The throne a Bigot keep, a Genius quit,

Faithless through Piety, and dup'd through Wit?
Europe a Woman, Child, or Dotard, rule,
And just her wisest monarch made a fool?

NOTES.

Orleans, Regent in the minority of Louis XV. superstitious in judicial astrology, though an unbeliever in all religion. P.

The same has been observed of many other politicians. The Italians, in general, are not more noted for their refined politics, than for their attachment to the dotages of Astrology, under the influence of Atheism. It may be worth while to inquire into the cause of so singular a phenomenon, as it may probably do honour to Religion. These men observing (and none have equal opportunities of so doing) how perpetually public events fall out besides their expectation, and contrary to the best laid schemes of worldly policy, cannot but confess that human affairs are ordered by some power extrinsical. To acknowledge a God and his Providence, would be next to introducing a morality destructive of that civil system which they think necessary for the government of the world. They have recourse therefore to that absurd scheme of power which rules by no other law than Fate or Destiny. W.

The Duke of Orleans, here pointed at, was an infidel and a libertine, and at the same time, as well as Bouranvilliers and Cardan, who calculated the nativity of Jesus Christ, was a bigoted believer in judicial astrology; he was said to be the author, which however has been doubted, of many of those flimsy songs, nugæ canore, to which the language and manners of France seem to be peculiarly adapted. He knew mankind. Quiconque est sans honneur et sans humeur, est un courtisan parfait," was one of his favourite sayings.

Ver. 91. The throne a Bigot keep, a Genius quit,] Philip V. of Spain, who, after renouncing the throne for Religion, resumed it to gratify his Queen; and Victor Amadeus II. King of Sardinia, who resigned the Crown, and trying to reassume it, was imprisoned till his death.

P.

Ver. 93. Europe a Woman, Child, or Dotard, rule,

And just her wisest monarch made a fool?]

The Czarina, the King of France, the Pope, and the abovementioned King of Sardinia. W.

Know, GoD and NATURE only are the same: 95 In Man the judgment shoots at flying game:

A bird of passage! gone as soon as found;
Now in the Moon perhaps, now under ground.

II.

In vain the Sage, with retrospective eye, Would from th' apparent What conclude the Why, Infer the Motive from the Deed, and shew, 101 That what we chanc'd was what we meant to do. Behold! if Fortune or a Mistress frowns, Some plunge in bus'ness, others shave their crowns: To ease the Soul of one oppressive weight, This quits an Empire, that embroils a State: The same adust complexion has impell'd Charles to the Convent, Philip to the field.

Not always Actions shew the man: we find Who does a kindness, is not therefore kind; Perhaps Prosperity becalm'd his breast; Perhaps the Wind, just shifted from the east:

NOTES.

105

110

Ver. 95. GOD and NATURE] It is not very clear what is precisely meant by Nature in this passage.

Ver. 107. The same adust complexion has impell'd

Charles to the Convent, Philip to the Field.]

Philip II. was of an atrabilaire complexion. He derived it from his father Charles V. whose health, the historians of his life tell us, was frequently disordered by bilious fevers. But what was most extraordinary, the same complexion not only drove them variously, but made each act contrary to his character; Charles, who was an active man when he retired into a Convent; Philip, who was a man of the closet when he gave the battle of St. Quintin. W.

All that wants to be known of this Emperor's character may be learned from Robertson's admirable History.

Not therefore humble he who seeks retreat,

115

Pride guides his steps, and bids him shun the Great:
Who combats bravely, is not therefore brave,
He dreads a death-bed like the meanest slave:
Who reasons wisely is not therefore wise,
His pride in Reas'ning, not in Acting lies.

But grant that Actions best discover man ;
Take the most strong, and sort them as you can. 120
The few that glare each character must mark,
You balance not the many in the dark.
What will you do with such as disagree?
Suppress them, or miscal them Policy?
Must then at once (the character to save)
The plain rough Hero turn a crafty Knave?
Alas! in truth the man but chang'd his mind,
Perhaps was sick, in love, or had not din'd.

NOTES.

