B.What Nature wants, commodious Gold beftowŚ, 'Tis thus we eat the bread another fows. COMMENTARY. VER. 21. What Nature wants, &c.] Having thus fettled the terms of the Debate, before he comes to the main Question, the Ufe of Riches, it was neceffary to difcufs a previous one, whether indeed they are, upon the whole, ufeful to mankind or not; (which he does from 20 to 77.) It is commonly observed, fays he (from 21 to 35) That Gold most commodiously supplies the wants of Nature: "Let us firft confider the propofition in ge"neral, both in Matter and Expreffion; 1. As it regards the Sup"ply; and this we fhall find to be very unequal: 2. As it regards "the Wants; and these, we shall fee, are very ambiguous ; under NOTES. to give poison to dogs and cats, and see them expire by flower or quicker torments. To fum up the worth of this gentleman, at the several æra's of his life, At his standing in the Pillory he was worth above two hundred thousand pounds; at his commitment to Prifon, he was worth one hundred and fifty thoufand; but has been fince fo far diminished in his reputation, as to be thought a worfe man by fifty or fixty thousand. P. FR. CHARTRES, a man infamous for all manner of vices. When he was an enfign in the army, he was drumm'd out of the regiment for a cheat; he was next banish'd Bruffels, and drumm'd out of Ghent on the fame account. After a hundred tricks at the gamingtables, he took to lending of money at exorbitant intereft and on great penalties, accumulating premium, interest, and capital into a new capital, and feizing to a minute when the payments became due; in a word, by a conftant attention to the vices, wants, and follies of mankind, he acquired an immenfe fortune. His houfe was a perpetual bawdy-houfe. He was twice condemn'd for rapes, and pardoned; but the last time not without imprisonment in Newgate, and large confifcations. He died in Scotland in 1731, aged 62. The populace at his funeral rais'd a great riot, almost tore the body out of the coffin, and cast dead dogs, &c. into the grave along with it. The following Epitaph contains his character, very. juftly drawn by Dr. Arbuthnot: P. But how unequal it beftows, observe, 'Tis thus we riot, while, who fow it, starve: COMMENTARY. “that term, all our fantastic and imaginary, as well as real "wants being comprized. Hitherto the ufe is not very apNOTES. HERE continueth to rot The Body of FRANCIS CHARTRES, PERSISTED, In spite of AGE and INFIRMITIES, in the undeviating Pravity of his Manners, in Accumulating WEALTH, For, without TRADE or PROFESSION, He was the only Perfon of his Time, When poffefs'd of TEN THOUSAND a Year, Think not his Life useless to Mankind! A confpicuous PROOF and EXAMPLE, Of how fmall Eftimation is ExORBITANT WEALTH By his bestowing it on the moft UNWORTHY Of ALL MORTALS. What Nature wants (a phrase I much distrust) 25 Extends to Luxury, extends to Lust: COMMENTARY. "parent. Let us in the fecond place, therefore, confider the "propofition in particular, or how Gold fupplies the wants of "Nature both in private and public life: 1. As to private; "it aids us, indeed, to fupport life; but it, at the same time, "hires the affaffin: 2. As to Society; it may procure Friend fhips and extend Trade; but it allures Robbers, and corrupts "our acquaintance. 3. As to Government; it pays the Guards "neceffary for the support of public liberty; but it may, with "the fame eafe, bribe a Senate to overturn it." The matter, therefore, being thus problematical, the poet, inftead of formally balancing between the Good and Ill, chufes to leave this previous Question undetermined (as Tacitus had done before him; where, fpeaking of the ancient Germans, he fays, Argentum et aurum propitii aut irati Dii negaverint dubito ;) and NOTES. This Gentleman was worth Seven thousand pounds a year eftate in Land, and about one hundred thousand in Money. P. Mr. WATERS, the third of thefe worthies, was a man no way refembling the former in his military, but extremely fo in his civil capacity; his great fortune having been the Devil.] Alluding to the vulgar opinion, that all mines of metal and fubterraneous treasures are in the guard of the Devil: which feems to have taken its rife from the pagan fable of Plutus the God of Riches. VER. 21. What Nature wants, commodious Gold be rais'd by the like diligent at-tows,] The epithet commodious tendance on the neceffities of others. But this gentleman's hiftory must be deferred till his death, when his worth may be known more certainly. P. VER. 20. Chartres and gives us the very proper idea of And if we count amongst the needs of life Useful, I grant, it serves what life requires, But dreadful too, the dark Affaffin hires: B. Trade it may help, Society extend. P. But lures the Pyrate, and corrupts the Friend. B. It raises Armies in a Nation's aid. P. But bribes a Senate, and the Land's betray'd. COMMENTARY. 31 falls at once upon what he esteems the principal of these abuses, public Corruption. For having in the laft inftance, of the Ufe of Riches in Government, spoken of venal Senates, he goes on to lament the mifchief as defperate and remedilefs; Gold, by its power to corrupt with Secrecy, defeating all the efforts of public Spirit, whether exerted in the Courage of Heroes, or in the Wisdom of Patriots. 'Tis true indeed (continues the poet from 34 to 49) the very weight of the Bribery has fometimes detected the Corruption : From the crack'd bag the dropping Guinea spoke, &c. But this inconvenience was foon repaired, by the invention of Paper credit: Whose dreadful effects on public Liberty he describes in all the colouring of his poetry, heightened by the warmeft concern for virtue; which now makes him willing to give up, as it were, the previous question, in a paffionate wish (from 48 to 59) for the return of that incumbrance attendant on public Corruption, before the fo common use of money. And pleased with this flattering idea, he goes on (from 58 to 77) to fhew the other advantages that would accrue from Riches only in kind; which are, that neither Avarice could contrive to hoard, nor Prodigality to lavish, in fo mad and boundless a manner as they do at prefent. Here he fhews particularly, in a fine ironical description of the embarras on Gaming, how effectually it would eradicate that execrable practice. But this whole Digreffion (from 34 to 77) has another very uncommon beauty; for, at the fame time that it arifes naturally from the last confideration in the debate of the previous Question, In vain may Heroes fight, and Patriots rave; If secret Gold fap on from knave to knave. COMMENTARY. 40 it artfully denounces, in our entrance on the main Question, the principal topics intended to be employed for the dilucidation of it, namely AVARICE, PROFUSION, and PUBLIC CORRUP VER. 33. and Patriots rave;] The character of modern Patriots was, in the opinion of our poet, very equivocal; as the name was undiftinguishingly bestowed on every one in opposition to the court; of whofe virtues he gives a hint in 139. of this Epiftle. Agreeably to these fentiments, his predicate of them here is as equivocal, The expreffion is fine, and gives us the image of a place invested, where the approaches are made by communications which fupport each other; as the connexions amongst knaves, after they have been taken in by a state engineer, ferve to screen and encourage one another's private corruptions. VER. 35.- beneath the Patriot's cloak,] This is a true story, which happened in the reign of William III. to an unfufpected old Patriot, who coming out at the back-door from having been closeted by the King, where he had received a large bag of Guineas, VER. 34. If Jecret Gold the bursting of the bag difcofap on from knave to krave.]vered his bufinefs there. P. In vain-may Patriots rave; which they may do either in earneft or in jest; and is a conduct, in the opinion of Sempronius in the Play, beft fitted to hide their game.. |