Prop thine, O Emprefs! like each neighbour Throne, And make a long Pofterity thy own. Pleas'd, fhe accepts the Hero, and the Dame, Wraps in her Veil, and frees from fenfe of Shame. Then look'd, and faw a lazy lolling fort, Unseen at Church, at Segate, or at Court, No Caufe, no Truft, no Duty, and no Friend. REMARK S. 340 345 Ver. 341. Thee too, my Paridel!] The Poet feems to speak of this young gentleman with great affection. The name is taken from Spenfer, who gives it to a wandering Courtly 'Squire, that travell'd about for the fame reafon, for which many young Squires are now fond of travelling, and especially to Paris. Ver. 347. Annius,] The name taken from Annius the Monk of Viterbo, famous for many Impofitions and Forgeries of ancient manufcripts and inferiptions, which he was prompted to by mere Vanity, but our Annius had a more fubftantial motive. IMITATIONS. Ver. 342. Stretch'd on the rack And heard, &c.] Sedet, æternumque fedebit. Infelix Thefeus, Phlegyasque miferrimus omnes Admonet Virg, But Annius, crafty Seer, with ebon wand, And well-diffembled em'rald on his hand, Falfe as his Gems, and canker'd as his Coins, Came, cramm'd with capon, from where Pollio dines. Soft, as the wily Fox is seen to creep, Where baik on funny banks the fimple sheep, 351 Walk round and round, now prying here, now there, So he; but pious, whisper'd firft his pray'r. REMARK S. Ver. 348. well-diffembled em'rald on his hand] The Poet feems here, as Wits are ever licentious, to upbraid this useful Member of Society for his well-dissembled em'rald; whereas in truth it was by that circumstance he should have been commended. This worthy perfon was, I fuppofe, a Factor between the poor and rich, to fupply thefe with their imaginary wants, and to relieve thofe from their real ones. Now I afk how can this Factorage be carried on without well diffembling. The rich Man wants an Em'rald; his want is allowed on all hands to be imaginary. And what fitter for an imaginary want than an imaginary em'rald? For Philofophers agree, that imaginations are not to be cured by their contrary realities, but to be removed, if troublesome, by other imaginations; and these again in their turn, by others. Confider it in another light. An Em'rald, we agree, is an imaginary want; but an Em'rald of Golconda is much more fo. Now, if, in a true Em'rald of France, the colour, the luftre, and the bulk, be all improv❜d, what is wanting in it, that may be thought to concur to that folid happiness, which we find an Em'rald is capable of giving to enlarged, and truly improved Minds? Certainly, nothing but that Golcondical fubftantial form, which is neither feen, felt, nor understood; a certain effentiuncula, or as we may fay, esprit folet, with which fubftances had been for many ages poffeffed, but is lately fneaked out of matter, is no longer in nature, nor (what is more to the purpose) no longer in fashion. SCRIBL. Ο ; 356 360 Grant, gracious Goddess! grant me ftill to cheat, may thy cloud ftill cover the deceit ! Thy choicer mifts on this affembly fhed, But pour them thickest on the noble head. So shall each youth, affifted by our eyes, See other Cæfars, other Homers rife Thro' twilight ages hunt th' Athenian fowl, Which Chalcis Gods, and Mortals call an Owl, Now fee an Attys, now a Cecrops clear, Nay, Mahomet! the Pigeon at thine ear; Be rich in ancient brass, tho' not in gold, And keep his Lares, tho' his house be fold; REMARK S. 365 Ver. 355. fill to cheat,] Some read skill; but that is frivolous, for Annius hath that kill already; or if he had not, skill were not wanting to cheat fuch perfons. BENTL. Ver. 361. hunt th' Athenian fowl,] The Owl stamp'd on the reverse on the ancient money of Athens, Which Chalcis Gods, and Mortals call an Owl, is the verfe by which Hobbes renders that of Homer, Χαλκίδα κικλήσκεσι Θεοὶ, ἄνδρες δὲ Κύμινδιν. but not fo Ver. 363. Attys and Cecrops. The firft King of Athens, of whom it is hard to fuppofe any Coins are extant; improbable as what follows, that there should be any of Mahomet, who forbad all Images; and the ftory of whofe Pigeon was a monkifa fable. Nevertheless one of thefe Annius's made a counterfeit medal of that Impostor, now in the collection of a learned Nobleman. To heedlefs Phoebe his fair bride postpone, Honour a Syrian Prince above his own ; Bleft in one Niger, till he knows of two. 370 Mummius o'erheard him; Mummius, Fool-renown'd Who like his Cheops ftinks above the ground, Speak'ft thou of Syrian Princes? Traitor base! REMARK S. 376 Ver. 371. Mummius] This name is not merely an allusion to the Mummies he was fo fond of, but probably referred to the Roman General of that name, who burn'd Corinth, and committed the curious Statues to the Captain of a Ship, affuring him, "that if any were loft or broken, he fhould procure others to "be made in their ftead:" by which it should seem (whatever may be pretended) that Mummins was no Virtuofo. Ver. 371.-Fool-renown'd] A compound epithet in the Greek manner, renown'd by fools, or renown'd for making Fools. Ver. 372. Cheops] A King of Egypt, whofe body was certainly to be known, as being buried alone in his Pyramid, and is therefore more genuine than any of the Cleopatra's. This Royal Mummy, being ftolen by a wild Arab, was purchased by the Conful of Alexandria, and tranfmitted to the Museum of Mummius; for proof of which, he brings a paffage in Sandys's Travels, where that accurate and learned Voyager affures us that he saw the Sepulchre empty, which agrees exactly (faith he) with the time of the theft above mentioned. But he omits to obferve that Herodotus tells the same thing of it in his time. Ver. 375. Speak thou of Syrian Princes? &c.] The ftrange ftory following, which may be taken for a fiction of the Poet, is juftified by a true relation in Spon's Voyages. Vaillant (who wrote the History of the Syrian Kings, as it is to be found on medals) coming from the Levant, where he had been collecting various Coins, and being pursued by a Corsaire of Sallee, swallowed down twenty gold medals. A fudden Bourafque freed True, he had wit, to make their value rife; From foolish Greeks to steal them, was as wife; REMARK S. 380* 385 him from the Rover, and he got to land with them in his belly. On his road to Avignon he met two Phyficians, of whom he demanded affiftance. One advised Purgations, the other Vomits. In this uncertainty, he took neither, but purfued his way to Lyons, where he found his ancient friend, the famous Physician and Antiquary Dufour, to whom he related his adventure. Dufour firft afked him whether the Medals were of the higher Empire? He affured him they were. Dufour was ravished with the hope of poff ffing fuch a treasure; he bargained with him on the fpot for the most curious of them, and was to recover them at his own expence. Ver. 383. each Demi-God,] They are called so on their Coins. Ver. 387. Witness great Ammon!] Jupiter Ammon is called to witness, as the father of Alexander, to whom thofe Kings fucceeded in the divifion of the Macedonian Empire, and whofs. Horns they wore on their Medals. IMITATION S. Ver. 383. Receiv'd each Demi-God,] Ovid: |