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In Britain's Senate he a feat obtains,

And one more Penfioner St Stephen gains.
My Lady falls to play; fo bad her chance,

395

He must repair it; takes a bribe from France;
The House impeach him; Coningsby harangues;
The Court forfake 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 fad Sir Balaam curses God and dies.

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IMITATIONS.

400

VER. 394. And one more Penfioner St Stephen gains.] -atque unum civem donare Sibylla.

NOTES.

VER. 401. The Devil and the King divide the prize,] This is to be understood in a very fober and decent fenfe; as a fatire only on fuch minifters of ftate, which history informs u's have been found, who aided the devil in his temptations, in order to foment, if not to make, plots, for the fake of confifcations;

Juv.

and by no means on the laws of forfeitures themfelves: Whofe neceffity, equity, and even lenity, have been perfectly well vindicated, in that very learned and elegant difcourfe, intituled, Some Confiderations on the Law of Forfeitures for High-Treafon. Third Edition, Lond. 1748.

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The Vanity of Expence in People of Wealth and Quality. The abufe of the word Tafte, 13. That the first principle and foundation, in this as in every thing elfe, 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 Ufe of the Place, and the Beauties not forced into it, but refulting from it, 50. How men are disappointed in their most expenfive undertakings, for want of this true Foundation, without which nothing can please 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 Greatness confifts in the Size and Dimension, instead of the Proportion and Harmony of the whole, 97. and the fecond, either in joining together Parts incoherent, or too minutely refembling, 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.

M 3

EPIST LE IV.

'T

5

Is ftrange, the Mifer should his Cares employ To gain thofe Riches he can ne'er enjoy : Is it lefs ftrange, the Prodigal fhould waste His wealth, to purchase what he ne'er can taste? Not for himself he fees, or hears, or eats; Artists must chufe his Pictures, Mufic, Meats: He buys for Topham, Drawings and Designs, For Pembroke Statues, dirty Gods, and Coins; Rare monkish Manuscripts for Hearne alone, And Books for Mead, and Butterflies for Sloane. 10

EPISTLE IV.] The extremes of Avarice and Profufion being treated of in the foregoing Epiftle; this takes up one particular branch of the latter, the Vanity of Expence in people of wealth and quality; and is therefore a corollary to the preceding, juft as the Epiftle on the Characters of Women is to that of the Knowledge and Characters of Men.

NOTES.

VER. 7. Topham] A Gen- | Mead, and Butterflies for tleman famous for a judi- Sloane.] Two eminent Phycious collection of Draw-ficians; the one had an exings. P. cellent Library, the other VER. 10. And Books for the finest collection in Eu

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