Well, on the whole, plain profe must be my fate:
Wisdom (curfe on it) will come foon or late.
There is a time when Poets will grow dull:
I'll e'en leave verfes to the boys at school:
To rules of Poetry no more confin'd,
I'll learn to fmooth and harmonize my Mind,
Teach every thought within its bounds to roll,
And keep the equal measure of the Soul.
• Soon as I enter at my country door,
My mind resumes the thread it dropp'd 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 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 eafe Confefs as well your Folly, as disease ? The heart refolves this matter in a trice, "Men only feel the Smart, but not the Vice."
Nimirum fapere eft abjectis utile nugis,
Et tempeftivum pueris concedere ludum;
Ac non verba fequi fidibus modulanda Latinis,
Sed verae numerofque modofque edifcere vitae.
Quocirca mecum loquor haec, tacitufque recordor:
Si tibi nulla fitim finiret copia lymphae,
Narrares medicis: quod quanto plura parasti,
Tanto plura cupis, nulline faterier audes?
"When golden Angels cease to cure the Evil, You give all royal Witchcraft to the Devil: When fervile Chaplains cry, that birth and place 220 Indue a Peer with honour, truth, and grace;
Look in that breast, most dirty Dean! 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 Flatterers preach. 225.
Indeed, could wealth bestow or wit or merit,
A grain of courage, or a fpark of fpirit,
The wifeft man might blush, I must agree,
If D*** lov'd fixpence, more than he.
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:
"Si vulnus tibi monftrata radice vel herba
Non fieret levius, fugeres radice vel herba
Proficiente nihil curarier: audieras, cui
Rem Dî donarint, ille decedere pravam
Stultitiam; et, cum fis nihilo fapientior, ex quo-
Plenior es, tamen uteris monitoribus îfdem?
At fi divitiae prudentem reddere poffent,
Si cupidum timidumque minus te: nempe ruberes,
Viveret in terris, te fi quis avarior uno.
Si proprium eft, quod quis libra mercatus et aere est, Quaedam (fi credis confultis) mancipat ufus: Qui te pafcit ager, tuus eft; et villicus Orbî, Cum fegetes occat tibi mox frumenta daturus,
X
235
All Worldly's hens, nay, partridge, fold to town,
His venifon 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 difference will be found?
You pay a penny, and he paid a pound.
y Heathcote himself, 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 Devil o'erlooks from Lincoln-town. 245
The Laws of God, as well as of the land,
Abhor a Perpetuity should stand:
Eftates have wings, and hang in Fortune's powerz Loofe on the point of every wavering hour,
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
* Sit proprium cuiquam, puncto quod mobilis horae, Nunc prece, nunc pretio, nunc vi, nunc forte fuprema,
250
Ready, by force, or of your own accord,
By fale, at least by death, to change their lord.
Man? and for ever? wretch! what wouldst thou have?
Heir urges heir, like wave impelling wave.
All vaft poffeffions (juft the fame the cafe
Whether you call them Villa, Park, or Chace)
Alas, my BATHURST! what will they avail?
Join Cotfwood's 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.
a Gold, Silver, Ivory, Vafes fculptur'd high,
Paint, Marble, Gems, and robes of Perfian dye, 265
There are who have not-and thank heaven 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.
Why,
Permutet dominos, et cedat in altera jura.
Sic, quia perpetuus nulli datur ufus, et haeres
Haeredem alterius, velut unda fupervenit undam:
Quid vici profunt, aut horrea? quidve Calabris
Saltibus adjecti Lucani; fi metit Orcus
Grandia cum parvis, non exorabilis auro?
2 Gemmas, marmor, ebur, Tyrrhena figilla, tabellas, Argentum, veftes Gaetulo murice tinctas,
Why, of two brothers, rich and restless one
Plows, burns, manures, and toils from fun to fun;
The other flights, for women, fports, and wines,
`All Townshend's Turnips, and all Grosvenor's mines:
Why one like Bu- with pay and scorn content,
Bows and votes on, in Court and Parliament;
One, driven by ftrong Benevolence of foul,
Shall fly, like Oglethorpe, from pole to pole:
Is known alone to that Directing Power,
Who forms the Genius in the natal hour;
That God of Nature, who, within us still,
Inclines our action, not conftrains our will;
Various of temper, as of face or frame,
Each individual: His great End the fame.
e Yes, Sir, how fmall foever be my heap,
A part I will enjoy, as well as keep.
My heir may figh, and think it want of grace
A man fo poor would live without a place:
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 :
Scit Genius, natale comes qui temperat aftrum:
NATURAE DEUS HUMANAE, mortalis in unum.-
Quodque caput, vultu mutabilis, albus, et ater.
c Utar, et ex modico, quantum res pofcet, acervo Tollam: nec metuam, quid de me judicet haeres, Quod non plura datis invenerit. et tamen idem
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