“ Where once I went to church, I'll now

go

twice--« And am fo clear too of all other vice."

The Tempter saw his time; the work he ply'd; Stocks and Subscriptions pour on ev'ry fide,

370
'Till all the Dæmon makes his full descent
In one abundant show'r of Cent per Cent,
Sinks deep within him, and possesses whole,
Then dubs Director, and secures his soul.

Behold Sir Balaam, now a man of spirit, 375
Ascribes his gettings to his parts and merit;
What late he call’d a Blessing, now was Wit,
And God's good Providence, a lucky Hit.
Things change their titles, as our manners turn :
His Compting-house employ'd the Sunday-morn:
Seldom at Church ('twas such a busy life)

381
But duly fent his family and wife.
There (so 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 Commission buys,
Who drinks, whores, fights, and in a duel dies :
His daughter flaunts a Viscount's tawdry wife; 391
She bears a Coronet and P--x for life.
In Britiain's Senate he a feat obtains,
And one more Pensioner St. Stephen gains.

My Lady falls to play; so bad her chance, 395
He must repair it ; takes a bribe from France ;
The House impeach him; Coningsby haranges;
The Court forsake him, and Sir Balaam hangs :
Wife, son, and daughter, Satan! are thy own,
His wealth, yet dearer, forfeit to the Crown: 400
The Devil and the King divide the prize,
And sad Sir Balaam curses God and dies.

Ver. 401. The Devil and the King divide the Prize.] This is to be understood in a very sober and decent sense ;

as a Satire only on such Ministers 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 sake of confiscations.. So sure always, and just is our author's satire, even in those places where he seems most to have indulged himself only in an elegant badinage. But this Satire on the abuse of the general Laws of forfeiture for high treason, which all well-policied communities have found expedient to provide themselves withal, is by no means to be understood as a reflection on the Laws themselves, whose necessity, equity, and even lenity have been excellently well vindicated in that very learned and elegant Difcourse intitled, Some Confiderations on the Law of Forfeiture for bigh Treason. Third Edition, London 1748.

Ver, ult.--curses God and dies.] i. e. Fell under the tem. ptation; alluding to the story of Job referred to above.

IMITATIONS.
Ver. 394. And one more Pensioner St. Stephen gains.]

atque unum civem donare Sibylla. Juv,

MORAL ESSAYS.

E PIS T L E IV.

TO

Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington.

A R G U M E N T.

Of the Use of RICHES.

THE Vanity of Expence in People of Wealth and Qua

lity. The abuse of the word Taste, 13. That the first principle and foundation in this, as in every thing else, is Good Sense, x 40. The chief proof of it is to follow Nature, even in works of mere Luxury and Elegance. Instanced in Architecture and Gardening, where all must be adapted to the Genius and Use of the Place, and the Beauties not forced into it, but resulting 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 ferverted into something burdensome or ridiculous, x 65, &c. to 92. A description of the false Taste of Magnificence; the first grand Error of which is to imagine that Greatness confifis in the Size and Dimenfion, inftead of the Proportion and Harmony of the whole, y 97and the second, either in joining together Parts incoherent, or too minutely resembling, or in the Repetition of the same too frequently, ý 105, &c. A word or two of false Taste in Books, in Music, in Painting, even in Preaching and Prayer, and lastly in Entertainments, x 133, &c. Yet PROVIDENCE is justified in giving Wealth to be squandered in this manner, since it is dispersed to the Poor and Laborious part of mankind, ý 169. [recurring to what is laid down in the firft Book, Ep. ii. and in the Epiféle freceding this, x 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.