Si dixit dives; h lacus et mare fentit amorem

VER. 124. Alike in nothing but one Luft of Gold, Juft balf the land would buy, and half be fold:] Here the argument fuffers a little for the fake of the fatire. The reason why the People should not be followed is because

Belua multorum eft capitum. nam quid fequar, aut quem? they are fo divers in their pursuits (fays Horace) that one cannot follow this man without being condemned by that. The imitator fays, they all go on one common principle, the luft of

Alike in nothing but one Luft of Gold,

C

Juft half the land would buy, and half be fold: 125 Their Country's wealth our mightier Misers drain, Or cross, to plunder Provinces, the Main;

d

The reft, fome farm the Poor-box, fome the Pews;
Some keep Affemblies, and would keep the Stews;
Some with fat Bucks on childlefs dotards fawn;
Some win rich Widows by their Chine and Brawn;
While with the filent growth of ten per cent,
In dirt and darkness, hundreds stink content.
Of all thefe ways,
if each f pursues his own,
Satire, be kind, and let the wretch alone:
But fnew nie one who has it in his pow'r
To act confiftent with himself an hour.

e

135

Sir Job & fail'd forth, the ev'ning bright and ftill,
"No place on earth (he cry'd) like Greenwich hill !”,
h Up ftarts a Palace, lo, th' obedient base

Slopes at its foot, the woods its fides embrace,
The filver Thames reflects its marble face,

140

gold. This inaccuracy, tho' Horace has a little of it, yet he has however artfully disguised it, by speaking of the various objects of this one Paffion, avarice, as of fo many various paffions,

Pars hominum geftit conducere publica : funt qui, etc. Cruftis et pomis

Multis occulto, etc.

but his imitator has unwarily drawn them to a point, by the introductory addition of the two lines above,

Alike in nothing, etc.

Fefiinantis heri: cui fi i vitiofa libido

Fecerit aufpicium; cras ferramenta Teanum

Tolletis, fabri. k lectus genialis in aula eft ?

Nil ait effe prius, melius nil coelibe vita :

1 Si non eft, jurat bene folis effe maritis.

m Quo teneam vultus mutantem Protea nodo ?

Quid "pauper? ride: mutat coenacula, lectos,

Balnea, P tonfares; conducto navigio aeque

Naufeat, ac locuples quem ducit priva triremis,

4 Si curatus inaequali tonfore capillos

VER. 143. Now let fome whimfy, etc.] This is very spirited, but much inferior to the elegance of the original,

Cui fi vitiofa Libido

Fecerit aufpicium

which alluding to the religious manners of that time, no modern imitation can reach.

Now let fome whimfy, or that Dev'l within Which guides all those who know not what they

mean,

But give the Knight (or give his Lady) spleen; "Away, away! take all your fcaffolds down, 146 "For Snug's the word: My dear! we'll live in Town.” At am'rous Flavio is the k ftocken thrown ?

That very night he longs to lie alone.

1 The Fool, whofe Wife elopes fome thrice a quarter, For matrimonial folace dies a martyr,

Did ever Proteus, Merlin, any witch,

151

Transform themselves fo ftrangely as the Rich? }

n

Well, but the " Poor--The Poor have the fame itch;
They change their weekly Barber, weekly News,155
Prefer a new Japanner, to their shoes,

Discharge their Garrets, move their beds, and run
(They know not whither) in a Chaife and one;
They hire their fculler, and when once aboard,
Grow fick, and damn the climate-like a Lord. 160
You laugh, half Beau, half Sloven if I ftand,
My wig all powder, and all fnuff my band;

VER. 155. They change their weekly Barber, etc.] These fix lines much more spirited than the original. In Horace, the people's inconftancy of temper is fatirized only in a fimple exposure of the cafe. Here the ridicule on the folly is heightened by an humourous picture of the various objects of that inconftancy.

Occurro; rides. fi forte fubucula

pexae

Trita fubeft tunicae, vel fi toga diffidet impar;
Rides. quid, ' mea cum pugnat fententia fecum ;
Quod petiit, fpernit; repetit quod nuper omifit;
• Aestuat, et vitae difconvenit ordine toto;
* Diruit, aedificat, mutat quadrata rotundis ?
"Infanire putas folennia me, neque rides,
Nec medici credis, nec curatoris egere
A praetore dati; rerum × tutela mearum
Cum fis, et prave fectum ftomacheris ob
De te pendentis, te refpicientis amici.

с

unguem,

Ad fummam, fapiens uno y minor eft Jove, dives, Liber, a honoratus, b pulcher, rex denique regum; Praecipue fanus, nifi cum pituita molefta eft.

e

VIR. 182. when plunder'd,] i. e. By the public; which has rarely her revenge on her plunderers; and when she has, more rarely knows how to use it.