's
Sheep, to have been led by the Muse to the Fountain _Hippocrene_; and
being, I suppose, well ducked in that Water, commenced Poet.]

[Footnote 8: This whole Passage is a manifest Burlesque on the
Invocations with which the Ancients began their Poems. Not very
different is that Sneer at the Beginning of the _Metamorphosis_,

---- _Dii, caeptis_, (NAM VOS MUTASTIS ET ILLAS)
_Adspirate_ ----

But the strongest Piece of Burlesque of this kind is the Invocation to
_Venus_ at the Beginning of _Lucretius_: For what can be more so than
a solemn Application to a Deity for her Assistance in a Work, the
professed Intention of which is to expose the Belief of any Deity at
all; and more particularly of any Concern which such superior Beings
might be supposed to take in the Affairs of Men. For my own part, I
must confess, I cannot perceive _that graceful Air of Enthusiasm_
which a noble Author observes in the Invocation of the Antients; many
of them indeed seem to have been too apparently in jest, to endeavour
to impose on their Readers, and in reality to apply to the Muses with
less Devotion than our modern Poets, many of whom perhaps believe as
much in those Deities as in any other.]

[Footnote 9: _Ovid_ would here insinuate, that the Courtezans only
were the Subjects of the ensuing Poem; and in his _Tristibus_ he cites
these Lines, and pleads them in his Defence: But he is not over-honest
in his Profession; for in many Parts it appears, that his Instructions
are calculated for much more than _concessa furtia_.]

[Footnote 10: _Andromeda_ was the Daughter of _Cepheus_ King of
_Aethiopia_ and of _Cassiope_. Her Mother having offended the
_Nereids_, by contending with them for Superiority in Beauty,
_Neptune_, at their Petition, sent a Sea-Monster, which greatly
annoyed the _Aethiopians_. Upon this they consulted the Oracle of
_Jupiter Ammon_, who ordered them to expose one of the Progeny of
_Cepheus_ and _Cassiope_ to be devoured by the Monster. _Andromeda_
was accordingly ty'd to a Rock, where she was espied by _Perseus_, who
killed the Monster, and rescued the Lady; for which he received her at
the Hands of her Parents as his Reward. The Story is told in the 4th
Book of the _Metamorphosis_.]

[Footnote 11: _Bunches of Grapes in _Methymna__; a City of _Lesbia_,
the Wine of which Country was famous among the Ancients.]

[Footnote 12: _Ears of Corn in _Gargara__; which was in _Mysia_, a
Province of the _Hellespont