The wifeft man might blufh, I must agree,
If D*** lov'd fixpence, more than he.

230

w If there be truth in Law, and Use can give
A Property, that's yours on which you live.
Delightful Abs-court, if its fields afford
Their fruits to you, confeffes you its lord :
All Worldly's hens, nay partridge, fold to town,
His ven'ion too, a guinea makes, your own:
He bought at thousands, what with better wit
You purchase as you want, and bit by bit;
Now, or long fince, what diff'rence will be found?
You pay a penny, and he paid a pound.

235

y Heathcote him felf, and fuch large-acred men, 240 Lords of fat E'fham, or of Lincoln-fen,

Buy ev'ry flick of wood that lends them heat;
Buy ev'ry Pullet they afford to eat.

Viveret in terris, te fi quis avarior uno.

W

Si proprium eft, quod quis libra mercatus et aere,
Quaedam (fi credis confultis) mancipat usus :
Qui te pafcit ager, tuus eft; et villicus Orbi,
Cum fegetes occat tibi mox frumenta daturus,
Te dominum fentit.

* das nummos; accipis uvam,
Pullos, ova, cadum, temeti: nempe modo ifto
Paulatim mercaris agrum, fortaffe trecentis,
Aut etiam fupra nummorum millibus emtum.
Quid refert, vivas numerato nuper, an olim ?

y Emtor Aricini quondam, Veientis et arvi, Emtum coenat olus, quamvis aliter putat; emtis

NOTE S.

VER. 232. delightful Abs-court,] A farm over-against Hampton

Court.

Yet thefe are Wights, who fondly call their own Half that the Dev'l o'erlooks from Lincoln town. 245 The Laws of God, as well as of the land,

Abhor a Perpetuity fhould ftand:

Eftates have wings, and hang in Fortune's pow'r

z Loose on the point of ev'ry wav'ring hour, Ready, by force, or of your own accord,

By fale, at least by death, to change their lord.

250

255

Man? and for ever? wretch! what would'st thou have?
Heir urges heir, like wave impelling wave.
All vaft poffeffions (juft the fame the cafe
Whether you call them Villa, Park, or Chafe)
Alas, my BATHURST! what will they avail?
Join Cotfwood hills to Saperton's fair dale,
Let rifing Granaries and Temples here,
There mingled farms and pyramids appear,
Link towns to towns with avenues of oak,
Enclose whole downs in walls, 'tis all a joke!
Inexorable Death fhall level all,

260

And trees, and stones, and farms, and farmer fall.

Sub noctem gelidam lignis calefactat ahenum.
Sed vocat ufque fuum, qua populus adfita certis
Limitibus vicina refigit jurgia: tanquam

z Sit proprium cuiquam, puncto quod mobilis horae, Nunc prece, nunc pretio, nunc vi, nunc forte fuprema, Permutet dominos, et cedat in altera jura.

Sic, quia perpetuus nulli datur ufus, et haeres Haeredem alterius, velut unda fupervenit undam: Quid vici profunt, aut horrea? quidve Calabris Saltibus adjecti Lucani; fi metit Orcus

Grandia cum parvis, non exorabilis auro è

NOTE S.

VER. 248. bang in Fortune's pow'r-Loofe on the point of ev'ry wav'ring hour,] A modern idea (the magnetic needle) here fupplied the Imitator with expreffion much fuperior to his original.

• Gold, Silver, Iv'ry, Vases sculptur'd high, Paint, Marble, Gems, and robes of Perfian dye, 265 There are who have not-and thank heav'n there are, Who, if they have not, think not worth their care. b Talk what you will of Tafte, my friend, you'll find Two of a face, as foon as of a mind.

