1

And I not strip the gilding off a knave,
Unplac'd, unpension'd, no man's heir or slave?
I will, or perish in the generous cause:

Hear this, and tremble! you, who 'scape the laws.
Yes, while I live, no rich or noble knave
Shall walk the world in credit, to his grave.
2 To Virtue only and her friends a friend,
The world beside may murmur or commend.
Know, all the distant din that world can keep,
Rolls o'er my grotto, and but sooths my sleep.
3 There, my retreat the best companions grace,
Chiefs out of war, and statesmen out of place.
There St. John mingles with my friendly bowl
The feast of reason and the flow of soul:
And he, whose lightning pierc'd th' Iberian lines,
Now forms my quincunx, and now ranks my vines;
Or tames the genius of the stubborn plain,
Almost as quickly as he conquer'd Spain.

4 Envy must own, I live among the great,
No pimp of pleasure, and no spy of state;
With eyes that pry not, tongue that ne'er repeats;
Fond to spread friendships, but to cover heats;
To help who want, to forward who excel;
This, all who know me, know; who love me, tell;
And who unknown defame me, let them be
Scribblers or peers, alike are mob to me.
This is my plea, on this I rest my cause-
"What saith my council, learned in the laws?

F. Your plea is good; but still I say, beware! Laws are explain'd by men-so have a care. It stands on record, that in Richard's times A man was hang'd for very honest rhymes; "Consult the statute, quart." I think, it is, "Edwardi sext." or "prim. et quint. Eliz." See libels, satires-here you have it-read.

66

P. Libels and satires! lawless things indeed! But grave epistles, bringing vice to light, Such as a king might read, a bishop write, Such as sir Robert would approve―

F. Indeed! The case is alter'd-you may then proceed; "In such a case the plaintiff will be hiss'd, My lords the judges laugh, and you're dismiss'd.

BOOK II SATIRE II.

TO MR. BETHEL

WHAT, and how great, the virtue and the art

To live on little with a cheerful heart;

2

(A doctrine sage, but truly none of mine) Let's talk, my friends, but talk 'before we dine. 4 Not when a gilt buffet's reflected pride Turns you from sound philosophy aside; Not when from plate to plate your eye-balls roll, And the brain dances to the mantling bowl.

Hear Bethel's sermon, one not vers'd in schools, "But strong in sense, and wise without the rules. Then scorn a homely dinner, if you can. Go work, hunt, exercise! (he thus began) "Your wine lock'd up, your butler stroll'd abroad, Or fish deny'd (the river yet unthaw'd), If then plain bread and milk will do the feat, The pleasure lies in you, and not the meat.

Preach as I please, I doubt our curious men Will chuse a pheasant still before a hen; Yet hens of Guinea full as good I hold, Except you eat the feathers green and gold. 9 Of carps and mullets why prefer the great, (Though cut in pieces ere my lord can eat) Yet for small turbots such esteem profess? Because God made these large, the other less.

1

SATIRA II.

QUE virtus et quanta, boni, sit vivere parvo, 2 (Nec meus hic sermo: sed qua præcepit Ofellus, Rusticus, abnormis sapiens, crassaque Minerva) Discite, non inter lances mensasque nitentes ; Cum stupet insanis acies fulgoribus, et cum Acclinis falsis animus meliora recusat:

4

6

Verum hic impransi mecum disquirite. Cur hoc? Dicam, si potero, male verum examinat omnis Corruptus judex. Leporum sectatus, equove Lassus ab indomito; vel (si Romana fatigat Militia assuetum græcari) seu pila velox, Molliter austerum studio fallente laborem ; Seu te discus agit, pete cedentem aëra disco: Cum labor extulerit fastidia; siccus, inanis, Sperne cibum vilem: nisi Hymettia mella Falerno, Ne biberis, diluta. foris est promus, et atrum Defendens pisces hiemat mare: cum sale panis Latrantem stomachum bene leniet, unde putas, aut Qui partum? non in caro nidore voluptas Summa, sed in teipso est. tu pulmentaria quære Sudando. pinguem vitiis albumque neque ostrea, Nec scarus, aut poterit peregrina juvare lagoïs.

