Bland adulation! other pleasures pall

On the sick taste, and transient are they all;
But this one sweet has such enchanting power,
The more we take, the faster we devour;
Nauseous to those who must the dose apply,
And most disgusting to the standers-by;
Yet in all companies will Laughton feed,
Nor care how grossly men perform the deed,

As gapes the nursling, or, what comes more near, Some Friendly-Island-chief, for hourly cheer; When wives and slaves, attending round his seat, Prepare by turns the masticated meat;

So for this master, husband, parent, friend,
His ready slaves their various efforts blend,
And, to their lord still eagerly inclin'd,
Pour the crude trash of a dependent mind.

But let the Muse assign the man his due:
Worth he possess'd, nor were his virtues few;
He sometimes help'd the injur'd in their cause;
His power and purse have back'd the failing laws;
He for Religion has a due respect,

And all his serious notions are correct;

Although he pray'd and languish'd for a son,
He grew resign'd when heaven denied him one;
He never to this quiet mansion sends
Subject unfit, in compliment to friends:
Not to sir Denys, who would yet protest
He always chose the worthiest and the best ;
Not men in trade by various loss brought down,
But those whose glory once amaz'd the town,
Who their last guinea in their pleasures spent,
Yet never fell so low as to repent;

T

To these his pity he could largely deal,

Wealth they had known, and therefore want could feel.

Three seats were vacant while sir Denys reign'd, And three such favourites their admission gain'd; These let us view, still more to understand

The moral feelings of sir Denys Brand.

LETTER XIV.

INHABITANTS OF THE ALMS-HOUSE.

BLANEY.

Sed quia cæcus inest vitiis amor, omne futurum
Despicitur; suadent brevem præsentia fructum,
Et ruit in vetitum damni secura libido.

Claudian. in Eutrop.

Nunquam parvo contenta peracta

Et quæsitorum terra pelagoque ciborum
Ambitiosa fames et lautæ gloria mensæ.

Et luxus, populator opum, tibi semper adhærens
Infelix humili gressu comitatur Egestas.

Claudian. in Rufinum.

Behold what blessing wealth to life can lend

Popic.

LIFE OF BLANEY.

Blaney, a wealthy heir, dissipated, and reduced to poverty.-His fortune restored by marriage: again consumed.-His manner of li ́ving in the West-Indies.-Recalled to a larger inheritance. His more refined and expensive luxuries. His method of quieting conscience.-Death of his wife.-Again become poor.-His method of supporting existence. His ideas of religion.-His habits and connexions when old.-Admitted into the Alms-house.

LETTER XIV.

INHABITANTS OF THE ALMS-HOUSE.

BLANEY.

OBSERVE that tall pale veteran! what a look
Of shame and guilt! who cannot read that book?
Misery and mirth are blended in his face,

Much innate vileness and some outward grace;
There wishes strong and stronger griefs are seen,
Looks ever chang'd and never one serene:
Show not that manner and these features all,
The serpent's cunning and the sinner's fall?
Hark to that laughter!-'tis the way he takes
To force applause for each vile jest he makes;
Such is yon man by partial favour sent
To these calm seats to ponder and repent.
Blaney, a wealthy heir at twenty-one,

At twenty-five was ruin'd and undone;

These years with grievous crimes we need not load,
He found his ruin in the common road;

Gain'd without skill, without inquiry bought,
Lent without love, and borrow'd without thought.