100

And fill with notes, when lolling at his ease,
Mecænas-like, the happy rogue he sees
Born by fix weary'd flaves in open view,
Who cancell'd an old will, and forg'd a new ;
Made wealthy at the small expence of fignin g
With a wet feal, and a fresh interlining?

106

The lady, next, requires a lashing line, Who fqueez'd a toad into her husband's wine: So well the fashionable med'cine thrives, That now 'tis practis'd ev'n by country wives: Pois'ning, without regard of fame or fear: And spotted corps are frequent on the bier. Wouldft thou to honours and preferments climb ?

110

Be bold in mischief, dare fome mighty crime, Which dungeons, death, or banishment deferves:

For virtue is but drily prais'd, and sterves. Great men, to great crimes, owe their plate emboft,

Fair palaces, and furniture of coft;

115

And high commands: a fneaking fin is loft. Who can behold that rank old letcher keep His fon's corrupted wife, and hope to fleep?

Ver. 99. Mecanas-like,] Mecænas is often tax'd by Seneca and others, for his effeminacy.

Ver. 118.and hope to fleep?] The meaning is, that the very confideration of fuch a crime, will hinder a virtuous mab from taking his repofe.

120

Or that male-harlot, or that unfledg'd boy,
Eager to fin, before he can enjoy ?
If nature could not, anger would indite
Such woeful stuff as I or Shadwell write.
Count from the time, fince old Deucalion's
boat,

Rais'd by the flood, did on Parnaffus float;
And fcarcely mooring on the cliff, implor'd 125
An oracle how man might be reftor'd;
When foften'd ftones and vital breath enfu'd,
And virgins naked were by lovers view'd ;
What ever fince that Golden Age was done,
What human kind defires, and what they fhun,
Rage, paffions, pleasures, impotence of will, 131
Shall this fatirical collection fill.

What age fo large a crop of vices bore,
Or when was avarice extended more?
When were the dice with more profusion thrown?
The well-fill'd fob not empty'd now alone, 136
But gamefters for whole patrimonies play;
The steward brings the deeds which must con-

vey

The loft eftate: what more than madness reigns, When one short fitting many hundreds drains,

Ver. 123. Deucalion and Pyrrha, when the world was drowned, escaped to the top of mount Parnaffus; and were commanded to restore mankind by throwing ftones over their heads: The stones he threw became men, and those the threw became

women.

141

145

And not enough is left him to fupply
Board-wages, or a footman's livery?
What age fo many fummer-feats did fee?
Or which of our forefathers far'd fo well,
As on seven dishes, at a private meal?
Clients of old were feafted; now a poor
Divided dole is dealt at th' outward door;
Which by the hungry rout is foon dispatch'd:
The paltry largefs, too, feverely watch'd
Ere given; and ev'ry face obferv'd with care,
That no intruding guest ufurp a share.
Known, you receive: the cryer calls aloud
Our old nobility of Trojan blood,

Who gape among the crowd for their precarious food.

151

The prætors' and the tribunes' voice is heard ; The freedman juftles, and will be preferr'd; 156 First come, firft ferv'd, he cries; and I, in spight

Of your great lordships, will maintain my right. Though born a flave, though my torn ears are

bor'd,

'Tis not the birth, 'tis money makes the lord. The rent of five fair houfes I receive;

What greater honours can the purple give?

Ver. 159.

161

though my torn ears are bor'd,] The ears of all flaves were bored as a mark of their fervitude; which custom is ftill ufual in the Eaft Indies, and in other parts, even for whole nations; who bore prodigious holes in their ears, and wear vaft weights at them.

The

poor patrician is reduced to keep, In melancholy walks, a grazier's sheep:

Not Pallas nor Licinius had my treasure; 165
Then let the facred tribunes wait my leifure.
Once a poor rogue, 'tis true, I trod the street,
And trudg'd to Rome upon my naked feet:
Gold is the greatest god; though yet we see
No temples rais'd to Money's majesty,
No altars fuming to her pow'r divine,
Such as to Valour, Peace, and Virtue fhine,
And Faith, and Concord: where the ftork on

high

Seems to falute her infant

170

174

progeny: Prefaging pious love with her aufpicious cry. But fince our knights and fenators account To what their fordid begging vails amount, Judge what a wretched share the poor attends, Whose whole fubfiftence on those alms depends! Their household fire, their raiment, and their

food,

Prevented by thofe harpies; when a wood

Ver. 163. The poor patrician] The poor nobleman.
Ver. 165.

180

Pallas or Licinius] Pallas, a flave freed by Claudius Cæfar, and raised by his favour to great riches. Lici. nius was another wealthy freedman, belonging to Auguftus. Ver. 173. where the ftork on high &c.] Perhaps the ftorks were used to build on the top of the temple dedicated to Concord.

Ver. 181. Prevented by thofe harpies;] He calls the Roman knights, &c. harpies, or devourers: in thofe days the rich made doles intended for the poor: but the great were either fo covetous, or fo needy, that they came in their litters to demand their

Of litters thick besiege the donor's gate,
And begging lords and teeming ladies wait
The promis'd dole: nay, fome have learn'd the
trick

To beg for abfent perfons; feign them fick, 185
Clofe mew'd in their fedans, for fear of air:
And for their wives produce an empty chair.
This is my fpoufe: difpatch her with her

fhare.

"Tis Galla: Let her ladyship but peep : No, Sir, 'tis pity to disturb her fleep.

190

Such fine employments our whole days di

vide:

The falutations of the morning-tide

Call up
the fun; thofe ended, to the hall
We wait the patron, hear the lawyers baul;
Then to the ftatues; where amidst the race
Of conqu❜ring Rome, fome Arab fhews his

196

face, Infcrib'd with titles, and profanes the place;

fhares of the largefs; and thereby prevented, and confequently ftarved the poor.

Ver. 189. 'Tis Galla, &c.] The meaning is, that noblemen would caufe empty litters to be carried to the giver's door, pretending their wives were within them: "Tis Galla, that is, my wife: the next words, Let her ladyship but peep, are of the fervant who diftributes the dole; let me fee her, that I may be fure fhe is within the litter. The hufbaud anfwers, she is afleep, and to open the litter would disturb her reft.

Ver. 195. Then to the ftatues, &c.] The poet here tells you how the idle paffed their time; in going firft to the levees of the great, then to the hall, that is, to the temple of Apollo, to hear the lawyers plead, then to the market-place of Auguftus,