Old Cotta sham'd 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 coolnefs with his grot?
His court with nettles, moats with crefles 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;
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:
Tenants with fighs the fmoaklefs towers furvey,
And turn th' unwilling steeds another way:
Benighted wanderers, the foreft o'er,
Curfe the fav'd candle, and unopening door;
While the gaunt mastiff, growling at the gate,
Affrights the beggar whom he longs to eat.
Not fo his Son: he mark'd this overfight,
And then mistook reverfe of wrong for right.
(For what to fhun, will no great knowledge need;
But what to follow, is a task indeed.)
Yet fure, of qualities deferving praife,
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 motives this profufion draws,
His oxen perish, in his country's caufe;
'Tis GEORGE and LIBERTY that crowns the cup,
And Zeal for that great House which eats him up.
The woods recede around the naked feat,
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 fhall not Britain now reward his toils,
Britain, that pays her Patriots with her Spoils?
In vain at Court the Bankrupt pleads his caufe,
His thanklefs Conntry leaves him to her Laws.
The Senfe to value Riches, with the Art
T' enjoy them, and the Virtue to impart,
Not meanly, nor ambitiously purfued,
Not funk by floth, not rais'd by servitude;
To balance Fortune by a juft expence,
Join with Oeconomy, Magnificence;
With Splendor, Charity; with Plenty, Health;
Oh teach us, Bathurft! yet unspoil'd by wealth!
After ver 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 a while and dy'd;
There Providence once more shall fhift the scene,
And fhewing H-y, teach the golden mean.
After ver. 226. in the MS.
The fecret rare, which affluence hardly join'd,
Which W-n loft, yet B-y ne'er could find:
Still mifs'd by Vice, and fcarce by Virtue hit,
By G-'s goodnefs, or by S-'s wit,
That fecret rare, between th' 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;
(Whose measure full o'erflows on human race)
Mend Fortune's fault, and juftify her grace.
Wealth in the grofs is death, but life diffus'd;
As poifon heals, in juft proportion us'd:
In heaps, like Ambergris, a ftink it lies,
But well difpers'd, is incenfe to the Skies.
P. Who ftarves by Nobles, or with Nobles eats
The Wretch that trufts them, and the Rogue that cheats.
Is there a Lord, who knows a chearful noon
Without a Fiddler, Flatterer, or Buffoon?
Whofe table, Wit, or modeft Merit share,
Un-elbow'd by a Gamefter, Pimp, or Player?
Who copies Your's, or Oxford's better part,
To eafe th' opprefs'd, and raise the finking heart?
Where'er he shines, oh Fortune, gild the scene,
And Angels guard him in the golden Mean!
There, English Bounty yet a while may stand,
And Honour linger ere it leaves the land.
But all our praifes why should Lords engross?
Rife, honeft Mufe! and fing the MAN of Ross:
Pleas'd Vaga echoes through her winding bounds,
And rapid Severn hoarfe applause resounds.
After ver. 250. in the MS.
Trace humble worth beyond Sabrina's fhore,
Who fings not him, oh may he fing no more!
Who hung with woods yon mountain's fultry brow?
From the dry rock who bade the waters flow?
Not to the skies in ufelefs columns toft,
Or in proud falls magnificently loft,
But clear and artlefs, pouring through the plain
Health to the fick, and folace to the fwain.
Whole Causeway parts the vale with fhady rows?
Whose feats the weary Traveller repofe?
Who taught that heaven-directed spire to rife?
"The MAN of Ross," each lifping babe replies.
Behold the Market-place with poor o'erspread!
The MAN of Ross divides the weekly bread:
He feeds yon Alms-house, neat, but void of ftate, 265
Where Age and Want fit fmiling at the gate;
Him portion'd maids, apprentic'd orphans bleft,
The young who labour, and the old who reft.
Is any fick the MAN of Ross relieves,
Prefcribes, attends, the medicine makes, and gives. 270
Is there a variance? enter but his door,
Balk'd are the Courts, and conteft is no more.
Defpairing Quacks with curfes fled the place,
And vile Attorneys, now an useless race.
B. Thrice happy man! enabled to pursue
What all fo wish, but want the power to do!
Oh fay, what fums that generous hand fupply?
What mines to fwell that boundless charity?
P. Of Debts and Taxes, Wife and Children
This man poffeft-five hundred pounds a-year.
Blush, Grandeur, blush! proud Courts, withdraw your
Ye little Stars! hide your diminish'd rays.
B. And what? no monument, infcription, ftone? His race, his form, his name almost unknown?
P. Who builds a Church to God, and not to Fame, Will never mark the marble with his Name :
Go, search it there, where to be born and die,
Of rich and poor makes all the hiftory;
Enough, that Virtue fill'd the space between;
Prov'd by the ends of being, to have been.
When Hopkins dies, a thousand lights attend
The wretch, who living fav'd a candle's end;
Shouldering God's altar a vile image stands,
Belies his features, nay extends his hands;
That live-long wig, which Gorgon's felf might own, Eternal buckle takes in Parian stone.
Behold what bleffings Wealth to life can lend!
And fee, what comfort it affords our end.
In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half-hung,
The floors of plaifter, and the walls of dung,
On once a flock-bed, but repair'd with straw,
With tape-ty'd curtains, never meant to draw,
Ver. 287. Thus in the MS.
The Regifter inrolls him with his Poor,
Tells he was born, and dy'd, and tells no more.
Juft as he ought, he fill'd the Space between ;
Then ftole to reft unheeded and unfeen.
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