Moral essays: in four epistles. By Alexander Pope, Esq.

MORAL ESSAYS.

EPISTLE III.

TO ALLEN Lord BATHURST.

ARGUMENT. Of the Use of RICHES.

THAT it is known to few, most falling into one of the extremes, avarice or profusion, v. 1, etc. The point discussed, whether the invention of money has been more commodious, or pernicious to mankind, v. 21 to 77. That riches, either to the avaricious or the prodigal, cannot afford happiness, scarcely neces|saries, v. 89 to 160. That avarice is an absolute frenzy, without an end or purpose, v. 113, etc. 152. Conjectures about the motives of avaricious men, v. 121 to 153. That the conduct of men, with respect to riches, can only be accounted for by the ORDER OF PROVIDENCE, which works the

general good out of extremes, and brings all to its great end by perpetual revolutions, v. 161 to 178. How a miser acts upon principles which ap|pear to him reasonable, v. 179. How a prodigal does the same, v. 199. The due medium, and true use of riches, v. 219. The man of Ross, v. 250. The fate of the profuse and the covetous, in two examples; both miserable in life and in death, v. 300, etc. The story of Sir Balaam, v. 339 to the end.

EPISTLE III.* 1.1

P.

WHO shall decide, when doctors disagree, And soundest casuists doubt, like you and me? You hold the word, from Jove to Momus giv'n, That man was made the standing jest of heav'n; And gold but sent to keep the fools in play,Line 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:Line 10 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,Line 15 We find our tenets just the same at last. 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.* 1.2Line 20

B.

What nature wants, commodious gold bestows, 'Tis thus we eat the bread another sows.

P.

But how unequal it bestows, observe, 'Tis thus we riot, while, who sow it, starve:

What nature wants (a phrase I much distrust) Extends to luxury, extends to lust: 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.Line 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 secret gold sap on from knave to knave. Line 35

Once, we confess, beneath the patriot's cloke,* 1.3Line 35 From the crack'd bag the dropping guinea spoke, And gingling down the back-stairs, told the crew, " Old Cato is as great a rogue as you." Blest paper-credit! last and best supply! That lends corruption lighter wings to fly!Line 40 Gold, imp'd by thee, can compass hardest things, Can pocket states, can fetch or carry kings;* 1.4 A single leaf shall waft an army o'er, Or ship off senates to a distant shore;* 1.5 Line 45

A leaf, like Sibyl's, scatter to and froLine 45 Our fates and fortunes, as the winds shall blow: Pregnant with thousands flits the scrap unseen, And silent sells a king, or buys a queen.

Oh! that such bulky bribes as all might see, Still, as of old, incumber'd villainy!tagJump to sectionLine 50 Could France or Rome divert our brave designs, With all their brandies or with all their wines? [found, What could they more than knights and squires con- Or water all the quorum ten miles round? A statesman's slumbers how this speech would spoil! " Sir, Spain has sent a thousand jars of oil;Line 56 " Huge bales of British cloth blockade the door; " A hundred oxen at your levee roar."

Poor avarice one torment more would find; Nor could profusion squander all in kind.Line 60

Astride his cheese Sir Morgan might we meet; And Worldly crying coals from street to street, Whom with a wig so wild, and mein so maz'd,* 1.6 Pity mistakes for some poor tradesman craz'd. Had Colepepper's whole wealth been hops and hogs,* 1.7 Could he himself have sent it to the dogs?Line 66 His grace will game: to White's a bull be led, With spurning heels, and with a butting head. To White's be carry'd, as to ancient games, Fair coursers, vases, and alluring dames.Line 70 Shall then Uxorio, if the stakes he sweep, Bear home six whores, and make his lady weep?

