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In Britain's Senate he a feat obtains,

And one more Pensioner St Stephen gains.

395

My Lady falls to play; so bad her chance,
He must repair it; takes a bribe from France;
The House impeach him; Coningsby harangues;
The Court forfake him, and Sir Balaam hangs :
Wife, son, and daughter, Satan! are thy own,
His wealth, yet dearer, forfeit to the Crown: 400
The Devil and the King divide the prize,

And fad Sir Balaam curses God and dies.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 394. And one more Penfioner St Stephen gains.] Juv.

-atque unum civem donare Sibylla.

NOTES.

VER. 401. The Devil and the King divide the prize,) This is to be understood in a very fober and decent sense; as a fatire only on such minifters of state, which history informs us have been found, who aided the devil in his temptations, in order to foment, if not to make, plots, for the fake of confifcations;

and by no means on the laws of forfeitures themselves: Whose neceffity, equity, and even lenity, have been perfectly well vindicated, in that very learned and elegant discourse, intituled, Some Confiderations on the Law of Forfeitures for High-Treason. Third Edition, Lond. 1748.

MORAL ESSAYS.

EPISTLE IV.

то

Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington.

ARGUMENT.

Of the Use of RICHES.

The Vanity of Expence in People of Wealth and Quality. The abuse of the word Taste, y 13. That the first principle and foundation, in this as in every thing elfe, is Good Sense, 40. The chief proof of it is to follow Nature, even in works of mere Luxury and Elegance. Instanced 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 resulting from it, $ 50. How men are disappointed in their most expensive undertakings, for want of this true Foundation, without which nothing can please long, if at all; and the best Examples and Rules will but be perverted into something burdensome or ridiculous, * 65, &c. to 92. A defcription of the false Taste of Magnificence; the first grand Error of which is to imagine that Greatness consists in the Size and Dimension, instead of the Proportion and Harmony of the whole, & 97. and the second, either in joining together Parts incoherent, or too minutely resembling, or in the Repetition of the fame too frequently, $ 105, &c. A word or two of false Taste in Books, in Music, in Painting, even in Preaching and Prayer, and lastly in Entertainments, 133, &c. Yet PROVIDENCE is justified in giving Wealth to be squandered in this manner, fince it is dispersed to the Poor and Laborious part of mankind, & 169 [recurring to what is laid down in the first book, Ep. ii. and in the Epistle preceding this, & 159, &c.] What are the proper Objects of Magnificence, and a proper field for the Expence of Great Men, y 177, &c. and finally, the Great and Public Works which become a Prince, * 191, to the end.

M3

:

EPISTLE IV.

Ais strange, the Miser should his Cares employ
To gain those Riches he can ne'er enjoy:

T

Is it less strange, the Prodigal should waste
His wealth, to purchase what he ne'er can taste?
Not for himself he fees, or hears, or eats;
Artists must chuse his Pictures, Music, Meats:
He buys for Topham, Drawings and Designs,
For Pembroke Statues, dirty Gods, and Coins;
Rare monkish Manuscripts for Hearne alone,

5

And Books for Mead, and Butterflies for Sloane. ro

EPISTLE IV.] The extremes of Avarice and Profufion being treated of in the foregoing Epistle; this takes up one particular branch of the latter, the Vanity of Expence in people of wealth and quality; and is therefore a corollary to the preceding, just as the Epistle on the Characters of Women is to that of the Knowledge and Characters of Men.

NOTES.

VER. 7. Topham] A Gen- | Mead, and Butterflies for Sloane.) Two eminent Physicians; the one had an excellent Library, the other

tleman famous for a judi cious collection of Draw

ings. P.

VER. 10. And Books for the finest collection in Eu

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