Homer, burlesqued

From the preface of the 1770 edition of Thomas Bridges' A Burlesque Translation of Homer, which came into existence, because "our author is of the opinion that the dignity of the Greek language has perverted the original design of Homer's Iliad." Having been privy of late to what passes for "scholarship" on Plato's Phaedrus, I couldn't agree more: the "dignity" of the Greek language generally seems to get in the way of people's reading it.

GOOD people, would you know the reason,
I write at this unlucky season,
When the whole nation is so poor,
That few can keep above one whore,
Except court-pimps and their employers,
With secretary's clerks and lawyers,
Whose d---d unconscionable fees
Maintain as many as they please;
Pope, we all know, to please the nation,
Publish'd an elegant translation,
But for all that, his lines mayn't please
The jocund tribe, so well as these;
For all capacities can't climb
To comprehend the true sublime;
And he that's reading now may be
Almost as dull a dog as me.