Or soft Adonis so perfum'd and fine, Drive to St. James's a whole herd of swine? Oh filthy check on all industrious skill,Line 75 To spoil the nation's last great trade, quadrille! Since then, my lord, on such a world we fall,tagJump to section What say you? B. Say? why take it, gold and all. P. What riches give us let then enquire: Meat, fire and clothes. B. What more? P. Meat, clothes, and fire.Line 80 Is this too little? would you more than live: Alas! 'tis more than Turner finds they give.* 1.8

Alas! 'tis more than (all his visions past) Unhappy Wharton, waking, found at last!* 1.9 What can they give! to dying Hopkins' heirs?* 1.10Line 85 To Chartres, vigour; Japhet, nose and ears?* 1.11 Can they, in gems bid pallid Hippia glow, In Fulvia's buckle ease the throbs below;

Or heal, old Narses, thy obscener ail, With all th' embroid'ry plaister'd at thy tail?Line 90 They might (were Harpax not too wise to spend) Give Harpax self the blessing of a friend; Or find some doctor that would save the life Of wretched Shylock, spite of Shylock's wife: But thousands die, without or this or that,Line 95 Die, and endow a college, or a cat.* 1.12 To some, indeed, heav'n grants the happier fate, T' enrich a bastard, or a fon they hate.

Perhaps you think the poor might have their part. Bond damns the poor, and hates them from his heart:* 1.13 Line 101

The grave Sir Gilbert holds it for a rule,Line 101 That ev'ry man in want is knave or fool: " God cannot love (says Blunt, with tearless eyes) " The wretch he starves"—and piously denies: But the good bishop, with a meeker air,Line 105 Admits, and leaves them, providence's care.

Yet to be just to these poor men of pelf, Each does but hate his neighbour as himself: Damn'd to the mines, an equal fate betides The slave that digs it, and the slave that hides.

B.

Who suffer thus, mere charity should own,Line 111 Must act on motives pow'rful, tho' unknown. P. Some war, some plague, or famine they foresee, Some revelation hid from you and me. Line 115

Why Shylock wants a meal, the cause is found,Line 115 He thinks a loaf will rise to fifty pound. What made directors cheat in South-sea year? To live on ven'son when it sold so dear.* 1.14 Ask you why Phryne the whole auction buys? Phryne foresees a general excise.* 1.15Line 120 Why she and Sappho raise that monstrous sum? Alas! they fear a man will cost a plum.

Wise Peter sees the world's respect for gold,* 1.16 And therefore hopes this nation may be sold: Line 125

Glorious ambition! Peter, swell thy store,Line 125 And be what Rome's great Didius was before.* 1.17

The crown of Poland, venal twice an age,* 1.18 To just three millions stinted modest Gage. But nobler scenes Maria's dreams unfold, Hereditary realms, and worlds of gold.Line 130 Congenial souls! whose life one av'rice joins, And one fate buries in th' Asturian mines.

Much injur'd Blunt! why bears he Britain's hate?* 1.19 A wizard told him in these words our fate: Line 135

" At length corruption, like a gen'ral flood,Line 135 " So long by watchful ministers withstood, " Shall deluge all; and av'rice creeping on, " Spread like a low-born mist, and blot the sun; " Statesman and patriot ply alike the stocks, " Peeress and Butler share alike the box,Line 140 " And judges job, and bishops bite the town, " And mighty dukes pack cards for half a crown. " See Britain sunk in lucre's sordid charms, " And France reveng'd of ANNE'S and EDWARD'S arms!" 'Twas no court-badge, great scriv'ner! fir'd thy brain, Nor lordly luxury, nor city gain:Line 146 No, 'twas thy righteous end, asham'd to see Senates degen'rate, patriots disagree,

And nobly wishing party-rage to cease, To buy both sides, and give thy country peace.Line 150

" All this is madness," cries a sober sage: But who, my friend, has reason in his rage? " The ruling passion, be it what it will, " The ruling passion conquers reason still." Less mad the wildest whimsey we can frame,Line 155 Than ev'n that passion, if it has no aim; For tho' such motives folly you may call, The folly's greater to have none at all. Hear then the truth: "'Tis heav'n each passion sends, " And diff'rent men directs to diff'rent ends,Line 160 " Extremes in nature equal good produce, " Extremes in man concur to gen'ral use." Ask we what makes one keep, and one bestow? That POW'R who bids the ocean ebb and flow, Bids seed-time, harvest, equal course maintain,Line 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 insects, when conceal'd they lie, Wait but for wings, and in their season fly.Line 170 Who sees pale Mammon pine amidst his store, Sees but a backward steward for the poor; This year a reservoir, to keep and spare: The next, a fountain, spouting thro' his heir, In lavish streams to quench a country's thirst,Line 175 And men and dogs shall drink him till they burst.

