Gallant and gay, in Cliveden's proud alcove,31
The bower of wanton Shrewsbury, and love;32

No fool to laugh at, which he valued more.
There, victor of his health, of fortune, friends,
And fame, this lord of useless thousands ends.

His Grace's fate sage Cutler could foresee,
And well (he thought) advised him, "Live like me."

315

As well his Grace replied, "Like you, Sir John?

That I can do, when all I have is gone."

Resolve me, Reason, which of these is worse,
Want with a full, or with an empty purse?

320

31 A delightful palace on the banks of the Thames, built by the Duke of Buckingham.

32 The Countess of Shrewsbury, a woman abandoned to gallantries. The Earl, her husband, was killed by the Duke of Buckingham in a duel; and it has been said, that during the combat she held the Duke's horses, in the habit of a page.

Thy life more wretched, Cutler, was confess'd,
Arise, and tell me, was thy death more bless'd?
Cutler saw tenants break, and houses fall;
For very want he could not build a wall.
His only daughter in a stranger's power;
For very want he could not pay a dower.

A few grey hairs his reverend temples crowned;
'Twas very want that sold them for two pound.
What e'en denied a cordial at his end,
Banish'd the doctor, and expell'd the friend?
What but a want, which you perhaps think mad,
Yet numbers feel-the want of what he had!
Cutler and Brutus, dying, both exclaim,
"Virtue and Wealth! what are ye but a name!"
Say, for such worth are other worlds prepared?
Or are they both in this their own reward?

325

330

335

A knotty point! to which we now proceed.

But you are tired-I'll tell a tale. B. Agreed.

P. Where London's column, pointing at the skies 33

Like a tall bully, lifts the head and lies;

340

There dwelt a citizen of sober fame,

A plain good man, and Balaam was his name;

Religious, punctual, frugal, and so forth;

His word would pass for more than he was worth.
One solid dish his week-day meal affords,
An added pudding solemnized the Lord's:

345

Constant at Church, and 'Change; his gains were sure,
His givings rare, save farthings to the poor.

The Devil was piqued such saintship to behold,
And longed to tempt him, like good Job of old:

350

38 The Monument, built in memory of the fire of London, with an inscription importing that city to have been burnt by the Papists. [The inscription was engraved on the monument in 1681, when the city was frighted from its propriety by Titus Oates and his plot. "This pillar was set up in perpetual remembrance of that most dreadful burning of this Protestant city, begun and carried on by the treachery and malice of the Popish faction, in the beginning of September, in the year of our Lord, 1666, in order to the carrying on their horrid plot for extirpating the Protestant religion and old English liberty, and then introducing Popery and slavery." Such was the downright Saxon "lie." It was erased in the reign of James II., re-cut in the reign of William III., and erased again in the reign of William IV. (1831.) Though curious as a relic of ancient prejudice and belief, the inscription is better away.]

But Satan now is wiser than of yore,

34

And tempts by making rich, not making poor.
Roused by the Prince of Air, the whirlwinds sweep
The surge, and plunge his father in the deep;
Then full against his Cornish lands they roar,3
And two rich shipwrecks bless the lucky shore.
Sir Balaam now, he lives like other folks,
He takes his chirping pint, and cracks his jokes :
"Live like yourself," was soon my Lady's word;
And lo! two puddings smoked upon the board.
Asleep and naked as an Indian lay,
An honest factor stole a gem away:
He pledged it to the knight, the knight had wit,
So kept the diamond,35 and the rogue was bit.
Some scruple rose, but thus he eased his thought :
"I'll now give sixpence where I gave a groat;
Where once I went to church, I'll now go twice;
And am so clear too of all other vice."

The Tempter saw his time; the work he plied;
Stocks and subscriptions pour on every side,

555

360

365

370

34 The author has placed the scene of these shipwrecks in Cornwall, not only from their frequency on that coast, but from the inhumanity of the inhabitants to those to whom that misfortune arrives. When a ship happens to be stranded there, they have been known to bore holes in it, to prevent its getting off; to plunder, and sometimes even to massacre, the people. Nor has the Parliament of England been yet able wholly to suppress these barbarities. [Fielding and Smollett, it will be recollected, give scenes of this description.]

