"Where once I went to church, I'll now go "" twice-- "And am fo clear too of all other vice." The Tempter faw his time; the work he ply'd; Stocks and Subscriptions pour on ev'ry side, 370 "Till all the Dæmon makes his full defcent In one abundant fhow'r of Cent per Cent, Sinks deep within him, and poffeffes whole, Then dubs Director, and fecures his foul. Behold Sir Balaam, now a man of spirit, 375 Afcribes his gettings to his parts and merit ; What late he call'd a Bleffing, now was Wit, And God's good Providence, a lucky Hit. NOTES. "What Riches give us let us then enquire: "Meat, Fire, and Cloaths. What more? Meat, Cloaths, "and Fire." But here, in one who had not yet learnt the art of dif guifing the Poverty of Wealth by the Refinements of Luxury, he shews, with admirable humour, the ridicule of that project : "And lo! two Puddings fmoak'd upon the board." VER. 377. What late be call'd a Bleffing, now was Wit, &c.] This is an admirable picture of human nature: In the entrance into life, all, but coxcombs-born, are modeft; and esteem the favours of their fuperiors as marks of their benevolence: But if these favours happen to increafe; then, inftead of advancing in gratitude to our benefactors, we only improve in the good opinion of ourselves; and the conftant returns of such favours make us confider them no longer as accommodations to our wants, or the hire of our fervice, Things change their titles, as our manners turn: His Compting-house employ'd the Sunday-morn; Seldom at Church ('twas such a bufy life) 381 But duly fent his family and wife. There (fo the Dev'l ordain'd) one Christmas-tide My good old Lady catch'd a cold, and dy'd. A Nymph of Quality admires our Knight; 385 He marries, bows at Court, and grows polite : Leaves the dull Cits, and joins (to please the fair) The well-bred cuckolds in St. James's air: First, for his Son a gay Commiffion buys, Who drinks, whores, fights, and in aduel dies: 390 His Daughter flaunts a Viscount's tawdry wife; She bears a Coronet and P--x for life. NOTES. but debts due to our merit: Yet, at the fame time, to do justice to our common nature, we fhould obferve, that this does not proceed fo often from downright vice as is imagined, but frequently from mere infirmity; of which the reafon is evident; for, having small knowledge, and yet an exceffive opinion of ourfelves, we estimate our merit by the paffions and caprice of others; and this perhaps would not be fo much amifs, were we not apt to take their favours for a declaration of their fenfe of our merits. How often, for inftance, has it been feen, in the three learned Profeffions, that a Man, who, had he continued in his primeval meannefs, would have circumfcribed his knowledge within the modeft limits of Socrates; yet, being pushed up, as the phrafe is, has felt himself growing into a Hooker, a Hales, or a Sydenham; while, in the rapidity of his courfe, he imagined he faw, at every new 395 In Britain's Senate he a feat obtains, And fad Sir Balaam curfes God and dies. NOTES. station, a new door of science opening to him, without fo much as staying for a Flatterer to let him in ? -Beatus enim jam Cum pulchris tunicis fumet nova confilia. VER. 401. The Devil and the King divide the Prize,] This is to be understood in a very sober and decent fense; as a Satire only on fuch Minifters of State which History informs us have been found, who aided the Devil in his temptations, in order to foment, if not to make, Plots for the fake of confifcations. So fure always, and juft, is our Author's fatire, even in those places where he feems most to have indulged himself only in an elegant badinage. But this Satire on the abufe of the general laws of forfeiture for high treason, which laws all well-policied communities have found neceffary, is IMITATIONS. VER. 394. And one more Penfioner St. Stephen gains.] Juv. NOTES. by no means to be understood as a reflection on the Laws themselves; whofe neceffity, equity, and even lenity have been excellently well vindicated in that very learned and elegant Difcourfe, intitled, Some Confiderations on the Law of Forfeiture for High Treafon. Third Edition, London, 1748. VER. ult.-curfes God and dies.]_i. e. Fell under the temptations; alluding to the ftory of Job, referred to above. MORAL ESSAYS. EPISTLE IV. TO Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington. ARGUMENT. Of the Ufe of RICHES. The Vanity of Expence in People of Wealth and Quality. The abufe of the word Tafte, Ver. 13. That the first principle and foundation in this, as in every other thing elfe, is Good Senfe, Ver. 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, Ver. 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 be but perverted into fomething burdensome and ridiculous, Ver. 65, &c. to 92. A defcription of the falfe Taste of Magnificence; the first grand Error of which is to imagine that Greatnefs confifts in the Size and DimenVOL. III. Y |