Old Cotta sham'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!Line 180 His court with nettles, moats with cresses stor'd, With soups unbought and sallads bless'd his boardtagJump to section If Cotta liv'd on pulse, it was no more Than bramins, saints, and sages did before; Line 185

To cram the rich was prodigal expence,Line 185 And who would take the poor from providence? Like some lone Chartreux stands the good old hall, Silence without, and fasts within the wall; No rafter'd roofs with dance and tabor sound, No noontide bell invites the country round:Line 190 Tenants with sighs the smokeless tow'rs survey, And turn th' unwilling steeds another way: Benighted wanderers, the forest o'er, Curs'd the sav'd candle, and unop'ning door; While the gaunt mastiff growling at the gate,Line 195 Affrights the beggar whom he longs to eat.

Not so his son, he mark'd this oversight, And then mistook reverse of wrong for right. (For what to shun will no great knowlege need, But what to follow, is a task indeed.)tagJump to sectionLine 200

Yet sure, of qualities deserving praise, More go to ruin fortunes, than to raise. What slaughter'd hecatombs, what floods of wine, Fill the capacious 'squire, and deep divine! Yet no mean motive this profusion draws,Line 205 His oxen perish in his country's cause; '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:Line 210 Next goes his wool—to clothe our valiant Bands, Last, for his country's love, he fells his lands. To town he comes, completes the nation's hope, And heads the bold train-bands, and burns a pope. And shall not Britain now reward his toils,Line 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.tagJump to section

The sense to value riches, with the art T' enjoy them, and the virtue to impart,Line 220 Not meanly, nor ambitiously pursu'd, Not sunk by sloth, nor rais'd by servitude; To balance fortune by a just expence, Join with oeconomy, magnificence; With splendor, charity; with plenty, health;Line 225 Oh teach us, BATHURST! yet unspoil'd by wealth!tagJump to section That secret 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 ease, or emulate, the care of heav'n; (Whose measure full o'erflows on human race)Line 231 Mend fortune's fault, and justify her grace. Wealth in the gross is death, but life diffus'd; As poison heals, in just proportion us'd: In heaps, like ambergrise, a stink it lies,Line 235 But well dispers'd, is incense to the skies.

P.

Who starves by nobles, or with nobles eats? The wretch that trusts them, and the rogue that cheats. Is there a lord, who knows a chearful noon Without a fiddler, flatt'rer, or buffoon?Line 240 Whose table, wit, or modest merit share, Un-elbow'd by a gamester, pimp, or play'r! Who copies your's, or OXFORD'S better part,* 1.20 To ease th' oppress'd, and raise the sinking heart?

Where-e'er he shines, oh fortune, gild the scene, And angels guard him in the golden mean!Line 246 There, English bounty yet a while may stand, And honour linger ere it leaves the land.

But all our praises why should lords engross? Rise, honest muse! and sing the MAN of ROSS:* 1.21tagJump to sectionLine 250 Pleas'd Vaga echoes thro' her winding bounds, And rapid Severn hoarse applause resounds. Who hung with woods yon mountain's sultry brow? From the dry rock who bade the waters flow? Not to the skies in useless columns tost,Line 255 Or in proud falls magnificently lost,

But clear and artless, pouring thro' the plain Health to the sick, and solace to the swain. Whose cause-way parts the vale with shady rows? Whose seats the weary traveller repose?Line 260 Who taught that heav'n-directed spire to rise? " The MAN of ROSS," each lisping babe replies. Behold the market-place with poor o'erspread! The MAN of ROSS divides the weekly bread: He feeds yon alms-house, neat, but void of state, Where age and want sit smiling at the gate:Line 266 Him portion'd maids, apprentic'd orphans blest, The young who labour, and the old who rest. Is any sick! the MAN of ROSS relieves, Prescribes, attends, the med'cine makes, and gives. Is there a variance; enter but his door,Line 271 Balk'd are the courts, and contest is no more. Despairing quacks with curses fled the place, And vile attorneys, now an useless race.

B.

Thrice happy man! enabled to pursueLine 275 What all so wish, but want the pow'r to do

Oh say, what sums that gen'rous hand supply? What mines to swell that boundless charity?