It was

When

35 [Pope was supposed to allude here to the Pitt diamond, a gem brought to this country by Thomas Pitt, Governor of Madras, about 1700. Mr. Pitt purchased this celebrated diamond, which goes by his name, for £20,400, and sold it to the King of France for more than five times that sum. then reckoned the largest jewel in Europe, and weighed 127 carats. polished it was as big as a pullet's egg; the cuttings amounted in value to eight or ten thousand pounds. The report that Mr. Pitt had obtained this diamond by dishonourable means was very general; and he was at last induced to publish a narrative of the circumstances connected with its purchase. This gentleman, we may remark, was grandfather of the great William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. He sat in Parliament for some time after his final return to England, and died in 1726. The affair of the Pitt diamond may have suggested the incident of the stolen gem to Pope, but the whole episode appears fanciful, and the history of Sir Baalam and his family is outrageously improbable.]

'Till all the demon makes his full descent
In one abundant shower of cent. per cent.;
Sinks deep within him, and possesses whole,
Then dubs Director, and secures his soul.

Behold Sir Balaam now a man of spirit,
Ascribes his gettings to his parts and merit;
What late he call'd a blessing, now was wit,
And God's good Providence, a lucky hit.

375

Things change their titles, as our manners turn:

His counting-house employ'd the Sunday morn :

380

Seldom at church, ('twas such a busy life,)
But duly sent his family and wife.

There (so the Devil ordain'd) one Christmas-tide
My good old lady catch'd a cold, and died.
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 commission buys,

Who drinks, whores, fights, and, in a duel, dies:

390

His daughter flaunts a viscount's tawdry wife;
She bears a coronet, and pox, for life.
In Britain's senate he a seat obtains,
And one more pensioner St. Stephen gains.36
My lady falls to play: so bad her chance,
He must repair it; takes a bribe from France;
The house impeach him; Coningsby harangues;
The Court forsake him—and Sir Balaam hangs.
Wife, son, and daughter, Satan! are thy own,
His wealth, yet dearer, forfeit to the Crown:
The Devil and the King divide the prize,
And sad Sir Balaam curses God, and dies.37

36

"-atque unum civem donare Sibyllæ.-Juv.

395

400

37 Instead of the last four lines are only these two in the folio editions:

'Wife, son, and daughter, Satan, are thy prize,
And sad Sir Balaam curses God, and dies."

["Fell under the temptation: alluding to the story of Job referred to above."-Warburton. On this passage of Job, Warton quotes an amusing observation made by Warburton in his Divine Legation-a passage which would have afforded infinite mirth and satire to Pope if it had been made by

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

LORD BATHURST.

Allen Apsley, Lord Bathurst, to whom this Epistle is addressed, was one of the most genial and agreeable of Pope's noble friends. His lordship was born in 1684, and was thus four years older than the poet. He was in Parliament as soon as he was of age, first as representative of the borough of Cirencester, near which his paternal estate and influence lay; and in 1711 he was one of the twelve new peers created in one day to give the Administration a majority in the Upper House. Another of those creations was the poetical George Granville, Lord Lansdowne. The same gazette that recorded the accession of the twelve new peers, contained the announcement that her Majesty had removed the Duke of Marlborough from all his employments— a memorable achievement of faction, in which Swift had a principal share. Bathurst was also a Tory, but neither vindictive nor violent. He generally voted against Walpole and the Court measures-protested against the attainder of Bolingbroke and the Duke of Ormond-and exerted himself strenuously and with distinguished ability in favour of Atterbury, when the bill of pains and penalties was carried against that restless and intriguing, though able and eloquent prelate. One sarcasm of Bathurst's on this occasion was peculiarly happy and forcible. Some of the bishops had been conspicuous for their servility towards the minister, and their rancour towards Atterbury; and Lord Bathurst, turning to the right reverend bench, said he could not account for the inveterate hatred and malice some persons bore the learned and ingenious Bishop of Rochester, unless it were that they were intoxicated with the infatuation of some of the wild Indians, who fondly believe that they inherit, not only the spoils, but even the abilities, of any great enemy they kill! Bathurst continued true to his political friends. Late in life he held office for a short time, being Treasurer to the Prince of Wales but on the accession of George III., in 1760, he declined accepting any appointment, and retired with a pension of £2000 per annum. His rural improvements at his seat near Cirencester, his books, friends, field sports, and general society, kept him in cheerful and constant employment. Sterne has given us a picture of him in advanced life. "He (Lord Bathurst) came

Dennis, or some Whig divine. "The wife of Job," remarks the learned commentator, "acts a small part in this drama, but a very spirited one. Then said his wife unto him, ' Dost thou still retain thy integrity? Curse God and die.' Tender and pious! He might see by this prelude of his spouse, what he was to expect from his friends. The devil, indeed, assaulted Job, but he seems to have got possession of his wife!"]