'
l. 32. -----
"B-b"=Bob, i.e. Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister,
for whom many venal 'quills were drawn' 'circa' 1715-42. Cf.
Pope's 'Epilogue to the Satires', 1738, Dialogue i, ll. 27-32:--
Go see Sir ROBERT--
P. See Sir ROBERT!--hum--
And never laugh--for all my life to come?
Seen him I have, but in his happier hour
Of Social Pleasure, ill-exchang'd for Pow'r;
Seen him, uncumber'd with the Venal tribe,
Smile without Art, and win without a Bribe.
l. 46. -----
"A courtier any ape surpasses". Cf. Gay's 'Fables,
passim'. Indeed there is more of Gay than Swift in this and the
lines that follow. Gay's life was wasted in fruitless
expectations of court patronage, and his disappointment often
betrays itself in his writings.
l. 56. -----
"And footmen, lords and dukes can act". Cf. 'Gil Blas',
1715-35, liv. iii, chap. iv:--'Il falloit voir comme nous nous
portions des santes a tous moments, en nous donnant les uns aux
autres les surnoms de nos maitres.
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