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B. To Worth or Want well-weigh'd, be Bounty

giv'n,

And ease, or emulate, the care of Heav'n;
(Whose measure full o'erflows on human race)
Mend Fortune's fault, and justify her grace.
Wealth in the grofs is death, but life diffus'd
As Poison heals, in juft proportion us'd:
In heaps, like Ambergrife, a ftink it lies,
But well-difpers'd, is Incenfe to the Skies.

;

230

235

P. Who starves by Nobles, or with Nobles eats? The Wretch that trufts them, and the Rogue that cheats.

240

Is there a Lord, who knows a chearful noon
Without a Fiddler, Flatt'rer, or Buffoon?
Whose table, Wit, or modeft Merit share,
Un-elbow'd by a Gamefter, Pimp, or Play'r?
Who copies Your's, or OXFORD's better part,
To cafe th'opprefs'd, and raife the finking heart?

NOTES.

of it innocently and elegantly, in fuch measure and degree as his ftation may juftify, which the poet calls the Art of enjoying; and to impart the remainder amongst objects of worth, or want well weigh'd; which is, indeed, the Virtue of imparting.

VER.231,232. (Whose meafure full d'erflows on human

race, Mend Fortune's fault, and justify her grace.] i. e. Such of the Rich whofe full meafure overflows on human race, repair the wrongs of Fortune done to the indigent; and, at the fame time, juftify the favours fhe had beftowed upon themselves.

VER. 243. OXFORD's better part. Edward Harley,

Where-e'er he fhines, oh Fortune, gild the fcene, And Angels guard him in the golden Mean! 246 There, English Bounty yet a-while may stand, And Honour linger e'er it leaves the land.

But all our praises why should Lords engross ? Rife, honest Muse! and fing the MAN of Ross: 250

VARIATIONS.

After 250. in the MS.

Trace humble worth beyond Sabrina's fhore,
Who fings not him, oh may he fing no more!

COMMENTARY.

VER. 249. But all our praises why should Lords engrofs? Rife boneft Mufe!] This invidious expreffion of the poet's unwillingnefs that the Nobility should ingrofs all his praises, is strongly ironi

NOTES.

Earl of Oxford. The fon of Robert, created Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer by Queen Anne. This Nobleman died regretted by all men of letters, great numbers of whom had experienced his benefits. He left behind him one of the moft noble Libraries in Europe. P.

VER. 245. Where-e'er he Shines, oh Fortune, gild the Scene, And Angels guard him in the golden Mean!] This is exceedingly fublime-The fenfe of it arifes from what had been faid a little before of fuch a character's justifying the graces

therefore, but reasonable to expect She should continue them. But the more constant these were, the more need had He of fome fuperior affiftance to keep him in the golden mean : which the ancients feem'd fo well apprised of, that they gave to every man two Guardian Angels (here alluded to) as if, without standing on either fide of him, he could not poffibly be kept long in the mean or middle: nothing therefore could be more feasonable than this pathetic prayer on fo critical an occafion.

VER. 250. The MAN of of fortune; which made it, Ross:] The perfon here cele

Pleas'd Vaga echoes thro' her winding bounds,
And rapid Severn hoarse applause refounds.
Who hung with woods yon mountain's fultry brow?
From the dry rock who bade the waters flow?

COMMENTARY.

cal; their example having been given hitherto only to fhew the abufe of Riches. But there is great juftness of Defign, as well as agreeableness of Manner in the preference here given to the Man of Rofs. The purpose of the poet is to fhew, that an immenfe fortune is not wanted for all the good that Riches are capable of doing; he therefore chufes fuch an instance, as proves, that a man with five hundred pounds a year could become a bleffing to a whole country; and, confequently, that the poet's precepts for the true ufe of money, are of more general fervice than a bad heart will give an indifferent head leave to conceive. This was a truth of the greatest importance to inculcate : He therefore (from 249 to 297) exalts the character of a very private man, one Mr. J. Kyrle, of Herefordfhire: And, in ending his description, ftruck as it were with admiration at a fublimity of his own creating, and warmed with fentiments of a gratitude he had raised in himself in behalf of the public, the poet bursts out,

And what? no monument, infcription, stone? His race, his form, his name almost unknown? Then transported with indignation at a contrary obje&, he exclaims,

NOTES.

brated, who with a fmall Eftate actually performed all these good works, and whofe true name was almost loft (partly by the title of the Man of Rofs given him by way of eminence, and partly by being buried without fo much as an inscription) was called Mr. John Kyrle. He died in the year 1724, aged

90, and lies interred in the chancel of the church of Ross in Herefordshire. P.

We must understand what is here faid, of actually performing, to mean by the contributi ons which the Man of Rofs, by his affiduity and intereft, collected in his neighbourhood..

Not to the skies in ufelefs columns toft,
Or in proud falls magnificently lost,

But clear and artless, pouring thro' the plain
Health to the fick, and folace to the fwain.

255

Whose Caufe-way parts the vale with fhady rows? Whofe Seats the weary Traveller repofe?

260 Who taught that heav'n-directed spire to rise? "The MAN of Ross," each lifping babe replies. Behold the Market-place with poor o'erfpread! The MAN of Ross divides the weekly bread: He feeds yon Alms-house, neat, but void of state, Where Age and Want fit fmiling at the gate: 266 Him portion'd maids, apprentic'd orphans bleft, young who labour, and the old who reft.

The

COMMENTARY.

When Hopkins dies, a thoufand lights attend
The wretch, who living fav'd a candle's end:
Should'ring God's altar a vile image ftands,
Belies his features, nay, extends his hands.

I take notice of this description of the portentous vanity of a miferable Extortioner, chiefly for the ufe we shall now see he makes of it, in carrying on his fubject.

NOTES.

VER. 255. Not to the skies in ufelefs columns toft, Or in proud falls magnificently loft, The intimation, in the firft line, well ridicules the madnefs of fashionable Magnificence; thefe columns afpiring

to prop the skies, in a very different fenfe from the heav'ndirected fpire, in the verse that follows: As the expreffion, in the fecond line, exposes the meanness of it, in falling proudly to no purpose.

Is any fick the MAN of Ross relieves,

Prefcribes, attends, the med'cine makes, and gives.
Is there a variance; enter but his door,

Balk'd are the Courts, and contest is no more.
Defpairing Quacks with curfes fled the place,
And vile Attorneys, now an useless race.

271

B. Thrice happy man! enabled to pursue 275 What all fo wish, but want the pow'r to do! Oh say, what fums that gen'rous hand supply? What mines, to fwell that boundless charity?

P. Of Debts, and Taxes, Wife and Children clear, This man poffeft-five hundred pounds a year. 280 Blush, Grandeur, blush! proud Courts, withdraw your blaze!

Ye little Stars! hide your diminish'd rays.

B. And what? no monument, infcription, ftone? His race, his form, his name almost unknown?

NOTES.

ftance, as we fee in the Comment, of great importance to be inculcated.

VER. 275. Thrice happy man! enabled to purfue, &c.-boundiefs charity? These four lines (which the poet, with the VER. 281. Blush, Grandeur, highest propriety, puts in- blush! proud Courts, withdraw to the mouth of his noble your blaze! &c.] In this fubfriend) very artfully introduce lime apoftrophe, they are not the two following, as by the bid to blush because outstript in equivocal expreffion they raife virtue, for no fuch contention our expectations to hear of is fuppofed but for being outmillions, which come out, at fhined in their own proper prelaft, to be only five hundred tenfions to Splendour and Magpounds a year. A circum-nificence. SCRIEL.

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