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 so 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;
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,
INHABITANTS OF THE ALMS-HOUSE.
Sed quia cæcus inest vitiis amor, omne futurum
Despicitur; suadent brevem præsentia fructum,
Et ruit in vetitum damni secura libido.
Nunquam parvo contenta peracta
Et quæsitorum terrâ pelagoque ciborum
Ambitiosa fames et lautæ gloria mensæ.
Et Luxus, populator Opum, tibi semper adhærens
Infelix humili gressu comitatur Egestas.
Behold what Blessing Wealth to Life can lend!
Blaney, a wealthy Heir, dissipated, and reduced to Poverty.-His Fortune restored by Marriage: again consumed.-His Manner of Living 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 Connections when old.-Admitted into the AlmsHouse.
INHABITANTS OF THE ALMS-HOUSE.
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;
Gam'd, without Skill, without Enquiry bought,
Lent without Love, and borrow'd without Thought.
But, gay and handsome, he had soon the Dower
Of a kind, wealthy Widow in his power;
Then he aspir'd to loftier flights of Vice,
To singing Harlots of enormous price :
He took a Jockey in his Gig to buy
An Horse, so valued, that a Duke was shy:
To gain the Plaudits of the knowing few,
Gamblers and Grooms, what would not Blaney do?
His dearest Friend, at that improving age,
Was Hounslow Dick, who drove the Western Stage.
Cruel he was not-If he left his Wife,
He left her to her own Pursuits in Life;
Deaf to Reports, to all Expences blind,
Profuse, not just, and careless, but not kind.
Yet thus assisted ten long Winters past,
In wasting Guineas ere he saw his last,
Then he began to reason and to feel
He could not dig, nor had he learn'd to steal ;
And should he beg as long as he might live,
He justly fear'd that Nobody would give :
But he could charge a Pistol, and at will,
All that was mortal, by a Bullet kill:
And he was taught by those whom he would call
Man's surest Guides-that he was mortal all.
While thus he thought, still waiting for the Day, When he should dare to blow his Brains away,
A Place for him a kind Relation found,
Where England's Monarch rul'd, but far from English -Ground:
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