Part 6 (1/2)
Aid me, great Homer! with thy epic rules, To take a catalogue of British fools.
Satire! had I thy Dorset's force divine, A knave or fool should perish in each line; Tho' for the first all Westminster should plead, And for the last, all Gresham intercede.
Begin. Who first the catalogue shall grace?
To quality belongs the highest place.
My lord comes forward; forward let him come!
Ye vulgar! at your peril, give him room: He stands for fame on his forefathers' feet, By heraldry prov'd valiant or discreet.
With what a decent pride he throws his eyes Above the man by three descents less wise!
If virtues at his n.o.ble hands you crave, You bid him raise his fathers from the grave.
Men should press forward in fame's glorious chase; n.o.bles look backward, and so lose the race.
Let high birth triumph! What can be more great?
Nothing-but merit in a low estate.
To virtue's humblest son let none prefer Vice, though descended from the conqueror.
Shall men, like figures, pa.s.s for high, or base, Slight, or important, only by their place?
t.i.tles are marks of honest men, and wise; The fool, or knave, that wears a t.i.tle, lies.
They that on glorious ancestors enlarge, Produce their debt, instead of their discharge.
Dorset, let those who proudly boast their line, Like thee, in worth hereditary, s.h.i.+ne.
Vain as false greatness is, the muse must own We want not fools to buy that Bristol stone; Mean sons of earth, who, on a south-sea tide Of full success, swarm into wealth and pride; Knock with a purse of gold at Anstis' gate, And beg to be descended from the great.
When men of infamy to grandeur soar, They light a torch to show their shame the more.
Those governments which curb not evils, cause!
And a rich knave's a libel on our laws.
Belus with solid glory will be crown'd; He buys no phantom, no vain empty sound; But builds himself a name; and, to be great, Sinks in a quarry an immense estate!
In cost and grandeur, Chandos he'll outdo; And Burlington, thy taste is not so true.
The pile is finish'd! ev'ry toil is past; And full perfection is arriv'd at last; When, lo! my lord to some small corner runs, And leaves state-rooms to strangers and to duns.
The man who builds, and wants wherewith to pay, Provides a home from which to run away.
In Britain, what is many a lordly seat, But a discharge in full for an estate?
In smaller compa.s.s lies Pygmalion's fame; Not domes, but antique statues, are his flame: Not Fountaine's self more Parian charms has known, Nor is good Pembroke more in love with stone.
The bailiffs come (rude men profanely bold!) And bid him turn his Venus into gold.
”No, sirs,” he cries; ”I'll sooner rot in jail; Shall Grecian arts be truck'd for English bail?”
Such heads might make their very busto's laugh: His daughter starves; but(7) Cleopatra's safe.
Men, overloaded with a large estate, May spill their treasure in a nice conceit: The rich may be polite; but, oh! 'tis sad To say you're curious, when we swear you're mad.
By your revenue measure your expense; And to your funds and acres join your sense.
No man is bless'd by accident or guess; True wisdom is the price of happiness: Yet few without long discipline are sage; And our youth only lays up sighs for age.
But how, my muse, canst thou resist so long The bright temptation of the courtly throng, Thy most inviting theme? The court affords Much food for satire;-it abounds in lords.
”What lords are those saluting with a grin?”
One is just out, and one as lately in.
”How comes it then to pa.s.s we see preside On both their brows an equal share of pride?”
Pride, that impartial pa.s.sion, reigns through all, Attends our glory, nor deserts our fall.
As in its home it triumphs in high place, And frowns a haughty exile in disgrace.
Some lords it bids admire their wands so white, Which bloom, like Aaron's, to their ravish'd sight: Some lords it bids resign; and turn their wands, Like Moses', into serpents in their hands.
These sink, as divers, for renown; and boast, With pride inverted, of their honours lost.
But against reason sure 'tis equal sin, To boast of merely being out, or in.
What numbers here, through odd ambition, strive To seem the most transported things alive!
As if by joy, desert was understood; And all the fortunate were wise and good.
Hence aching bosoms wear a visage gay, And stifled groans frequent the ball and play.
Completely drest by(8) Monteuil, and grimace, They take their birth-day suit, and public face: Their smiles are only part of what they wear, Put off at night, with Lady B--'s hair.
What bodily fatigue is half so bad?
With anxious care they labour to be glad.
What numbers, here, would into fame advance, Conscious of merit, in the c.o.xcomb's dance; The tavern! park! a.s.sembly! mask! and play!