VER. 124. Alike in nothing but one Luft of Gold, Just baif the land would buy, and balf be fold:] Here the argument suffers a little for the sake of the fatire. The reason why the People should not be followed is because

Belua multorum est capitum. nam quid fequar, aut quem? they are so divers in their pursuits (says Horace) that one cannot follow this man without being condemned by that. The imitator says, they all go on one common principle, the luft of

Alike in nothing but one Luft of Gold,
Just half the land would buy, and half be fold: 125
Their Country's wealth our mightier Misers drain,
Or cross, to plunder Provinces, the Main;
The rest, some farm the Poor-box, some the Pews;
Some keep Assemblies, and would keep the Stews;
Some with fat Bucks on childless dotards fawn;
Some win rich Widows by their Chine and Brawn;
While with the filent growth of ten per cent,
In dirt and darkness, hundreds stink content.
Of all these ways, if each pursues his own,

Satire, be kind, and let the wretch alone:
But shew me one who has it in his pow'r
To act consistent with himself an hour.

135

Sir Job & fail'd forth, the ev'ning bright and still, "No place on earth (he cry'd) like Greenwich hill!" ▸ Up starts a Palace, lo, th' obedient base Slopes at its foot, the woods its fides embrace, The filver Thames reflects its marble face,

140

}

gold. This inaccuracy, tho' Horace has a little of it, yet he has however artfully disguised it, by speaking of the various objects of this one Passion, avarice, as of so many various passions, Pars hominum gestit conducere publica: funt qui, etc. Cruftis et pomis

Multis occulto, etc.

but his imitator has unwarily drawn them to a point, by the

introductory addition of the two lines above,

Alike in nothing, etc.

Feftinantis heri: cui si1 vitiofa libido

Fecerit aufpicium; cras ferramenta Teanum

Tolletis, fabri. lectus genialis in aula est?

Nil ait effe prius, melius nil coelibe vita:

1

Si non eft, jurat bene solis esse maritis.

m Quo teneam vultus mutantem Protea nodo?

Quid pauper? ride: mutat coenacula, lectos,

Balnea, tonfores; conducto navigio aeque

Nauseat, ac locuples quem ducit priva triremis.

Si curatus inaequali tonsore capillos

VER. 143. Now let some whimsy, etc.] This is very spirited, but much inferior to the elegance of the original,

Cui si vitiosa Libido..

Fecerit auspicium

which alluding to the religious manners of that time, no modern imitation can reach,

Now let some whimsy, or that Dev'l within

Which guides all those who know not what they

mean,

But give the Knight (or give his Lady) spleen; "Away, away! take all your scaffolds down, 146 "For Snug's the word: My dear! we'll live in Town." At am'rous Flavio is the stocken thrown?

That very night he longs to lie alone.

1 The Fool, whose Wife elopes some thrice a quarter,

For matrimonial folace dies a martyr.

m

Did ever Proteus, Merlin, any witch,

151

2

Transform themselves so strangely as the Rich?
Well, but the Poor--The Poor have the fame itch;
They change their weekly Barber, weekly News, 155
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 fick, and damn the climate-like a Lord. 160

1

You laugh, half Beau, half Sloven if I stand,

My wig all powder, and all snuff my band;

VER. 155. They change their weekly Barber, etc.] These fix lines much more spirited than the original. In Horace, the people's inconstancy of temper is fatirized only in a fimple expofure of the cafe. Here the ridicule on the folly is heightened by an humourous picture of the various objects of that inconftancy.

Occurro; rides. fi forte subucula pexae
Trita fubeft tunicae, vel fi toga dissidet impar;

Rides. quid, 'mea cum pugnat fententia secum;
Quod petiit, spernit; repetit quod nuper omifit;

$ Aestuat, et vitae disconvenit ordine toto;

t

• Diruit, aedificat, mutat quadrata rotundis ?

*Insanire putas folennia me, neque rides,
Nec medici credis, nec curatoris egere
A praetore dati; rerum tutela mearum

Cum fis, et prave sectum stomacheris ob unguem,
De te pendentis, te refpicientis amici.

:

Ad fummam, Sapiens uno minor est Jour, dives, *Liber, honoratus, pulcher, rex denique regum; Praecipue fanus, nifi cum pituita molesta est.

VER. 182. wben plunder'd] i. e. By the Public; which has marely her revenge on her plunderers, and when the has, more rarely knows how to use it.