61

Would ye be bleft; defpife low Joys, low Gains; Difdain whatever CORNBURY difdains; ;; Be virtuous, and be happy for your pains. y But art thou one, whom new opinions fway, One who believes as Tindal leads the way, Who Virtue and a Church alike difowns,

65

Thinks that but words, and this but brick and ftones ? Fly 2 then, on all the wings of wild defire,

Admire what'ere the maddeft can admire :

Is Wealth thy paffion? Hence! from Pole to Pole, Where winds can carry, or where waves can roll, 70 For Indian fpices, for Peruvian Gold,

Prevent the greedy, and out-bid the bold:

a Advance thy golden Mountain to the skies;
On the broad base of fifty thousand rife,

Add one round hundred, and (if that's not fair) 75
Add fifty more, and bring it to a fquare.
For, mark th' advantage; juft fo 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 last.
Ad Man of wealth is dubb'd a Man of worth,
Venus shall give him Form, and Anstis Birth.
(Believe me, many a German Prince is worse,
Who proud of Pedigree is poor of Purse)

80

His Wealth brave f Timon glorioufly confounds; 85 Afk'd for a groat, he gives a hundred pounds;

Si poffet centum fcenae praebere rogatus,

Qui poffum tot? ait: tamen et quaeram, et quot habebo

Mittam poft paulo scribit, fibi millia quinque

:

h

Effe domi chlamydum: partem, vel tolleret omnes.
* Exilis domus eft, ubi non et multa fuperfunt,
Et dominum fallunt, et profunt furibus. 1 ergo,
Si res fola poteft facere et fervare beatum,
Hoc primus repetas opus, hoc poftremus omittas.
i Si fortunatum fpecies et gratia praeftat,
Mercemur fervum, qui dictet nomina, laevum
Qui fodicet latus, et cogat trans pondera dextram
Porrigere: m Hic multum in Fabia valet, ille Velina:
Cui libet, is fafces dabit ; eripietque curule,

n

Cui volet, importunus ebur: " Frater, Pater, adde:

Ut cuique eft aetas, ita quemque facetus adopta.

Sip bene qui coenat, bene vivit; lucet: eamus

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 nobler fuperfluity it craves,

90

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.

h If Wealth alone then make and keep us bleft, 95 Still, ftill be getting, never, never rest.

100

i But if to Pow'r and Place your paffion lie, If in the Pomp of Life confift the joy; Then hire a Slave, 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: 106 "That makes three Members, this can chufe a "May'r."

Inftructed thus, you bow, embrace, protest,

Adopt him " Son, or Coufin at the least,

Then turn about, and laugh at your own Jest.

Or if your life be one continu'd Treat,
If P 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;

}

111

Quo ducit gula pifcemur, venemur, ut 9 olim

Gargilius qui mane plagas, venabula, fervos,

Differtum tranfire forum populumque jubebat,

Unus ut e multis populo fpectante referret.

r

Emtum mulus aprum. crudi, tumidique lavemur,

Quid deceat, quid non, obliti; Caerite cera

$

Digni; remigium vitiofum Ithacenfis Ulyffei;

t

Cui potior patria fuit interdicta voluptas,

VER. 127. Wilmot.] Earl of Rochester.

Ibid. 129. And SwIFT fay wifely, "Vive la Bagatelle !"] Our Poet, speaking in one place of the purpose of his fatire, fays,

In this impartial glafs, my Mufe intends

Fair to expofe myfelf, my foes, my friends. and, in another, he makes his Court-Adviser say,

Laugh at your Friends, and if your Friends before, So much the better, you ray laugh the more. because their impatience under reproof would fhew, they had a great deal which wanted to be fet right.

He

On this principle, Swift falls under his correction. could not bear to fee a friend he fo much valued, live in the miferable abuse of one of Nature's beft gifts, unadmonished of his folly. Swift (as we may fee by fome pofthumous Volumes, lately published, fo difhonourable and injurious to his memory) trifled away his old age in a diffipation that women and boys might be ashamed of: For when men have

With hounds and horns go hunt an Appetite- 115
So Ruffel did, but could not eat at night,
Call'd happy Dog! the Beggar at his door,
And envy'd Thirft and Hunger to the Poor.
Or fhall we ev'ry Decency confound,

Thro' Taverns, Stews, and Bagnio's take our round,
Go dine with Chartres, in each Vice out-do

S

K-l's lewd Cargo, or Ty-y's Crew,

121

125

From Latian Syrens, French Circæan Feasts,
Return well travell'd, and transform'd to Beafts,
Or for a titled Punk, or foreign Flame,
Renounce our Country, and degrade our Name ?
If, after all, we muft with " Wilmot own,
The Cordial Drop of Life is Love alone,

given into a long habit of employing their wit only to fhew their parts, to edge their spleen, to pander to a faction; or, in fhort, to any thing but that for which Nature bestowed it, namely, to recommend, and fet off Truth; old age, which abates the paffions, will never rectify the abuses they occafioned. But the remains of wit, instead of seeking and recovering their proper channel, will run into that miferable depravity of tafte here condemned: and in which Dr. Swift feems to have placed no inconfiderable part of his wisdom. "I chufe (fays he, in a Letter to Mr. Pope) my Companions << amongst those of the leaft confequence, and most compliance: I read the most trifling Books I can find: and "whenever I write, it is upon the moft trifling subjects." And again, "I love La Bagatelle better than ever. I am al66 ways writing bad profe or worse verses, either of rage or raillery," etc. And again, in a letter to Mr. Gay, " My "rule is, Vive la Bagatelle."

7