Yet hens of Guinea full as good I hold, 20 25 30 35 And children facred held a martin's neft, Till beccaficos fold fo dev'lifh dear To one that was, or would have been, a peer. 40 Let me extol a cat, on oifters fed, I'll have a party at the Bedford-head; * Or ev'n to crack live crawfish recommend ; 'Tis yet in vain, I own, to keep a pother 45 For him you'll call a dog, and her a bitch) 50 Sell their prefented partridges, and fruits, And humbly live on rabbits and on roots: One half-pint bottle ferves them both to dine, A famous cating-houfe. But But on fome lucky day (as when they found 55 A loft bank-bill, or heard their fon was drown'd) Is what two fouls fo gen'rous cannot bear: He knows to live, who keeps the middle state, 60 65 70 Remembers oft the fchool-boy's fimple fare, The temp❜rate fleeps, and spirits light as air. 75 80 On morning wings how active fprings the mind. That leaves the load of yefterday behind? How eafy ev'ry labour it pursues ? How coming to the poet ev'ry Muse? Not but we may exceed, fome holy time, 85 Or tir'd in fearch of truth, or fearch of rhyme; Our fathers prais'd rank ven'fon. You fuppofe, E 2 90 Not Not fo: a buck was then a week's repast, And 'twas their point, I ween, to make it laft; More pleas'd to keep it till their friends could come, 95 Curs'd by thy neighbours, thy trustees, thyself, "Right, cries his lordship, for a rogue in need "To have a taste is infolence indeed : "In me 'tis noble, fuits my birth and state, 100 105 I LO 115 O impudence of wealth! with all thy ftore, Shall half the new-built churches round thee fall? 120 As M**o's was, but not at five per cent. Who thinks that fortune cannot change her mind, Perhaps a dreadful jeft for all mankind. And who ftands fafeft? tell me, is it he 125 That spreads and fwells in puff'd profperity, Or bleft with little, whofe preventing care In peace provides fit arms againft a war? Thus BETHEL fpoke, who always fpeaks his thought, And always thinks the very thing he ought: 130 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 In foreft planted by a father's hand, Than in five acres now of rented land. 135 Content with little I can piddle here On brocoli and mutton, round the year; But ancient friends (tho' poor, or out of play) 140 'Tis true, no turbots dignify my boards, But gudgeons, flounders, what my Thames affords: Thence comes your mutton, and these chicks my own: From yon old walnut-tree a show'r fhall 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: Then chearful healths (your mistress shall have place) And, what's more rare, a poet fhall fay grace. 159 Fortune not much of humbling me can boast : Tho' doubly tax'd, how little have I lost ! My life's amufements have been juft the fame, 155 My lands are fold, my father's houfe is gone; (For I, who hold fage Homer's rule the best, 160 Welcome the coming, fpeed the going gueft.) "Pray heav'n it laft! (cries SWIFT!) as you go on; "I wish to God this house had been your own: "Pity! to build, without a fon or wife; 66 Why you'll enjoy it only all your life." Well, if the use be mine, can it concern one, Whether the name belong to Pope or Vernon? What's property? dear Swift! you fee it alter From you to me, from me to Peter Walter; 165 Or, in a mortgage, prove a lawyer's fhare; Or in pure equity (the cafe not clear) The Chanc'ry takes your rents for twenty year : 170 Who cries, "My father's damna'd, and all's my own." Shades, that to Bacon could retreat afford, 175 Become the portion of a booby lord; And Hemfley, once proud Buckingham's delight, Let lands and houfes § have what lords they will, 180 Villiers duke of Buckingham. The turn of his imitation, in the concluding part, obliged him to diversify the sentiment. They are equally noble: but Horace's is expreffed with the greater force. THE |