285 Afcendant Phoebus watch'd that hour with care, Kept drofs for ducheffes, the world fhall know it, 290 * The poet concludes his Epiftle with a fine Moral, that deserves the serious attention of the public: It is this, that all the extravagancies of these vic ous characters here defcribed, are much inflamed by a wrong education, hinted at in ver. 203; and that even the best are rather fecured by a good natural than by the prudence and providence of parents'; which observatioų is conveyed under the fublime cl-ffical machinery of Phœbus in the afcendant, watching the natal hour of his favourite, and averting the ill effects of her parents mistaken fondness: for l'habus, as the god of Wit, confers Genius; and, as one of the aftronomical influences, defeats the adventitious byas of education. In conclufion, the great moral from both thefe Epiftles together is, that the two rarest things in all nature are a difinterested man and a reasonable WARBURTON. quoman. MORAL MORAL ESSAY S. EPISTLE III. то ALLEN, Lord BATHURST. ARGUMENT. Of the USE of RICHES. HAT it is known to few, moft falling into one of THA the extremes, avarice or profufion, ver. 1, &c. The point difcuffed, whether the invention of money has been more commodious or pernicious to mankind, 21 to 77. That riches, either to the avaricious or the prodigal, cannot afford happiness, scarcely neceffaries, 89 to 160. That avarice is an abfolute frenzy, without an end or purpose, 113, &c. 152. Conjectures about the motives of avaricious men, 121 to 153. That the conduct of men, with respect to riches, can only be accounted for by the ORDER OF PROVIDENCE, which works the general good out of extremes, and brings all to its great end by perpetual revolutions, 161 to 178. How a mifer acts upon principles which appear to him reasonable, 179. How a prodigal does the fame, 199. The due medium, and true use of riches, 219. The man of Ross, 250. The fate of the profuse and the covetous, in two examples; both miferable in life and in death, 300, &c. The ftory of Sir Balaam, 339, to the end. EPISTLE P. EPISTLE III*. 7HO fhall decide, when doctors difagree, And foundeft cafuifts doubt, like you and me? But I, who think more highly of our kind, Like doctors thus, when much difpute has paft, Giv'n to the fool, the mad, the vain, the evil, S To Ward, to Waters, Chartres, and the devil §. 20 Tt This Epiftle was written after a violent out-cry against our author, on a fuppofition that he had ridiculed a worthy nobleman merely for his wrong tafte. He juftified himself upon that article in a letter to the carl of Burlington. John Ward, of Hackney, efq; member of Parliament, being profecuted by the duchess of Buckingham, and convicted of forgery, was first expelled the House, and then food in the pillory on the 17th of March 1729. He was fufpected of joining in a conveyance with Sir John Blunt, to fecrete fifty thousand 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 estate to his brother and fon, and concealed all his perfonal, which was computed to by one hundred and fifty thousand pounds. Thefe conveyances being also fet afide by a bill in Chancery, Ward was imprisoned, and hazarded the for feiture B. What nature wants commodious gold beftows 'Tis thus we eat the bread another fows. P. But how unequal it beftows, obfervė, B. Trade it may help, fociety extend: 25 P. But lures the pyrate, and corrupts the friend. 30 P. But bribes a fenate, and the land's betray'd. 35 40 Gold feiture of his life, by not giving in his effects 'till the last day, which was that of his examination. Fr. Chartres, a man infamous for all manner of vices. When he was an enfign in the army, he was drummed out of the regiment for a cheat; be was next banished Bruffels, and drummed out of Ghent on the fame account. After a hundred tricks at the gaming-tables, he took to lending of money at exorbitant interest and on great penalties, accumulating premium, interest, and capital into a new capital, and seizing 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 house was a perpetual bawdy-house. He was twice condemned for rapes, and pardoned; but the last time not without imprisonment in Newgate, and large confisca - tions. He died in Scotland in 1731, aged 62. The populace at his funeral raised 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 justly drawn by Dr. Arbuthnot. HERE continueth to rot The Body of FRANCIS CHARTRES, PERSISTED, Gold imp'd by thee, can compafs hardest things,O 2 བ་ས་ " In spite of AGE and INFIRMITIES, In the PRACTICE of EVERY HUMAN VICE; In the undeviating Pravity of his Manners, In Accumulating WEALTH; When poffeffed of TEN THOUSAND a Year, And having daily deferved the G4BBET for what he did, Think not his Life ufelefs to Mankind! A confpicuous PROOF and EXAMPLE, 3- By his bestowing it on the moft UNWORTHY of ALL MORTALS. 45 Mr. Waters, the third of thefe worthies, was a man no way resembling the former in his military, but extremely fo in his civil capacity; his great forAune having been raised by the like diligent attendants on the neceffities of athers. * In our author's time, many princes had been fent about the world, and great changes of kings projected in Europe. The partition-treaty had disposed of Spain; France had fet up a king for England, who was fent to Scotland, and back again; King Stanislaus was fent to Poland, and back again; the duke of Anjou was sent to Spain, and Don Carlos to Italy. I Tt2 Oh! |