Haft thou in ftore? What bribe haft thou prepar'd, To pull him, thus unpunish'd, by the beard?
Our fuperftitions with our life begin: Th' obfcene old grandam, or the next of kin, The new-born infant from the cradle takes, And first of spittle a lustration makes: Then in the spawl her middle-finger dips, Anoints the temples, forehead, and the lips, Pretending force of magick to prevent, By virtue of her nafty excrement. Then dandles him with many a mutter'd pray'r That heav'n would make him fome rich mifer's
heir,
Lucky to ladies, and, in time, a king,
Which to enfure, fhe adds a length of navel-ftring.
But no fond nurse is fit to make a pray'r:
And Jove, if Jove be wife, will never hear;
Not tho fhe prays in white, with lifted hands:
A body made of brafs the crone demands
For her lov'd nurfling, ftrung with nerves of wire,
Tough to the last, and with no toil to tire:
Unconscionable vows, which when we use,
We teach the Gods, in reafon, to refuse.
Suppose they were indulgent to thy wish;
Yet the fat intrails in the fpacious dish,
very over-care
Would stop the
grant: the
And naufeous pomp, would hinder half the pray'r.
Thou hop'ft with facrifice of oxen slain
To compass wealth, and bribe the God of gain,
To give thee flocks and herds, with large increase;
Fool! to expect them from a bullock's grease!
And think'ft that when the fatten'd flames afpire,
Thou fee'ft th' accomplishment of thy defire!
Now, now, my bearded harvest gilds the plain,
The fcanty folds can scarce my fheep contain,
And showers of gold come pouring in amain!
Thus dreams the wretch, and vainly thus dreams
on,
Till his lank purse declares his money gone.
Should I prefent them with rare figur'd plate,
Or gold as rich in workmanship as weight;
O how thy rifing heart would throb and beat,
And thy left fide, with trembling pleasure, fweat!
Thou measur'st by thyfelf the Pow'rs Divine;
Thy Gods are burnish'd, gold and filver is their
fhrine.
Thy puny Godlings of inferior race,
Whofe humble ftatues are content with brass,
Should fome of thefe, in vifions purg'd from
phlegm,
Foretel events, or in a morning dream;
Ev'n those thou wouldst in veneration hold;
And, if not faces, give 'em beards of gold.
The priests in temples, now no longer care
For Saturn's brafs, or Numa's earthen ware;
Or vestal urns, in each religious rite:
This wicked gold has put 'em all to flight.
O fouls, in whom no heav'nly fire is found,
Fat minds, and ever grov'ling on the ground!
We bring our manners to the bleft abodes,
And think what pleases us muft please the Gods.
Of oil and caffia one th' ingredients takes,
And, of the mixture, a rich ointment makes:
Another finds the way to dye in grain;
And makes Calabrian wool receive the Tyrian
ftain;
Or from the shells their orient treasure takes,
Or, for their golden ore, in rivers rakes;
Then melts the mafs: all these are vanities!
Yet ftill fome profit from their pains may rife:
But tell me, priest, if I may be fo bold,
What are the Gods the better for this gold?
The wretch that offers from his wealthy store
These presents, bribes the Pow'rs to give him more:
As maids to Venus offer baby-toys,
To bless the marriage-bed with girls and boys.
J
But let us for the Gods a gift prepare,
Which the great man's great charges cannot bear :
A foul, where laws both human and divine,
In practice more than fpeculation shine:
A genuine virtue, of a vigorous kind,
Pure in the last recesses of the mind:
When with fuch off'rings to the Gods I come,
A cake, thus giv'n, is worth a hecatomb.
THE ARGUMENT.
Our author has made two fatires concerning fludy; study; the first and the third: the first related to men; this to young fludents, whom he defired to be educated in the ftoick philofophy: he himself fuftains the person of the mafter, or præceptor, in this admirable fatire. Where ke upbraids the youth of floth, and negligence in learning. Yet he begins with one scholar reproaching his fellow students with late rifing to their books. After which he takes upon him the other part of the teacher. And addreffing himself particularly to young noblemen, tells them, that by reafon of their high birth, and the great possessions of their fathers, they are careless of adorning their minds with precepts of moral philofophy: and withal, inculcates to them the miferies which will attend them in the whole
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