7

Vix tamen eripiam, posito pavone, velis quin Hoc potius quam gallina tergere palatum ? Corruptus vanis rerum: quia veneat auro Rara avis, et picta pandat spectacula cauda: [ista, Tamquam ad rem attineat quidquam. Num vesceris Quam laudas, pluma? coctove num adest honor idem?

Carne tamen quamvis distat nihil hac, magis illa;
Imparibus formis deceptum te patet, esto.
Unde datum sentis, lupus hic, Tiberinus, an alto
Captus hiet? pontesne inter jactatus, an amnis
Ostia sub Tusci?? laudas, insane, trilibrem
Mullum; in singula quem minuas pulmenta necesse
Ducit te species, video. quo pertinet ergo [est.
Proceros odisse lupos ? quia scilicet illis
Majorem Natura modum dedit, his breve pondus.
Jejunus raro stomachus vulgaria temuit.

'Oldfield with more than harpy throat endued,
Cries, "Send me gods! a whole hog barbecued !"
Oh blast it, south-winds! till a stench exhale
Rank as the ripeness of a rabbit's tail.
By what criterion do you eat, d'ye think,
If this is priz'd for sweetness, that for stink?
When the tir'd glutton labours through a treat,
He finds no relish in the sweetest meat,
He calls for something bitter, something sour,
And the rich feast concludes extremely poor:
Cheap eggs, and herbs, and olives, still we see ;
Thus much is left of old simplicity!

The robin-red-breast till of late had rest,
And children sacred held a martin's nest,
Till beccaficos sold so dev'lish dear

To one that was, or would have been, a peer.
'Let me extol a cat on oysters fed,
I'll have a party at the Bedford-head ;
Or ev❜n to crack live crawfish recommend;
I'd never doubt at court to make a friend.

8

"Tis yet in vain, I own, to keep a pother About one vice, and fall into the other: Between excess and famine lies a mean, Plain, but not sordid; though not splendid, clean. 7 Avidien, or his wife, (no matter which, For him you'll call a dog, and her a bitch) Sell their presented partridges and fruits, And humbly live on rabbits, and on roots: 'One half-pint bottle serves them both to dine, And is at once their vinegar and wine. But on some 10 lucky day (as when they found A lost Bank bill, or hear'd their son was drown'd), At such a feast, " old vinegar to spare,

Is what two souls so generous cannot bear:
Oil, though it stink, they drop by drop impart,
But sowse the cabbage with a bounteous heart.

12 He knows to live, who keeps the middle state, And neither leans on this side, nor on that; Norstops, for one bad cork, his butler's pay, Swears, like Albutius, a good cook away;

'Porrectum magno magnum spectare catino Vellem, ait Harpyiis gula digna rapacibus. At vos, 2 Præsentes Austri, coquite horum opsonia; quamquam

Putet aper rhombusque recens, mala copia quando
Egrum sollicitat stomachum ; cum rapula plenus
Atque acidas mavult inulas. 'necdum omnis abacta
Pauperies epulis regum: nam vilibus ovis
Nigrisque est oleis hodie locus. Haud ita pridem
Galloni præconis erat accipensere mensa
Infamis. quid? tum rhombus minus æquora alebant?
Tutus erat rhombus, tutoque ciconia nido,
Donec vos auctor docuit prætorius. ergo
* Si quis nunc mergos suaves edixerit assos,
Parebit parvi docilis Romana juventus.

"Sordidus a tenui victus distabit, Ofello Judice: nam frustra vitium vitaveris istud, Si te alio pravus detorseris. 'Avidienus,

•

O Cui Canis ex vero ductum cognomen adhæret,
Quinquennes oleas est, et sylvestria corna;

9

Ae, nisi mutatum, parcit defundere vinum; et
Cujus odorem olei nequeas perferre (licebit
Ille repotia, natales, aliosque dierum
10 Festos albatus celebret) cornu ipse bilibri
Caulibus instillat, " veteris non parcus aceti.

