libera vina referre.
+
+
+  [8] Descriptas servare vices operumq; colores
+      Cur ego si nequeo ignoroq;, poeta salutor?
+      Cur nescire pudens prave quam discere malo?
+
+  [9] Versibus exponi tragicis res comica nonvult
+      Indignatur item privatis ac prope socco
+      Dignis carminibus narrari cæna Thyestæ,
+      Interdum tamen & vocem Comædia tollit,
+      Iratusq; Chremes tumido delitigat ore.
+      Telephus & Peleus, cum pauper & exul uterq;,
+      Projicit ampullas & sesqui pedalia verba.
+
+ [10] Non fatis est est pulchra esse Poemata, dulcia sunto.
+      Ut ridentibus arrident, ita flentibus adflent
+      Humani vultus; si vis me flere, dolendum est
+      Primum ipsi tibi: tunc tua me infortunia lædent
+      Telephe, vel Peleu; male si mandata loqueris,
+      Aut dormitabo aut ridebo.
+
+ [11] Format enim Natura prius nos intus ad omnem
+      Fortunarum habitum, &c.
+      Post effert animi motus interprete Lingua
+                              ---- tristia mæstum
+      Vultum verba decent, &c.
+      Si dicentis erunt fortunis absona dicta,
+      Romani tollent equites peditesq; cachinnum.
+
+ [12] Intererit multum Divusne loquetur, an Heros:
+      Mercatorne vagus, cultorne virentis agelli:
+      Colchus, an Assyrius: Thebis nutritus, an Argis.
+
+ [13] Aut famam sequere, aut sibi convenientia finge
+      Scriptor; honoratum si forte reponis Achillem,
+      Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer,
+      Jura neget sibi nata, nihil non arroget armis;
+      Sit Medea ferox invictaq;, flebilis Ino,
+      Perfidus Ixion, Io vaga, tristis Orestes.
+
+ [14] Siquid inexpertum scenæ committis, & audes
+      Personam formare novam, servetur ad imum
+      Qualis ab incæpto processerit, & sibi constet.
+
+ [15] Difficile est proprie communia dicere: tuq;
+      Rectius Iliacum carmen deducis in actus,
+      Quam si proferres ignota indictaq; primus;
+      Publica materies privati juris erit, si
+      Nec circa vilem patulumq; moraberis orbem,
+      Nec verbum verbo curabis reddere fidus
+      Interpres, nec sic desilies imitator in arctum
+      Unde pedem proferre pudor vetet aut operis lex.
+
+ [16] Nec sic incipies ut Scriptor Cyclicus olim.
+      Fortunam Priami cantabo & nobile bellum;
+      Quanto rectius hic qui nil molitur inepte,
+      Dic mihi Musa virum captæ post tempera Trojæ
+      Qui mores hominum multorum vidit & urbes.
+
+ [17] Non fumum ex fulgore, sed ex fumo dare lucem
+      Cogitat:
+
+ [18] Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatu?
+      Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.
+
+ [19] Nec reditum Diomedis ab interitu Meleagri,
+      Nec gemino bellum Trojanum orditur ab ovo;
+                                  ---- & quæ
+      Desperat tractata nitescere posse, relinquit;
+      Atq; ita mentitur, sic veris falsa remiscet
+      Primo ne medium, medio ne discrepet imum.
+
+ [20] Tu quid ego & populus mecum desideret, audi;
+      Si plausoris eges aulæa manentis, & usq;
+      Sessuri donec cantor, Vos plaudite, dicat,
+      Ætatis cujusq; notandi sunt tibi mores,
+      Mobilibusq; decor naturis dandus & annis.
+
+ [21] Reddere qui voces jam scit puer, & pede certo
+      Signat humum, gestit paribus colludere, & iram
+      Colligit ac ponit temere, & mutantur in horas.
+
+ [22] Imberbis juvenis, tandem custode remoto,
+      Gaudet equis canibusq; & aprici gramine campi:
+      Cereus in vitium flecti, monitoribus asper,
+      Utilium tardus provisor, prodigus æris,
+      Sublimis, cupidusq; & amata relinquere pernix.
