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O magnus pofthac inimicis rifus! uterne

. Ad cafus dubios fidet fibi certius? hic, qui Pluribus affuêrit mentem corpufque fuperbum;

An qui contentus parvo metuenfque futuri,

In pace, ut fapiens, aptarit idonea bello?

Quo magis his credas: puer hunc ego parvus

Ofellum

Integris opibus novi non latius ufum,

W

Quam nunc accifis. Videas, metato in agello,

Cum pecore et gnatis, fortem mercede colonum,
Non ego, narrantem, temere edi luce profesta
Quidquam, praeter *olus fumofae cum pede pernac
Ac mihi feu longum poft tempus venerat hofpes,
Sive operum vacuo gratus conviva per imbrem
Vicinus; bene erat, non pifcibus urbe petitis,

Sed pullo atque hoedo: tum2 penfilis uva fecundas

Who thinks that Fortune cannot change her

mind,

Prepares a dreadful jeft for all mankind.

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And who ftands fafeft? tell me, is it he
That spreads and fwells in puff'd Prosperity,
Or bleft with little, whose preventing care
In peace provides fit arms against a war?

125

"Thus BETHEL fpoke, who always speaks his thought, And always thinks the very thing he ought:

His equal mind I copy what I can,

And as I love, would imitate the Man.

In South-fea days not happier, when furmis'd The Lord of Thousands, than if now" Excis'd;

In foreft planted by a Father's hand,

Than in five acres now of rented land.

Content with little I can piddle here

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On brocoli and mutton, round the year;

But ancient friends (tho' poor, or out of play)

That touch my bell, I cannot turn away.

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'Tis true, no Turbots dignify my boards,

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135

149

But gudgeons, flounders, what my Thames affords:

Et nux ornabat menfas, cum duplice ficu.

Poft hoc ludus erat cuppa potare magiftra:

Ac venerata Ceres, ita culmo furgeret alto,

Explicuit vino contractae feria frontis.

Saeviat atque novos moveat Fortuna tumultus?

Quantum hinc imminuet? quanto aut ego parcius,

aut vos,

O pueri, nituiftis, ut huc nous incala, venit?

d

Nam propriae telluris herum natura. neque illum,

T

Nec me, nec quemquam ftatuit. nos expulit ille;

To Hounslow heath I point and Bansted-down, Thence comes your mutton, and these chicks my

own:

• From yon old walnut-tree a show'r shall fall; 145 And grapes, long ling'ring on my only wall, And figs from ftandard and efpalier join;

The dev'l is in you if you cannot dine:

b

Then chearful healths (your Miftrefs shall have place)

And, what's more rare, a Poet shall fay Grace. 150

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Fortune not much of humbling me can boast: Tho' double tax'd, how little have I loft? My Life's amufements have been just the fame, Before, and after Standing Armies came. My lands are fold, my father's house is gone; I'll hire another's, is not that And yours, my friends? thro' whofe free-op'ning gate. None comes too early, none departs too late ; (For I, who hold fage Homer's rule the beft, Welcome the coming, fpeed the going guest.)

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my own,

160

Pray heav'n it laft! (cries SWIFT !) as you go on; "I wish to God this houfe had been your own:

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Pity! to build, without a fon or wife:

"Why, you'll enjoy it only all your life."

Well, if the ufe be mine, can it concern one; 165 Whether the name belong to Pope or Vernon ?

d

What's Property? dear Swift! you fee it alter

From you to me, from me to Peter Walter;

Illum aut nequities aut vafri infcitia juris,

Poftremum expellet certe vivacior beres.

Nunc ager Umbreni sub nomine, nuper Ofelli

Dictus erat: nulli proprius; fed cedit in ufum
Nunc mihi, nunc alii. quocirca vivite fortes,

Fortiaque adverfis opponite pectora rebus.

VER. 177. proud Buckingham's etc.] Villers Duke of Buckingham.

VER. 179. Let lands and boufes etc.] The turn of his imitation,

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