IO

And Gold but sent to keep the fools in play, 5
For some to heap, and some to throw away.

But I, who think more highly of our kind,
(And surely, Heav'n and I are of a mind)
Opine, that Nature, as in duty bound,
Deep hid the shining mischief under ground:
But when by Man's audacious labour won,
Flam'd forth this rival to, its Sire, the Sun,
Then careful Heav'n supply'd two sorts of Men,
To squander These, and Those to hide

agen. Like Doctors thus, when much dispute has past, We find our tenets just the same at last. 16 Both fairly owning, Riches, in effect, No grace

of Heav'n or token of th' Elect; Giv'n to the Fool, the Mad, the Vain, the Evil, To Ward, to Waters, Chartres, and the Devil.

20

Ver. 20. JOHN WARD, of Hackney, Esq; Member of Parliament, being prosecuted by the Duchess of Buckingham, and convicted of Forgery, was first expelled the House, and then stood in the Pillory on the 17th of March 1727. He was fuspected of joining in a conveyance with Sir John Blunt, to secrete fifty thousand pounds of that Director's Estate, forfeited to the South-Sea company by Act of Parliament. The Company recovered the fifty thousand pounds against Ward; but he set up prior conveyances of his real estate to his brother and Son, and conceal'd all his personal, which was computed to be one hundred and fifty thousand pounds. These conveyances being also set aside by a bill in Chancery, Ward was imprisoned, and hazarded the forfeiture of his life, by not giving in his effects 'till the last day, which was that of his examination. B. What Nature wants, commodious Gold bestows,

'Tis thus we eat the bread another fows.

ments.

During his confinement, his amusement was to give poison to dogs and cats, and see them expire by flower or quicker tor

To sum up the worth of this gentleman, at the several æra's of his life. At his standing in the Pillory he was worth above two hundred thousand pounds; at his commitment to Prison, he was worth one 'bundred and fifty thousand; but has been fince so far diminished in his reputation, as to be thought a worse man by fifty or fixty thousand.

Fr. CHARTRES, a man infamous for all manner of vices. When he was an ensign in the army, he was drumm'd out of the regiment for a cheat ; he was next banish'd Brussels, and drumm'd out of Ghent on the same account. After a hundred tricks at the gaming-tables, he took to lending of money at exorbitant interest and on great penalties, accumulating premium, interest, and capital into a new capital, and seizing to a minute when the payments became due ; in a word, by a constant attention to the vices, wants, and follies of mankind, he acquired an immense fortune. His house was a perpetual Bawdy-house. He was twice condemn'd for rapes, and pardoned; but the last time not without imprisonment in Newgate, and large confiscations. He died in Scotland in 1731, aged 62. The populace at his funeral rais'd a great riot, almost tore the body out of the coffin, and cast dead dogs, etc. into the grave along with it. The following Epitaph contains his character very juftly drawn by Dr. Arbuthnot:

HERE continueth to rot
The Body of FRANCIS CHARTRES,
Who, with an INFLEXIBLE CONSTANCY,
and INIMITABLE UNIFORMITY of Life,

PERSISTED,

P. But how unequal it beftows, observe,

'Tis thus we riot, while, who fow it, starve :

In spite of Age and INFIRMITIES,
In the Practice of EVERY HUMAN VICE;

Excepting PRODIGALITY and HYPOCRISY :
His insatiable AVARICE exempted him from the first,
His matchless IMPUDENCE from the second.

Nor was he more fingular
in the undeviating Fravity of his Manners,

Than successful
in Accumulating WEALTH;
For, without TRADE or PROFESSION,
Without Trust of Public Money,
And without BRIBE-WORTHY Service,
He acquired, or more properly created,

A MINISTERIAL ESTATE.

He was the only Person of his Time,
Who could CHEAT without the Mask of HONESTY,

Retain his Primeval MEANNESS
When possessed of Ten THOUSAND a Year,
And having daily deserved the GIBBET for what he did,
Was at last condemned to it for what he could not do.

Oh Indignant Reader !
Think not his Life useless to Mankind !
PROVIDENCE conniv'd at his execrable Designs,

To give to After-ages
A conspicuous Proof and EXAMPLE,
Of how small Eftimation is EXORBITANT WEALTH

in the Sight of GOD,
By his bestowing it on the most UNWORTHY of ALL MORTALS.
This Gentleman was worth seven thousand pounds a year

eftate in Land, and about one hundred thousand in Money,

What Nature wants (a phrafe I much distruft) 25.
Extends to Luxury, extends to Luft:
Useful, I grant, it serves what life requires,

But dreadful too, the dark Assassin hires :
B. Trade it may help, Society extend.
P. But lures the Pyrate, and corrupts the Friend. 30
B. It raises Armies in a Nation's aid.
P. But bribes a Senate, and the Land's betray'd.

In vain may Heroes fight, and Patriots rave;
If fecret Gold fap on from knave to knave.
Once, we confess, beneath the Patriots-cloak, 35
From the crack'd bag the dropping Guinea spoke,

Mr. WATERS, the third of these worthies, was a man no way resembling the former in his military, but extremely so in his civil capacity; his great fortune having been raised by the like diligent attendance on the necessities of others. But this gentleman's history must be deferred 'till his death, when his worth may be known more certainly.

VER. 34. If secret Gold fap on from knave to knave.] The expresfion is fine, and gives us the image of a place invested, where the approaches are made by communications which support each other; as the connections amongst knaves, after they have been taken in by a state engineer, serve to screen and encourage one another's private corruptions.

VER. 35. -beneath the Patriot's cloak,] This is a true story, which happened in the reign of William III. to an unsuspected old Patriot, who coming out at the back-door from having been closeted by the King, where he had received a large bag of Guinteas, the bursting of the bag discovered his business there,