P.

Of debts, and taxes, wife and children clear, This man possest—five hundred pounds a year,Line 280 Blush, grandeur, blush! proud courts, withdraw your blaze! Ye little stars! hide your diminish'd rays.

B.

And what? no monument, inscription, stone? His race, his form, his name almost unknown?

P.

Who builds a church to God, and not to fame, Will never mark the marble with his name:Line 286 Go, search it there, where to be born and die,tagJump to section Of rich and poor makes all the history; Enough, that virtue fill'd the space between; Prov'd, by the ends of being, to have been.Line 290 When Hopkins dies, a thousand lights attend The wretch, who living sav'd a candle's end:

Should'ring God's altar a vile image stands, Belies his features, nay extends his hands; That live-long wig which Gorgon's self might own, Eternal buckle takes in Parian stone.* 1.22Line 296 Behold what blessings wealth to life can lend! And see, what comfort it affords our end.

In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half-hung, The flowers of plaister, and the walls of dung,Line 300 On once a flock-bed, but repair'd with straw, With tape-ty'd curtains, never meant to draw, The George and Garter dangling from that bed When tawdy yellow strove with dirty red, Great Villers lies—alas! how chang'd from him,* 1.23 That life of pleasure, and that soul of whim!Line 306

Gallant and gay, in Cliveden's proud alcove,* 1.24 The bow'r of wanton Shrewsbury and love;* 1.25 Or just as gay, at council, in a ring Of mimick'd statesmen, and their merry king.Line 310 No wit to flatter, left of all his store! No fool to laugh at, which he valu'd more. There, victor of his health, of fortune, friends, And fame; this lord of useless thousands ends.

His grace's fate sage Cutler could foresee,Line 315 And well (he thought) advis'd him, "Live like me." As well his grace reply'd, "Like you, Sir John? " That I can do, when all I have is gone." Resolve me, reason, which of these is worse, Want with a full, or with an empty purse?Line 320

Thy life more wretched, Cutler, was confess'd, Arise, and tell me, was thy death more bless'd? Cutler saw tenants break, and houses fall, For very want; he could not build a wall. His only daughter in a stranger's pow'r,Line 325 For very want; he could not pay a dow'r. A few gray hairs his rev'rend temples crown'd, 'Twas very want that sold them for two pound. What ev'n deny'd a cordial at his end, Banish'd the doctor, and expell'd the friend?Line 330 What but a want, which you perhaps think mad, Yet numbers feel, the want of what he had! Cutler and Brutus, dying both exclaim, " Virtue! and wealth! what are ye but a name!"

Say, for such worth are other worlds prepar'd? Or are they both, in this their own reward?Line 336 A knotty point! to which we now proceed.tagJump to section But you are tir'd—I'll tell a tale—B. Agreed.

P.

Where London's column, pointing at the skies* 1.26 Like a tall bully, lifts the head, and lyes;Line 340 There dwelt a citizen of sober fame, A plain good man, and Balaam was his name; Religious, punctual, frugal, and so forth; His word would pass for more than he was worth. One solid dish his week-day meal affords,Line 345 An added pudding solemniz'd the Lord's: Constant at Church, and Change; his gains were sure, His givings rare, save farthings to the poor.

The dev'l was piqu'd such saintship to behold, And long'd to tempt him like good Job of old:Line 350 But Satan now is wiser than of yore, And tempts by making rich, not making poor. Rouz'd by the prince of air, the whirlwinds sweep The surge, and plunge his father in the deep; Line 355

Then full against his Cornish lands they rore,* 1.27Line 355 And two rich ship-wrecks bless the lucky shore.

Sir Balaam now, he lives like other folks, He takes his chirping pint, and cracks his jokes: " Live like yourself," was soon my lady's word; And lo! two puddings smok'd upon the board.Line 360

Asleep and naked as an Indian lay, An honest factor stole a gem away: He pledg'd it to the knight; the knight had wit, So kept the di'mond, and the rogue was bit. Some scruple rose, but thus he eas'd his thought,Line 365 " I'll now give six-pence where I have a groat; " Where once I went to church, I'll now go twice— " And am so clear too of all other vice."

