Not meanly, nor ambitiously pursu’d, Not funk by floth, nor rais'd by fervitude; Join with Oeconomy, Magnificence; 224 With Splendor, Charity; with Plenty, Health; Oh teach us, BATHURST! yet unfpoil'd by wealth! VARIATIONS. After Ver. 226. in the MS. That fecret rare, with affluence hardly join'd, COMMENTARY: ample; not only the Plan, but the Philofophy of his Poem, required, that he should, in the fame way, fhew the USB likewife: He therefore (from Ver. 218 to 249) calls for an Example, in which may be found, against the Pródigal, the Senfe to value Riches; against the VAIN, the Art to enjoy them; and against the AVARICIOUS, the Virtue to impart them, when acquired. This whole Art (he tells us) may be comprized in one great and general precept, which is this: "That the rich man should confider himfelf as the fubftitute of Pro NOTES. Art, and imparted with Virtue, fo they may be valued without Senfe. That man therefore only fhews he has the sense to value Riches, who keeps what he has acquired, in order to enjoy one part innocently and elegantly, in fuch measure and degree as his station may juftify, (which the Poet calls the Art of enjoying) and to impart the remainder amongst objects of worth, or want well-weighed; which is, indeed, the Virtue of imparting. 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, bę And ease, or emulate, the care of Heav'n; 230 eats? 235 The Wretch that trufts them, and the Rogue that cheats. COMMENTARY. vidence, in this unequal distribution of things; as the perfon who is To eafe, or emulate, the care of Heav'n; "To mend the faults of fortune, or to justify her graces." And thus the Poet flides naturally into the profecution of his subject, in an Example of the true Use of Riches. NOTE S. VER. 231, 232. Whofe measure full o'erflows on human race, Mend Fortune's fault, and justify her grace.] i. e. Such of the Rich whose full measure overflows on human race, repair the wrongs of Fortune done to the indigent, and at the fame time juftify the favours she had bestowed upon themselves. 240 Is there a Lord, who knows a chearful noon But all our praises why should Lords engross? Rife, honeft Mufe! and fing the MAN of Ross: 250 VARIATIONS. After Ver. 250 in the MS. Trace humble worth beyond Sabrina's fhore, COMMENTARY. VER. 249. But all our praises why fhould Lords engrofs? This invidious expreffion of unwillingness that the Nobility fhould engross all the praife, is ftrongly ironical; their NOTES. VER. 243. OXFORD's better part,] Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford. The fon of Robert, created Earl of Oxford and Earl of Mortimer by Queen Anne. This Nobleman died regretted by all men of letters, great numbers of whom had experienced his benefits. He left behind him one of the most noble Libraries in Europe. P. VER. 250. The MAN of Ross:] The perfon here cetebrated, who with a fmall Eftate actually performed all Pleas'd Vaga echoes thro' her winding bounds, brow? From the dry rock who bade the waters flow? COMMENTARY. example having been hitherto only to fhew the abuse of Riches. But there is great juftnefs of defign as well as agreeableness of manner in the preference here given to the Man of Rofs. The purpose of the Poet is to fhew, that an immenfe fortune is not wanted for all the good that Riches are capable of doing; he therefore chufes fuch an inftance, as proves, that a man with five hundred pounds a year could become a bleffing to a whole country; and, confequently, that his precepts for the right use of money, are of more general fervice than a bad heart will give an indifferent head leave to conceive. This was a truth of the greatest importance to inculcate: He therefore (from Ver. 249 to 297.) exalts the character of a very private man, one Mr. J. Kyrle, of Herefordshire: And, in ending his defcription, ftruck as it were with admiration at a fublimity of his own creating, and warmed with fentiments of gratitude which he had raised in himself, in behalf of the public, he breaks out, NOTES. thefe good works, and whofe true name was almost loft (partly by the title of the Man of Rofs given him by way of eminence, and partly by being buried without fo much as an infcription) was called Mr. John Kyrle. He died in the year 1724, aged 90, and lies interred in the chancel of the church. of Rofs in Herefordshire. P. We must understand what is here faid, of actually performing, to mean by the contributions which the Man of Rofs, by his affiduity and interest, collected in his neighbourhood. VOL. III. X Not to the skies in ufelefs columns toft, 255 Or in proud falls magnificently loft, But clear and artlefs, pouring thro' the plain Health to the fick, and folace to the swain. COMMENTARY. "And what? no monument, infcription, ftone? "His race, his form, his name almost unknown?" And then tranfported with indignation at a contrary object, he exclaims, "When Hopkins dies, a thousand lights attend I take notice of this defcription of the portentous vanity of a miferable Extortioner, chiefly for the ufe we shall now fee he makes of it, in carrying on his fübject. NOTES. VER. 255. Not to the fkies in ufelefs columns toft, The intimation, in the first line, well ridicules the madness of fashionable Magnificence; thefe columns afpiring to prop the fkies, in a very different fenfe from the heav'n-directed jpire, in the verfe that follows: As the expreffion, in the second line, expofes the meannefs of this magnificence, in falling proudly to no purpofe. |