But when by Man's audacious labour won, Flam'd forth this rival to, its Sire, the Sun, Then careful Heav'n fupply'd two forts of Men, To fquander These, and Those to hide agen. Like Doctors thus, when much dispute has past, We find our tenets just the same at last. Both fairly owning, Riches, in effect, No 16 grace of Heav'n or token of th'Elect; Giv'n to the Fool, the Mad, the Vain, the Evil, To Ward, to Waters, Chartres, and the Devil. 20 NOTES. the poet meant, not the God of nature, but the instrument and fubftitute of his providence. VER. 12. Flam'd forth this rival to, its Sire, the Sun,] The rival of its Sire in its brightness, and in its power of drawing mankind into error and delufion; the two first idols of the world, natural and moral, being the Sun and Gold. VER. 20. JOHN WARD of Hackney Efq; Member of Parliament, being prosecuted by the Duchefs of Buckingham, and convicted of Forgery, was first expelled the House, and then ftood in the Pillory on the 17th of March 1727. He was fufpected of joining in a conveyance with Sir John Blunt, to fecrete fifty thoufand pounds of that Director's Eftate, forfeited to the South-Sea company by Act of Parliament. The Company recovered the fifty thousand pounds against Ward; but he fet up prior conveyances of his real eftate to his brother and fon, and conceal'd all his perfonal, which was computed to be one hundred and fifty thousand pounds. Thefe conveyances being alfo fet afide by a bill in Chancery, Ward was imprisoned, and hazarded the forfeiture of his life, by not giving in his effects till the laft day, which was that of his examination. During his confinement, his amufement was to give poifon to dogs and cats, and fee them expire by flower or quicker tor B. What Nature wants, commodious Gold beftows, 'Tis thus we eat the bread another fows. COMMENTARY. VER 21. What Nature wants, &c.] Having thus fettled the terms of the Debate, before he comes to the main Question, the Ufe of Riches, it was neceflary to difcufs a previous one, whether indeed they are, upon the whole, useful to mankind or not ; (which he does from 20 to 77.) It is commonly observed, fays he (from 21 to 35) That Gold most commodiously supplies the wants of Nature: "Let us firft confider the propofition in ge"neral, both in Matter and Expreffion; 1. As it regards the Sup"ply; and this we shall find to be very unequal: 2. As it regards "the Wants; and thefe, we shall fee, are very ambiguous; under NOTES. ments. To fum up the worth of this gentleman, at the several æra's of his life, At his ftanding in the Pillory he was worth above two hundred thousand pounds; at his commitment to Prifon, he was worth one hundred and fifty thousand; but has been fince fo far diminished in his reputation, as to be thought a worfe man by fifty or fixty thousand. P. FR. CHARTRES, a man infamous for all manner of vices. When he was an enfign in the army, he was drumm'd out of the regiment for a cheat; he was next banifh'd Bruffels, and drumm'd out of Ghent on the fame account. After a hundred tricks at the gaming-tables, he took to lending of money at exorbitant intereft and on great penalties, accumulating premium, interest, and capital into a new capital, and feizing to a minute when the payments became due; in a word, by a conftant attention to the vices, wants, and follies of mankind, he acquired an immenfe fortune. His houfe was a perpetual Bawdy-houfe He was twice condemn'd for rapes, and pardoned; but the last time not without imprisonment in Newgate, and large confiscations. He died in Scotland in 1731, aged 62. The populace at his funeral rais'd a great riot, almoft tore the body out of the coffin, and caft dead dogs, &c. into the grave along with it. The following Epitaph contains his character very juftly drawn by Dr. Arbuthnot: P. But how unequal it beftows, observe, "Tis thus we riot, while, who fow it, starve: COMMENTARY. << that term, all our fantastic and imaginary, as well as real "wants being comprized. Hitherto the ufe is not very ap NOTES. HERE continueth to rot The Body of FRANCIS CHARTRES, In spite of AGE and INFIRMITIES, in the undeviating Pravity