VER. 124. Alike in norbing but one Luft of Gold, Juff balf abe land would buy, and balf be sold:] Here the argument suffers a little for the sake of the satirç. The reason why the People should not be followed is because

Belua multorum eft capitum. nam quid fequar, aut quem? they are so divers in their pursuits (says Horace) that one cannot follow this man without being condemned by that. The imitator says, they all go on one common principle, tbe luft of

1

Alike in nothing but one Luft of Gold,
Juft half the land woald buy, and half be sold : 125
Their Country's wealth our mightier Misers drain,
Or cross, to plander Provinces, the Main;
The rest, some farm the Poor-box, some the Pews;
Some keep Assemblies, and would keep the Stews,
Some with fat Bucks on childless dotards fawn;
Some win rich Widows by their Chine and Brawn;
While with the filent growth of ten per cent,
In dirt and darkness, hundreds stink content.

Of all these ways, if each' pursues his own,
Satire, be kind, and let the wretch alone :

135

it

To act consistent with himself an hour,
Sir Job & fail'd forth, the ev'ning bright and still,
“ No place on earth (he cry'd) like Greenwich hill!"
Up starts a Palace, lo, th' obedient base

140 Slopes at its foot, the woods its fides embrace, The filver Thames refeets its marble face,

gold. This inaccuracy, tho' Horace has a little of it, yet he has however artfully disguised it, by speaking of the various objects of this one Passion, avarice, as of many various passions,

Pars hominum geftit conducere publica: funt qui, etc.
Cruftis et pomis

Multis occulto, etc. but his imitator has unwarily draws them to a point, by the introductory addition of the two lites above, Alike in nothing, etc.

Feftinantis heri: cui fii vitiofa libido

Fecerit aufpicium ; cras ferramenta Teanum

Tolletis, fabri. klectus gepialis in aula eft?

Nil ait effe prius, melius nil coelibe vita :

Si non est, jurat bene folis esse'maritis.

Quo teneam vultus mutantem Protea nodo?

Quid " pauper? ride: mutat coenacula, lectos,

line

Vir, 143. Now let some whimsy, etc.] This is very fpirited, but much inferior to the elegance of the original,

Cui fi vitiofa Libido Fecerit auspicium which alluding to the religious manners of that time, no modern imitation can reach,

peo

by

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Now let some whimsy, or that . Dev'l within Which guides all those who know not what they

mean, But give the Knight (or give his Lady) spleen; “ Away, away! take all your scaffolds down, 146 “ For Snug's the word: My dear! we'll live in Town."

At am'rous Flavio is the k ftocken thrown? That very night he longs to lie alone.

The Fool, whose Wife elopes some thrice a quarter, For matrimonial solace dies a martyr.

151 Did ever Proteus, Merlin, any witch, Transform themselves fo ftrangely as the Rich? Well, but the "Poor--The Poor have the same itch; They change their weekly Barber,weekly News, 155 Prefer a new Japanner, to their shoes, Discharge their Garrets, move their beds, and run (They know not whither) in a Chaise and one; They P hire their sculler, and when once aboard, Grow fick, and damn the climate-like a Lord. 160

4 You laugh, half Beau, half Sloven if I stand, My wig all powder, and all snuff my band;

VIR, 155. They change their weekly Barber, etc.] These fix lines much more spirited than the original. In Horace, the people's inconftancy of temper is satirized only in a fimple ex. pofure of the case. Here the ridicule on the folly is heightened by an humourous picture of the various objects of that inconfancy.

Occurro; rides. fi forte fabucula pexae.
Trita fubeft tunicae, vel fi toga diffidet impar;
Rides. quid, 'mea cum pugnat fententia secum ;
Quod petiit, fpernit; repetit quod nuper omisit;
$ Aestuat, et vitae disconvenit ordine toto;
+ Diruit, aedificat, mutat quadrata rotundis ?

Insanire putas folennia me, neque rides,
Nec medici credis, nec curatoris egere
A praetore dati; rerum* tutela mearum
Cum fis, et prave fectum ftomacheris ob unguem,
De te pendentis, te respicientis amici.

Ad fummam, sapiens uno' minor est Jour, dives, * Liber, 'honoratus, pulcher, “rex denique regum ; Praecipue fanus, nisi cum pituita molefta eft.

Ver. 182. wben plunder'd] 1. e. By the Public; which has Brely her revenge on her plunderers; and when the has; more farely knows how to use it.