63

}

Would ye be * bleft? defpife low Joys, low Gains;
Difdain whatever CORNBURY disdains;
Be virtuous, and be happy for your pains.

y But art thou one, whom new opinions fway, One who believes as Tindal leads the way,

Who Virtue and a Church alike difowns,

65

Thinks that but words, and this but brick and ftones ?

Fly then, on all the wings of wild defire,
Admire whate'er the maddeft can admire:

Is Wealth thy paffion? Hence! from Pole to Pole,
Where winds can carry, or where waves can roll,
For Indian spices, for Peruvian Gold,

Prevent the greedy, and out-bid the bold:
a Advance thy golden Mountain to the skies;
On the broad base of fifty thousand rise,

70

Add one round hundred, and (if that's not fair) 75 Add fifty more, and bring it to a fquare.

For, mark th advantage; juft fo many score

b

Will gain a Wife with half as many more,
Procure her beauty, make that beauty chaste,
And then fuch Friends- as cannot fail to last. 80
A Man of wealth is dubb'd a Man of worth,
Venus fhall give him Form, and Anftis Birth-

e

(Believe me, many a German Prince is worse, Who proud of Pedigree, is poor of Purfe)

f

His Wealth brave Timon gloriously confounds; 85 Afk'd for a groat, he gives a hundred pounds;

Si poffet centum scenae praebere rogatus,

Qui poffum tot? ait: tamen et quaeram, et quot habebo

h

Mittam: poft paulo fcribit, fibi millia quinque
Effe domi chlamydum: partem, vel tolleret omnes,
* Exilis domus eft, ubi non et multa fuperfunt,
Et dominum fallunt, et profunt furibus. ↳ ergo,
Si res fola poteft facere et fervare beatum,
Hoc primus repetas opus, hoc poftremus omittas.
Si fortunatum fpecies et gratia praeftat,

k Mercemur fervum, qui dictet nomina, laevum
Qui fodicet latus, et cogat trans pondera dextram
Porrigere: Hic multum in Fabia valet, ille Velina;
Cui libet, is fafces dabit; eripietque curule,

n

Çui volet, importunus ebur: " Frater, Pater, adde: Ut cuique eft aetas, ita quemque facetus adopta. Si P bene qui coenat, bene vivit; lucet: eamus

Ɔr if three Ladies like a luckless Play,
Take the whole House upon the Poet's day.
Now, in fuch exigencies not to need,
Upon my word, you must be rich indeed;
A noble fuperfluity it craves,

1

مو

Not for your felf, but for your Fools and Knaves; Something, which for your Honour they may cheat, And which it much becomes you to forget.

h If Wealth alone then make and keep us bleft, 95 Still, ftill be getting, never, never rest.

iBut if to Pow'r and Place your paffion lie, If in the Pomp of Life confift the joy;

k

110

Then hire a Slave, or (if you will) a Lord
To do the Honours, and to give the Word;
Tell at your Levee, as the Crouds approach,
To whom to nod, whom take into your Coach,
Whom honour with your hand: to make remarks,
Who rules in Cornwall, or who rules in Berks:

m

1

"This may be troublesome, is near the Chair: 106 "That makes three Members, this can chufe a "May`r."

Inftructed thus, you bow, embrace, protest,

n

Adopt him " Son, or Coufin at the least,

}

Then turn about, and laugh at your own Jeft. S

Or if your life be one continu'd Treat,

If to live well means nothing but to eat;
Up, up! cries Gluttony, 'tis break of day,
Go drive the Deer, and drag the finny-prey;

Quo ducit gula: pifcemur, venemur, ut ¶ olim

Gargilius: qui mane plagas, venabula, fervos,

Differtum tranfire forum populumque jubebat,

Unus ut e multis populo fpectante referret.

Emtum mulus aprum. 'crudi, tumidique lavemur,

Quid deceat, quid non, obliti; Caerite cera

S

Digni; remigium vitiofum Ithacenfis Ulyffei;

Cui potior patria fuit interdicta voluptas.

VIR. 127. Wilmot.] Earl of Rochester.

Ibid. 129. And SwIFT fay wifely, "Vive la Bagatelle !”] Our Poet, speaking in one place of the purpose of his fatire, fays,

In this impartial glass, my Mufe intends

Fair to expofe myself, my foes, my friends.

and, in another, he makes his Court-Adviser say,

Laugh at your Friends, and if your Friends before,

So much the better, you may laugh the more.

because their impatience under reproof would fhew, they had a great deal which wanted to be set right.

On this principle, Swift falls under his correction. He could not bear to see a friend he fo much valued, live in the miserable abufe of one of Nature's beft gifts, unadmonished of his folly. Swift (as we may fee by fome pofthumous Volumes, lately publifhed, fo difhonourable and injurious to his memory) trifled away his old age in a diffipation that women and boys might be ashamed of. For when men have given into a long habit of

With hounds and horns go hunt an Appetite 115
So Ruffel did, but could not eat at night,
Call'd happy Dog! the Beggar at his door,
And envy'd Thirft and Hunger to the Poor.
Or fhall we r ev'ry Decency confound,
Thro' Taverns, Stews, and Bagnio's take our round,
Go dine with Chartres, in each Vice out-do
'K—l's lewd Cargo, or Ty-y's Crew,
From Latian Syrens, French Circæan Feasts,
Return well travell'd, and transform'd to Beafts,
Or for a titled Punk, or foreign Flame,

t

V

121

125

Renounce our Country, and degrade our Name ?
If, after all, we must with Wilmot own,
The Cordial Drop of Life is Love alone,

employing their wit only to fhew their parts, to edge their fpleen, to pander to a faction; or, in fhort, to any thing but that for which Nature beftowed it, namely, to recommend, and set off Truth; old age, which abates the paffions, will never rectify the abuses they occafioned. But the remains of wit, instead of seeking and recovering their proper channel, will run into that miferable depravity of taste here condemned: and in which Dr. Swift seems to have placed no inconfiderable part of his wisdom. "I chufe (says he, in a Letter to Mr. Pope) my Com. "panions amongst those of the leaft confequence, and moft "compliance: I read the moft trifling Books I can find: and " whenever I write, it is upon the most trifling subjects." And again, "I love La Bagatelle better than ever. I am always writ"ing bad profe or worfe verfes, either of rage or raillery," etc. And again, in a letter to Mr. Gay, "My rule is, Vive la