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40

And gingling down the back-ftairs, told the crew,
"Old Cato is as great a Rogue as you."
Bleft paper-credit! laft and best supply!
That lends Corruption lighter wings to fly!
Gold imp'd by thee, can compafs hardest things,
Can pocket States, can fetch or carry Kings;
A fingle leaf fhall waft an Army o'er,
Or fhip off Senates to a distant Shore;
A leaf, like Sibyl's, fcatter to and fro

Our fates and fortunes, as the winds fhall blow :
Pregnant with thousands flits the Scrap unseen,
And filent fells a King, or buys a Queen.

45

VER. 42. fetch or carry Kings;] In our author's time, many Princes had been fent about the world, and great changes of Kings projected in Europe. The partition-treaty had difpofed of Spain; France had fet up a King for England, who was fent to Scotland, and back again; King Stanislaus was fent to Poland, and back again; the Duke of Anjou was sent to Spain, and Don Carlos to Italy.

VER. 44. Or ship off Senates to fome diftant Shore ;] Alludes to several Minifters, Counsellors, and Patriots banished in our times to Siberia, and to that MORE GLORIOUS FATE of the PARLIAMENT of PARIS, banished to Pontoise in the year

1720.

VER. 47. Pregnant with thousands flits the Scrap unseen,] The imagery is very fublime, and alludes to the course of a destroying peftilence. The Pfalmift, in his expreffion of the Peftilence that walketh in darknefs, supplied him with the grandeur of his idea.

Oh! that fuch bulky Bribes as all might see, Still, as of old, incumber'd Villainy!

50

Could France or Rome divert our brave designs, With all their brandies or with all their wines? What could they more than Knights and Squires confound,

Or water all the Quorum ten miles round?

A ftatesman's flumbers how this fpeech would spoil! Sir, Spain has fent a thousand jars of oil;

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66

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. 60 Aftride his cheese Sir Morgan might we meet ; And Worldly crying coals from fireet to street, Whom with a wig fo wild, and mien so maz’d, Pity mistakes for fome poor tradefman craz'd.

VER. 63. Some Mifers of great wealth, proprietors of the coal-mines, had entered at this time into an Affociation to keep up coals to an extravagant price, whereby the poor were reduced almost to starve, 'till one of them taking the advantage of underfelling the reft, defeated the defign. One of these Misers was worth ten thousand, another feven thousand a year.

VARIATIONS.

After 50. in the MS.

To break a truft were Peter brib'd with wine,
Peter! 'twould pose as wife a head as thine,

66

Had Colepepper's whole wealth been hops and hogs,
Could he himself have sent it to the dogs?
His Grace will game: to White's a Bull be led,
With fpurning heels and with a butting head.
To White's be carry'd, as to ancient games,
Fair Courfers, Vafes, and alluring Dames.
Shall then Uxorio, if the stakes he sweep,
Bear home fix Whores, and make his Lady weep?
Or foft Adonis, fo perfum'd and fine,

70

75

Drive to St. James's a whole herd of swine?
Oh filthy check on all industrious skill,
To spoil the nation's laft great trade, Quadrille !
Since then, my Lord, on fuch a World we fall,
What fay you? B. Say? Why take it, Gold and all..
P. What Riches give us let us then enquire :
Meat, Fire, and Cloaths. B. What more? P. Meat,
Cloaths, and Fire.

80

VER. 65. Colepepper] Sir WILLIAM COLEPEPPER, Bart.. a Perfon of an ancient family, and ample fortune, without one. other quality of a Gentleman, who, after ruining himself at the Gaming-table, paft the reft of his days in fitting there to fee the ruin of others; preferring to fubfift upon borrowing and begging, rather than to enter into any reputable method of life, and refusing a Poft in the army which was offered him.

VARIATIONS.

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

Well then, fince with the world we stand or fall,
Come take it as we find it, Gold and all,

VOL. III.

L

Is this too little? would you more than live?
Alas! 'tis more than Turner finds they give.
Alas! 'tis more than (all his Visions past)
Unhappy Wharton, waking, found at laft!
What can they give? to dying Hopkins, Heirs; 85
To Chartres, Vigour; Japhet, Nofe and Ears?

VER. 82. Turner] One, who, being poffeffed of three hundred thousand pounds, laid down his Coach, because Intereft was reduced from five to four per cent. and then put seventy thoufand into the Charitable Corporation for better intereft; which fum having loft, he took it fo much to heart, that he kept his chamber ever after. It is thought he would not have outlived it, but that he was heir to another confiderable eftate, which he daily expected, and that by this courfe of life he saved both cloaths and all other expences.

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.

VER. 85. Hopkins,] A Citizen, whofe rapacity obtained him the name of Vulture Hopkins. He lived worthlefs, but died Tvorth three hundred thousand pounds, which he would give to no perfon living, but left it fo as not to be inherited 'till after the fecond generation. His counsel representing to him how many years it must be, before this could take effect, and that his money could only lie at intereft all that time, he expressed great joy thereat, and faid, "They would then be as long in spending, as he had been in getting it." But the Chancery afterwards fet afide the will, and gave it to the heir at law.

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VER. 86. Japhet, Nose and Ears ?] JAPHET CROOK, alias Sir Peter Stranger, was punished with the lofs of thofe parts, for having forged a conveyance of an Eftate to himself, upon

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Can they, in
n Fulvia's bud
Or heal, old Ne
With all th' embr
They might (were
Give Harpax felf the
Or find fome Doctor t
Of wretched Shylock,
But thoufands die, with
Jie, and endow a Colleg
To fome, indeed, Heav'n
T'enrich a Bastard, or a S

Perhaps you think the Po
Bond damns the Poor, and ha

which he took up feveral thoufa fame time fued in Chancery for h Will, by which he poffeffed an of the brother of the dece worth a great fum, which (in re tars] he enjoyed in prison 'till hi

Wrong

executor.

VER. 96. Die, and endow a Dutchefs of R. in her laft Will annuities to her Cats.

VER. 100. Bond damns the written in the year 1730, wher to lend money to the poor upo Charitable Corporation; but the iniquitous method of enriching of fuch numbers, that it bec

Can they, in gems bid pallid Hippia glow,
In Fulvia's buckle ease the throbs below;
Or heal, old Narfes, thy obfcener ail,
With all th' embroid'ry plaifter'd at thy tail?
They might (were Harpax not too wise to spend)
Give Harpax felf the bleffing of a Friend;

Or find fome Doctor that would fave the life
Of wretched Shylock, fpite of Shylock's Wife:
But thousands die, without or this or that,
Die, and endow a College, or a Cat.
To fome, indeed, Heav'n grants the happier fate,
T'enrich a Bastard, or a Son they hate.

90

95

Perhaps you think the Poor might have their part. Bond damns the Poor, and hates them from his heart:

which he took up feveral thousand pounds. He was at the fame time fued in Chancery for having fraudulently obtained a Will, by which he poffeffed another confiderable Eftate, in wrong of the brother of the deceafed. By thefe means he was worth a great fum, which (in reward for the fmall lofs of his ears) he enjoyed in prifon 'till his death, and quietly left to his

executor.

VER. 96. Die, and endor a College, or a Cat.] A famous Dutchefs of R. in her laft Will left confiderable legacies and annuities to her Cats.

VER. 100. Bond damns the Poor, etc.] This epiftle was written 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 method of enriching particular people, to the ruin of fuch numbers, that it became a parliamentary concern to

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