Page images
PDF
EPUB

Away, away! take all your scaffolds down,

For snug's the word: My dear! we'll live in town.'
At am'rous Flavio is the stocking thrown?

That very night he longs to lie alone.

The fool, whose wife elopes some thrice a quarter, 150 For matrimonial solace dies a martyr.

Did ever Proteus, Merlin, any witch,

Transform themselves so strangely as the rich?
Well, but the poor-The poor have the same itch;
They change their weekly barber, weekly news,
Prefer a new japanner to their shoes,
Discharge their garrets, move their beds, and run
(They know not whither) in a chaise and one;
They hire their sculler, and when once aboard,
Grow sick, and damn the climate—like a lord.

You laugh, half beau half sloven if I stand,
My wig all powder, and all snuff my band;
You laugh, if coat and breeches strangely vary,
White gloves, and linen worthy Lady Mary!
But when no prelate's lawn with hair-shirt lin’d,
Is half so incoherent as my mind,

When, each opinion with the next at strife,
One ebb and flow of follies all my life,

160

I plant, root up; I build, and then confound;
Turn round to square, and square again to round; 170

You never change one muscle of your face,
You think this madness but a common case,
Nor once to Chanc'ry, nor to Hale apply;
Yet hang your lip, to see a seam awry!
Careless how ill I with myself agree,

Kind to my dress, my figure, not to me.
Is this my guide, philosopher, and friend?
This he, who loves me, and who ought to mend;

Who ought to make me (what he can, or none)
That man divine whom wisdom calls her own;
Great without title, without fortune bless'd;
Rich ev'n when plunder'd, honour'd while oppress'd;
Lov'd without youth, and follow'd without pow'r;

At home, tho' exil'd; free, tho' in the Tower;

T

-host that reas'ning. high, immortal thing,

180

SATIRES AND EPISTLES.

IV.

To Mr. Murray.

OT to admire, is all the art I know,

To make men happy, and to keep them so.' Plain truth, dear Murray, needs no flow'rs of speech,

So take it in the very words of Creech.

This vault of air, this congregated ball, Self-center'd sun, and stars that rise and fall, There are, my friend! whose philosophic eyes Look thro', and trust the ruler with his skies, To him commit the hour, the day, the year, And view this dreadful All without a fear. Admire we then what earth's low entrails hold, Arabian shores, or Indian seas infold; All the mad trade of fools and slaves for gold? Or popularity? or stars and strings? The mob's applauses, or the gifts of kings? Say with what eyes we ought at courts to gaze, And pay the great our homage of amaze?

IO

If weak the pleasure that from these can spring, The fear to want them is as weak a thing: Whether we dread, or whether we desire, In either case, believe me, we admire;

20

Whether we joy or grieve, the same the curse,
Surpriz'd at better, or surpriz'd at worse.
Thus good or bad to one extreme betray
Th' unbalanc'd mind, and snatch the man away;
For virtue's self may too much zeal be had;
The worst of madmen is a saint run mad.
Go then, and if you can, admire the state
Of beaming diamonds, and reflected plate;
Procure a taste to double the surprize,
And gaze on Parian charms with learned eyes:
Be struck with bright brocade, or Tyrian dye,
Our Birth-day nobles' splendid livery.
If not so pleas'd, at council-board rejoice,
To see their judgments hang upon thy voice;
From morn to night, at senate, Rolls, and Hall,
Plead much, read more, dine late, or not at all.
But wherefore all this labour, all this strife?
For fame, for riches, for a noble wife?
Shall one whom nature, learning, birth conspir'd
To form, not to admire but be admir'd,
Sigh, while his Chloe blind to wit and worth
Weds the rich dulness of some son of earth?
Yet time ennobles, or degrades each line;
It brighten'd Craggs's, and may darken thine:
And what is fame? the meanest have their day,
The greatest can but blaze, and pass away.
Grac'd as thou art with all the pow'r of words,
So known, so honour'd, at the house of Lords:
Conspicuous scene! another yet is nigh,
(More silent far) where kings and poets lie;
Where Murray (long enough his country's pride)
Shall be no more than Tully, or than Hyde

30

40

50

Rack'd with sciatics, martyr'd with the stone,
Will any mortal let himself alone?

See Ward by batter'd beaus invited over,
And desp'rate misery lays hold on Dover.
The case is easier in the mind's disease;
There all men may be cur'd whene'er they please.
Would ye be blest? despise low joys, low gains;
Disdain whatever Cornbury disdains;

Be virtuous, and be happy for your pains.
But art thou one, whom new opinions sway,
One who believes as Tindal leads the way,
Who virtue and a Church alike disowns,

60

Thinks that but words, and this but brick and stones? Fly then, on all the wings of wild desire,

Admire whate'er the maddest can admire :

Is wealth thy passion? Hence! from pole to pole,
Where winds can carry, or where waves can roll,
For Indian spices, for Peruvian gold,
Prevent the greedy, and out-bid the bold:
Advance thy golden mountain to the skies;
On the broad base of fifty thousand rise,
Add one round hundred, and (if that's not fair)
Add fifty more, and bring it to a square.
For, mark th' advantage; just so many score
Will gain a wife with half as many more,
Procure her beauty, make that beauty chaste,
And then such friends-as cannot fail to last.
A man of wealth is dubb'd a man of worth,
Venus shall give him form, and Anstis birth.
Believe me, many a German prince is worse,
Who proud of pedigree, is poor of purse.
His wealth brave Timon gloriously confounds;
Ask'd for a groat, he gives a hundred pounds;

70

80

« PreviousContinue »