At length, corruption, like a general flood, 135 So long by watchful ministers withstood, Shall deluge all; and avarice, creeping on, Spread like a low-born mist, and blot the sun; Statesman and patriot ply alike the stocks, Peeress and butler share alike the box, And judges job, and bishops bite the town, And mighty dukes pack cards for half a crown. See Britain sunk in lucre's sordid charms, 140 And France revenged on Anne's and Edward's arms!' 'Twas no court badge, great scrivener! fired thy brain, Nor lordly luxury, nor city gain: No, 'twas thy righteous end, ashamed to see 145 151 Less mad the wildest whimsey we can frame, 155 Hear then the truth :- 'Tis Heaven each pas sion sends, And different men directs to different ends. 160 was one of the first projectors of the South-sea company, and afterwards one of the directors and chief managers of the famous scheme in 1720. He was also one of those who suffered most severely by the bill of pains and penalties on the said directors.-Pope. Extremes in nature equal good produce; Extremes in man concur to general use.' Ask me what makes one keep and one bestow? 170 The next, a fountain, spouting through his heir; In lavish streams to quench a country's thirst; 175 And men and dogs shall drink him till they burst. 180 Old Cotta shamed his fortune and his birth, Yet was not Cotta void of wit or worth. What though, the use of barbarous spits forgot, His kitchen vied in coolness with his grot? His court with nettles, moats with cresses stored, With soups unbought and salads bless'd his board? If Cotta lived on pulse, it was no more Than bramins, saints, and sages did before. To cram the rich was prodigal expense, .185 And who would take the poor from Providence? Like some lone Chartreux stands the good old hall, Silence without, and fasts within the wall: 173 This year a reservoir. A quaint idea borrowed from old Fuller, in his Church History.' No rafter'd roofs with dance and tabor sound; Not so his son; he mark'd this oversight, 190 196 200 205 What slaughter'd hecatombs, what floods of wine, After ver. 218, in the Ms. Where one lean herring furnish'd Cotta's board, The sense to value riches, with the art 220 With splendor, charity; with plenty, health; 225 O, teach us, Bathurst! yet unspoil'd by wealth! That secret rare, between the extremes to move Of mad good-nature and of mean self-love. B. To worth or want well weigh'd be bounty given, And ease or emulate the care of Heaven: ; 230 235 P. Who starves by nobles, or with nobles eats? The wretch that trusts them, and the rogue that cheats. 240 Is there a lord, who knows a cheerful noon In lavish Curio blazed awhile and died; 242 Or player. Alluding to Cibber. 243 Oxford's better part. Edward Harley, earl of Oxford; the РОРЕ. II. K Where'er he shines, O Fortune, gild the scene, 245 But all our praises why should lords engross? Rise, honest Muse! and sing the Man of Ross: Pleased Vaga echoes through her winding bounds, And rapid Severn hoarse applause resounds. 252 Who hung with woods yon mountain's sultry brow? From the dry rock who bade the waters flow? 255 But clear and artless, pouring through the plain weary 260 son of Robert, created earl of Oxford and earl of Mortimer by queen Anne. This nobleman died regretted by all men of letters, great numbers of whom had experienced his benefits. He left behind him one of the most noble libraries of Europe.-Pope. 250 The Man of Ross. The person here celebrated, who with a small estate actually performed all these good works, and whose true name was almost lost, partly by the title of the Man of Ross' given him by way of eminence, and partly by being buried without so much as an inscription, was called Mr. John Kyrle. He died in the year 1724, aged 90, and lies interred in the chancel of the church of Ross in Herefordshire.-Pope. 262 The Man of Ross. Kyrle possessed about £500 a year: by his union of activity, intelligence, and character, he promoted many of those improvements, whose utility is felt in every neighborhood, but which in every neighborhood depend on the impulse of some public-spirited individual, and |