But thus admonish'd we can walk erect,
One proof at least of manhood; while the friend
Sticks clofe, a Mentor worthy of his charge,
Our habits costlier than Lucullus wore,
And by caprice as multiplied as his,
Juft please us while the fashion is at full,
But change with ev'ry moon. The fycophant
That waits to dress us, arbitrates their date,
Surveys his fair reversion with keen eye ;
Finds one ill made, another obfolete,
This fits not nicely, that is ill conceiv'd,
And making prize of all that he condemns,
With our expenditure defrays his own.
Variety's the very spice of life
That gives it all its flavor.
Through ev'ry change that fancy, at the loom
Exhaufted, has had genius to fupply,
And ftudious of mutation ftill, difcard
A real elegance, a little us'd
For monftrous novelty and ftrange disguise.
We facrifice to drefs, till houshold joys
And comforts ceafe. Dress drains our cellar dry,
And keeps our larder lean. Puts out our fires,
And introduces hunger, froft, and woe,
Where peace and hospitality might reign.
What man that lives, and that knows how to live,
Would fail t' exhibit at the public shows
A form as fplendid as the proudest there,
Though appetite raise outcries at the cost?
A man o' th' town dines late, but foon enough
With reasonable forecast and difpatch,
Tinfure a fide-box ftation at half price.
You think perhaps, fo delicate his dress,
His daily fare as delicate. Alas!
He picks clean teeth, and bufy as he feems.
With an old tavern quill, is hungry yet.
The rout is folly's circle which she draws
With magic wand. So potent is the spell,
That none decoy'd into that fatal ring,
Unless by heav'ns peculiar grace, escape.
There we grow early grey, but never wife.
There form connexions, and acquire no friend.
Solicit pleasure hopeless of fuccefs;
Wafte youth in occupations only fit
For fecond childhood, and devote old age
To fports which only childhood could excufe..
There they are happiest who diffemble best
Their weariness; and they the most polite
Who fquander time and treasure with a smile
Though at their own destruction. She that alks
Her dear five hundred friends, contemns them all
And hates their coming. They, what can they lefs?
Make juft reprisals, and with cringe and shrug,
And bow obfequious, hide their hate of her.
'All catch the frenzy, downward from het Grace
Whofe flambeaux flash against the morning fkies,
And gild our chamber cielings as they pass,
To her who frugal only that her thrift
May feed exceffes fhe can ill afford,
Is hackney'd home unlacquey'd. Who in hafte
H.2
Alighting, turns the key in her own door,
And at the watchman's lantern borrowing light,
Finds a cold bed her only comfort left.
Wives beggar hufbands, hufbands ftarve their wives,
On fortune's velvet altar off'ring up
Their laft poor pittance. Fortune most severe.
Of goddeffes yet known, and coftlier far
Than all that held their routs in heathen heav'n.—
So fare we in this prifon-house the world.
And 'tis a fearful spectacle to fee
So many maniacs dancing in their chains.
They gaze upon the links that hold them fast
With eyes of anguish, execrate their lot,
Then fhake them in defpair, and dance again.
Now basket up the family of plagues
That waste our vitals. Peculation, fale
Of honor, perjury, corruption, frauds
By forgery, by fubterfuge of law,
By tricks and lies as num'rous and as keen
As the neceffities their authors feel;
Then caft them closely bundl'd, ev'ry brat
At the right door, Profufion is its fire.
Profufion unreftrain'd, with all that's bafe
In character, has litter'd all the land,
And bred within the mem'ry of no few..
A priesthood fuch as Baal's was of old,
A people fuch as never was 'till now.
It is a hungry vice :-it eats up all
That gives fociety its beauty, ftrength,
Convenience, and fecurity, and use.
Makes men mere vermin, worthy to be trapp'd'
And gibbetted as faft as catchpole claws.
Can feize the flipp'ry prey. Unties the knot
Of union, and converts the facred band
That holds mankind together, to a fcourge.
Profufion deluging a ftate with lufts
Of groffeft nature, and of worst effects,,
Prepares it for its ruin. Hardens, blinds,
And warps the confciences of public men,
Till they can laugh at virtue; mock the fools
That trust them; and in th' end, disclose a face
That would have fhock'd credulity herself
Unmask'd, vouchfafing this their fole excufe,
Since all alike are selfish-why not they?
This does Profufion, and th' accurfed caufe
Of fuch deep mischief, has itself a cause..
In colleges and halls, in ancient days, When learning, virtue, piety, and truth Were precious, and inculcated with care, There dwelt a fage call'd Difcipline. His head * Not yet by time completely filver'd o'er, Bespoke him paft the bounds of freakish youth, But ftrong for fervice ftill, and unimpair'd. His eye was meek and gentle, and a fmile Play'd on his lips, and in his speech was heard Paternal sweetnefs, dignity and love. The occupation deareft to his heart
Was to encourage goodness. He would stroke. The head of modeft and ingenious worth.
That blush'd at its own praife, and prefs the youth
Close to his fide that pleas'd him. Learning grew
Beneath his care, a thriving vig'rous plant;
The mind was well inform'd, the paffions held
Subordinate, and diligence was choice.
If e'er it chanc'd, as fometimes chance it must,
That one among fo many overleap'd
The limits of controul, his gentle eye
Grew ftern, and darted a fevere rebuke;
His frown was full of terror, and his voice
Shook the delinquent with fuch fits of awe
As left him not, till penitence had won
Loft favour back again, and clos'd the breach.
But difcipline, a faithful fervant long,
Declin'd at length into the vale of years;
A palfy ftruck his arm, his sparkling eye
Was quench'd in rheums of age, his voice unftrung,
Grew tremulous, and mov'd derifion more
Than rev'rence, in perverfe rebellious youth.
So colleges and halls neglected much
Their good old friend, and Difcipline at length:
O'erlook'd and unemploy'd, fell fick and dy'd.
Then ftudy languifh'd, emulation flept,
And virtue fled. The fchools became a scene
Of folemn farce, where ignorance in ftilts,
His cap well lin❜d with logic not his own,
With parrot tongue perform'd the scholar's part,,
Proceeding foon a graduated dunce.
Then compromife had place, and fcrutiny
Became ftone-blind, precedence went in truck,
And he was competent whose purse was so.
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