Practis'd their master's notions to embrace,
Repeat his maxims, and reflect his face;
With every wild abfurdity comply,

And view each object with another's eye;
To shake with laughter ere the jeft they hear,
To pour at will the counterfeited tear,

And as their patron hints the cold or heat,
To shake in dog-days, in December sweat.

Χ

How, when competitors like these contend,
Can furly virtue hope to fix a friend?
Slaves that with ferious impudence beguile,
And lye without a blush, without a smile;
Exalt each trifle, every vice adore,

Your taste in fnuff, your judgment in a whore;
Can Balbo's eloquence applaud, and fwear

He

gropes his breeches with a monarch's air. For arts like these prefer'd, admir'd, carefs'd, They first invade your table, then your breaft; Y Explore your fecrets with infidious art,

Watch the weak hour, and ranfack all the heart

* Non fumus ergo pares: melior, qui femper & omni
Nocte dieque poteft alienum fumere vultum ;
A facie jactare manus, laudare paratus,
Si bene ructavit, fi rectum minxit amicus.
▾ Scire volunt fecreta domûs, atque inde timeri.

Then

Then foon your ill-plac'd confidence repay,
Commence your lords, and govern or betray.

Z

By numbers here from fhame or cenfure free,
All crimes are fafe, but hated poverty.

This, only this, the rigid law pursues,
This, only this, provokes the fnarling Mufe.
The fober trader at a tatter'd cloak,

Wakes from his dream, and labours for a joke;
With brifker air the filken courtiers gaze,

a

And turn the varied taunt a thousand ways.

Of all the griefs that harrass the distress'd;

Sure the most bitter is a scornful jeft;

Fate never wounds more deep the gen'rous heart,
Than when a blockhead's infult points the dart.

Has heaven refery'd, in pity to the poor,
No pathless waste or undiscover'd fhore?
No fecret island in the boundless main?
No peaceful defart yet unclaim'd by SPAIN?
Quick let us rife, the happy feats explore,
And bear oppreffion's infolence no more.

z-Materiem præbet caufafque jocorum
Omnibus hic idem? fi foeda & fciffa lacerna, &c.
Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in fe,
Quam quod ridiculos homines facit.

a

b

-Agmine facto

Debuerant olim tenues migraffe Quirites.

VOL. I.

P

This

This mournful truth is every where confess'd, SLOW RISES WORTH, BY POVERTY DEPRESS'D: But here more flow, where all are slaves to gold, Where looks are merchandise, and fmiles are fold; Where won by bribes, by flatteries implor'd,

The groom retails the favours of his lord.

But hark! th' affrighted crowd's tumultuous cries
Roll through the streets and thunder to the fkies:
Rais'd from fome pleafing dream of wealth and pow'r,
Some pompous palace or fome blissful bow'r,
Aghaft you start, and fcarce with aching fight
Sustain th' approaching fire's tremendous light;
Swift from pursuing horrors take your way,
And leave your little ALL to flames a prey;
Then through the world a wretched vagrant roam,
For where can starving merit find a home?

In vain your mournful narrative disclose,

While all neglect, and moft infult your woes.

с

• Haud facile emergunt, quorum virtutibus obftat
Res angufta domi; fed Romæ durior illis

-Ultimus autem

Ærumnæ cumulus, quod nudum, & fruftra rogantem
Nemo cibo, nemo hofpitio, tectoque juvabit,

Should

* Should heaven's just bolts Orgilio's wealth confound,
And spread his flaming palace on the ground,
Swift o'er the land the dismal rumour flies,
And public mournings pacify the skies;

The laureat tribe in servile verse relate,
How virtue wars with perfecuting fate;
' With well-feign'd gratitude the penfion'd band
Refund the plunder of the beggar'd land.
See! while he builds, the gaudy vaffals come,
And crowd with fudden wealth the rising dome;
The price of boroughs and of fouls restore;
And raise his treasures higher than before.
Now blefs'd with all the baubles of the great,
The polish'd marble, and the shining plate,
* Orgilio fees the golden pile aspire,

And hopes from angry heav'n another fire,

h

"Could'st thou refign the park and play content,

For the fair banks of Severn or of Trent;

P 2

e Si magna Afturici cecidit domus, horrida mater,

There

Pullati proceres.

f

Jam accurrit, qui marmora donet,

Conferat impenfas hic, &c.

Hic modium argenti.

Meliora, ac plura reponit

Perficus orborum lautiffimus.

Si potes avelli Circenfibus, optima Soræ,

Aut Fabrateriæ domus, aut Frufinone paratur,

There might'ft thou find fome elegant retreat,
Some hireling fenator's deserted seat ;

And stretch thy prospects o'er the smiling land,
For less than rent the dungeons of the Strand;
There prune thy walks, support thy drooping flow'rs,
Direct thy rivulets, and twine thy bow'rs;
And, while thy beds a cheap repast afford,
Defpife the dainties of a venal lord.

There every bush with nature's mufic rings,
There breeze bears health upon its wings;

every

On all thy hours fecurity fhall fmile,

And bless thy evening walk and morning toil.

Prepare for death, if here at night you roam, And fign your will before you fup from home.

* Some fiery fop, with new commission vain, Who fleeps on brambles till he kills his man; Some frolic drunkard, reeling from a feast, Provokes a broil, and ftabs you for a jest.

Quanti nunc tenebras unum conducis in annum.
Hortulus hic.

Vive bidentis amans, & culti villicus horti,
Unde epulum poffis centum dare Pythagoræis,
-Poffis ignavus haberi,

Et fubiti cafus improvidus, ad cœnam fi
Inteftatus eas.

* Ebrius et petulans, qui nullum forte cecidit,
Dat pœnas, noctem patitur lugentis amicum
Peleidæ.

Yet