Quali igitur victu sapiens utetur, et horum Utrum imitabitur? hac urget lupus, hac canis, aiunt, "Mundus erit, qua non offendat sordibus, atque In neutram partem cultus miser. "Hic neque servis Albuti senis exemplo, dum munia didit,

Nor lets, like 1 Nævius, every errour pass,
The musty wine, foul cloth, or greasy glass.

Now hear what blessings Temperance can bring:
(Thus said our friend, and what he said I sing)
'First Health: The stomach (cramm'd from every
A tomb of boil'd and roast, and flesh and fish, [dish,
Where bile, and wind, and phlegm, and acid jar,
And all the man is one intestine war)
Remembers oft the schoolboy's simple fare,
The temperate sleeps, and spirits light as air.
"How pale, each worshipful and reverend guest
Rise from a clergy, or a city feast!
What life in all that ample body, say?
What heavenly particle inspires the clay?
The soul subsides, and wickedly inclines
To seem but mortal, ev'n in sound divines.

On morning wings how active springs the mind That leaves the load of yesterday behind! How easy every labour it pursues! How coming to the poet every Muse! 7 Not but we may exceed, some holy time, Or tir'd in search of truth, or search of rhyme; Ill health some just indulgence may engage; And more the sickness of long life, old age; For fainting age what cordial drop remains, If our intemperate youth the vessel drains?

Our fathers prais'd rank ven'son. You suppose, Perhaps, young men ! our fathers had no nose. Not so: a buck was then a week's repast, And 'twas their point, I ween, to make it last; More pleas'd to keep it till their friends could come, Than eat the sweetest by themselves at home. 10 Why had not I in those good times my birth, Ere coxcomb pyes or coxcombs were on Earth?

Unworthy he, the voice of Fame to hear, 11 That sweetest music to an honest ear; (For 'faith lord Fanny! you are in the wrong, The world's good word is better than a song) Who has not learn'd," fresh sturgeon and ham-pye Are no rewards for want and infamy!

Sævus erit: nec sic ut simplex1 Nævius, unctam Convivis præbebit aquam: vitium hoc quoque

magnum.

2 Accipe nunc, victus tenuis quæ quantaque secum Afferat. 3 In primis valeas bene; nam variæ res Ut noceant homini, credas, memor illius escæ, Quæ simplex olim tibi sederit. at simul assis Miscueris elixa, simul conchylia turdis; Dulcia se in bilem vertent, stomachoque tumultun Lenta feret pituita. Vides, ut pallidus omnis Cona desurgat dubia? quin corpus onustum Hesternis vitiis animum quoque prægravat una, Atque affigit humo divinæ particulam auræ. Alter, ubi dicto citius curata sopori Membra dedit, vegetus præscripta ad munia surgit. Hic tamen ad melius poterit transcurrere quondam ; Sive diem festum rediens advexerit annus, Seu recreare volet tenuatum corpus: ubique Accedent anni, et tractari mollius ætas Imbecilla volet. Tibi quidnam accedet ad istam, Quam puer et validus præsumis, mollitiem; seu Dura valetudo inciderit, seu tarda senectus? (nasus

8

Rancidum aprum antiqui laudabant: non quia Illis nullus erat; sed, credo, hac mente, quod hospes Tardius adveniens vitiatum commodius, quam Integram edax dominus consumeret, 10 hos utinam Heroas natum tellus me prima tulisset. [inter

"Das aliquid famæ, quæ carmine gratior aurem Occupet humanam? graudes rhombi, patinæque Grande feruut una 12 cum damno dedecus. adde

2

Public too long, Ah, let me hide my age!
See modest Cibber now has left the stage:
Our generals now, retir'd to their estates,
Hang their old trophies o'er the garden gates,
In life's cool evening satiate of applause,
Nor 'fond of bleeding, ev'n in Brunswick's cause.
A voice there is, that whispers in my ear,
("Tis Reason's voice, which sometimes one can
hear)

