"The ruling Paffion, be it what it will,

"The ruling Paffion conquers Reason still."

Lefs mad the wildest whimsey we can frame, 155 Than ev'n that Paffion, if it has no Aim;

For tho' fuch motives Folly you may call,

The Folly's greater to have none at all.

Hear then the truth: ""Tis Heav'n each Paffion

«fends,

"And diff'rent men directs to diff'rent ends.

160

"Extremes in Nature equal good produce,

"Extremes in Man concur to gen'ral use.

Afk we what makes one keep, and one bestow?
That Pow'R who bids the Ocean ebb and flow,
Bids feed-time, harvest, equal courfe maintain, 165
Thro' reconcil'd extremes of drought and rain,
Builds Life on Death, on Change Duration founds,
And gives th'eternal wheels to know their rounds.
Riches, like infects, when conceal'd they lie,
Wait but for wings, and in their season fly.
Who fees pale Mammon pine amidst his store,
Sees but a backward fteward for the Poor;
This year a Refervoir, to keep and fpare;
The next, a Fountain, spouting thro' his Heir,
In lavish ftreams to quench a Country's thirft, 175
And men and dogs fhall drink him till they burft.

170

180

Old Cotta fham'd his fortune and his birth,
Yet was not Cotta void of wit or worth:
What tho' (the use of barb'rous spits forgot)
His kitchen vy'd in coolness with his grot?
His court with nettles, moats with creffes ftor'd,
With foups unbought and fallads blefs'd his board?
If Cotta liv'd on pulse, it was no more

Than Bramins, Saints, and Sages did before;
To cram the Rich was prodigal expence,

185

190

And who would take the Poor from Providence?
Like fome lone Chartreux ftands the good old Hall,
Silence without, and Fafts within the wall;
No rafter'd roofs with dance and tabor found,
No noontide-bell invites the country round:
Tenants with fighs the fmoaklefs tow'rs furvey,
And turn th’unwilling steeds another way:
Benighted wanderers, the foreft o'er,
Curfe the fav'd candle, and unop'ning door;
While the gaunt maftiff growling at the gate, 195
Affrights the beggar whom he longs to eat.

Not fo his Son, he mark'd this overfight,
And then miftook reverse of wrong for right,

IMITATIONS.

VER. 182. With foups unbought,]

dapibus menfas onerabat inemptis. VIRG. P.

(For what to fhun will no great knowledge need,

But what to follow, is a task indeed.)
Yet fure, of qualities deferving praise,

More go to ruin Fortunes, than to raise.

200

What flaughter'd hecatombs, what floods of wine,
Fill the capacious Squire, and deep Divine!
Yet no mean motive this profufion draws,
His oxen perish in his country's cause;

205

"Tis GEORGE and LIBERTY that crowns the cup
And Zeal for that great House which eats him up.
The Woods recede around the naked seat,
The Sylvans groan-no matter-for the Fleet: 210
Next goes his Wool-to clothe our valiant bands,
Laft, for his Country's love, he fells his Lands.

NOTES.
|

VER. 199. (For what to fbun will no great knowledge need, But what to follow, is a task indeed.)] The poet is here speaking only of the knowledge gained by experience Now there are fo many miferable examples of ill conduct, that no one, with his eyes open, can be at a lofs to know what to fun; but, very inviting ex

amples of a good conduct are extremely rare: Befides, the mischiefs of folly are eminent and obvious; but the fruits of prudence, remote and retired from common obfervation ; and if feen at all, yet their dependance on their caufes not being direct and immediate, they are not cafily understood.

To town he comes, completes the nation's hope,
And heads the bold Train-bands, and burns à Pope.
And shall not Britain now reward his toils, 215
Britain, that pays her Patriots with her Spoils?
In vain at Court the Bankrupt pleads his cause,
His thankless Country leaves him to her Laws.
The Senfe to value Riches, with the Art
T'enjoy them, and the Virtue to impart,

VARIATIONS.

After 218. in the MS.

220

Where one lean herring furnish'd Cotta's board,
And nettles grew, fit porridge for their Lord;
Where mad good-nature, bounty misapply'd,
In lavish Curio blaz'd awhile and dy'd ;
There Providence once more shall shift the scene,
And fhewing H-y, teach the golden mean.

NOTES.

VER. 219, 220. The Senfe to value Riches, with the Art, T'enjoy them, and the Virtue to impart.] The Senfe to value Riches, is not, in the City - meaning, the Senfe in valuing them: For as Riches may be enjoyed without Art, and imparted with Virtue, fo they may be

valued without Sense. That man therefore only fhews he has the fenfe to value Riches, who keeps what he has acquired, in order to enjoy one part of it innocently and elegantly, in fuch meafure and degree as his ftation may juftify, which the poet calls the Art of enjoy

Not meanly, nor ambitiously purfu'd,

Not funk by floth, nor rais'd by servitude ;
To balance Fortune by a just expence,

Join with Oeconomy, Magnificence;

224

With Splendor, Charity; with Plenty, Health;

Oh teach us, BATHURST! yet unspoil'd by wealth!
That fecret rare, between th’extremes to move
Of mad Good-nature, and of mean Self-love.

B. To Worth or Want well-weigh'd, be Bounty

giv❜n,

And eafe, or emulate, the care of Heav'n;
(Whose measure full o'erflows on human race)
Mend Fortune's fault, and justify her grace.

VARIATIONS.

After 226. in the MS.

That fecret rare, with affluence hardly join'd,
Which W-n loft, yet B-y ne'er could find;
Still mifs'd by Vice, and scarce by Virtue hit,
By G-'s goodness, or by S-'s wit.

NOTES.

ing and to impart the remainder amongst objects of worth, or want well weigh'd; which is, indeed, the Virtue of imparting.

230