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s Soon as I enter at my country door,
My mind refumes the thread it dropt before ;
Thoughts, which at Hyde-park-corner I forgot,
Meet and rejoin me, in the penfive Grot.
There all alone, and compliments apart,

I ask these fober queftions of my heart.

t

210

If, when the more you drink, the more you crave, You tell the Doctor; when the more you have,

The more you want, why not with equal cafe
Confefs as well your Folly, as Disease?

The heart refolves this matter in a trice,
"Men only feel the Smart, but not the Vice."

V

▾ When golden Angels ceafe to cure the Evil,

You give all royal Witchcraft to the Devil:

215

When fervile Chaplains cry, that birth and place 220
Indue a Peer with honour, truth, and grace,
Look in that breast, most dirty D-! be fair,
Say, can you find out one fuch lodger there?
Yet ftill, not heeding what your heart can teach,
You go to church to hear these Flatt'rers preach. 225
Indeed, could wealth beftow or wit or merit,

A grain of courage, or a spark of spirit,
The wifest man might blufh, I must agree,
If D*** lov'd fixpence, more than he.

NOTES.

VER. 220. When fervile Chaplains cry,] Dr. Ken-t.

VER. 229. lov'd fixpence,] Avarice, and the contempt of it, is well expressed in these words.

W

* Si proprium eft, quod quis libra mercatus et aere

eft,

Quaedam (fi credis confultis) mancipat usus :
Qui te pafcit ager, tuus eft; et villicus Orbî,
Cum fegetes occat tibi mox frumenta daturas,
Te dominum fentit.

* das nummos; accipis uvam,
Pullos, ova, cadum temeti: nempe modo ifto
Paulatim mercaris agrum, fortaffe trecentis,
Aut etiam fupra nummorum millibus emtum.
Quid refert, vivas numerato nuper, an olim?

y Emtor Aricini quondam, Veientis et arvi,
Emtum coenat olus, quamvis aliter putat; emtis
Sub noctem gelidam lignis calefactat ahenum.
Sed vocat ufque fuum, qua populus adfita certis
Limitibus vicina refigit jurgia: tanquam

2 Sit proprium quidquam, puncto quod mobilis horae, Nunc prece, nunc pretio, nunc vi, nunc morte fu

prema,

Permutet dominos, et cedat in altera jura.

Sic, quia perpetuus nulli datur ufus, et haeres Haeredem alterius, velut unda fupervenit undam:

NOTES.

VER. 232. delightful Abs-court] A farm over-against Hampton-Court.

VER. 248. hang in Fortune's poru'r, Loofe on the point

w If there be truth in Law, and Ufe can give 230 A Property, that's yours on which you live. Delightful Abs-court, if its fields afford

Their fruits to you, confeffes you its lord:

X

235

All Worldly's hens, nay partridge, fold to town,
His Ven'fon too, a guinea makes your own:
He bought at thousands, what with better wit
You purchase as you want, and bit by bit;
Now, or long fince, what diff'rence will be found?
You pay a penny, and he paid a pound.

y Heathcote himfelf, and fuch large-acred men, 240 Lords of fat E'fham, or of Lincoln fen,

Buy every stick of wood that lends them heat,

Buy every Pullet they afford to eat.

Yet these are Wights, who fondly call their own

Half that the Dev'l o'erlooks from Lincoln town. 245 The Laws of God, as well as of the land,

Abhor, a perpetuity fhould ftand:

250

Eftates have wings, and hang in Fortune's pow'r
z Loose on the point of ev'ry wav'ring hour,
Ready, by force, or of your own accord,
By fale, at leaft by death, to change their lord.
Man? and for ever? wretch! what wou'dft thou have?
Heir urges heir, like wave impelling wave.

NOTES.

of ev'ry wav'ring hour.] A modern idea (the magnetic. needle) here supplied the Imitator with expreffion much fuperior to his Original.

VOL. IV.

* N 4

Quid vici profunt, aut horrea? quidve Calabris

Saltibus adjecti Lucani; fi metit Orcus.

Grandia cum parvis, non exorabilis auro?

• Gemmas, marmor, ebur, Tyrrhena figilla, ta

bellas,

Argentum, veftes Gaetulo murice tinctas,

Sunt qui non habeant; eft qui non curat habere.

b Cur alter fratrum ceffare, et ludere, et ungi

Praeferat Herodis palmetis pinguibus; alter

Dives et importunus, ad umbram lucis ab ortu

Silveftrem flammis et ferro mitiget agrum :

NOTES.

VER. 273 All Townshend's Turnips.] Lord Townfhend, Secretary of State to George the First and Second.

When this great Statesman retired from business, he amufed

All vaft poffeffions (juft the fame the cafe

Whether you call them Villa, Park, or Chace) 255
Alas, my BATHURST! what will they avail?
Join Cotswood hills to Saperton's fair dale,
Let rifing Granaries and Temples here,
There mingled farms and pyramids appear,
Link towns to towns with avenues of oak,
Enclose whole downs in walls, 'tis all a joke!
Inexorable Death fhall level all,

And trees, and ftones, and farms, and farmer fall.

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260

* Gold, Silver, Iv'ry, Vafes fculptur'd high, Paint, Marble, Gems, and robes of Perfian dye, 265 There are who have not-and thank heav'n there are, Who, if they have not, think not worth their care. b Talk what you will of Tafte, my friend, you'll find,

Two of a face, as foon as of a mind.

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Why, of two brothers, rich and restless one

270

Plows, burns, manures, and toils from fun to fun; The other flights, for women, fports, and wines,

All Townshend's Turnips, and all Grovenor's mines:

Why one like Bu-with pay and fcorn content,

Bows and votes on, in Court and Parliament ; 275

NOTES.

himself in Husbandry; and was particularly fond of that kind of rural improvement which arifes from Turnips ; it was the favourite subject of his conversation.

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