"In me 'tis noble, fuits my birth and state, "My wealth unwieldy, and my heap too great." Then, like the fun, let (r) Bounty spread her ray, And shine that fuperfluity away.

116

Oh impudence of Wealth! with all thy ftore, How dar'ft thou let one worthy man be poor? Shall half the (s) new-built churches round thee

fall?

Make keys, buiid bridges, or repair Whitehall:
Or to thy country let that heap be fent,
As M**o's was, but not at five per cent.

121

(t) Who thinks that Fortune cannot change er mind,

Prepares a dreadful jeft for all mankind.
And (u) who ftands fafeft? tell me, is it he
That spreads and fwells in puff'd profperity,
Or blefs'd with little, whofe preventing care
In peace provides fit arms against a war?

125

Jurgatur verbis: ego vectigalia magna,
Divitiafque habeo tribus amplas regibus. (r) Ergo,
Quod fuperat, non eft melius quo infumere poffis?
Cur eget indignus quifquam, te divite? quare
(s) Templa ruunt antiqua Deum? cur, improbe,

caræ

Non aliquid patriæ tanto emetiris acervo?
Uni nimirum tibi recte femper erunt res?
(1) O magnus pofthac inimicis rifus! uterne
(u) Ad cafus dubios fidet fibi certius? hic, qui
Pluribus affuerit mentem corpufque fuperbum;
An qui contentus parvo metuenfque futuri,
In pace, ut fapiens, aptarit idonea bello?
H

VOL. II.

(x) Thus

(x) Thus Bethel fpoke, who always fpeaks his thought,

And always thinks the very thing he ought: 130 His equal mind I copy what I can,

And as I love, would imitate the man.

year;

135

In fouth-fea days not happier, when furmis'd
The lord of thousands, than if now (y) excis'd;
In foreft planted by a father's hand,
Than in five acres now of rented land.
Content with little I can piddle here
On (x) brocoli and mutton, round the
But (a) ancient friends (tho' poor, or out of play)
That touch my bell, I cannot turn away.
'Tis true, no (b) turbots dignify my boards,
But gudgeons, flounders, what my Thames affords:
To Hounflow-heath I point, and Banfted-down,
Thence comes your mutton, and thefe chicks my

own:

140

(x) Quo magis his credas: puer hunc ego parvus Ofellum

Integris opibus novi non latius ufum,

Quam nunc (1) accifis. Videas, metato in agello, Cum pecore et gnatis, fortem mercede colonum, Non ego, narrantem, temere edi luce profefta Quidquam, præter (2) olus fumofa cum pede pernæ. Ac mihi feu (a) longum poft tempus venerat hofpes, Sive operum vacuo gratus conviva per imbrem Vicinus; bene erat, non (b) pifcibus urbe petitis,

NOTES.

Ver. 133. In fouth-fea days not happier, &c.] Mr Pope had fouth-feaftock, which he did not fell out. It was valued at between twenty and thirty thousand pounds when it fell.

(c) From

(c) From yon old walnut-tree a show'r fhall fall; (d) And grapes, long ling'ring on my only wall, And figs from ftandard and espalier join;

The devil's in you if you cannot dine:

Then (e) cheerful healths (your mistress shall have place)

And, what's more rare, a poet fhall fay grace. 150
Fortune not much of humbling me can boast:
Tho' double tax'd, how little have I loft!
My life's amufements have been just the fame,
Before, and after (ƒ) standing armies came.
My lands are fold, my father's house is gone; 155
I'll hire another's; is not that my own,

And yours, my friends? thro' whofe free-op'ning gate

66

None comes too early, none departs too late; (For I, who hold fage Homer's rule the best, Welcome the coming, fpeed the going guest.) 160 Pray heav'n it laft! (cries SWIFT!) as you go on; "I with to God this houfe had been your own; "Pity! to build, without a fon or wife: "Why, you'll enjoy it only all your life."

Sed pullo atque hædo: tum (c) penfilis uva fecundas
Et nux ornabat menfas, cum (d) duplice ficu.
Poft hoc ludus erat (e) cuppa potare magiftra:
Ac venerata Ceres, ita culmo fugeret alto,
Explicuit vino contracte feria frontis.

Saviat atque novos moveat Fortuna tumultus! Quantum hinc imminuet? quanto aut ego parcius,

aut vos,

O pueri, nituiftis, ut huc (ƒ) novus incola venit?

Book II. Well, if the use be mine, can it concern one, 165 Whether the name belong to Pope or Vernon? What's (g) Property? dear Swift! you fee it alter From you to me, from me to (b) Peter Walter; Or, in a mortgage, prove a lawyer's share; Or, in a jointure, vanish from the heir; Or in pure (i) equity (the case not clear) The chanc'ry takes your rents for twenty year: At best, it falls to fome (k) ungracious fon, Who cries, "My father's damn'd, and all's my

own."

170

Nam [g] propria telluris herum natura neque illum, Nec me, nec quemquam ftatuit. nos expulit ille; Illum aut [b] nequities aut [i] vafri infcitia juris, Poftremum expellet certe [k] vivacior heres,

NOTES.

Ver. 165. Well, if the ufe be mine, &c.] In a letter to this Mr Bethel, of March 20, 1743, he fays, " My landlady, Mrs Vernon, being dead, this garden and houfe are offered me in fale; and, I believe, (together with the cottages on each fide my grafs-plot next the Thames), will come at about a thousand pounds. If I thought any very particular friend would be pleafed to live in it after my death, (for, as it is, it ferves all my purpofes as well during life), I would purchafe it; and more particularly could I hope two things, That the friend who fhould like it, was fo much younger and healthier than myfelf, as to have a prospect of its continuing his fome years longer, than I can of its continuing mine. But most of thofe I love are travelling out of the world, not into it; and unless I have fuch a view given me, I have no vanity nor pleasure that does not stop fhort of the grave."--------So that we fee, what fome of his friends would not believe, his thoughts in profe and verte were the fame.

(7) Shades,

(7) Shades, that to BACON could retreat afford, Become the portion of a booby lord;

176

And Hemfley, once proud Buckingham's delight, Slides to a Scriv'ner or a City-knight.

(m) Let lands and houses have what lords they will, Let us be fix'd, and our own masters still. 180

[/] Nunc ager Umbreni fub nomine, nuper Ofelli Dictus erat: nulli proprius; fed cedit in ufum Nunc mihi, nunc alii. quocirca [m] vivete fortes, Fortiaque adverfis opponite pectora rebus.

NOTES.

Ver. 177. proad Buckingham's, &c.] Villiers Duke of Buckingham.