"Where once I went to church, I'll now go twice"And am fo clear too of all other vice." 370 The Tempter faw his time; the work he ply'd; Stocks and Subfcriptions pour on ev'ry fide, 'Till all the Dæmon makes his full descent In one abundant fhow'r of Cent per Cent, Sinks deep within him, and poffeffes whole, Then dubs Director, and fecures his foul. Behold Sir Balaam, now a man of spirit, Afcribes his gettings to his parts and merit, What late he call'd a Bleffing, now was wit, And God's good Providence, a lucky Hit. NOTES. "What Riches give us let us then enquire. 375 "Meat, Fire, and Cloaths. What more? Meat, Cloaths, and Fire. But here, in one who had not yet learnt the art of dif guifing the Poverty of Wealth by the Refinements of Luxury, he fhews, with admirable humour, the ridicule of that project: "And lo! true Puddings smoak'd upon the board. VER. 377. What late he call'da Blefing now was Wit, &c.] This is an admirable picture of human nature: In the entrance into life, all but coxcombs-born, are modeft; and esteem the favours of their superiors as marks of their benevolence: But, if these favours happen to increase ; then, instead of advancing in gratitude to our benefactors, we only improve in the good opinion of ourselves; and the conftant returns of fuch favours make us confider them no longer as accommodations to our wants, or the Things change their titles, as our manners turn: But duly fent his family and wife. There (fo the Dev'l ordain'd) one Christmas-tide 381 A Nymph of Quality admires our Knight; 385 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 Commiffion buys, Who drinks, whores, fights, and in a duel dies: 390 His daughter flaunts a Viscount's tawdry wife; She bears a Coronet and P-x for life. NOTES. hire of our fervice, but debts due to our merit: Yet, at the fame time, to do juftice to our common nature, we fhould obferve, that this does not proceed fo often from downright vice as is imagined, but frequently from mere infirmity; of which the reason is evident; for, having fmall knowledge, and yet an exceffive opinion of ourfelves, we estimate our merit by the paffions and caprice of others; and this perhaps would not be fo much amifs, were we not apt to take their favours for a declaration of their fenfe of our merits. How often, for inftance, has it been feen, in the three learned Profeffions, that a Man, who, had he continued in his primeval meannefs, would have circumferibed his knowledge within the modeft limits of Socrates; yet, being pub'd up, as the phrafe is, has felt himself growing into a Hooker, a Hales, or a Sydenham; while, in the rapidity of his courfe, he imagined he faw, In Britain's Senate he a feat obtains, And one more Penfioner St. Stephen gains. My Lady falls to play; fo bad her chance, 365 He must repair it; takes a bribe from France; IMITATIONS. VER. 394. And one more Penfioner St. Stephen gains.] atque unum civem donare Sibylla. NOTES. Juv. at every new ftation, a new door of fcience opening to him, without fo much as staying for a Flatterer to let him in: -Beatus enim jam Cum pulchris tunicis fumet nova confilia. VER. 401. The Devil and the King divide the Prize.] This is to be understood in a very fober and decent sense; as a Satire only on fuch Ministers of State which History informs us have been found, who aided the Devil in his temptations, in order to foment, if not to make, Plots for the fake of confifcations. So fure always, and just is our author's fatire, even in those places where he feems moft to have indulged himself only in an elegant badinage. But this Satire on the abuse of the general Laws of forfeiture for high treafon, which Laws all well-policied communities have found necessary, is by no means to be understood as a reflexion on the Laws themselves; whofe neceffity, equity, and even lenity have been excellently The Devil and the King divide the prize, And fad Sir Balaam curfes God and dies. NOTES. well vindicated in that very learned and elegant Difcourse, intituled, Some confiderations on the Law of Forfei ture for high Treafon. Third Edition, London 1748. VER. ult.-curfes God and dies.] i. e. Fell under the temptations; alluding to the ftory of Job, referred to above. MORAL ESSAYS. EPISTLE IV. ΤΟ Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington. ARGUMENT. Of the Ufe of RICHES. The Vanity of Expence in People of Wealth and Quality. The abufe of the word Tafte, ver. 13. That the first principle and foundation in this, as in every thing elfe, is Good Senfe, ver. 40. The chief proof of it is to follow Nature, even in works of mere Luxury and Elegance. Inftanced in Architecture and Gardening, where all must be adapted to the Genius and Ufe of the Place, and the Beauties not forced into it, but refulting from it, ver. 50. How men are disappointed in their most expensive undertakings, for want of this true Foundation, without which nothing can pleafe long, if at all; and the best Examples and Rules will be but perverted into fomething burdenfome or ridiculous, ver. 65. &c. to 92. A |