disliked poetry), bishops might write if they were
honest and active in the campaign against vice, and
Sir Robert would approve because he could not
afford to ignore the truth.THE FIRST EPISTLE OF THE FIRST BOOK OF
HORACE IMITATED(1738) Printed alongside the Latin original. Sometimes referred
to as ‘To Bolingbroke’. See Critical commentary, pp. 241–2.
1 St john Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke, who
had been exiled in 1714 for support of the Jacobite
cause. He returned to England with a pardon in 1723,
and organized the Tory opposition to Walpole. He
was a friend and encourager of Pope who praises him
at the close of An Essay on Man (above, p. 157).
Horace had addressed the original to Maecenas.
16 Lord Mayor’s horse a slow horse for processions,
appropriately contrasting to the winged Pegasus.
26 Montaigne...Locke the one an informal, the other a
systematic, thinker.
27 patriot The opponents of Walpole called themselves
patriots.
29 Lyttelton George Lyttelton, friend of Pope and out-
spoken opponent of Walpole.
31 Aristippus a Greek philosopher who held that
pleasure is the chief good.
31 St Paul ‘I am made all things to all men’, I
Corinthians IX, 22, and ‘Let your moderation be
known unto all men’, Philippians IV, 5.
50 lynx Pope was near-sighted.
51 Mead and Cheselden two doctors who attended Pope.
60 arrant’st puppy most arrogant young man.
62 punk prostitute.
63 bear boorish person.
69 either India the West or the East Indies.
82 low...high low and high church preach the same
doctrine.