But nobler scenes Maria's dreams unfold,

Hereditary Realms, and worlds of Gold.
Congenial fouls! whose life one Av'rice joins,
And one fates buries in th'Afturian Mines.

130

Much injur❜d Blunt! why bears he Britain's hate? A wizard told him in these words our fate : "At length Corruption, like a gen❜ral flood, 135 "(So long by watchful Minifters withstood) "Shall deluge all; and Av'rice creeping on, "Spread like a low-born mift, and blot the Sun;

NOTES.

to Spain, where they are ftill in fearch of gold in the mines of the Afturies. P. VER. 133. Much injur'd Blunt!] Sir JOHN BLUNT, originally a fcrivener, was one of the first projectors of the South-fea company, and afterwards one of the directors and chief managers of the famous scheme in 1720. He was alfo one of those who fuffer'd most severely by the bill of pains and penalties on the faid directors. He was a Diffenter of a moft religious deportment, and profefs'd to be a great believer. Whether he did

really credit the prophecy here mentioned is not cer tain, but it was conftantly in this very ftyle he declaimed against the corrup tion and luxury of the age, the partiality of Parliaments, and the mifery of partyfpirit. He was particularly eloquent against Avarice in great and noble perfons, of which he had indeed lived to see many miferable examples. He died in the year 1732. P.

Avrice

VER. 137. creeping on, Spread like a low born mift, and blot the Sun ;] The fimilitude is ex

140

"Statesman and Patriot ply alike the stocks, "Peerefs and Butler fhare alike the Box, "And Judges jobb, and Bishops bite the town, "And mighty Dukes pack cards for half a crown. "See Britain funk in lucre's fordid charms,

"And France reveng'd of ANNE's and EDWARD'S "arms?"

'Twas no Court-badge, great Scriv'ner! fir'd thy brain,

Nor lordly Luxury, nor City Gain :

No, 'twas thy righteous end, afham'd to fee
Senates degen❜rate, Patriots disagree,

And nobly wishing Party-rage to cease,

145

To buy both fides, and give thy Country peace. 150 "All this is madnefs," cries a fober fage: But who, my friend, has reason in his rage?

NOTES.

tremely appofite, implying that this vice is of bafe and mean original; hatched and nurfed up amongst Scriveners, Stock-jobbers, and Citts; and unknown, 'till of late, to the Nobles of this land: But now, in the fulness of time, she rears

her head, and afpires to cover the moft illuftrious ftations in her dark and pestilential fhade. The Sun, and other luminaries of Heaven, fignifying, in the high eaftern ftyle, the Grandees and Nobles of the earth.

"The ruling Paffion, be it what it will,
"The ruling Paffion conquers Reason ftill."
Less mad the wildest whimsey we can frame,
Than ev❜n that Paffion, if it has no Aim;
For tho' fuch motives Folly you may call,
The Folly's greater to have none at all.

155

Hear then the truth: ""Tis Heav'n each Paffion

"fends,

"And diff'rent men directs to diff'rent ends. 160 "Extremes in Nature equal good produce,

"Extremes in Man concur to genʼral use.

Ask we what makes one keep, and one bestow?
That Pow'R who bids the Ocean ebb and flow,
Bids feed-time, harvest, equal course maintain, 165
Thro' reconcil'd extremes of drought and rain,
Builds Life on Death, on Change Duration founds,
And gives th'eternal wheels to know their rounds.
Riches, like infects, when conceal'd they lie,
Wait but for wings, and in their season fly.
Who fees pale Mammon pine amidst his store,
Sees but a backward fteward for the Poor ;
This year a Refervoir, to keep and spare;
The next, a Fountain, spouting thro' his Heir,
In lavish streams to quench a Country's thirst, 175

And men and dogs shall drink him till they burst,

170

180

Old Cotta fham'd his fortune and his birth, Yet was not Cotta void of wit or worth: What tho' (the use of barb'rous spits forgot) His kitchen vy'd in coolness with his grot? His court with nettles, moats with creffes ftor'd, With foups unbought and fallads blefs'd his board? If Cotta liv'd on pulse, it was no more Than Bramins, Saints, and Sages did before;

To cram the Rich was prodigal expence,

185

190

And who would take the Poor from Providence?
Like fome lone Chartreux ftands the good old Hall,
Silence without, and Fafts within the wall;
No rafter'd roofs with dance and tabor found,
No noontide-bell invites the country round:
Tenants with fighs the fmoakless tow'rs survey,
And turn th❜unwilling fteeds another way:
Benighted wanderers, the foreft o'er,
Curfe the fav'd candle, and unop'ning door;
While the gaunt mastiff growling at the gate, 195
Affrights the beggar whom he longs to eat.

Not fo his Son, he mark'd this overfight,
And then mistook reverse of wrong for right.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 182. With foups unbought,]

-dapibus menfas onerabat inemptis. VIRG. P.

(For what to fhun will no great knowledge need,

But what to follow, is a task indeed.)
Yet fure, of qualities deserving praise,

More go to ruin Fortunes, than to raise.

200

What flaughter'd hecatombs, what floods of wine,
Fill the capacious Squire, and deep Divine !
Yet no mean motive this profufion draws,

His oxen perish in his country's cause;

205

'Tis GEORGE and LIBERTY that crowns the cup
And Zeal for that great House which eats him up.
The Woods recede around the naked feat,
The Sylvans groan-no matter-for the Fleet: 210
Next goes his Wool-to clothe our valiant bands,
Laft, for his Country's love, he fells his Lands.

NOTES.

|

amples of a good conduct are extremely rare: Befides, the mischiefs of folly are eminent and obvious; but the fruits of prudence, remote and retired from common. obfervation; and if feen at all, yet their dependance on their caufes not being direct and immediate, they are not eafily

VER. 199. (For what to fbun will no great knowledge need, But what to follow, is a task indeed.] The poet is here fpeaking only of the knowledge gained by experience Now there are fo many miferable examples of ill conduct, that no one, with his eyes open, can be at a lofs to know what to sun ; but, very inviting ex-understood.