Enjoys his exile, and, condemn'd in vain,
Leaves thee, prevailing province 5, to complain?
Such villanies rous'd Horace 6 into wrath :
And 'tis more noble to purfue his path,
Than an old tale of Diomede repeat,
Or lab'ring after Hercules to fweat,

Or wand'ring in the winding maze of Crete;
Or with the winged fmith aloft to fly,
Or flutt'ring perifh with his foolish boy.

With what impatience must the Muse behold
The wife, by her procuring husband fold?
For tho' the law makes null th' adulterer's deed
Of lands to her, the cuckold may fucceed;
Who his taught eyes up to the cieling throws,
And fleeps all over but his wakeful nose.
When he dares hope a colonel's command,
Whose courfers kept, ran out his father's land;
Who yet a ftripling, Nero's chariot drove,
Whirl'd o'er the streets, while his vain master ftrove
With boasted art to please his eunuch love 7.
Would it not make a modeft author dare
To draw his table-book within the fquare,
And fill with notes, when lolling at his ease,
Mecenas-like, the happy rogue he sees

Borne by fix weary'd flaves in open view,

Who cancell'd an old will, and forg'd a new:

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5 Prevailing province, &c. Here the poet complains, that the governors of provinces being accus'd for their unjuft exactions, though they were condemned at their tryals, yet got off by bribery.

6 Horace, who wrote fatires: 'tis more noble, fays our author, to imitate him in that way, than to write the labours of Hercules, the fufferings of Diomedes and his followers, or the flight of Dedalus who made the labyrinth, and the death of his fon Icarus.

7 His eunuch-love. Nero married Sporus an Eunuch; though it may be the poet meant Nero's mistress in man's apparel.

8 Mecenas-like. Mecenas is often tax'd by Seneca and others, for his effeminacy.

Made

Made wealthy at the fmall expence of figning
With a wet feal, and a fresh interlining?

The lady, next, requires a lafhing 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.
Woulaft thou to honours and preferments climb ?
Be bold in mifchief, dare fome mighty crime,
Which dungeons, death, or banishinent deferves :
For virtue is but drily prais'd, and starves.
Great men, to great crimes, owe their plate embost,
Fair palaces, and furniture of cost;

And high commands: a fneaking fin is loft.
Who can behold that rank old lecher keep
His fon's corrupted wife, and hope to fleep 9?
Or that male-harlot, or that unfledg'd boy,
Eager to fin, before he can enjoy ?

If nature could not, anger would indite
Such woful ftuff as I or Shadwel write.

}

Count from the time, fince old Deucalion's 1 boat,
Rais'd by the flood, did on Parnaffus float;
And scarcely mooring on the cliff, implor'd
An oracle how man might be reflor'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,
Shall this fatirical collection fill.

9 And hope to fleep? The meaning is, that the
of fuch a crime will hinder a virtuous man from taking his repofe.
very confideration
1 Deucalion and Pyrrha, when the world was drown'd, efcaped to
the top of mount Parnaffus; and were commanded to restore man-
kind by throwing ftones over their heads: the ftones he threw be
came men, and thofe fhe threw became women.

P 2

What

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,
But gamefters for whole patrimonies play;
The fteward brings the deeds which must convey
The loft eftate: what more than madness reigns,
When one short fitting many hundreds drains,
And not enough is left him to supply
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 largess,, too, feverely watch'd,
Ere given; and ev'ry face obferv'd with care,
That no intruding guests 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.
The prætors, and the tribunes voice is heard;
The freedman juftles and will be preferr'd;
First come, firft ferv'd, he cries; and I, in fpight
Of your great lordships, will maintain my right.
Tho' born a slave, tho' my torn ears are bor'd2,
'Tis not the birth, 'tis money makes the lord.
The rent of five fair houses I receive;
What greater honours can the purple give?
The poor patrician 3 is reduced to keep,
In melancholy walks, a grazier's fheep:

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2 Though my torn ears are bor' d: The ears of all flaves were bored as a mark of their fervitude; which cuftom is still usual in the EaftIndies, and in other parts, even for whole nations; who bore prodigious holes in their ears, and wear vaft weights at them. 3 The poor Patrician; the poor nobleman.

Not

Not Pallus nor Licinius 4 had my treasure;
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 fee
No temples rais'd to money's majefty,
No altars fuming to her pow'r divine,
Such as to valour, peace, and virtue shine,
And faith, and concord: where the ftork on high 5
Seems to falute her infant 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 fhare the poor attends,
Whofe whole fubfiftence on thofe alms depends!
Their houfhold fire, their raiment, and their food,
Prevented by thofe harpies ; when a wood
Of litters thick befiege the donor's gate,
And begging lords and teeming ladies wait
The promis'd dole: nay, some have learn'd the trick
To beg for abfent perfons; feign them fick,
Close mew'd in their sedans, for fear of air:
And for their wives produce an empty chair.
This is my spouse: dispatch her with her fhare.
'Tis 7 Galla: let her ladyship but peep:
No, Sir, 'tis pity to disturb her fleep.

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Such

4 Pallus, or Licinius. Pallus, a flave freed by Claudius Cæfar, and raised by his favour to great riches. Licinius was another wealthy freedman, belonging to Auguftus.

5

Where the ftork on high, &c. Perhaps the ftorks were used to build on the top of the temple dedicated to Concord.

6 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 fhares of the largess; and thereby prevented, and confequently starved the poor.

7 'Tis Galla, &c. The meaning is, that noblemen would cause empty litters to be carried to the giver's door, pretending their wives

P 3

were

Such fine employments our whole days divide:
The falutations of the morning tide

Call up the fun; thofe ended, to the hall
We wait the patron, hear the lawyers baul;
Then 8 to the ftatues; where amidst the race
Of conq'ring Rome, fome Arab fhews his face,
Infcrib'd with titles, and profanes the place;
Fit to be piss'd againft, and fomewhat more.
The great man, home conducted, fhuts his door ;
Old clients, weary'd out with fruitless care,
Difmifs their hopes of eating, and despair.
Tho' much against the grain forc'd to retire,
Buy roots for fupper, and provide a fire.

Mean time his lordfhip lolls. within at ease,
Pamp'ring his paunch with foreign rarities;
Both fea and land are ranfack'd for the feaft;
And his own gut the fole invited guest.

Such plate, fuch tables, difhes drest so well,
That whole eftates are swallowed at a meal.
Ev'n parafites are banish'd from his board:
(At once a fordid and luxurious lord :)
Prodigious throat, for which whole boars are dreft ;
(A creature form'd to furnish out a feast.)
But prefent punishment purfues his maw,
When furfeited and fwell'd, the peacock raw

The

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. husband answers, she is afleep, and to open the litter would disturb her reft.

8 Then to the ftatues, &c. The poet here tells you how the idle paffed their time; in going first 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, where the ftatues of the famous Romans were fet in ranks on pedestals: amongst which statues were seen thofe of foreigners, fuch as Arabs, &c. who, for no defert, but only on the account of their wealth, or favour, were placed amongst the nobleft,

He