+
+ [23] Conversis studiis ætas animusq; virilis
+      Quærit opes & amicitias, infervit honori,
+      Commisisse cavet quod mox mutare laboret.
+
+ [24] Multa senem circum veniunt incommoda, vel quod
+      Quærit & inventis miser abstinet ac timet uti:
+      Dilator, spe longus iners, avidusq; futuri,
+      Difficilis, querulus, laudator temporis acti
+      Se puero, censor castigatorq; minorum.
+      Multa ferunt anni venientes commoda secum,
+      Multa recedentes adimunt; ne forte viriles
+      Mandentur juveni partes, pueroq; viriles,
+      Semper in adjunctis ævoq; morabimur aptis.
+
+ [25] Aut agitur res in Scenis, aut acta refertur;
+      Segnius irritant aminos demissa per aures,
+      Quam quæ sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus, & quæ
+      Ipse sibit tradit Spectator.
+      Quodcunq; ostendis mihi sic, incredulus odi.
+
+ [26] Neve minor, neu sit quinto productior actu
+      Fabula, quæ posci vult & spectata reponi;
+      Nec Deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus
+      Inciderit, nec quarta loqui persona laboret.
+
+ [27] Actoris partes Chorus officiumq; virile
+      Defendat: neu quid medios intercinat actus
+      Quod non proposito conducat & hæreat apte;
+      Ille bonis faveatq; & concilietur amicis,
+      Et regat iratos, & amet peccare timentes:
+      Ille dapes laudet mensæ brevis, ille salubrem
+      Justitiam, legesq; & apertis otia portis;
+      Ille tegat commissa, Deosq; precetur & oret
+      Ut redeat miseris, abeat fortuna superbis.
+
+ [28] Tibia non, ut nunc, Orichalco vincta, tubæq;
+      Æmula, sed tenuis simplexq; foramine pauco,
+      Aspirare & adesse choris erat utilis, &c.
+      Postquam coepit agros extendere victor, & urbem
+      Latior amplecti, muros, &c.
+      Accessit numerisq; modisq; licentia major;
+      Sic etiam fidibus voces crevere severis,
+      Et tulit eloquium insolitum facundia præceps:
+      Utiliumq; sagax rerum & divina futuri
+      Sortilegis non discrepuit sententia Delphis.
+
+ [29] Carmine qui tragico vilem certavit ob hircum
+      Incolumi gravitate jocum tentavit, eo quod
+      Illecebris erat & grata novitate morandus
+      Spectator, functusq; sacris, & potus, & exlex.
+
+ [30] Effutire leves indigna Tragoedia versus,
+      Ut festis matrona moveri jussa diebus,
+      Intererit Satyris paulum pudibunda protervis.
+
+ [31] Non ego inornata & dominantia nomina solum
+      Verbaq; Pisones, Satyrorum scriptor amabo;
+      Nec sic enitar Tragico differre colori
+      Ut nihil intersit Davusne loquatur, an audax
+      Pythias, emuncto lucrata Simone talentum:
+      An custos famulusque Dei Silenus alumni,
+
+ [32] Ut sibi quivis
+      Speret idem, sudet multum frustraq; laboret.
+
+ [33] Ne nimium teneris juvenentur versibus unquam,
+      Aut immunda crepent ignominiosaq; dicta:
+      Offenduntur enim, quibus est equus & pater & res,
+      Nec si quid fricti ciceris probat & nucis emtor
+      Æquis accipiunt animis, donantve coronâ.
+
+ [34] At nostri proavi Plautinos & numeros &
+      Laudavere sales, nimium patienter utrumq;
+      Ne dicam stultè, mirati; si modo ego & vos
+      Scimus inurbanum lepido seponere dictum,
+      Legitimumq; sonum digitis callemus & aure.
+
+ [35] Ignotum Tragicæ genus invenisse Camænæ
+      Dicitur, & plaustris vexisse poëmata Thespis,
+      Quæ canerent agerentq; peruncti fæcibus ora;
+      Post hunc personæ pallæq; repertor honestæ
+      Æichylus & modicis instravit pulpita tignis,
+      Et docuit magnumq; loqui nitiq; cothurno.
