Thy choicer mifts on this affembly fhed, Thro' twilight ages hunt th' Athenian fowl, 360 Nay, Mahomet! the Pigeon at thine ear; REMARKS. nary 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 seen, felt, nor understood; a certain effentiuncula, or as we may say, efprit folet, with which fubftances had been for many ages poffeffed, but is lately sneaked out of matter, is no longer in nature, nor (what is more to the purpose) no longer in fashion. SCRIBL. VER. 355. ftill to cheat,] Some read skill, but that is frivolous, for Annius hath that skill already; or if he had not, skill were not wanting to cheat such persons. BENTL. VER. 361. bunt th' Athenian forl,] The Owl ftamp'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, Χαλκίδι κ κλήσκεσι Θεό, ἄνδρες δὲ Κύμινδιν. VER. 363. Attys and Cecrops.] The first King of Athens, of whom it is hard to suppose any Coins are extant; but not fo improbable as what follows, that there fhould be any of Mahomet, who forbad all Images; and the story of whose Pigeon was a monkith fable. Nevertheless one of these An Be rich in ancient brafs, tho' not in gold, 365 370 Mummius o'erheard him; Mummius, Fool-re nown'd, Who like his Cheops ftinks above the ground, REMARKS. nius's made a counterfeit medal of that Impoftor, now in the collection of a learned Nobleman. VER. 371. Mummius] This name is not merely an allufion to the Mummies he was fo fond of, but probably referred to the Roman General of that name, who burned Corinth, and committed the curious Statues to the Captain of a Ship, affuring him," that if any were loft or broken, he should procure others to be made in their stead ;" by which it should feem (whatever may be pretended) that Mummius was no Virtuofo. 66 Ibid. -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 whose 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 stolen by a wild Arab, was purchafed by the Conful of Alexandria, and transmitted 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 abovementioned. But he omits to obferve that Herodotus tells the fame thing of it in his time. 376 Speak'ft thou of Syrian Princes? Traitor bafe! 380 Down his own throat he rifqu'd the Grecian Gold, Receiv'd each Demi-God, with pious care, Deep in his Entrails-I rever'd them there, REMARKS. VER. 375. Speak'ft thou of Syrian Princes ? etc.] The strange ftory following, which may be taken for a fiction of the Poet, is justified by a true relation in Spon's Voyages. Vaillant (who wrote the Hiftory 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 Corfair of Sallee, fwallowed down twenty gold medals. A fudden Bourafque freed 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 affistance. 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, without staying to enquire about the uneasy symptoms of the burthen he carried, first asked him whether the Medals were of the bigher Empire? He IMITATIONS. VER. 383. Receiv'd each Demi-God,] Emiffumque ima de fede Typhoëa terræ Calitibus feciffe metum; cunctofque dediffe Terga fuga: donce feffos Ægyptia tellus Cajerit I bought them, fhrouded in that living shrine, 385 390 The Goddess fimiling feem'd to give confent; 395 So back to Pollio, hand in hand they went. Then thick as Locufts black'ning all the ground, A tribe, with weeds and fhells fantastic crown'd, REMARKS. affared him they were. Dufour was ravished with the hope of poffeffing fo rare a treasure, he bargain'd with him on the spot for the most curious of them, and was to recover them at his own expence. VER. 383. each Demi-God,] They are called on their Coins. VER. 387. Witness great Ammon!] Jupiter Ammon is called to witness, as the father of Alexander, to whom those Kings fucceeded in the divifion of the Macedonian Empire, and whofe Horns they wore on their Medals. VER. 394. Douglas] A Physician of great Learning and no lefs Tafte; above all curious in what related to Horace, of whom he collected every Edition, Tranflation, and Comment, to the number of feveral hundred volumes. VER. 397. Then thick as locufts black ning all the ground,]The fimilitude of Locuffs does not refer more to the numbers than to the qualities of the Virtuofi: who not only devour and lay wafte VOL. VI. D Each with fome wond'rous gift approach'd the Pow'r, A Neft, a Toad, a Fungus, or a Flow'r. 400 The first thus open'd: Hear thy fuppliant's call, Bright with the gilded button tip its head. REMARKS. every tree, fhrub, and green leaf in their Course of experiments; but fuffer neither a mofs nor fungus to escape untouched. SCRIBL. VER. 409. and nam`d it Caroline] It is a compliment which the Florists usually pay to Princes and great perfons, to give IMITATIONS. VER. 405. Fair from its humble bed, etc. named it Caroline! Each maid cry'd, charming! and each Youth, divine! Now proftrate! dead! behold that Caroline : No Maid cries, charming! and no Youth, divine! These verfes are tranflated from Catullus, Epith. Ut flos in feptis fecretus nafcitur hortis, |