But when no prelate's lawn with hair-shirt lin'd,
Is half fo incoherent as my mind,
When (each opinion with the next at ftrife,
One ebb and flow of follies all my life)
I plant, root up; I build, and then confound;
Turn round to fquare, and fquare again to round; 170
You never change one muscle of your face,
You think this madness but a common cafe,
Nor once to Chanc'ry, nor to Hale apply;
Yet hang your lip, to fee a feam awry !
Careless how ill I with myself agree,
Kind to my drefs, my figure, not to me.
Is this my guide, philofopher, and friend?
This he, who loves me, and who ought to mend ;
Who ought to make me (what he can, or none)
That man divine whom Wisdom calls her own;
Great without title, without fortune blefs'd;
Rich ev'n when plunder'd, honour'd while oppress'd;
Lov'd without youth, and follow'd without power;
At home, tho' exil'd, free, tho' in the Tower;
In short, that reas'ning, high, immortal thing,
Juft less than Jove, and much above a king,
Nay, half in heav'n-except (what's mighty odd)
A fit of vapours clouds this demi-god ?
SIXTH EPISTLE of the FIRST BOOK
"NOT to admire, is all the art I know,
To make men happy, and to keep them fo."
(Plain truth, dear MURRAY, *needs no flow'rs of fpeech, So take it in the very words of Creech)
This vault of air, this congregated ball,
Self-center'd fun, and stars that rise and fall,
There are, my friend! whofe philofophic eyes
Look thro', and trust the ruler with his fkies,
To him commit the hour, the day, the year,
And view this dreadful All without a fear.
* This piece is the most finished of all his imitations, and executed in the high manner the Italian painters call con amore. By which they mean, the exertion of that principle, which puts the faculties on the stretch, and produces the fupreme degree of excellence. For the poet had all the warmth of affection for the great lawyer to whom it is addressed; and, indeed, no man ever more deferved to have a Poet for his friend. In the obtaining of which, as neither vanity, party, nor fear, had any fhare: fo he fupported his title to it by all the offices of true friendship.
Admire we then what earth's low entrails hold,
Arabian fhores, or Indian feas infold;
All the mad trade of fools and flaves for gold?
Or popularity? or stars and ftrings?
The mob's applauses, or the gifts of kings?
Say with what eyes we ought at courts to gaze,
And pay the great our homage of amaze?
If weak the pleasure that from these can spring,
The fear to want them is as weak a thing:
Whether we dread, or whether we defire,
In either cafe, believe me, we admire;
Whether we joy or grieve, the fame the curfe,
Surpriz'd at better, or furpriz'd at worse.
Thus good or bad, to one extreme betray
Th' unbalanc'd mind, and fnatch the man away;
For virtue's felf may too much zeal be had;
The worst of madmen in a faint run mad.
Go then, and if you can, admire the state
Of beaming diamonds, and reflected plate;
Procure a TASTE to double the furprize,
And gaze on Parian charms with learned eyes:
Be ftruck with bright brocade, or Tyrian dye,
Our birth-day nobles' splendid livery.
If not fo pleas'd, at council-board rejoice,
To fee their judgments hang upon thy voice;
From morn to night, at fenate, rolls and hall,
Plead much, read more, dine late, or not at all,
But wherefore all this labour, all this ftrife?
For fame, for riches, for a noble wife?
Shall one whom nature, learning, birth confpir'd
To form, not to admire, but be admir'd,
Sigh, while his Chloe blind to wit and worth
Weds the rich dulnefs of fome fon of earth?
Yet time enobles, or degrades each line;
It brighten'd CRAGGS's, and may darken thine :
And what is fame? the meaneft have their day,
The greateft can but blaze, and pass away.
Grac'd as thou art, with all the pow'r of words,
So known, fo honour'd, at the house of Lords:
Confpicuous fcene! another yet is nigh,
(More filent far) where kings and poets lie;
Where MURRAY (long enough his country's pride)
Shall be no more than TULLY, or than HYDE! *
Rack'd with sciatics, martyr'd with the ftone,
Will any mortal let himself alone?
See Ward by batter'd beaus invited over,
And desp❜rate mifery lays hold on Dover.
The cafe is easier in the mind's disease ;
There all men may be cur'd, whene'er they please.
Would ye be bleft? despise low joys, low gains;
Difdain whatever CORNBURY difdains;
Be virtuous, and be happy for your pains.
But art thou one, whom new opinions sway, One who believes as Tindal leads the way,
Who virtue and a church alike difowns,
Thinks that but words, and this but brick and stones ? Fly then, on all the wings of wild defire,
Admire whate'er the maddeft can admire :
Is wealth thy paffion? Hence! from pole to pole,
Where winds can carry, or where waves can roll,
For Indian fpices, for Peruvian gold,
Prevent the greedy, or outbid the bold:
Advance thy golden mountain to the skies;
On the broad base of fifty thousand rise,
Add one round hundred, and (if that's not fair)
Add fifty more, and bring it to a square.
For, mark th' advantage; juft so many score
Will gain a wife with half as many more,
Procure her beauty, make that beauty chafte,
And then fuch friends-as cannot fail to laft.
* Equal to either, in the ministry of his profeffion; and fuperior to both where the parallel fails; TULLY's brightest talents were frequently tarnished by Vanity and Fear; and HYDE's most virtuous purposes perverted and defeated by fuperftitious notions concerning the divine origin of government, and the unlimited obedience of the people.
A man of wealth is dubb'd a man of worth,
Venus fhall give him form, and Anftis birth.
(Believe me, many a German prince is worse,
Who, proud of pedigree, is poor of purse)
His wealth brave Timon gloriously confounds;
Ask'd for a groat, he gives a hundred pounds;
Or if three ladies like a lucklefs play,
Take the whole house upon the poet's day.
Now, in fuch exigencies not to need,
Upon my word, you must be rich indeed;
A noble fuperfluity it craves,
Not for yourself, but for your fools and knaves;
Something, which for your honour they may cheat,
And which it much becomes you to forget.
If wealth alone then make and keep us bleft,
Still, ftill be getting, never, never reft.
But if to power and place your paffion lie, If in the pomp of life confift the joy ; Then hire a flave, or (if you will) a lord To do the honours, and to give the word; Tell at your levee, as the crouds approach, To whom to nod, whom take into your coach, Whom honour with your hand to make remarks, Who rules in Cornwall, or who rules in Berks: "This may be troublesome, is near the chair: "That makes three members, this can chufe a may'r." Inftructed thus, you bow, embrace, proteft, Adopt him fon, or coufin at the least, Then turn about, and laugh at your own jest. Or if your life be one continu'd treat, If to live well means nothing but to eat; Up, up! cries Gluttony, 'tis break of day, Go drive the deer, and drag the finny prey; With hounds and horns go hunt an appetiteSo Ruffel did, but could not eat at night, Call'd happy dog! the beggar at his door, And envy'd thirst and hunger to the poor.
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