The tempter saw his time; the work he ply'd; Stocks and subscriptions pour on every side,Line 370 'Till all the Daemon 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,Line 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)Line 381 But duly sent 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;Line 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:Line 390 His daughter flaunts a viscount's tawdry wife; She bears a coronet and p_…_…x for life. In Britain's senate he a seat obtains, And one more pensioner St. Stephen gains. My lady falls to play; so bad her chance,Line 395 He must repair it; takes a bribe from France; The house impeach him; Coningsby harangues; The court forsake him, and Sir Balaam hangs: Wife, son, and daughter, Satan! are thy own, His wealth yet dearer, forfeit to the crown:Line 400 The devil and the king divide the prize, And sad Sir Balaam curses God and dies.

VARIATIONS.

After ver. 50. in the MS.

To break a trust were Peter brib'd with wine, Peter! 'twould pose as wise a head as thine.

VER. 77. Since then, etc.] In the former edit.

Well then, since with the world we stand or fall, Come take it as we find it, gold and all.

VER. 200. Here I found two lines in the poet's MS.

" Yet sure, of qualities deserving praise, " More go to ruin fortunes than to raise.

After ver. 218. in the MS.

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 a while and dy'd; There providence once more shall shift the scene, And shewing H_…_…Y, teach the golden mean,

After ver. 226. in the MS.

That secret rare, with affluence hardly join'd, Which W_…_…n lost, yet B_…_…y ne'er could find; Still miss'd by vice, and scarce by virtue hit, By G_…_…'s goodness, or by S_…_…'s wit.

After ver. 250. in the MS.

Trace humble worth beyond Sabrina's shore, Who sings not him, oh may he sing no more!

VER. 287. thus in the MS.

The register inrolls him with his poor, Tells he was born and dy'd, and tells no more. Just as he ought, he fill'd the space between; Then stole to rest, unheeded and unseen.

VER. 337. in the former editions,

That knotty point, my lord, shall I discuss, Or tell a tale?—A tale.—It follows thus.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 182. With soups unbought,]

—dapibus mensas onerabat inemptis. VIRG.

Notes

• * 1.1

  EPISTLE III.] This epistle was written after a violent out|cry against our author, on a supposition that he had ridiculed a worthy nobleman merely for his wrong taste. He justified him|self upon that article in a letter to the earl of Burlington; at the end of which are these words:

  "I have learnt that there are some who would rather be wicked than ridiculous; and therefore it may be safer to attack vices than follies. I will therefore leave my betters in the quiet possession of their idols, their groves, and their high places, and change my subject from their pride to their meanness, from their vanities to their miseries; and as the only certain way to avoid misconstructions, to lessen offence, and not to multiply ill-natured applications, I may probably, in my next, make use of real names instead of ficti|tious ones."
• * 1.2

  VER. 20. JOHN WARD of Hackney, Esq. member of parlia|ment, being prosecuted by the duchess of Buckingham, and con|victed of forgery, was first expelled the house, and then stood on the pillory on the 17th of March 1727. He was suspected of joining in a conveyance with Sir John Blunt, to secrete fifty thousand pounds of that director's estate, forfeited to the south-sea com|pany 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 concealed all his per|sonal, 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. During his confinement, his amusement was to give poison to dogs and cats, and see them expire by slow|er or quicker torments. To sum up the worth of this gentleman, at the several aeras 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 hundred and fifty thousand; but has been since so far diminished in his reputation, as to be thought a worse man by fifty or sixty thousand.

  FR. CHARTRES, a man infamous for all manner of vices. When he was an ensign in the army, he was drummed out of the regiment for a cheat; he was next banished Brussels, and drum|med 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 for|tune. His house was a perpetual bawdy-house. He was twice con|demned 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 raised 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 justly drawn by Dr. Arbuthnot:

  HERE continueth to rotThe body of FRANCIS CHARTRES, Who, with an INFLEXIBLE CONSTANCY,and INIMITABLE UNIFORMITY of life, PERSISTED, 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 singularin the undeviating pravity of his manners, Than successfulin 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 connived at his execrable designs,to give to after-ages A conspicuous PROOF and EXAMPLE, Of how small estimation is EXORBITANT WEALTHin the sight of GOD. By his bestowing it on the most UNWORTHY of ALL MORTALS.

