More pleas'd to keep it till their friends could

come,

95

Than eat the sweetest by themselves at home. (1) Why had not I in thofe good times my birth, Ere coxcomb-pyes or coxcombs were on earth? Unworthy he, the voice of Fame to hear, (m) That sweetest music to an honest ear; (For 'faith, Lord Fanny! you are in the The world's good word is better than a fong.) Who has not learn'd, (n) fresh fturgeon and ham

pye

Are no rewards for want, and infamy!

When luxury has lick'd up all thy pelf,

100

wrong,

Curs'd be thy (0) neighbours, thy trustees, thyself,
To friends, to fortune, to mankind a fhame,
Think how pofterity will treat thy name;
And (p) buy a rope, that future times may tell
Thou haft at least bestow'd one penny well.
(q)" Right," cries his Lordship, "for a rogue

in need

"To have a tafte is infolence indeed:

110

Tardius adveniens vitiatum commodius, quam Integram edax dominus confumeret. (/) hos utinam inter

Heroas natum tellus me prima tuliffet.

(m) Das aliquid famæ, quæ carmine gratior aurem Occupet humanam? grandes rhombi, patinæque. Grande ferunt una (n) cum damno dedecus. adde (0) Iratum patruum, vicinos, te tibi iniquum, Et fruftra mortis cupidum, cum deerit egenti (p) As, laquei pretium.

(9) Jure, inquit, Traufius iftis

"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 thine 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, build bridges, or repair Whitehall:
Or to thy country let that heap be lent,
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 stands safest? tell me, is it he 125
That fpreads and fwells in puff'd profperity,
Or blefs'd with little, whose preventing care
In peace provides fit arms against a war?

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?
(t) 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 spoke, 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.
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

135

140

On (2) brocoli and mutton, round the year;
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 these chicks my

own:

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

Integris opibus novi non latius ufum,

Quam nunc (y) accifis. Videas, metato in agello, Cum pecore et gnatis, fortem mercede colonum, Non ego, narrantem, temere edi luce profesta Quidquam, præter (≈) olus fumofæ 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-fea ftock, 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 efpalier 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 shall fay grace. 150
Fortune not much of humbling me can boast:
Tho' double tax'd, how little have I lost!
My life's amufements have been just the same,
Before, and after (f) ftanding armies came.
My lands are fold, my father's houfe is gone; 155
I'll hire another's; is not that my own,

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

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 wish to God this house had been your own: 66 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 magistra:
Ac venerata Ceres, ita culmo fugeret alto,
Explicuit vino contracte feria frontis.

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

aut vos,

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

H 2

Well,

Book II. Well, if the ufe 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 cafe not clear) The chanc'ry takes your rents for twenty year: At best, it falls to fome (k) ungracious fon,

170

Who cries, "My father's damn'd, and all's my

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 beres,

NOTES.

Ver. 165. Well, if the ufe be mine, &c.] In a letter to this Mr Bethel, of March 20, 1743, he says, " 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 pleased to live in it after my death, (for, as it is, it ferves all my purposes as well during life), I would purchafe it; and more particularly could hope two things That the friend who fhould like it, was fo much younger and healthier than myself, as to have a profpcct 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 such a view given me, I have no vanity nor pleasure that does not stop short of the grave."--------So that we fee, what fome of his friends would not believe, his thoughts in profe and verse were the fame.

(1) Shades,