P. EPISTLE III. WH 5 THо fhall decide, when Doctors difagree, And foundest Cafuifts doubt, like you and me? You hold the word, from Jove to Momus giv❜n, That Man was made the ftanding jeft of Heav'n : And Gold but fent to keep the Fools in play, For fome to heap, and fome to throw away. But I, who think more highly of our kind, (And furely, Heav'n and I are of a mind) Opine, that Nature, as in duty bound,Deep hid the fhining mischief under ground: But when by Man's audacious labour won, Flam'd forth this rival too, its Sire, the Sun, Then careful Heav'n fupply'd two forts of Men, To fquander These, and Thofe to hide agen. 10 EPISTLE III.] This Epiftle was written after a violent outcry against our Author, on a fuppofition that he had ridiculed a worthy nobleman merely for his wrong tafte. He juftified himself 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 fome who "would rather be wicked than ridiculous: and therefore it may be fafer to attack vices than follies. I will therefore leave my betters in the quiet poffeffion of their idols, their groves, and "their high places; and change my fubject from their pride to "their meannefs, from their vanities to their miferies; and as the 46 only certain way to avoid mifconftructions, to leffen offence, and not to multiply ill-natured applications, I may probably, in my "next, make ufe of real names instead of fictitious ones. VER. 3. Momus giv'n,] Amongst the earliest abuses of reafon, one of the first was to cavil at the ways of Providence. thofe times, every Vice as well as Virtue, had its Patron-God, MOMUS came to be at the head of the old Freethinkers. Mythologifts very ingeniously made the Son of Sleep and Night, and fo, confequently, half-brother to Dulnefs. But having been much employed, in after ages, by the Greek Satirifts, he came, at last, to pals for a Wit; and under this idea he is to be confidered in the place before us. But as, in Him, the Plate XV. Vol.II. facing p140. Who sces pale Mammon pine amidst his Store Secs but a backward Steward for the Poor This Year a keservoir, to keep and spare The next a Fountain, spouting thro his Heir Like Doctors thus, when much difpute has paft, 15 We find our tenets juft the fame at last. Both fairly owning, Riches, in effect, No grace of Heav'n or token of th' Elect; 20 Giv'n to the Fool, the Mad, the Vain, the Evil, VER. 20. JOHN WARD, of Hackney, Efq; Member of Parliament, being profecuted by the Duchefs of Buckingham, and convicted of Forgery, was first expelled the houfe, and then stood in the Pillory on the 17 h of March 1727. He was fufpected of joining in a conveyance with Sir John Blunt, to fecrete fifty thoufand pounds of that Director's Eftate, forfeited to the South-Sea company by Act of Parliament. The Company recovered the fifty thousand pounds against Ward; but he fet up prior conveyances of his real estate to his brother and fon, and concealed all his perfonal, which was computed to be one hundred and fifty thousand pounds. Thefe conveyances being alfo fet afide by a bill in Chancery, Ward was imprisoned, and hazarded the forfeiture of his life, by not giving in his effects till the laft day, which was that of his examination. During his confinement, his amusement was to give poifon to dogs and cats, and fee them expire by flower or quicker torments. To fum up the worth of this gentleman, at the feveral eras of his life: At his ftanding in the Pillory he was worth above two hundred thousand pounds; at his commitment to prifon, he was worth one hundred and fifty thousand: but has been fo far diminished in his reputation, as to be thought a worfe man by fifty or fixty thousand. FR. CHARTRES, a man infamous for all manner of vices. When he was an enfign in the army, he was drummed out of the regiment for a cheat; he was next banished Bruffels, and drum.ned out of Ghent on the fame account. After a hundred tricks at the gaming-tables, he took to lending of money at exorbitant intereft and on great penalties, accumulating premium, intereft, and capital into a new capital, and feizing to a minute when the payments became due; in a word, by a conftant attention to the vices, wants, and follies of mankind, he acquired an immenfe fortune. houfe was a perpetual Bawdy-house. He was twice condemned for rapes, and pardoned: but the last time not without imprifonment in Newgate, and large confifcations. He died in Scotland in 1731, aged 62. The populace at his funeral ra.fed a great riot, almoft tore the body out of the coffin, and cat dead dogs, etc. into the grave along with it. The following Epitaph contains his character very justly drawn by Dr. Arbuthnot: His P. But how unequal it bestows, observe, 'Tis thus we riot, while, who fow it, ftarve: What Nature wants (a phrase I much distrust) Extends to Luxury, extends to Luft: HERE continueth to rot The Body of FRANCIS CHARTRES, PERSISTED, In fpite of AGE and INFIRMITIES, In the undeviating Pravity of his Manners, In Accumulating WEALTH; When poffeffed of TEN THOUSAND a Year, Think not his Life ufelefs to Mankind! A confpicuous. PROOF and EXAMPLE, Of how fmall Eftimation is EXORBITANT WEALTH 25 By his bestowing it on the moft UNWORTHY OF ALL MORTALS. This gentleman was worth feven thousand pounds a year estate in Land, and about one hundred thoufand in Money. MR. WATERS, the third of thefe worthies, was a man no way refembling the former in his military, but extremely fo in his civil capacity; his great fortune having been raised by the like diligent attendance on the neceffities of others. But this gentleman's history must be deferred till his death, when his worth may be known more certainly. |
