If such be life, its wretches I deplore,
And long to quit the inhospitable shore.
[Footnote 1: 'Cope': a general famous for an expeditious retreat,
though not quite so deliberate as that of the ten thousand Greeks from
Persia; having unfortunately forgot to bring his army along with him.]
[Footnote 2: 'Newcastle:' alluding to the philosophical contempt which
this great personage manifested for the sensual delights of
the stomach.]
[Footnote 3: 'Grafton': this noble peer, remarkable for sublimity of
parts, by virtue of his office (Lord Chamberlain) conferred the
laureate on Colley Cibber, Esq., a delectable bard, whose character
has already employed, together with his own, the greatest pens of
the age.]
[Footnote 4: 'Granville and Bath': two noblemen famous in their day
for nothing more than their fortitude in bearing the scorn and
reproach of their country.]
[Footnote 5: 'Prolific hum': this alludes to a phenomenon, not more
strange than true,--the person here meant having actually laid upwards
of forty eggs, as several physicians and fellows of the Royal Society
can attest: one of whom, we hear, has undertaken the incubation, and
will no doubt favour the world with an account of his success.]
[Footnote 6: 'Drum': this is a riotous assembly of fashionable people,
of both sexes, at a private house, consisting of some hundreds: not
unaptly styled a drum, from the noise and emptiness of the
entertainment. There are also drum-major, rout, tempest, and
hurricane, differing only in degrees of multitude and uproar, as the
significant name of each declares.]
[Footnote 7: 'Lockman's fate': to be little read, and less approved.]
[Footnote 8: 'Chardin': this genial knight wore at his own banquet a
garland of flowers, in imitation of the ancients; and kept two rosy
boys robed in white, for the entertainment of his guests.]
[Footnote 9: 'Isis': in allusion to the unnatural orgies said to be
solemnised on the banks of this river; particularly at one place,
where a much greater sanctity of morals and taste might be expected.]
[Footnote 10: 'Russell:' a famous mimic and singer, ruined by the
patronage of certain ladies of quality.]
[Footnote 11: 'Guthrie:' a scribbler of all work in that age.]
[Footnote 12: 'Bosom of the wood:' this last line relates to the
behaviour of the Hanoverian general in the battle of Dettingen.]
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