"Till all the Dæmon makes his full defcent
In one abundant fhow'r of Cent per Cent,
Sinks deep within him, and poffeffes whole,
Then dubs Director, and fecures his foul.

Behold Sir Balaam, now a man of fpirit, 375
Afcribes his gettings to his parts and merit;
What late he call'd a Bleffing, now was Wit,
And God's good Providence, a lucky Hit.
Things change their titles, as our manners turn :
His Compting-house employ'd the Sunday-morn;
Seldom at Church ('twas such a busy life) 381
But duly fent his family and wife.

NOTES.
|

VER. 377. What late he
call'd a Bleffing, now was Wit,
&c.] This is an admirable pic-
ture of human nature: In the
entrance on life, all, but cox-
combs-born, are modeft; and
efteem the favours of their fu-
periors to be marks of their
benevolence: But, if thefe fa-
vours happen to increafe; then,
instead of advancing in grati-
tude to our benefactors, we
only improve in the good opi-
nion of ourselves; and the con-
ftant returns of fuch favours

merit: Yet, at the fame time, to do justice to our common nature, we should obferve, that this does not proceed fo often from downright vice as is imagined, but frequently from mere infirmity; of which, the reafon is evident; for, having fmall knowledge, and yet an exceffive opinion, of ourselves, we estimate our merit by the paffions and caprice of others; and this perhaps would not be fo much amifs, were we not apt to take their favours for a make us confider them no long-declaration of the sense of our er as accommodations to our merits. How often, for inwants, or the hire of our ftance, has it been seen, in service, but debts due to our the feveral learned Profeffions, VOL. III.

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There (fo the Dev'l ordain'd) one Christmas-tide My good old Lady catch'd a cold, and dy’d.

A Nymph of Quality admires our Knight; 385 He marries, bows at Court, and grows polite : Leaves the dull Cits, and joins (to please the fair). The well-bred cuckolds in St. James's air: First, for his Son a gay Commiffion buys, Who drinks, whores, fights, and in a duel dies: His daughter flaunts a Viscount's tawdry wife; 391 She bears a Coronet and P-x for life.

In Britain's Senate he a feat obtains,
And one more Penfioner St. Stephen gains.
My Lady falls to play; fo bad her chance,
He must repair it; takes a bribe from France;

NOTES.

that a Man, who, had he continued in his primeval meannefs, would have circumfcribed his knowledge within the modeft limits of Socrates; yet, being push'd up, as the phrafe is, has felt himself growing into

a Hooker, a Hales, or a Sydenham; while, in the rapidity of his course, he imagined he saw, at every new station, a new door of science opening to him, without fo much as ftaying for a Flatterer to let him in?

Beatus enim jam

Cum pulchris tunicis fumet nova confilia.

395

IMITATIONS.

VER. 394. And one more Penfioner St. Stephen gains.]

-atque unum civem donare Sibylle

Juv.

The House impeach him; Coningsby harangues;
The Court forfake him, and Sir Balaam hangs :
Wife, fon, and daughter, Satan! are thy own,
His wealth, yet dearer, forfeit to the Crown: 400
The Devil and the King divide the prize,
And fad Sir Balaam curfes God and dies.

VER. 401. The Devil and the King divide the Prize.] This is to be understood in a very fober and decent fenfe; as a Satire only on fuch Minifters of State which Hiftory informs us have been found, who aided the Devil in his temptations, in order to foment, if not to make, Plots for the fake of confifcations. So fure always, and is our author's fatire, even in those places where he feems moft to have indulged himfelf only in an elegant badinage. But this Satire on the abufe of the general Laws of forfeiture for high treafon, which all

"

* 25

.

NOTES.

VOL. III.

well-policied communities have found expedient to provide themselves withal, is by no means to be understood as a reflexion on the Laws themselves, whofe neceffity, equity, and even lenity have been excellently well vindicated in that very learned and elegant Difcourse, intitled Some Confiderjuftations on the Law of Forfeiture for high Treafon. Third Edi tion, London, 1748.! VER. ult. curfes God and dies.] i. e. Fell under the temptation; alluding to the ftory of Job referred to above,

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MORAL ESSAYS.

EPISTLE IV.

TO

Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington,

ARGUMENT.

Of the Ufe of RICHES.

The Vanity of Expence in People of Wealth and Quality. The abuse of the word Tafte, y 13. That the first principle and foundation, in this as in every thing else, is Good Senfe, 40. The chief proof of it is to follow Nature, even in works of mere Luxury and Elegance. Inftanced in Architecture and Gardening, where all must be adapted to the Genius and Use of the Place, and the Beauties not forced into it, but resulting from it, 50. How men are disappointed in their most expensive undertakings, for want of this true Foundation, without which nothing can pleafe long, if at all; and the best Examples and Rules will but be perverted into fomething burdenfome or ridiculous, 65, &c. to 92. A defcription of the falfe Tafte of Magnificence; the first grand Error of which is to imagine that Greatnefs confifts in the Size and Dimenfion, instead of the Proportion and Harmony of the whole, 97. and the fecond, either in joining together

Parts incoherent, or too minutely resembling, or in the Repetition of the fame too frequently, 105, &c. A word or two of falfe Tafte in Books, in Mufic, in Painting, even in Preaching and Prayer, and lastly in Entertainments, 133, &c. Yet PROVIDENCE is juftified in giving Wealth to be fquandered in this manner, fince it is difperfed to the Poor and Laborious part of mankind, 169 [recurring to what is laid down in the first book, Ep. ii. and in the Epiftle preceding this, 159, &c.] What are the proper Objects of Magnificence, and a proper field for the Expence of Great Men, 177, &c. and finally, the Great and Public Works which become a Prince, 191, to the end.

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