'Tis Ufe alone that fanctifies Expence,

And Splendor borrows all her rays from Senfe. 180 His Father's Acres who enjoys in peace,

Or makes his Neighbours glad, if he encrease : Whofe chearful Tenants blefs their yearly toil, Yet to their Lord owe more than to the foil;

COMMENTARY.

things of Tafe without Senfe; and, in the second, an example of others without either Senfe or Tafte; fo the third is employed in two examples of Magnificence in Planting and Building; where both Senfe and Tafte highly prevail: The one in him, to whom this Epiftle is addrefled; and the other, in the truly noble perfon whofe amiable Character bore fo confpicuous a part in the foregoing.

Who then fhall grace, or who improve the Soil?

Who plants like BATHURST, or who builds like BOYLE. Where in the fine defcription he gives of these two species of Magnificence, he artfully infinuates, that tho', when executed in a true Tafte, the great end and aim of both be the fame. viz. the general good, in ufe or ornament; yet that their progrefs to this end is carried on in direct contrary courfes; that, in

NOTES.

as not only to make it do its vulgar office, of reprefenting a very plentiful harvest, but alio to affume the Image of Nature, re-establishing herself in her rights, and mocking the vain efforts of falfe magnificence, which would keep her out of them.

VER. 179, 180. 'Tis Ufe alone that fanctifies Expence, And Spendor borrows all her

é

Whose ample Lawns are not asham'd to feed 185
The milky heifer and deferving steed;

Whose rifing Forefts, not for pride or show,
But future Buildings, future Navies, grow:
Let his plantations ftretch from down to down,
First shade a Country, and then raise a Town. 190

COMMENTARY.

Planting, the private advantage of the neighbourhood is first promoted, till, by time, it rifes up to a public benefit:

Whofe ample Lawns are not afham'd to feed
The milky heifer and deferving steed;

Whofe rifing Forefts, not for pride or show,
But future Buildings, future Navies grow.

On the contrary, the wonders of Architecture ought first to be bestowed on the public:

Bid Harbors open, public Ways extend,
Bid Temples, worthier of the God, afcend;
Bid the broad Arch the dang'rous flood contain;
The Mole projected break the roaring main.

And when the public has been properly accommodated and adorned, then, and not till then, the works of private Magnificence may take place. This was the order obferv'd by those two great Empires, from whom we received all we have of this polite art: We read not of any Magnificence in the private buildings of Greece or Rome, till the generofity of their public spirit had adorned the State with Temples, Emporiums, Councilhoufes, Common-Porticos, Baths, and Theatres.

You too proceed! make falling Arts your care,
Erect new wonders, and the old repair;
Jones and Palladio to themselves restore,
And be whate'er Vitruvius was before:

Till Kings call forth th' Ideas of your mind, 195
(Proud to accomplish what such hands defign'd,)
Bid Harbors open, public Ways extend,
Bid Temples, worthier of the God, afcend;
Bid the broad Arch the dang'rous Flood contain,
The Mole projected break the roaring Main; 200

Shall half the new-built Churches round thee fall)

others were vilely executed, thro' fraudulent cabals between undertakers, officers, &c. Dagenham-breach had done very great mischiefs ; many of the Highways throughout England were hardly paflable; and moft of those which were repaired by Turnpikes were made jobs for private lucre, and infamoufly

executed, even to the entrances of London itfelf: The propofal of building a Bridge at Westminster had been petition'd against and rejected; but in two years after the publication of this poem, an Act for building a Bridge pafs'd thro' both houses. After many debates in the committee, the

Back to his bounds their fubject Sea command, And roll obedient Rivers thro' the Land:

These Honours, Peace to happy Britain brings, These are Imperial Works, and worthy Kings.

NOTES.

execution was left to the carpenter above-mentioned, who would have made it a wooden

one; to which our author alludes in thefe lines,

Who builds a Bridge that never drove a pile?
Should Ripley venture, all the world would smile.

See the notes on that place. P.

MORAL ESSAYS.

EPISTLE V.

To Mr. ADDISON.

Occafion'd by his Dialogues on MEDALS.

EE the wild Waste of all-devouring years!

How Rome her own fad Sepulchre appears, With nodding arches, broken temples spread! The very Tombs now vanish'd like their dead!

NOTES.