125

Ver. 127. Alas! in truth]" For the destruction of a kingdom," said a man of wit, "nothing more is sometimes requisite than a bad digestion of the prime minister." The Grand Seignior offered to assist Henry IV. against his rebellious subjects, not for any deep political reason, but only because he hated the word League. It is a fault in Davila, as well as Tacitus, never to ascribe great events to whim, caprice, private passions, and petty causes. The Treaty of Utrecht was occasioned, it is said, by a quarrel betwixt the Dutchess of Marlborough and Queen Anne about a pair of gloves. The expedition to the island of Ré was undertaken to gratify a foolish and romantic passion of the Duke of Buckingham. The coquetry of the daughter of Count Julien introduced the Saracens into Spain. It is for the honour of many great events, as of many great families, that their origins should be concealed. Bayle, in his Thoughts on the Comet, tome ii. p. 214, has collected a number of entertaining instances to confirm this truth," that mighty rivers, which desolate or fertilize great tracts of land, issue sometimes from a small and dirty fountain."

Hear the sentiments of one who was well acquainted with life

Ask why from Britain Cæsar would retreat?
Cæsar himself might whisper he was beat.

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 129. In the former Editions,

Ask why from Britain Cæsar made retreat?
Cæsar himself would tell you he was beat.
The mighty Czar what mov'd to wed a Punk?

The mighty Czar would tell you he was drunk.

130

Altered as above, because Cæsar wrote his Commentaries of this war, and does not tell you he was beat. And as Cæsar afforded an instance of both cases, it was thought better to make him the single example.

NOTES.

and business. "I have been frequently assured," says Swift, "that politics were nothing but common sense; which, as it was the only true thing they spoke, so it was the only thing they could have wished I should not believe. I have been assured, by men long practised in business, that the secrets of a court are much fewer than we generally suppose; and I hold it for the greatest secret of a court that they are so. I could produce

numerable instances, from my own memory and observation, of events imputed to the profound skill and address of the minister, which in reality were either the mere effect of negligence, weakness, humour, passion, or pride; or, at best, but the natural course of things left to themselves." Free Thoughts on the State of Affairs, 1714.

What was the cause of the Reformation in England,

"When Love could teach a monarch to be wise,
And Gospel-truth first dawn'd from Bullen's eyes?"

But Burnet gravely labours to prove, that the king had a scruple of conscience for having married his brother's widow. It has been said, that the first disgust Cæsar gave to the Romans was his not rising from his seat to receive a deputation from the Senate, which at the moment he could not venture to do, being taken with a dysentery, and which they interpreted as a mark of haughtiness, and an air of tyranny, which ultimately occasioned his assassination.

Ver. 129. Ask why from] In former Editions, the third and fourth lines were,

The mighty Czar what mov'd to wed a Punk?
The mighty Czar would tell you he was drunk.

Why risk the world's great empire for a Punk?
Cæsar perhaps might answer he was drunk.
But, sage historians! 'tis your task to prove
One action conduct; one, heroic Love.

"Tis from high Life, high characters are drawn ; A Saint in Crape is twice a Saint in Lawn;

NOTES.

136

But it was altered as above; and altered for the worse. It is strange that Pope, or his learned friends, should not have known that drunkenness was not one of Cæsar's vices. Suetonius says, "Vini parcissimum ne inimici quidem negaverunt." Verbum M. Catonis est, "Unum ex omnibus Cæsarem ad evertendam rempublicam sobrium accessisse." Vit. D. Julius Cæsar, section 53. Aaron Hill, in his Letters, said, he had in his possession some authentic documents that would redound to the honour of the Czar, for making this match with Catherine, and would place this part of his conduct, which the malice of some great courts in Europe had taken pains to misrepresent, in another and very honourable point of view.

Ver. 130. Cæsar himself might whisper he was beat.] Cæsar wrote his Commentaries, in imitation of the Greek Generals, for the entertainment of the world: but had his friend asked him, in his ear, the reason of his sudden retreat from Britain, after so many pretended victories, we have cause to suspect, even from his own public relation of that matter, that he would have whisper'd he was beat.

Ver. 131. Why risk the world's great empire for a Punk?] After the battle of Pharsalia, Cæsar pursued his enemy to Alexandria, where he became infatuated with the charms of Cleopatra; and instead of pushing his advantages, and dispersing the relics of the Pharsalian quarrel, brought upon himself (after narrowly escaping the violence of an enraged populace) an unnecessary war, at a time his arms were most wanted elsewhere.

W.

Ver. 133. But, sage historians!] "Si on pouvoit," says a

shrewd wit," confronter Suetone avec les valets de chambre des douze Cesars, pense-t-on qu'ils seroient toujours d'accord avec lui? Mallebranche, à cet egard, avoit raison de dire, qu'il ne faisoit pas plus de cas de l'Histoire, que des nouvelles de son quartier."

Ver. 135. 'Tis from high Life,] Copied from Boileau, v. 203. Sat. 8.