Alike in nothing but one lust of gold,
Just half the land would buy, and half be sold : 125
Their country's wealth our mightier misers drain,
Or cross, to plunder provinces, the main :
The rest, some farm the poor-box, some the pews;
Some keep the assemblies, and would keep the stews;
Some with fat bucks on childless dotards fawn; 190
Some win rich widows by their chine and brawn;
While with the silent growth of ten per cent.
In dirt and darkness hundreds stink content,
Of all these ways, if each pursues his own,
Satire be kind, and let the wretch alone ;

135 But shew me one who has it in his pow'r To act consistent with himself an hour. Sir Job sail'd forth, the ev'ning bright and still, “ No place on earth (he cry’d) like Greenwich hill!" Up starts a palace; lo, th' obedient base 140 Slopes at its foot, the woods its sides embrace, The silver Thames reflects its marble face. Now let some whimsey, or that devil within Which guides all those who know not what they But give the knight (or give his lady) spleen, [mean, “ Away, away! take all your scaffolds down, 146 “ For Snug's the word : my dear! we'll live in

(6 town.”

}

At am'rous Flavio is the stocking thrown?
That very night he longs to lie alone.
The fool whose wife elopes some thrice a quarter,
For matrimonial solace dies a martyr.

151
Did ever Proteus, Merlin, any witch,
Transform themselves so strangely as the rich ?
Well, but the poor—the poor have the same itch :
They change their weekly barber, weekly news,
Prefer a new japanner to their shoes,

156 Discharge their garrets, move their beds, and run (They know not whither) in a chaise and one ; They hire their sculler, and when once aboard Grow sick, and damn the climate-like a lord. 160 You laugh half-beau, half sloven, if I stand, My wig all powder, and all snuff

my
You laugh if coat and breeches strangely vary,
White gloves, and linen worthy Lady Mary !
But when no prelate's lawn, with hair-shirt lin'd,
Is half so incoherent as my mind,

166
When [each opinion with the next at strife,
One ebb and flow of follies all my life]
I plant, root up; I build, and then confound;
Turn round to square, and square again to round;
You never change one muscle of your face, 171
You think this madness but a common case,
Nor once to chanc'ry nor to Hale apply,
Yet hang your lip to see a seam awry?

band;

175

Careless how ill I with myself agree,
Kind to my dress, my figure, not to me.
Is this my guide, philosoper, and friend?
This he who loves me, and who ought to mend?
Who ought to make me (what he can, or none,]
That man divine whom Wisdom calls her own, 180
Great without title, without fortune bless'd ;
Rich ev’n when plunder’d, honour'd while oppress’d;
Lov'd without youth, and follow'd without pow'r:
At home tho' exil'd; free tho’ in the Tow'r:
In short, that reas’ning, high, immortal thing, 185
Just less than Jove, and much above a king :
Nay, half in heav'n-except (what's mighty odd]
A fit of vapours clouds this demigod.

188

IMITATED.

TO MR. MURRAY.

" NOT to admire is all the art I know “ To make men happy and to keep them so.” (Plain truth, dear Murray! needs no flow'rs of speech, So take it in the very words of Creech.) This vault of air, this congregated ball,

5 Self-centred sun, and stars that rise and fall, There are, my Friend! whose philosophic eyes Look thro', and trust the Ruler with his skies; To him commit the hour, the day, the year, And view this dreadful All without a fear.

10 Admire we then what earth's low entrails hold, Arabian shores, or Indian seas infold; All the mad trade of fools and slaves for gold? Or popularity ? or stars and strings? The mob's applauses, or the gifts of kings?' 15 Say with what eyes we ought at courts to gaze, And

pay the great our homage of amaze? If weak the pleasure that from these can spring, The fear to want them is as weak a thing :

Vom. V.

}

Whether we dread, or whether we desire, 20
In either case believe me we admire :
Whether we joy or grieve, the same the curse,
Surpris'd at better, or surpris’d at worse.

Thus good or bad, to one extreme betray
Th' unbalanc'd mind, and snatch the man away ; 25
For virtue's self may too much zeal be had;
'The worst of madmen is a saint run mad.

Go then, and if you can, admire the state Of beaming di’monds and reflected plate ; Procure a taste to double the surprise,

30 And gaze on Parian charms with learned eyes ; Be struck with bright brocade or Tyrian dye, Our birth-day nobles' splendid livery. If not so pleas'd, at council board rejoice To see their judgments hang upon thy voice; 35 From morn to night, at senate, rolls, and hall, Plead much, read more, dine late, or not at all. But wherefore all this labour, all this strife? For fame, for riches, for a nobler wife? Shall one whom Nature, learning, birth, conspir'd To form not to admire, but be admir'd,

41 Sigh while his Chloe, blind to wit and worth, Weds the rich dulness of some son of earth? Yet time ennobles or degrades each line; It brighten’s Craggs's, and may darken thipe.

45