Asleep and naked as an Indian lay, An honest factor stole a gem away: He pledg'd it to the knight; the knight had wit, So kept the diamond, and the rogue was bit. Some scruple rose, but thus he eas'd his thought: "I'll now give sixpence where I gave a groat; Where once I went to church I'll now go twiceAnd am so clear too of all other vice." The tempter saw his time; the work he plied; Stocks and subscriptions pour on every side, Till all the demon makes his full descent In one abundant shower of cent per cent, Sinks deep within him, and possesses whole, Then dubs director, and secures his soul. Behold Sir Balaam, now a man of spirit, Ascribes his gettings to his parts and merit; What late he call'd a blessing now was wit, And God's good providence a lucky hit. Things change their titles as our manners turn: His counting-house employ'd the Sunday morn : Seldom at church ('twas such a busy life), But duly sent his family and wife. There (so the devil ordain'd) one Christmas-tide My good old lady catch'd a cold and died. A nymph of quality admires our knight; He marries, bows at court, and grows polite; Leaves the dull cits, and joins (to please the fair) The well bred cuckolds in St. James's air: First for his son a gay commission buys, Who drinks, whores, fights, and in a duel dies : His daughter flaunts a viscount's tawdry wife; EPISTLE IV. TO RICHARD BOYLE, EARL OF BURLINGTON. OF THE USE OF RICHES. ARGUMENT. The vanity of expense in people of wealth and quality. The abuse of the wad taste. That the first pinciple and foundation in this, as in every thing else, is good sense. The chief proof of it is to follow nature, even in works of mere luxury and elegance. Instanced in architecture and gardening, where all must be adapted to the genius and use of the place, and the beauties not forced into it, but resulting from it. How men are disappointed in their most expensive undertakings for want of this true foundation, without which nothing can please long, if at all ; and the best examples and rules will but be perverted into something burdensome and ridiculous. A description of the false taste of magnificence; the first grand error of which is to imagine that greatness consists in the size and dimension, instead of the proportion and harmony, of the whole. And the second, either in joining together parts incoherent, or too minutely resembling, or, in the repetition of the same too frequently. A word or two of false taste in books, in music, in painting, even in preaching and prayer, and lastly in entertainments. Yet Providence is justified in giving wealth to be squandered in this manner, since it is dispersed to the poor and laborious part of mankind. [Recurring to what is laid down in the first book, ep. ii. and in the epistle preceding this.] What are the proper objects of magnificence, and a proper field for the expense of great men. And, finally, the great and public works which become a prince. 'Tis strange the miser should his cares employ 1 For what has Virro painted, built, and planted? Only to show how many tastes he wanted. What brought Sir Visto's ill got wealth to waste? Some demon whisper'd, "Visto! have a taste." Heaven visits with a taste the wealthy fool, And needs no rod but Ripley2 with a rule. See! sportive fate, to punish awkward pride, 3 Bids Bubo build, 3 and sends him such a guide: 4 You show us Rome was glorious, not profuse, And pompous buildings once were things of use; 1 A gentleman, who was a judicious collector of drawings. 2 An architect, who was originally a carpenter. 3 An allusion to Bub Dodington's mansion at Eastbury near Blandford, which he had just finished. 4 The Earl of Burlington was then publishing the Designs of Inigo Jones, and the Antiquities of Rome by Palladio. Yet shall, my lord, your just, your noble rules Fill half the land with imitating fools; Who random drawings from your sheets shall take, That lac'd with bits of rustic makes a front; To build, to plant, whatever you intend, |