7

"Friend Pope! be prudent, let your Muse take
And never gallop Pegasus to death; [breath,
Lest stiff, and stately, void of fire or force,
You limp like Blackmore, on a lord mayor's horse."
Farewell then verse, and love, and every toy,
The rhymes and rattles of the man or boy;
What right, what true, what fit we justly call,
Let this be all my care-for this is all:
To lay this harvest up, and hoard with haste,
What every day will want; and most, the last.
But ask not, to what doctors I apply?
Sworn to no master, of no sect am I:
As drives the storm, at any door I knock,
And house with Montagne now, or now with Locke:
Sometimes a 10 patriot, active in debate,
Mix with the world, and battle for the state,
Free as young Lyttleton, her cause pursue,
Still true to Virtue, " and as warm as true:
Some times with Aristippus, or St. Paul,
Indulge my candour, and grow all to all;
Back to my 12 native moderation slide,
And win my way by yielding to the tide.

13 Long, as to him who works for debt, the day,
Long as the night to her whose love's away,
Long as the year's dull circle seems to run,
When the brisk minor pants for twenty-one ;
So slow th' 14 unprofitable moments roll,
That lock up all the functions of my soul;
That keep me from myself; and still delay
Life's instant business to a future day;
That task, which as we follow, or despise,
The eldest is a fool, the youngest wise:
Which done, the poorest can no wants endure;
And which not done, the richest must be poor.

Non eadem est ætas, non mens. 1 Veianius, armis * Herculis ad postem fixis, latet abditus agro; Ne populum extrema toties exoret arena.

4 Est mihi purgatam crebro qui personet aurem ; Solve' senescentem mature sanus equum, ne Peccet ad extremum ridendus, et ilia ducat. Nunc itaque et versus, et cætera ludicra pono: Quid verum atque decens, curo et rogo, et omnis in hoc sum:

9

Condo, et compono, quæ mox depromere possim. Ac ne forte roges, quo me duce, quo Lare tuter: Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri,

10

Quo me cunque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes. Nunc agilis fio, et mersor "civilibus undis, Virtutis veræ custos, 12 rigidusquc satelles: Nunc in Aristippi "furtim præcepta relabor, Et mihi res, non me rebus, subjungere conor.

14 Ut nox longa, quibus mentitur amica; diesque Lenta videtur opus debentibus: ut piger annus Pupillis, quos dura premit custodia matrum: Sic mihi tarda 15 fluunt ingrataque tempora, quæ spem Consiliumque morantur agendi gnaviter id, quod Fque pauperibus prodest, locupletibus æque, Aque neglectum pueris senibusque nocebit.

Late as it is, I put myself to school, And feel some 2 comfort, not to be a fool. 3 Weak though I am of limb, and short of sight, Far from a lynx and not a giant quite: I'll do what Mead and Cheselden advise,

To keep these limbs, and to preserve these eyes.
Not to go back, is somewhat to advance,
And men must walk at least before they dance.

Say, does thy' blood rebel, thy bosom move With wretched avarice, or as wretched love? Know, there are worlds, and spells, which can "Between the fits this fever of the soul: [control Know there are rhymes, which fresh and fresh 7 Will cure the arrant'st puppy of his pride. [apply'd Be furious, envious, slothful, mad, or drunk,

Q

Slave to a wife, or vassal to a punk,

A Switz, a High-dutch, or a Low-dutch 10 bear; All that we ask is but a patient car.

"Tis the first virtue, vices to abhor; And the first wisdom, to be fool no more. But to the world no 12 bugbear is so great, As want of figure, and a small estate. To either India see the merchant fly, Scar'd at the spectre of pale Poverty! See him, with pains of body, pangs of soul, Burn through the tropic, freeze bencath the pole ! Wilt thou do nothing for a nobler end, Nothing to make philosophy thy friend? To stop thy foolish views, thy long desires, And ease thy heart of all that it admires? 14 Here Wisdom calls: 15" Seek virtue first, be bold! As gold to silver, virtue is to gold." There, London's voice, 16 "Get money, money still! And then let Virtue follow, if she will." This, this the saving doctrine, preach'd to all, From "low St. James's up to high St. Paul! From him whose 18 quills stand quiver'd at his ear, To him who notches sticks at Westminster.

