Seventeen Hundred and Ninety-One: A POEM.

Seventeen Hundred and Ninety-One: A POEM, IN IMITATION OF THE THIRTEENTH SATIRE OF JUVENAL. BY ARTHUR MURPHY, ESQ

LONDON: PRINTED FOR G. G. J. AND J. ROBINSON, PATERNOSTER-ROW. M.DCC.XCI.

TO THE MEMORY OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL. D.

THE SUBLIME AND MORAL IMITATOR OF JUVENAL, THE FOLLOWING POEM IS INSCRIBED, BY A FRIEND, WHO LOVED HIM LIVING, WHO HONOURED HIS VIRTUES NO LESS THAN HIS GENIUS, AND NOW ENDEAVOURS, WITH UNEQUAL STEPS, TO FOLLOW HIS BRIGHT EXAMPLE. NON ITA CERTANDI CUPIDUS, QUAM PROPTER AMOREM, QUOD TE IMITARI AVEO.

THE Thirteenth Satire of Juvenal has been always admired by the ableſt judges, not merely for its elegance and poetical ſpirit, but as a ſublime compoſition, containing the pureſt and moſt uſeful moral doctrine, ſuch as goes home to the breaſt and buſineſs of every man in ſociety. The Author launches out, with his uſual indignation, againſt the reigning vices of the times, and particularly FRAUD and PERJURY. He introduces his ſubject with an apparent intention to conſole a friend, who had depoſited a ſum of money in the hands of a man baſe enough to deny the truſt, and ſupport his fraud by a daring Perjury.

He obſerves, in the outſet, that the guilty are never at peace; they have no reſt from their own relentleſs thoughts; and yet deceit, and treachery, and injuſtice prevail in the maſs of human life. He paints forth the vices of mankind in glaring colours; and, having by way of contraſt mentioned the times of innocence (commonly called the Golden Age), he takes occaſion to place in a ridiculous light the whole ſyſtem of the Heathen Mythology. The wit and pleaſantry, with which this part of the poem is executed, are truly beautiful: but there is reaſon to fear that the whole paſſage would now be thought an unſeaſonable digreſſion; and, for that reaſon, it was judged adviſable, in the Engliſh Poem, to ſubſtitute ideas drawn from modern manners.

Juvenal proceeds to obſerve the intrepidity with which perjury is often committed. The fear of detection by human evidence, he ſays, is the only reſtraint: ſecure from that danger, the offender is ready, as Shakeſpeare has it, to jump the life to come. Of this depravity two cauſes are aſſigned: in the firſt place, Atheiſm; and ſecondly, even among believers, the deluſive hope of eſcaping puniſhment, or of expiating the ſin by repentance at a future day. The Poet, after this, exhibits a black liſt of crimes; and, in ſuch a general corruption of manners, exhorts his friend to appeaſe reſentment in his own particular caſe. Revenge, he ſays, is a little paſſion. He recurs to his firſt propoſition, namely, that the Perjurer, even though he may elude the hand of juſtice, is ſure to ſuffer the ſelf-condemning award of his own conſcience. He deſcribes in bold relief the horrors of a guilty mind. He traces the progreſs of vice, beginning with a petty fraud, and ruſhing on, with apparent ſucceſs, till at length ſome foul enormity calls down the ſentence of the law, and gives full proof to the world that a ſuperintending Providence watches over the deeds of men, and finally overtakes the offender with ſlow, but certain vengeance.

Such is the moral that inſpires and animates the whole of Juvenal's admirable performance. It may be called A POETICAL STATUTE OF FRAUDS AND PERJURIES. A compoſition ſo truly valuable ought not to remain in the hands of the ſcholar only, like a ſword in the ſcabbard, as Tully has it, tamquam in vaginâ reconditum. The doctrine ſhould be impreſſed on every mind. For this purpoſe, the mode of imitation was thought more eligible than a direct and cloſe tranſlation. Mr. Pope had led the way, and the late Doctor Johnſon followed him with diſtinguiſhed applauſe. The fine uſe which he made of the Third and Tenth Satires of Juvenal, in LONDON, a Poem, and THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES, is well known to every reader of taſte. In fact, thoſe two pieces are finiſhed with ſuch vigour of ſentiment, and ſuch ſtrength and harmony of language, as may well preclude in the preſent writer all hope of competition. It is to be regretted that ſo fine a Moral Poet did not employ a portion of his time upon the Satire now before us. The author of the following lines endeavoured, at various times, to excite him to the undertaking; but the anſwer always was, "I WISH IT WAS DONE." The reader will, no doubt, wiſh the ſame, and by the pen of DOCTOR JOHNSON. To ſupply the deficiency is the deſign of the piece now offered to the public. It is, at leaſt, a well intended attempt, and requires no apology.