  This gentleman was worth seven thousand pounds a year estate in land, and about one hundred thousand in money.

  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 gentle|man's history must be deferred till his death, when his worth may be known more certainly.
• * 1.3

  VER. 35.—beneath the patriot's cloke,] 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 closetted by the king, where he had received a large bag of guineas, the bursting of the bag discovered his business there.
• * 1.4

  VER. 42.—fetch or carry kings;] In our author's time, many princes had been sent about the world, and great changes of kings projected in Europe. The partition-treaty had disposed of Spain; France had set up a king for England, who was sent to Scotland, and back again; king Stanislaus was sent to Poland, and back again; the duke of Anjou was sent to Spain, and Don Car|los to Italy.
• * 1.5

  VER. 44. Or ship off senates to some distant shore;] Alludes to several ministers, counsellors, and patriots banished in our times to Siberia, and to that MORE GLORIOUS FATE of the PARLIA|MENT of PARIS, banished to Pontoise in the year 1720.
• * 1.6

  VER. 63. Some misers of great wealth, proprietors of the coal-mines, had entered at this time into an association to keep up coals to an extravagant price, whereby the poor were reduced almost to starve, till one of them, taking the advantage of un|derselling the rest, defeated the design. One of these misers was worth ten thousand, another seven thousand a year.
• * 1.7

  VER. 65. Colepepper,] Sir WILLIAM COLEPEPPER, bart. a person of an ancient family, and ample fortune, without one o|ther quality of a gentleman, who, after ruining himself at the gaming-table, past the rest of his days in sitting there to see the ruin of others; preferring to subsist upon borrowing and begging, rather than to enter into any reputable method of life, and re|fusing a post in the army which was offered him.
• * 1.8

  VER. 82. Turner] One, who, being possessed of three hun|dred thousand pounds, laid down his coach, because interest was reduced from five to four per cent. and then put seventy thou|sand into the charitable corporation for better interest; which sum having lost, he took it so much to heart, that he kept his cham|ber ever after. It is thought he would not have outlived it, but that he was heir to another considerable estate, which he daily expected, and that by this course of life he saved both clothes and all other expences.
• * 1.9

  VER. 84. Unhappy Wharton,] A nobleman of great qualities, but as unfortunate in the application of them, as if they had been vices and follies. See his character in the first epistle.
• * 1.10

  VER. 85. Hopkins,] A citizen, whose rapacity obtained him the name of Vulture Hopkins. He lived worthless, but died worth three hundred thousand pounds, which he would give to no person living, but left it so as not to be inherited till after the second generation. His counsel representing to him how many years it must be, before this could take effect, and that his mo|ney could only ly at interest all that time, he expressed great joy thereat, and said,

  "They would then be as long in spending, as "he had been in getting it."

  But the Chancery afterwards set aside the will, and gave it to the heir at law.
• * 1.11

  VER. 86. Japhet, nose and ears?] JAPHET CROOK, alias Sir Peter Stranger, was punished with the loss of those parts, for hav|ing forged a conveyance of an estate to himself, upon which he took up several thousand pounds. He was at the same time sued in Chancery for having fraudulently obtained a will, by which he possessed another considerable estate, in wrong of the brother of the deceased. By these means he was worth a great sum, which (in reward for the small loss of his ears) he enjoyed in prison till his death, and quietly left to his executor.
• * 1.12

  VER. 96. Die, and endow a college, or a cat.] A famous duch|ess of R. in her last will left considerable legacies and annuities to her cats.
• * 1.13

  VER. 100. Bond damns the poor, etc.] This epistle was writ|ten in the year 1730, when a corporation was established to lend money to the poor upon pledges, by the name of the Charitable Corporation; but the whole was turned only to an iniquitous me|thod of enriching particular people, to the ruin of such numbers, that it became a parliamentary concern to endeavour the relief of those unhappy sufferers, and three of the mangers, who were members of the house, were expelled. By the report of the com|mittee, appointed to inquire into that iniquitous affair, it appears, that when it was objected to the intended removal of the office, that the poor, for whose use it was erected, would be hurt by it, Bond, one of the directors, replied, Damn the poor. That

