Praedia Caefar, an eft Itala tellure daturus ? Jurantem me fcire nihil miratur, ut unum Perditur haec inter mifero lux; non fine votis, Orus, quando ego te afpiciam? quandoque licebit, Nunc veterum libris, nunc fomno et inertibus horis, Ducere folicitae jucunda oblivia vitae ? O quando faba Pythagorae cognata, fimulque "Ah Doctor, how you love to jest? 'Tis one to me-" Then tell us, pray, "When are the Troops to have their pay?" 120 I know no more than my Lord Mayor, THUS in a fea of folly tofs'd, My choicest Hours of Life are loft; 125 Oh, could I see my Country Seat! 130 And there in sweet oblivion drown Those Cares that haunt the Court and Town. O charming Noons! and Nights divine! NOTES. VER. 125. Thus in a fea, &c.] Our Poet excels his friend in his own way of modernizing Horace: But this way is infinitely inferior to his own: For though Horace be eafy, he is not familiar; or, if he be, it is the familiarity of Courts, which is never without its dignity. These things burlesque verfe cannot reconcile, nor indeed any other way, that I now of, but that of the foregoing Imitations. Legibus infanis feu quis capit acria fortis nos Pertinet, et nefcire malum eft, agitamus; utrumne Quidve ad amicitias, ufus rectumne, trahat nos: Accepiffe cavo, veterem vetus hofpes amicum; My Friends above, my Folks below, 135 140 A Neighbour's Madness, or his Spouse's, But fomething much more our concern, 145 And quite a scandal not to learn: Which is the happier, or the wiser, A Man of Merit, or a Mifer? Whether we ought to chufe our Friends, For their own Worth, or our own Ends? 150 What good, or better, we may call, And what, the very best of all? Our Friend Dan Prior told (you know) A Tale extremely à propos : Name a Town Life, and in a trice, 155 Afper, et attentus quaefitis; ut tamen arctum Praerupti nemoris patientem vivere dorfo ? Vin' tu homines urbemque feris praeponere fylvis? Carpe viam (mihi crede) comes: quando terreftria Mortales animas vivunt fortita, neque ulla eft, Aut magno aut parvo, leti fuga. quo, bone, circa, |