Let the gods, who dispose of every king's crown,
Whomsoever they please, set up and pull down;
I'll pay the whole shilling impos'd on my head,
Tho' I go without claret tbat night to my bed.
May I govern &c.

I'll bleed without grumbling though w that tax should .appear

As oft as new moons, or weeks in a year.

For why should I let a seditious word fall,
*Since my lands in y Utopia pay nothing at all?
May I govern &c.

Tho' I care not for riches, may I not be so poor, That the rich without shame cannot enter my door; May they court my converse, may they take much

delight

My old stories to hear in a winter's long night.
May I govern &c.

My small stock of wit may I not misapply,
To flatter ill men, be they never so high;

of Milan, whose cheese is of greater fame than Parme

san.

Those odious names of distinction kindled great animosity and strangeness, and even hatred, betwixt relations and friends.

u If that should happen, it would be a shrewd affliction to the poet.

w A poll-bill.

Dî, quos imperium penes est, rerumque potestas, Regna, quibus visum est, dent, adimantque data. Impositum capiti solvam non invidus assem,

Una licet tubulo nox cyathoque caret. Equo animam imperio &c.

Solvam ego, nec querulus contra mussabo, tributa
Si poscant menses hebdomadesque nova ;
Cur etenim obmussans duram vocitavero,legem,
Cum fundi solvant nil mei in Utopia ?
Equo animum imperio &c.

Non p to divitias; nec sim tam sordide egenus,
Nauseet ut dives tecta subire mea;

Quin mecum histo) is ad largum circulus ignem
Decipere hybernæ & dea noctis amet.eve
Equo auimum imperio &c.

Regum ut laudator fiam, vitiisque minister,
Ingenium nolim prostituisse meum;

* A good encouragement to pay for his head.

Y A place in Jupiter, or the Moon, or some other of the planets; for it is not to be found in the map of the world.

Nor mispend the few moments I steal from the grave,
In fawning and cringing like a dog or a slave.
May I govern &c.

May none whom I love, to so great a riches rise,
As to slight their acquaintance, and their old friends
despise ;

So low or so high may none of them be,
As to move either pity or envy in me.
May I govern &c.

A friendship I wish for, but alas! 'tis in vain,
Jove's store-house is empty, and can't it supply,
So firm, that no change of times, envy, or gain,
Or flattery, or woman, should have power to untie.
May I govern &c.

But if friends prove unfaithful, and fortune a b whore,
Still may I be virtuous, though I am poor:

My life then as useless, may I freely resign,
When no longer I relish true wit and good wine.
May I govern &c.

The Spanish proverb says,

"Let not God make our friends so rich, as to forget us." b "Fortuna, sævo læta negotio, et "Ludum insolentem ludere pertinax, "Transmutat incertos honores,

"Nunc mihi, nunc alii, benigna.

Nec, canis ut caudam submittam et blandiar instar, Perbreve, quod morti subtraho, tempus agam. Equo animum imperio &c.

Ad tantas nec surgat opes, quem diligo, quisquam,
Nesciat ut notos, prætereatque videns;
Tam supra sit nemo situs, tam nemo sit infra,
Ut mihi vel livor, vel siet inde dolor.

Equo animum imperio &c.

Detur et oh! (si posco quod æquum est poscere) fidæ,

Nec tamen ingentis, cultus amicitiæ ;

Cultus amicitiæ, quam tempora nulla valebunt,
Quam nullæ rerum dissoluïsse vices.

Equo animum imperio &c.

Sin comites infidi, et sit fortuna proterva,
Salva mihi virtus esto, licebit inops.

Tum demum videatur iners et inutilis ætas,
Cum mihi nec vinum, nec sapit ingenium.
Equo animum imperio &c.

"Laudo manentem; si celeres quatit "Pennas, resigno quæ dedit, et mea

"Virtute me involvo

-Hine apicem rapax

"Fortuna cum stridore acuto

"Sustulit; hic posuisse gaudet,”

Hor.

To outlive my senses may it not be my fate,
To be blind, to be deaf, to know nothing at all;
But rather let death come before 'tis so late,
And while there's some d sap in it, may my tree fall.
May I govern &c.

I hope I shall have no occasion to send

For priests or physicians, till I'm so near mine end, e That I have eat all my bread, and drank my last glass; f Let them come then, and set their seals to my pass. May I govern &c.

I

With a courage undaunted, may I face my last day, And when I am dead may the better sort say,

In the morning when sober, in the evening when mellow,

He's gone, and not left behind him his fellow.
May I govern &c.

c May I not lose my sight, my hearing, and my memory, and be a burden to my friends, and myself, “Telluris inutile pondus," a dead unuseful burden to the ground.

d Some corporeal and intellectual vigour.

e The poet alludes to a tradition among the Turks, who believe, that when any one is born into the world, there is such a quantity of meat and drink set before him, which when he has consumed, he must die. The moral whereof is, he that desires to live long, must be sparing in his meat and drink.