  "God hates the poor,"

  and,

  "That every man in want is knave or fool,"

  etc. were the genuine apothegms of some of the per|sons here mentioned.
• * 1.14

  VER. 118. To live on ven'son]. In the extravagance and lu|xury of the South-sea year, the price of a haunch of venison was from three to five pounds.
• * 1.15

  VER. 120.—general excise.] Many people about the year 1733, had a conceit that such a thing was intended, of which it is not improbable this lady might have some intimation.
• * 1.16

  VER. 123. Wise Peter] PETER WALTER, a person not only eminent in the wisdom of his profession, as a dextrous attorney, but allowed to be a good, if not a safe, conveyancer; extreme|ly respected by the nobility of this land, tho' free from all manner of luxury and ostentation: his wealth was never seen, and his bounty never heard of, except to his own son, for whom he pro|cured an employment of considerable profit, of which he gave him as much as was necessary. Therefore the taxing this gentleman with any ambition, is certainly a great wrong to him.
• * 1.17

  VER. 126. Rome's great Didius] A Roman lawyer, so rich as to parchase the empire when it was set to sale upon the death of Pertinax.
• * 1.18

  VER. 127. The crown of Poland, etc.] The two persons here mentioned were of quality, each of whom in the Missisippi de|spised to realize above three hundred thousand pounds; the gentleman with a view to the purchase of the crown of Poland, the lady on a vision of the like royal nature. They since retired into Spain, where they are still in search of gold in the mines of the Asturies.
• * 1.19

  VER. 133. Much injur'd Blunt!] Sir JOHN BLUNT, originally a scrivener, was one of the first projectors of the South-sea compa|ny, and afterwards one of the directors and chief managers of the famous scheme in 1720. He was also one of those who suffered most severally by the bill of pains and penalties on the said di|rectors. He was a dissenter of a most religious deportment, and professed to be a great believer. Whether he did really credit the prophecy here mentioned is not certain, but it was constant|ly in this very style he declaimed against the corruption and luxury of the age, the partiality of parliaments, and the misery of party-spirit. He was particularly eloquent against avarice in great and noble persons, of which he had indeed lived to see many miserable examples. He died in the year 1732.
• * 1.20

  VER. 243. OXFORD'S better part,] Edward Harley, earl of Oxford. The son of Robert, created earl of Oxford, and earl Mortimer by queen Anne. This nobleman died regretted by all men of letters, great numbers of whom had experienced his benefits. He left behind him one of the most noble libraries in Europe.
• * 1.21

  VER. 250. The MAN of ROSS:] The person here celebrated, who with a small estate actually performed all these good works, and whose true name was almost lost (partly by the title of the Man of Ross given him by way of eminence, and partly by be|ing buried without so much as an inscription) was called Mr. John Kyrle. He died in the year 1724, aged 90, and lies interred in the chancel of the church of Ross in Herefordshire.
• * 1.22

  VER. 296. Eternal buckle takes in Parian stone.] The poet ridi|cules the wretched taste of carving large perriwigs on busto's, of which there are several vile examples in the tombs at Westmin|ster and elsewhere.
• * 1.23

  VER. 305. Great Villers lies—] This lord, yet more famous for his vices than his misfortunes, having been possessed of a|bout 50,000 l. a year, and passed through many of the highest posts in the kingdom, died in the year 1687, in a remote inn in Yorkshire, reduced to the utmost misery.
• * 1.24

  VER. 307. Cliveden] A delightful palace, on the banks of Thames, built by the D. of Buckingham.
• * 1.25

  VER. 308. Shrewsbury] The countess of Shrewsbury, a wo|man abandoned to gallantries. The earl her husband was killed by the duke of Buckingham in a duel; and it has been said that during the combat she held the duke's horses in the habit of a page.
• * 1.26

  VER. 339. Where London's column,] The Monument built in the memory of the fire of London, with an inscription im|porting that city to have been burnt by the Papists.
• * 1.27

  VER. 355. Cornish] The author has placed the scene of these shipwrecks in Cornwall, not only from their frequency on that coast, but from the inhumanity of the inhabitants to those to whom that misfortune arrives: when a ship happens to be strand|ed there, they have been known to bore holes in it to prevent its getting off; to plunder, and sometimes even to massacre the people: nor has the parliament of England been yet able wholly to suppress these barbarities.