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Kindly throw in a little figure,

And fet the price upon the bigger?

Those who could never read their grammar,
When my dear volumes touch the hammer,
May think books beft, as richest bound.
My copper medals by the pound

May be with learned juftice weigh'd.:
To turn the balance, Otho's head
May be thrown in; and for the mettle,

The coin may mend a tinker's kettle--
Tir'd with thefe thoughts-Lefs tir'd than 1,
Quoth Dick, with your philofophy--
That people live and die, I knew
An hour ago, as well as you.
And if fate fpins us longer years,
Or is in hafte to take the fhears;
I know, we muft both fortunes try,
And bear our evils, wet or dry.
Yet let the goddess smile, or frown;
Bread we shall eat, or white, or brown:
And in a cottage, or a court,

Drink fine Champaigne, or muddl'd Port.
What need of books thefe truths to tell,
Which folks perceive, who cannot spell?
And must we fpectacles apply,

To view what hurts our naked eye?

Sir, if it be your wifdom's aim,

To make me merrier than I am ;
I'll be all night at your devotion--

Come on, friend; broach the pleafing notion:

But if you would deprefs my thought;

Your Syftem is not worth a groat-

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For Plato's fancies what care I?
I hope you would not have me die,
Like fimple Cato in the play,
For any thing that he can say?
E'en let him of ideas fpeak

To heathens in his native Greek.
If to be fad is to be wife;

I do moft heartily defpife

Whatever Socrates has faid,
Or Tully writ, or Wanley read.

Dear Drift, to fet our matters right,
Remove these papers from my fight;
Burn Mat's Des-Cart', and Aristotle :
Here, Jonathan, your mafter's bottle.

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Ο βίος γὰρ ὄνομ ̓ ἔχει, πόνος δ' ἔργω πόλει.

Eurip.

Siquis Deus mihi largiatur, ut ex hac aetate repuerafcam, et in cunis va• giam, valde recufem. Cic. de Senect,

The bewailing of man's miferies hath been elegantly and copiously fet forth by many, in the writings as well of philofophers, as divines. And it is both a pleasant and a profitable contemplation.

Lord Bacon's Advancement of Learning.

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