Catius is ever moral, ever grave; Thinks who endures a knave, is next a knave, 80 Who would not praise Patritio's high desert, His hand unstain'd, his uncorrupted heart, His comprehensive head? all interests weigh'd, All Europe saved, yet Britain not betray'd! He thanks you not; his pride is in piquet, Newmarket fame, and judgment at a bet. What made (say, Montaigne, or more sage Charron!) Otho a warrior, Cromwell a buffoon? A perjured prince a leaden saint revere? 85 90 The throne a bigot keep, a genius quit ; 81 Patritio's high desert. Lord Godolphin; of whom says Prior, in an original letter, 'as the wise earl of Godolphin told me, when he turned me out for having served him, 'things change, times change, and men change.' '-Warton. After ver. 86. in the former editions : Triumphant leaders, at an army's head, Hemm'd round with glories, pilfer cloth or bread; Now save a people, and now save a groat. 87 Charron. Author of the celebrated treatise De la Sagesse,' and friend of Montaigne. 89 A perjured prince. Louis XI. of France wore in his hat a leaden image of the Virgin Mary, which, when he swore by, he feared to break his oath.-Pope. 90 A godless regent tremble at a star. Philip, duke of Orleans, regent in the minority of Louis XV. superstitious enough to be a believer in judicial astrology, though an unbeliever in all religion. 91 The throne a bigot keep, a genius quit. Philip V. of Spain, who, after renouncing the throne for religion, resumed it to Europe a woman, child, or dotard rule, And just her wisest monarch made a fool? Know, God and nature only are the same; 95 In man the judgment shoots at flying game; A bird of passage! gone as soon as found; Now in the moon perhaps, now under ground. II. In vain the sage, with retrospective eye, Would from the apparent What conclude the Why, Infer the motive from the deed, and show 101 That what we chanced was what we meant to do Behold! if fortune or a mistress frowns, Some plunge in business, others shave their crowns: To ease the soul of one oppressive weight, 105 110 Not always actions show the man: we find, Who does a kindness, is not therefore kind : Perhaps prosperity becalm'd his breast; Perhaps the wind just shifted from the east : Not therefore humble he who seeks retreat; Pride guides his steps, and bids him shun the great: gratify his queen; and Victor Amadeus II. king of Sardinia, who resigned the crown, and trying to re-assume it, was imprisoned till his death. 93 Europe a woman, child, or dotard rule. The czarina, the French king, the pope, and her wisest monarch, the king of Sardinia. 107 The same adust complexion. Philip II. of Spain was atrabilaire Charles V. suffered much from bile. Melancholy drove Charles to the cloister, and Philip to war. Who combats bravely, is not therefore brave; 115 can. The few that glare each character must mark; 119 125 130 'Tis from high life high characters are drawn : A saint in crape is twice a saint in lawn; 136 129 Ask why from Britain. In former editions, the third and fourth lines were, The mighty czar what moved to wed a punk? in allusion to the marriage of Peter the Great. But it was altered as above, and altered for the worse. It is strange that Pope should not have known that drunkenness was not one of Cæsar's vices. 135 'Tis from high life. The sarcasm of this well-known passage, more than its soundness, has assisted its celebrity. For the larger the sphere, the greater the difficulty of filling it: it is from high life that high characters ought to be drawn ; A judge is just; a chancellor, juster still; More wise, more learn'd, more just, more every thing. 140 Court virtues bear, like gems, the highest rate, Born where heaven's influence scarce can pene trate: In life's low vale, the soil the virtues like; goes 145 150 156 160 mediocrity of station can neither require nor exercise the more eminent public virtues: the prelate, the judge, the statesman, and the monarch, have duties which demand the most vigorous capacities of the heart and understanding: if they fail, their failure is the more glaring from their rank; but if they succeed, the more conspicuous should be their praise. The sentiment in the text is from Boileau, Sat. viii. 165 That gay freethinker, a fine talker once, What turns him now a stupid, silent dunce? Some God or spirit he has lately found; Or chanced to meet a minister that frown'd. Judge we by nature? - Habit can efface, Interest o'ercome, or policy take place : By actions? those uncertainty divides: By passions? these dissimulation hides: Opinions? they still take a wider range: Find, if you can, in what you cannot change. Manners with fortunes, humors turn with climes, Tenets with books, and principles with times. III. 170 176 Search then the ruling passion: there, alone, The wild are constant, and the cunning known; The fool consistent, and the false sincere: Priests, princes, women, no dissemblers here. This clew, once found, unravels all the rest, The prospect clears, and Wharton stands confess'd. 179 Wharton stands confess'd. One of the most remarkable instances on record of the abuse of nature, fortune, of great talents turned into contempt, of high rank degraded, of vast opulence made useless, and of memorable opportunities perverted into disaster, shame, and ruin. Philip Wharton, born to the possession of a marquisate, the reward of his father's fidelity to the Brunswick line, made the first use of his inheritance to revolt to the pretender. From him he obtained the empty title of duke of Northumberland. Growing weary of the little court of the Stuarts, he revolted from the pretender. On being suffered to sit in the Irish house of peers, he became a zealous advocate of the Hanoverian succession reinstated in his English honors, and created a duke, he |