He pledg'd it to the Knight; the Knight had wit,
So kept the diamond, and the rogue was bit.
Some fcruple rofe; but thus he eas'd his thought; 365
"I'll now give fixpence where I gave a groat;
"Where once I went to church I'll now go twice-
"And am fo clear too of all other vice."

The tempter faw his time; the work he ply'd;
Stocks and fubfcriptions pour on ev'ry fide,
Till all the dæmon makes his full defcent
In one abundant fhow'r of cent per cent.
Sinks deep within him, and poffeffes whole,
Then dubs director, and fecures his foul.

Behold Sir Balaam, now a man of fpirit,
Afcribes his gettings to his parts and merit:
What late he call'd a bleffing, now was wit,
And God's good Providence, a lucky hit.
Things change their titles, as our manners turn:
His counting-house employ'd the Sunday-morn:
Seldom at church, ('twas fuch a bufy life),
But duly fent his family and wife.

There (fo the devil ordain'd) one Christmas-tide
My good old Lady catch'd a cold, and dy'd.
A nymph of quality admires our Knight;
He marries, bows at court, and grows polite:
Leaves the dull cits, and joins (to please the fair)
The well-bred cuckolds in St. James's air:
Firft, for his fon a gay commiffion buys,
Who drinks, whores, fights, and in a duel dies.
His daughter flaunts a Viscount's tawdry wife;
She bears a coronet and pox for life.
In Britain's fenate he a feat obtains,
And one more penfioner St. Stephen gains.

370

375

380

385

390

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 394, And one more penfioner St. Stephen gains.] -atque unam civem donare Sybille.

My

My Lady falls to play; fo bad her chance,
He muft repair it; take a bride from France
The Houfe impeach him; Coningsby herangues;
The court forfake him, and Sir Balam hangs.
Wife, fon, and daughter, Satan! are thy own,
His wealth, yet dearer, forfeit to the crown:
The devil and the king divide the prize,
And fad Sir Balaam curfes God and dies.

$395

400

To RICHARD BOYLE, Earl of EURLINGTON.

Argument.

Of the Ufe of RICHES.

The vanity of expence in people of wealth and quality. The abufe of the word Tafle, ver. 13. That the first principle and foundation in this, as in every thing elle, is Good Senfe, ver. 39. The chief proof of it is to follow Nature, even in works of mere luxury and elegance. Inftanced in Architecture and Gardening, where all must be adapted to the Genius and Ufe of the Place, and the beauties not forced into it, but refulting from it, ver. 47. How men are difappointed in their moft expenfive undertakings, for want of this true foundation, wi thout which nothing can pleafe long, if at all; and the beft Examples and Rules will be but perverted into fomething burthenfome or ridiculous, ver. 65, &c. to 98. A defcription of the falfe Taste of Magnificence; the firft grand errour of which is to imagine that Greatness confifts in the Size and Dimenfion, iuftead of the Proportion and Harmony of the whole, ver. 99; and the fecond, either in join ing together Parts incoherent, or too minutely refembling, or in the Repetition of the fame too frequently, ver. 105, &c. A word or two of falfe tafte in Books, in Mujic, in Painting, even in Preaching and Prayer, and laftly in Entertainments, ver. 133, &c. Yet PROVI DENCE is juftified in giving wealth to be fquandered in this manfince it is difperfed to the poor and laborious part of mankind, ver. 169. [recurring to what is laid down in the Effay on Man, Ep. ii. and in the epiftle preceding this, ver. 159, &c.] What are the proper Objects of Magnificence, and a proper field for the expence of Great Men, ver. 177, &c. and finally the great and public works which become a Prince, ver. 191, to the end.

ner,

"TIS ftrange, the mifer fhould his cares employ
To gain thofe riches he can ne'er enjoy:

Is it lefs ftrange, the prodigal fhould wafte
His wealth, to purchase what he ne'er can tafte?
Not for himfelf he fees, or hears, or eats;
Artifts must chufe his pictures, mufic, meats:
He buys for Topham, drawings and defigns;
For Pembroke, ftatues, dirty gods, and coins;

NOTES.

Rare

Firft printed in the year 1732. Ver. 7. Topham] A gentleman famous for a judicious collection of drawings.

Ver. 8. For Pembroke, flatues, dirty gods, and coins,] The author fpeaks here, not as a philofopher or divine, but as a connoiffeur and antiquary. Confequenily the dirty attribute here affigned thefe gods of

Rare monkish manuscripts for Hearne alone,
And books for Mead, and butterflies for Sloane.
Think we all these are for himfelf? no more
Than his fine wife, alas! or finer whore.

For what has Virro painted, built, and planted?
Only to fhew how many taftes he wanted.
What brought Sir Vifto's ill-got wealth to waste?
Some dæmon whisper'd, "Vifto! have a taste."
Heav'n vifits with a taste the wealthy fool,
And needs no rod but Ripely with a rule.
See! fportive Fate, to punish aukward Pride,
Bids Bubo build, and fends him fuch a guide:
A ftanding fermon, at each year's expence,
That never coxcomb reach'd magnificence,!

You show us, Rome was glorious, not profuse,
And pompous buildings once were things of ufe.
VOL. II.

Ꮓ

NOTES.

ΙΟ

15

20

Yet

old renown, is not in difparagement of their worth, but in high commendation of their genuine pretentions.

Ver. 10. And books for Mead, and butterflies for Sloane.] Two eminent phylicians; the one had an excellent library, the other the fineft collection in Europe of natural curiofities; both men of great learning and humanity.

Ver. 12. Than his fine wife, alas! or finer whore.] By the author's manner of putting together thefe two different utenfils of falfe magnificence, it appears, that properly speaking neither the wife nor the zuhore is the real object of modern tafle, but the finery only and who ever wears it, whether the wife or the whore, it matters not; any further than that the latter is thought to deterve it beft,as appears from her having most of it; and fo indeed becomes, by accident, the more fashionable thing of the two. SCRIB.

Ver. 18. Ripley] This man was a carpenter. employed by a first minifter, who railed him to an architect, without any genius in the art; and after fome wretched proofs of his infufliciency in public buildings, made him comptroller of the board of works.

Ver. 23. The Earl of Burlington was then publishing the defigns at Inigo Jones and the antiquities of Rome by Palladio,

After ver. 22, in the MS.

VARIATIONS.

Mult bithops, lawyers, flatefmen, have the skill
To build, to plant, judge paintings, what you will ?
Then why not Kent as well our treaties draw,
Bridgeman explain the golpel, Gibbs the law!