Why, of two brothers, rich and restless one

275

270 Plows, burns, manures, and toils from fun to fun; The other flights, for women, fports, and wines, All Townshend's Turnips, and all Grosvenor's mines: Why one like Bu- with pay and scorn content, Bows and votes on, in Court and Parliament; One, driv'n by strong Benevolence of soul, Shall fly, like Oglethorpe, from pole to pole : Is known alone to that Directing Pow'r, Who forms the Genius in the natal hour; That God of Nature, who, within us till, Inclines our action, not constrains our will;

280

Gemmas, marmor, ebur, Tyrrhena figilla, tabellas,

Argentum, veftes Gaetulo murice tinctas,
Sunt qui non habeant; eft qui non curat habere.

b Cur alter fratrum ceffare, et ludere, et ungi
Praeferat Herodis palmetis pinguibus; alter
Dives et importunus, ad umbram lucis ab ortu
Silveftrem flammis et ferro mitiget agrum :
Scit Genius, natale comes qui temperat aftrum :

NOTE S

VER. 273. All Townshend's Turnips] Lord Townshend, Secre tary of State to George the Firft and Second.-When this great Statefman retired from business, he amused himself in Husbandry; and was particularly fond of that kind of rural improvement which arifes from Turnips; it was the favourite fubject of his converfation. VER. 277. fly, like Oglethorpe,] Employed in fettling the Colony of Georgia.

.VER. 280. That God of Nature, etc.] Here our Poet had an opportunity of illuftrating his own Philofophy; and thereby giving

Various of temper, as of face or frame,
Each individual: His great End the fame.

c Yes, Sir, how small foever be my heap,

A part I will enjoy, as well as keep.

My heir may figh, and think it want of grace

285

A man so poor would live without a place:
But fure no ftatute in his favour fays,
How free, or frugal, I fhall pafs my days:
I, who at fometimes fpend, at others fpare,
Divided between careleffness and care.
'Tis one thing madly to disperse my store;
Another, not to heed to treasure more;
Glad, like a Boy, to snatch the first good day,
And pleas'd, if fordid want be far away.
f What is't to me (a paffenger God wot)
Whether my
veffel be firft rate or not?

'290

NATURAE DEUS HUMANAE, mortalis in unum→
Quodque caput, vultu mutabilis,albus, et ater.

295

Utar, et ex modico, quantum res pofcet, acervo
Tollam: nec metuam, quid de me judicet haeres,
Quod non plura datis invenerit. et tamen idem
Scire volam, quantum fimplex hilarisque nepoti
Difcrepet, et quantum difcordet parcus avaro.
Diftat enim, fpargas tua prodigus, an neque fumtum
Invitus facias, nec plura parare labores;

Ac potius, puer ut feftis Quinquatribus olim,
Exiguo gratoque fruaris tempore raptim.

f Pauperies immunda domus procul abfit: ego, utrum Nave ferar magna an parva; ferar unus et idem.

NOTE S.

a much better sense to his original; and correcting both the naturalifm and the fate of Horace, which are covertly conveyed in these words, Scit Genius, natale comes qui temperat astrum,

NATURAE DEUS HUMANAE.

VER. 288. But fure no ftatute] Alluding to the statutes made in England and Ireland, to regulate the Succeffion of Papists, etc.

The ship itself may make a better figure,
But I that fail, am neither lefs nor bigger,
I neither ftrut with ev'ry fav'ring breath,
Nor ftrive with all the tempeft in my teeth.
In pow'r, wit, figure, virtue, fortune plac'd
Behind the foremost, and before the laft.

"But why all this of Av'rice? I have none." I wish you joy, Sir, of a Tyrant gone;

But does no other lord it at this hour,
As wild and mad? the Avarice of pow'r ?
Does neither Rage inflame, nor Fear appall?
Not the black fear of death, that faddens all?

300

305

With terrors round, can Reafon hold her throne, 310
Defpife the known, nor tremble at th’unknown?
Survey both worlds, intrepid and entire,

In fpite of witches, devils, dreams, and fire ?
Pleas'd to look forward, pleas'd to look behind,
And count each birth-day with a grateful mind? 315

Non agimur tumidis velis Aquilone fecundo:
Non tamen adverfis aetatem ducimus Auftris.
Viribus, ingenio, fpecie, virtute, loco, re,
Extremi primorum, extremis ufque priores.
* Non es avarus: abi. quid? caetera jam fimul isto
Cum vitio fugere? caret tibi pectus inani
Ambitione? caret mortis formidine et ira ?
Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, fagas,
Nocturnos lemures, portentaque Theffala rides ?

NOTES.

VER. 312. Survey both worlds,] It is obfervable with what fo briety he has corrected the licentioufnefs of his original, which made the expectation of another world a part of that fuperftition he would explore; whereas his Imitator is only for removing the falfe terrors from the world of spirits, such as the diablerie of witchcraft and purgatory.