'Restat, ut his ego me ipse regam 2 solerque elementis:

3 Non possis oculo quantum contendere Lynceus;
Non tamen idcirco contemnas lippus inungi:
Nec, quia desperes invicti membra Glyconis,
Nodosa corpus nolis prohibere chiragra,
Est quadam prodire tenus, si non datur ultra.

6

"Fervet avaritia, miseroque cupidine pectus? Sunt verba et voces, quibus hunc lenire dolorem Possis, et magnam morbi deponere partem. Laudis amore tumes? sunt certa piacula, quæ te Ter pure lecto poterunt recreare libello.

7

9

Invidus, iracundus, iners, vinosus, ' amator; Nemo 10 adeo ferus est, ut non mitcscere possit, Si modo culturæ patientem commodet aurem.

11 Virtus est, vitium fugere; et sapientia prima, Stultitia caruisse. vides, quæ 12 maxima credis Esse mala, exiguum censum, turpemque repulsam, Quanto devites animi capitisque labore. Impiger extremos curris mercator ad Indos, Per 13 mare pauperiem fugiens, per saxa, per ignes: Ne cures 14 ea, quæ stulte miraris et optas, Discere, et audire, et meliori credere non vis? Quis circum pagos et circum compita pugnax Magna coronari contemnat Olympia, cui spes, Cui sit conditio dulcis sine pulvere palmæ?

15 Vilius argentum est auro, virtutibus aurum. O cives, cives! quærenda pecunia primum est; Virtus post nummos:" hanc 17 Janus summus ab imo Producet: hæc recinunt juvenes dictata senesque, 18 Lavo suspensi loculos tabulamique lacerto.

Bernard in 'spirit, sense, and truth abounds; "Pray then, what wants he?" fourscore thousand A pension, or such harness for a slave [pounds? As Bug now has, and Dorimant would have. Barnard, thou art a 2 cit with all thy worth; But Bug and D*1, their Honours, and so forth. Yet every child another song will sing, "Virtue, brave boys! 'tis virtue makes a king." True, conscious honour, is to feel no sin, He's arm'd without that's innocent within; Be this thy screen, and this thy wall of brass; Compar'd to this, a minister's an ass.

3

6

And say, to which shall our applause belong, This new court-jargon, or the good old song? The modern language of corrupted peers, Or what was spoke at Cressy or Poitiers? "Who counsels best? who whispers," Be but great, With praise or infamy leave that to Fate; Get place and wealth, if possible with grace; If not, by any means, get wealth and place." For what? to have a box where eunuchs sing, And foremost in the circle eye a king.

Or 'he, who bids thee face with steady view
Proud Fortune, and look shallow Greatness through:
And, 10 while he bids thee, sets th' example too?
If such a doctrine, in St. James's air,
Should chance to make the well-drest rabble stare;
In honest Sz take scandal at a spark,
That less admires the 12 palace than the park:
Faith I shall give the answer 13 Reynard gave:
"I cannot like, dread sire, your royal cave;
Because I see, by all the tracks about,
Full many a beast goes in, but none come out."
Adieu to Virtue, if you're once a slave :
Send her to court, you send her to her grave.
Well, if a king's a lion, at the least
The people are a many-headed beast :
Can they direct what measures to pursue,
Who know themselves so little what to do?
Alike in nothing but one lust of gold,
Just half the land would buy, and half be sold:
Their country's wealth our mightier misers drain,
Or cross, to plunder provinces, the main;

The rest, some farm the poor-box, some the pews;
Some keep assemblies, and would keep the stews;

Est' animus tibi, sunt mores, est lingua, fidesque;

Sed quadringentis sex septem millia desint.
2 Plebs eris. 'at pueri ludentes, rex eris, aiunt,
Si recte facies. Hic murus aheneus esto,
Nil conscire sibi, nulla pallescere culpa.

