Alexander Pope: Selected Poetry and Prose

P. Libels and Satires! lawless things indeed! 150
But grave epistles, bringing vice to light,
Such as a king might read, a bishop write;
Such as Sir Robert would approve—
F. Indeed?
The case is altered—you may then proceed;
In such a cause the plaintiff will be hissed,
My lords the judges laugh, and you’re dismissed.

Composed 1733 First published 1733

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF THE FIRST BOOK

OF HORACE IMITATED

To L.Bolingbroke

St John, whose love indulged my labours past,
Matures my present, and shall bound my last!
Why will you break the Sabbath of my days?
Now sick alike of envy and of praise.
Public too long, ah, let me hide my age!
See modest Cibber now has left the stage:
Our generals now, retired to their estates,
Hang their old trophies o’er the garden gates;
In life’s cool evening satiate of applause,
Nor fond of bleeding, even in Brunswick’s cause. 10
A voice there is, that whispers in my ear
(’Tis Reason’s voice, which sometimes one can hear),
‘Friend Pope! be prudent, let your Muse take breath,
And never gallop Pegasus to death;
Lest stiff, and stately, void of fire or force,
You limp, like Blackmore on a Lord Mayor’s horse.’
Farewell, then, verse, and love, and every toy,
The rhymes and rattles of the man or boy;
What right, what true, what fit we justly call,
Let this be all my care, for this is all: 20
To lay this harvest up, and hoard with haste,
What every day will want, and most, the last.
But ask not, to what doctors I apply?

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