Afk we what makes one keep, and one bestow?
That Pow'R who bids the Ocean ebb and flow,
Bids feed-time, harvest, equal course maintain, 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 infects, when conceal'd they lie,
Wait but for wings, and in their feafon fly. 170
Who fees pale Mammon pine amidst his store,
Sees but a backward steward for the Poor;
This year a Refervoir, to keep and fpare;
The next, a Fountain, fpouting thro' his Heir,
In lavish streams to quench a Country's thirst, 175
And men and dogs fhall drink him till they burst.

NOTES.

VER. 173. This
year a Re-
fervoir, to keep and fpare; The
next, a Fountain, spouting thro'
his Heir,] Befides the obvious
beauties of this fine fimilitude,
it has one ftill more exquifite,
tho' lefs obfervable, which is
its being taken from a circum-
ftance in the most elegant part
of improved life. For tho' in
Society, the follies of hoard-
ing and fquandering may cor-
rect each other, and produce
real advantage to the whole;
as Refervoirs and Fountains

may be both useful and ornamental amongst the other improvements of art; yet in a State of Nature either kind of excefs would be pernicious; because, in that State, the quantity of natural goods, unimproved by art, would not fuffer, without great danger of want to the whole body, either an immoderate hoarding, or a lavish profufion. And therefore Providence has wifely ordered that, in that State, by there being no fantastic

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 fpits forgot)
His kitchen vy'd in coolnefs with his grot? 180
His court with nettles, moats with creffes ftor'd,
With foups unbought and fallads bless'd his board?
If Cotta liv'd on pulfe, it was no more

Than Bramins, Saints, and Sages did before;

COMMENTARY.

VER. 177. Old Cotta fham'd his fortune &c.] The poet now proceeds to fupport the principles of his Philofophy by examples: But before we come to thefe, it will be necessary to look back upon the general ceconomy of the poem.

In the first part, toy 109, the use and abufe of Riches are fatirically delivered in precept. From thence, to 177, the ỳ causes of the abuse are philofophically inquired into: And from thence to the end, the ufe and abufe are hiftorically illustrated in examples. Where we may obferve, that the conclusion of the firft part, concerning the Mifer's cruelty to others, naturally introduces the fecond, by a fatirical apology, fhewing that he is full as cruel to himself: The explanation of which extraordinary phenomenon brings the author into the Philofophy of his subject';

NOTES.

wants, there fhould be no pof- | hints at in the beginning of the
fible temptation to either. The
which noble truth our poet

%

Epiftle:

But when by Man's audacious labour won,
Flam'd forth this Rival to it's Sire, the fun,
Then careful Heav'n fupply'd two forts of men,
To fquander Thefe, and Thefe to hide again. 11, &c.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 182. With foups unbought,]

- dapibus menfas onerabat inemptis. VIRG. P.

To cram the Rich was prodigal expence,
And who would take the Poor from Providence?
Like fome lone Chartreux ftands the good old Hall,
Silence without, and Fafts within the wall ;
No rafter'd roofs with dance and tabor found,
No noontide-bell invites the country round: 190
Tenants with fighs the fmoaklefs tow'rs furvey,
And turn th'unwilling fteeds another
way:
Benighted wanderers, the foreft o'er,
Curfe the fav'd candle, and unop'ning door ;
While the gaunt mastiff growling at the gate, 195
Affrights the beggar whom he longs to eat.

185

COMMENTARY.

and this ending in an observation of Avarice and Profufion's correcting and reconciling one another, as naturally introduces the third, which proves the truth of the obfervation from fact. And thus the Philofophy of his fubject standing between his Precepts and Examples, gives ftrength and light to both, and receives it reflected back again from both.

Wit, Spirit, Faculties, but make it worse;
Reafon itself but gives it edge and pow'r.

He firft gives us two examples (from y 176 to 219) of these oppofite ruling Paffions, and (to see them in their full force) taken from fubjects, as he tells us, not void of wit or worth; from fuch as could reafon themfelves (as we fee by 183, feqq. and y 205, & feqq) into the whole length of each extreme : For the poet had obferved of the ruling passion, that

Effay, Ep. ii. 146.

Old Cotta therefore and his Son afforded him the most happy illuftration of his own doctrine.

200

Not fo his Son, he mark'd this oversight, And then mistook reverse of wrong for right. (For what to fhun will no great knowledge need, But what to follow, is a tafk indeed.) Yet fure, of qualities deferving praise, More go to ruin Fortunes, than to raise. What flaughter'd hecatombs, what floods of wine, Fill the capacious Squire, and deep Divine ! Yet no mean motive this profufion draws, 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.

205

NOTES.

VER. 199. (For what to fbun will no great knowledge need, But what to follow, is a task indeed.)] The poet is here fpeaking only of the knowledge gained by experience. Now there are fo many miferable examples of ill conduct, that no one, with his eyes open, can be at a loss to know what to fhun; but, very inviting examples of a good conduct are extremely rare: Befides, the mifchiefs of folly are eminent and obvious; but the fruits of prudence, remote and retired from common obfervation; and if feen at all, yet their dependance on their caufes

2.

they are not eafily understood.

VER. 201, 202. Yet fure, of qualities deferving praise, Mare go to ruin Fortunes, than to raife.] This, tho' a certain truth, will, as. I apprehend, never make its fortune in the City: yet, for all that, the poet has fully approved his maxim in the following defcription.

VER. 203. What flaughter'd hecatombs, &c.] Our author reprefents this, as it truly was defigned, a Sacrifice to the Church, to render it propitious, in a time of danger, to the State. SCRIBL

The Woods recede around the naked seat,
The Sylvans groan-no matter-for the Fleet:
Next goes his Wool-to clothe our valiant bands,
Laft, 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, 215
Britain, that pays her Patriots with her Spoils ?
In vain at Court the Bankrupt pleads his caufe,
His thankless Country leaves him to her Laws.
The Sense to value Riches, with the Art
T'enjoy them, and the Virtue to impart,

VARIATIONS.

After 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 awhile and dy'd;
There Providence once more fhall fhift the scene,
And fhewing H-Y, teach the golden mean.

209

220

COMMENTARY.

VER. 219. The Senfe to value Riches, &c.] Having now largely expofed the ABUSE of Riches by example, not only the Plan, but the Philofophy of his Poem, required, that he fhould in the fame way, fhew the USE likewife: He therefore (from y 218 to 249) calls for an EXAMPLE, in which may be found, against

NOTES.

VER. 219, 220. The Senfe | T'enjoy them, and the Virtue to to value Riches, with the Art, impart.] The Senfe to value

I

Q