I

Not to go back is somewhat to advance,

And men must walk, at least, before they dance.
Say, does thy 2 blood rebel, thy bosom move
With wretched av'rice, or as wretched love?
Know there are words and spells which can controul,

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3 Between the fits, this fever of the soul; [apply'd, Know there are rhymes which, 4 fresh and fresh Will cure the arrant'st puppy of his pride.

Be s furious, envious, slothful, mad, or drunk,

6 Slave to a wife, or vassal to a punk,

A Switz, a High-Dutch, or a Low-Dutch 7 bear;
All that we ask is but a patient ear.

8 'Tis the first virtue, vices to abhor,
And the first wisdom, to be fool no more:
But to the world no 9 bugbear is so great
As want of figure, and a small estate.

Nec, quia desperes invicti membra Glyconis,
Nodosa corpus nolis prohibere chiragra.
Est quodam prodire tenus, si non datur ultra.
2 Fervet avaritia, miseroque cupidine pectus ?
Sunt verba et voces, quibus hunc lenire dolorem
Possis, et 3 magnam morbi deponere partem.
Laudis amore tumes? sunt 4 certa piacula, quæ te
Ter pure lecto poterunt recreare libello.

5 Invidus, iracundus, iners, vinosus, 6 amator,
Nemo 7 adeo ferus est, ut non mitescere possit,
Si modo culturæ patientem commodet aurem.

8 Virtus est vitium fugere; et sapientia prima Stultitia caruisse. vides, quæ 9 maxima credis

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To either India see the merchant fly,
Scar'd at the spectre of pale Poverty!

See him with pains of body, pangs of soul,
Burn thro' the tropic, freeze beneath the pole!
Wilt thou do nothing for a nobler end,
Nothing to make Philosophy thy friend?
To stop thy foolish views, thy long desires,
And ease thy heart of all that it admires?
2 Here Wisdom calls, 3 Seek Virtue first, be bold!
"As gold to silver, virtue is to gold."

There London's voice, 4" Get money, money still! "And then let Virtue follow if she will."

This, this, the saving doctrine preach'd to all,
From low St. James's up to high St. Paul;
From him whose 6 quills stand quiver'd at his ear,
To him who notches sticks at Westminster.

Esse mala, exiguum censum, turpemque repulsam, Quanto devites animi capitisque labore.

Impiger extremos curris mercator ad Indos,

Per mare pauperiem fugiens, per saxa, per ignes:
Ne cures ea, quæ stulte miraris et optas,

2

Di cere, et audire, et meliori credere non vis?
Quis circum pagos et circum compita pugnax
Magna coronari contemnat Olympia, cui spes,
Cui sit conditio dulcsi sine pulvere palmæ ?

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3 Vilius argentum est auro, virtutibus aurum. << 4 O cives, cives ! quærenda pecunia primum est; "Virtus post nummos:" hæc 5 Janus summus ab imo Perdocet; hæc recinunt juvenes dictata senesque,

Lævo suspensi loculos tabulamque lacerto.

Barnard in spirit, sense, and truth, abounds; 85 "Pray then what wants he?" Fourscore thousand A pension, or such harness for a slave [pounds;

As Bug now has, and Dorimant would have.
Barnard thou art a 2 Cit, with all thy worth;
But Bug and D*1, Their Honours! and so forth.
Yet ev'ry 3 child another song will sing,
"Virtue, brave boys! 'tis virtue makes a king."
True conscious honour is to feel no sin;
He's arm'd without that's innocent within:
Be this thy 4 screen, and this thy wall of brass;
Compar'd to this a minister's an ass.

5

And say, to which shall our applause belong, This new court-jargon, or the good old song? The modern language of corrupted peers,

Or what was spoke at 6 Cressy, or Poitiers?

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Who counsels best? who whispers, "Be but great, "With praise, or infamy, leave that to Fate; "Get place, and wealth, if possible, with grace; "If not, by any means, get wealth and place."

Si quadringentis sex septem millia desunt;
Est animus tibi, sunt mores, et lingua, fidesque :
2 Plebs eris. 3 at pueri ludentes, Rex eris, aiunt,
Si recte facies. Hic 4 murus aheneus esto,
Nil conscire sibi, nulla pallescere culpa.

5 Roscia, dic sodes, melior lex, an puerorum est
Nænia, quæ regnum recte facientibus offert,
Et maribus 6 Curiis, et decantata Camillis?

Isne tibi melius suadet, qui " Rem facias, rem ;

For what? to have a 1 box where eunuchs sing,
And foremost in the circle eye a king.

Or he who bids thee face with steady view
Proud Fortune, and look shallow Greatness thro',
And 3 while he bids thee sets th' example too?

If 4 such a doctrine, in St. James's air,

Should chance to make the well-dress'd rabble stare;

If honest S**z take scandal at a spark
That less admires the 5 Palace than the Park;
Faith I shall give the answer" Reynard gave,
"I cannot like, dread Sir! your royal cave:
"Because I see, by all the tracts about,
"Full many a beast goes in, but none come out.
Adieu to Virtue, if you're once a slave:

Send her to court, you send her to her grave.
Well, if a king's a lion, at the least
The 7 people are a many-headed beast.

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"Si possis recte; si non, quocunque modo rem ;
"Ut proprius spectes lacrymosa poemata Puppi :”
An 2 qui fortunæ te reponsare superbæ

Liberum et erectum, 3 præsens hortatur, et aptat ?

4 Quod si me populus Romanus forte roget cur
Non, ut 5 porticibus, sic judiciis fruar isdem,
Nec sequar, aut fugiam, quæ diligit ipse, vel odit ;
Olim quod vulpes ægroto cauta leoni

Respondit, referam: Quia me vestigia terrent,

Omnia te adversum spectantia, nulla retrorsum.

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7 Bellua multorum es capitum; nam quid sequar, aut quem?

L

Can they direct what measures to pursue,

Alike in nothing but one lust of gold,

Who know themselves so little what to do?

Just half the land would buy, and half be sold:

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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 2 with fat bucks on childless dotards fawn; 130
Some win rich widows by their chine and brawn;
While with the silent growth of ten per cent,
In dirt and darkness 3 hundreds stink content.

Of all these ways, if each pursues his own,

4

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.

Sir Job 5 sail'd forth, the ev'ning bright and still,

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No place on earth (he cry'd) like Greenwich hill!" 6 Up starts a palace; lo, th' obedient base Slopes at its foot, the woods its sides embrace, The silver Thames reflects its marble face.

Pars hominum gestit1 conducere publica; sunt qui 2 Crustis et pomis viduas venentur avaras, Excipiantque senes, quos in vivaria mittant: 3 Multis occulto crescit res fænore. 4 verum Esto aliis, alios rebus studiisque teneri: Iidem eadem possunt horam durare probantes? 5 Nullus in orbe sinus Baiis prælucet amoenis, Si dixit dives; lacus et mare sentit amorem