of his Manners, in Accumulating WEALTH; He was the only Perfon of his Time, When poffeffed of TEN THOUSAND a Year, Think not his Life useless to Mankind! A confpicuous PROOF and EXAMPLE, Of how small Eftimation is EXORBITANT WEALTH By his bestowing it on the moft UNWORTHY of ALL MORTALS. What Nature wants (a phrase I much diftruft) 25 Extends to Luxury, extends to Lust: COMMENTARY. "parent. Let us in the fecond place, therefore, confider the " propofition in particular, or how Gold supplies the wants of "Nature both in private and public life: 1. As to private; it "aids us, indeed, to fupport life; but it, at the fame time, << hires the affaffin. 2. As to Society; it may procure Friend"fhips and extend Trade; but it allures Robbers, and corrupts "our acquaintance. 3. As to Government; it pays the Guards "neceffary for the fupport of public liberty; but it may, with "the fame ease, bribe a Senate to overturn it." The matter, therefore, being thus problematical, the poet, inftead of formally balancing between the Good and Ill, chufes to leave this previous Question undetermined (as Tacitus had done before him; where, fpeaking of the ancient Germans, he says, Argentum et aurum propitii aut irati Dii negaverint dubito ;) and NOTES. This Gentleman was worth feven thousand pounds a year estate in Land, and about one hundred thousand in Money. P. Mr. WATERS, the third of thefe worthies, was a man no way refembling the former in his military, but extremely fo in his civil capacity; his great fortune having been rais'd by the like diligent attendance on the neceffities of others. But this gen tleman's history must be deferred till his death, when his worth may be known more certainly. P. VER. 20.-Chartres and the Devil.] Alluding to the vulgar opinion, that all mines of metal and fubterraneous treasures are in the guard of the Devil: which seems to have taken its rise from the pagan fable of Plutus the God of Riches. .VER. 21. What Nature wants, commodious Gold beftows,] The epithet commodious gives us the very proper idea of a Bawd or Pander; and this thought produced the two following lines, which were in all the former editions, but, for their bad reafoning, omitted, And if we count amongst the needs of life Useful, I grant, it serves what life requires, But dreadful too, the dark Affaffin hires: B. Trade it may help, Society extend. P. But lures the Pyrate, and corrupts the Friend. B. It raises Armies in a Nation's aid. 31 P. But bribes a Senate, and the Land's betray'd. COMMENTARY. falls at once upon what he esteems the principal of these abuses, public Corruption. For having in the last instance, of the Ufe of Riches in Government, spoken of venal Senates, he goes on to lament the mifchief as defperate and remedilefs; Gold, by its power to corrupt with Secrecy, defeating all the efforts of public Spirit, whether exerted in the Courage of Heroes, or in the Wisdom of Patriots. 'Tis true indeed (continues the poet from 34 to 49) the very weight of the Bribery has fometimes detected the Corruption : From the crack'd bag the dropping Guinea spoke, &c. But this inconvenience was foon repaired, by the invention of Paper credit: Whose dreadful effects on public Liberty he describes in all the colouring of his poetry, heightened by the warmeft concern for virtue; which now makes him willing to give up, as it were, the previous question, in a paffionate wish (from 48 to 59) for the return of that incumbrance attendant on public Corruption, before the fo common use of money. And pleased with this flattering idea, he goes on (from 58 to 77) to fhew the other advantages that would accrue from Riches only in kind: which are, that neither Avarice could contrive to hoard, nor Prodigality to lavifh, in fo mad and boundless a manner as they do at prefent. Here he fhews particularly, in a fine ironical description of the embarras on Gaming, how effectually it would eradicate that execrable practice. But this whole Digreffion (from 34 to 77) has another very uncommon beauty; for, at the fame time that it arifes naturally from the last confideration in the debate of the previous Question, |