There liv'd in primo Georgii (they record)
A worthy member, no small fool, a Lord;
Who, tho' the House was up, delighted fate,
Heard, noted, answer'd, as in full debate:
In all but this, a man of sober life,
Fond of his Friend, and civil to his Wife;
Not quite a mad-man, tho' a pafty fell,
And much too wife to walk into a well.

185

190

Him, the damn'd Doctors and his Friends immur'd, They bled, they cupp'd, they purg'd; in short, they cur'd:

Whereat the gentleman began to stare

My Friends! he cry'd, p-x take you for your care! That from a Patriot of distinguish'd note,

Have bled and purg'd me to a fimple Vote.

196

Well, on the whole, plain Profe must be my fate:
Wisdom (curse on it) will come foon or late.
There is a time when Poets will grow dull:
I'll e'en leave verses to the boys at school:
To rules of Poetry no more confin'd,

I learn to smooth and harmonize my Mind,
Teach ev'ry thought within its bounds to roll,
And keep the equal measure of the Soul.

NOTES.

200

205

Horace's madman took, agrees better with the fubject of his Epistle, which is Poetry; and doubtless there were other beauties in it, which time has deprived us of.

Ac non verba fequi fidibus modulanda Latinis,

Sed verae numerofque modofque edifcere vitae. Quocirca mecum loquor haec, tacitufque recordor: * Si tibi nulla fitim finiret copia lymphae, Narrares medicis: quod quanto plura parasti, Tanto plura cupis, nulline faterier audes?

▾ Si vulnus tibi monstrata radice vel herba Non fieret levius, fugeres radice vel herba Proficiente nihil curarier: audieras, cui

Rem Dî donarint, illi decedere pravam
Stultitiam; et, cum fis nihilo fapientior, ex quo

Plenior es, tamen uteris monitoribus îfdem ?

At fi divitiae prudentem reddere poffent,

Si cupidum timidumque minus te; nempe ruberes, Viveret in terris te fi quis avarior uno.

NOTES.

VER. 218. When golden Angels, etc.] This illuftration is much happier than that employed in his original; as by raifing pecuniary ideas, it prepares the mind for that mo rality it is brought to illuftrate.

s Soon as I enter at my country door,
My mind refumes the thread it dropt before;
Thoughts, which at Hyde-park-corner I forgot,
Meet and rejoin me, in the penfive Grot.
There all alone, and compliments apart,

I ask these fober queftions of my heart.

t

210

215

* If, when the more you drink, the more you crave,
You tell the Doctor; when the more you have,
The more you want, why not with equal ease
Confefs as well your Folly, as Disease?
The heart refolves this matter in a trice,
"Men only feel the Smart, but not the Vice."
▾ When golden Angels cease to cure the Evil,
You give all royal Witchcraft to the Devil :
When fervile Chaplains cry, that birth and place 220
Indue a Peer with honour, truth, and grace,
Look in that breast, most dirty D-! be fair,
Say, can you find out one fuch lodger there?
Yet ftill, not heeding what your heart can teach,
You go to church to hear these Flatt'rers preach. 225
Indeed, could wealth beftow or wit or merit,

A grain of courage, or a spark of spirit,
The wifest man might blush, I must agree,

If D*** lov'd fixpence, more than he.

NOTES.

VER. 220. When fervile Chaplains cry,] Dr. Ken-t VER. 229. lov'd fixpence,] Avarice, and the contempt of it, is well expreffed in these words.

w Si proprium eft, quod quis libra mercatus et aere

, eft,

Quaedam (fi credis confultis) mancipat usus :
Qui te pafcit ager, tuus eft; et villicus Orbî,
Cum fegetes occat tibi mox frumenta daturas,
Te dominum fentit.

* das nummos; accipis uvam,
Pullos, ova, cadum temeti: nempe modo isto
Paulatim mercaris agrum, fortaffe trecentis,
Aut etiam fupra nummorum millibus emtum.
Quid refert, vivas numerato nuper, an olim?

y Emtor Aricini quondam, Veientis et arvi,
Emtum coenat olus, quamvis aliter putat; emtis
Sub noctem gelidam lignis calefactat ahenum.
Sed vocat ufque fuum, qua populus adfita certis
Limitibus vicina refigit jurgia: tanquam

z Sit proprium quidquam, puncto quod mobilis horae, Nunc prece, nunc pretio, nunc vi, nunc morte fu

prema,

Permutet dominos, et cedat in altera jura.

Sic, quia perpetuus nulli datur ufus, et haeres Haeredem alterius, velut unda fupervenit undam:

NOTES.

VER. 232. delightful Abs-court] A farm over-against Hampton-Court.

VER, 248. bang in Fortune's pow'r, Loofe on the point

"If there be truth in Law, and Ufe can give 230 A Property, that's yours on which you live. Delightful Abs-court, if its fields afford

235

Their fruits to you, confeffes you its lord:
All Worldly's hens, nay partridge, fold to town,
His Ven'fon too, a guinea makes your own:
He bought at thoufands, what with better wit
You purchase as you want, and bit by bit;
Now, or long fince, what diff'rence will be found?
You pay a penny, and he paid a pound.

y Heathcote himself, and fuch large-acred men, 240 Lords of fat E'fham, or of Lincoln fen,

Buy every ftick of wood that lends them heat,

Buy every Pullet they afford to eat.

Yet these are Wights, who fondly call their own

Half that the Dev'l o'erlooks from Lincoln town. 245 The Laws of God, as well as of the land,

Abhor, a perpetuity fhould ftand:

250

Eftates have wings, and hang in Fortune's pow'r
* Loofe on the point of ev'ry wav'ring hour,.
Ready, by force, or of your own accord,
By fale, at least by death, to change their lord.
Man? and for ever? wretch! what wou'dft thou have?
Heir urges heir, like wave impelling wave.

NOTES.

of ev'ry wav'ring hour.] A modern idea (the magnetic needle) here fupplied the Imitator with expreffion much fuperior to his Original.

VOL. IV.

*N 4