+        Successit vetus his Comædia non sine multa
+      Laude: sed in vitium libertas excidit, & vim
+      Dignam lege regi; lex est accepta, chorusq;
+      Turpiter obticuit sublato jure nocendi.
+
+ [36] Nil intentatum nostri liquere Poetæ,
+      Nec minimum meruere decus vestigia Græca
+      Ausi deserere, & celebrare domestica facta:
+      Nee virtute foret clarisve potentius armis,
+      Quam lingua, Latium, si non offenderet unum
+       Quemq; Poetarum limæ labor & mora.
+
+ [37] Ingenium miserâ quia fortunatius arte
+      Credit, & excludit sanos Helicone Poetas
+      Democritus, bona pars non unguem ponere curat,
+      Non barbam----
+      Nanciscetur enim pretium nomenq; Poetæ
+      Si tribus Anticyris caput insanabile nunquam
+      Tonsori Licino commiserit;
+
+ [38] ---- O ego lævus
+      Qui purgor bilem sub verni temporis horam:
+      Non alius faceret meliora poemata, verum
+      Nil tanti est: ergo fungar vice cotis, acutum
+      Reddere quæ ferrum valet exors ipse secandi;
+      Munus & officium, nil scribens ipse, docebo:
+      Unde parentur opes, quid alat formetq; Poetam:
+      Quid deceat, quid non: quo virtus, quo ferat error.
+
+ [39] Scribendi recte sapere est & principium & fons:
+      Rem tibi Socraticæ poterunt ostendere chartæ,
+      Verbaq; provisam rem non invita sequuntur.
+      Qui didicit patriæ quid debeat, & quid amicis,
+      Quo sit amore parens, quo frater amandus, & hospes,
+      Quod sit conscripti, quod judicis officium, quæ
+      Partes in bellum missi ducis, ille profecto
+      Reddere personæ scit convenientia cuiq;.
+
+ [40] Respicere exemplar vitæ morumq; jubebo
+      Doctum imitatorem, & veras hinc ducere voces;
+      Fabula nullius veneris, sine pondere & arte,
+      Valdius oblectat populum meliusq; moratur,
+      Quam versus inopes rerum nugæq; canoræ.
+
+ [41] Graiis ingenium, Graiis dedit ore rotundo
+      Musa loqui, &c.
+      Romani pueri longis rationibus assem
+      Discunt in partes centum diducere; dicat
+      Filius urbani, si de quincunce remota est
+      Uncia, quid superest? poteris dixisse, triens, eu
+      Rem poteris servare tuam.
+                ---- redit uncia, quid sit?
+      Semis; at hæc animos ærugo & cura peculi
+      Cum semel imbuerit, speramus carmina fingi
+      Posse linenda cedro & lævi servando cupresso?
+
+ [42] Quicquid præcipies, esto brevis, ut cito dicta
+      Percipiant animi dociles, teneantq; fideles;
+      Omne supervacuum pleno de pectore manat.
+
+ [43] Ficta voluptatis causa sint proxima veris:
+      Nec quodcunq; volet poscat sibi fabula credi,
+      Neu pransæ Lamiæ vivum puerum extrabat alvo.
+
+ [44] Centuriæ Seniorum agitant expertia frugis:
+      Celsi prætereunt austera poemata Rhamnes.
+      Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci,
+      Lectorem delectando, pariterq; monendo;
+      Hic meret æra liber Sofiis, hic & mare transit,
+      Et longum noto Scriptori prorogat ævium.
+
+ [45] Sunt delicta tamen, quibus ignovisse velimus;
+      Non semper feriet quodcunq; minabitur arcus:
+      Verum ubi plura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis
+      Offendar maculis, quas aut incuria sudit,
+      Aut humana parum cavit natura: quid ergo?
+      Ut scriptor si peccat idem librarius usq;,
+      Quamvis est monitus, veniâ caret: ut citharædus
+      Ridetur, chordâ qui semper oberrat eidem:
+      Sic mihi qui multum cessat fit Chærilus ille,
+      Quem bis terq; bonum cum risu mirror, & idem
+      Indignor quandoq; bonus dormitat Homerus;
+      Verum opere in longo fas est obrepere somnum.