Roscia, dic sodes, melior lex, an puerorum est
Nænia, quæ regnum recte facientibus offert,
Et maribus Curiis et decantata Camillis?

7 Isne tibi melius suadet, qui " Rem facias; rem, Si possis, recte; si non, quocunque modo rem." Ut proprius spectes lachrymosa poëmata Pupi! An, qui fortunæ te responsare superbæ Liberum et erectum, 10 præsens hortatur et aptat?

11 Quod si me populus Romanus forte roget, cur Non ut 12 porticibus, sic judiciis fruar îsdem: Nec sequar aut fugiam, quæ diligit ipse vel ódit; Olim quod vulpes ægroto cauta leoni Respondit, referam : quia me vestigia terrent Omnia te adversum spectantia, nulla retrorsum. 14 Bellua multorum est capitum. nam quid sequar aut quem? Parshominum gestit conducere publica: sunt qui

15

Some with fat bucks on childless dotards fawn;
Some win rich widows by their chine and brawn;
While with the silent growth of ten per cent,
In dirt and darkness, hundreds stink content.

Of all these ways, if each pursues his own, Satire, be kind, and let the wretch alone: But show me one who has it in his power To act consistent with himself an hour. Sir Job sail'd forth, the evening bright and still, "No place on Earth (he cry'd) like Greenwich 'Up starts a palace, lo, th' obedient base [hill!" Slopes at its foot, the woods its sides embrace, The silver Thames reflect its marble face. Now let some whimsey, or that ⚫ Devil within Which guides all those who know not what they

mean,

But give the knight (or give his lady) spleen;

66

'Away, away! take all your scaffolds down,

For snug's the word: my dear we'll live in town.”
At amorous Flavio is the stocking thrown?
That very night he longs to lie alone.

The fool whose wife clopes some thrice a quarter, For matrimonial solace dies a martyr.

| Did ever Proteus, Merlin, any witch,
Transform themselves so strangely as the rich?
Well, but the poor-The poor have the same itch;
They change their "weekly barber, weekly news,
Prefer a new japanner, to their shoes;
Discharge their garrets, move their beds, and run
(They know not whither) in a chaise and one;
They 12 hire their sculler, and when once aboard,
Grow sick, and damn the climate-like a lord.

13 You laugh, half-beau, half-sloven if I stand,
My wig all powder, and all snuff my band;
You laugh, if coat and breeches strangely vary,
White gloves, and linen worthy lady Mary!
But when no prelate's lawn, with hair-shirt lin'd,
Is half so incoherent as my mind,

When (each opinion with the next at strife, One ebb and flow of follies all my life) 116 plant, root up; I build and then confound; Turn round to square, and square again to round; 17 You never change one muscle of your face, You think this madness but a common case,

1 Crustis et pomis viduas venentur avaras,
Excipiantque senes, quos in vivaria mittant:
2 Multis occulto crescit res fenore. 3 verum
Esto, aliis alios rebus studiisque teneri:
lidem eadem possunt horam durare probantes?

4 Nullus in orbe sinus Baiis prælucet amœnis,
Si dixit dives; lacus et mare sentit amorem
Festinantis heri: cui si vitiosa libido
Fecerit auspicium; cras ferramenta Teanum
Tolletis, fabri. 'lectus genialis in aula est?
Nil ait esse prius, melius nil cœlibe vita:
Si non est, jurat bene solis esse maritis.

Quo teneam vultus mutantem Protea nodo? Quid 10 pauper? ride: mutat" cœnacula, lectos, Balnea, tonsores; conducto navigio æque Nauseat, ac locuples quem ducit priva triremis. 13 Si curatus inæquali tonsore capillos Occurro; rides. si forte subucula pexæ Trita subest tunicæ, vel si toga dissidet impar; Rides. quid, 4 mea cum pugnat sententia secum; Quod petiit, spernit; repetit quod nuper omisit; 15 Astuat, et vitæ disconvenit ordine toto; 16 Diruit, ædificat, mutat quadrata rotundis ? 17 Insanire putas solennia me, neque rides,