+
+ [46] Ut Pictura Poësis erit, quæ si propius stes
+      Te capiet magis & quædam, si longius abstes;
+      Hæc amet obscurum, volet hæc sub luce videri;
+      Hæc placuit semel, hæc decies repetita placebit.
+
+ [47] O major juvenum ----    hoc tibi dictum
+      Tolle memor, certis medium & tolerabile rebus
+      Rectè concedi;----
+      ---- Mediocribus esse Poëtis
+      Non homines, non Dii, non concessere columnæ
+      Sic, animis natum inventumq; Poema juvandis,
+      Si paulum a summo discessit, vergit ad imum.
+
+ [48] Ludere qui nescit, campestribus abstinet armis:
+      Indoctusq; pilæ, discive, trochive, quiescit,
+      Ne spissæ risum tollant impune coronæ;
+      Qui nescit, versus tamen audet fingere. ----
+                      ---- quidni?
+      Liber, & ingenuus, præsertim census equestrem
+      Summam nummorum, vitioq; remotus ab omni.
+      Membranis intus positis, delere licebit
+      Quod non edideris: nescit vox missa reverti.
+
+  [49]Sylvestres homines facer interpresq; Deorum
+      Cædibus & victu fædo deterruit Orpheus,
+              ---- Fuit hæc sapientia quondam
+      Publica privatis secernere, sacra profanis:
+      Concubitu prohibere vago, dare jura maritis:
+      Oppida moliri, leges incidere ligno.
+              ---- Dictæ per carmina sortes
+      Et vitæ monstrata via est, & gratia regum
+      Pieriis tentata modis: ludusq; repertus,
+      Et longorum operum finis.
+          ---- ne forte pudori
+      Sit tibi Musa lyræ solers & cantor Apollo.
+
+ [50] Naturâ fieret laudabile carmen, an arte,
+      Quæsitum est; Ego nec studium sine divite venâ,
+      Nec rude quid profit video ingenium; alterius sic
+      Altera poscit opem res & conjurat amicè.
+
+ [51] Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam,
+      Multa tulit fecitq; puer; sudavit & alsit,
+      Abstinuit vener & vino,
+      Nunc fatis est dixisse, Ego mira poemata pango:
+      Occupet extremum scabies, mihi turpe relinqui est,
+      Et quod non didici sane nescire fateri.
+
+ [52] Assentatores jubet ad lucrum ire Poeta
+      Dives agris, dives positis in fænore nummis;
+      Si vero est unctum qui rectè ponere possit
+      Et spondere levi pro paupere, & eripere arctis
+      Litribus implicitum, mirabor, si sciet inter
+      Noscere mendacem verumq; beatus amicum.
+      Tu seu donaris, seu quid donare velis cui,
+      Noilto ad versus tibi factos ducere plenum
+      Lætitiæ: clamabit enim, pulchre, bene, recte.
+                            ---- si carmina condes,
+      Nunquam te fallant animi sub vulpe latentes
+
+ [53] Quintilio siquid recitares, corrige sodes
+      Hoc aiebat & hoc: melius te posse negares
+      Bis terque expertum frustra, delere jubelat.
+      Si defendere delictum, quam vertere, malles,
+      Nullum ultra verbum aut operam insumebat inanem,
+      Quin sine rivali teque & tua solus amares.
+
+ [54] Ut mala quem scabies aut morbus regius urget,
+                    ---- dicam Siculiq; poetæ
+      Narrabo interium ----
+      Nec semel hoc fecit, nec si retractus erit, jam
+      Fiet homo, aut ponet famosæ mortis amorem.
+      Indoctum doctumque fugat recitator acerbus:
+      Quem vero arripuit, tenet occiditq; legendo;
+      Non missura cutem, nisi plena cruoris, hirudo.
+
+
+
+
+                  WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK
+                    MEMORIAL LIBRARY
+
+           UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
+
+
+                       [Illustration]
+
+
+
+                THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY
+
+                   PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Art of Politicks, by James Bramston
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40895 ***