J U D A S. 1731.

Y the juft vengeance of incenfed skies,

BY

Poor Bishop Judas late repenting dies.
The Jews engag'd him with a paltry bribe,
Amounting hardly to a crown a tribe ;
Which though his confcience forc'd him to restore
(And, parfons tell us, no man can do more);
Yet, through defpair, of God and man accurft,
He loft his bishoprick, and hang'd or burst.
Those former ages differ'd much from this ;
Judas betray'd his master with a kiss:
But fome have kifs'd the gospel fifty times,
Whofe perjury's the least of all their crimes ;
Some who can perjure through a two-inch board,
Yet keep their bishopricks, and 'fcape the cord:
Like hemp, which, by a fkilful spinster drawn
To flender threads, may fometimes pass for lawn.
As ancient Judas by tranfgreffion fell,

And burft asunder ere he went to hell;
So could we see a set of new Ifcariots

Come headlong tumbling from their mitred chariots;
Each modern Judas perish like the first;

Drop from the tree, with all his bowels burst;
Who could forbear, that view'd each guilty face,
To cry, "Lo! Judas gone to his own place,
"His habitation let all men forfake,

"And let his bishoprick another take!"

AN

AN EPISTLE TO MR. GAY*, 1731.

How could you, Gay, difgrace the Mufes' train,
To serve a taftelefs Court twelve years in vain!

Fain would I think our female friend ↑ fincere,
Till Bob, the poet's foe, poffefs'd her ear.
Did female virtue e'er fo high afcend,

To lose an inch of favour for a friend?

Say, had the Court no better place to chufe
For thee, than make a dry-nurse of thy Muse?
How cheaply had thy liberty been fold,
To fquire a royal girl of two years old;
In leading-ftrings her infant-steps to guide,
Or with her go-cart amble fide by fide!

But princely Douglas and his glorious dame
Advanc'd thy fortune, and preferv'd thy fame.
Nor will your nobler gifts be mifapply'd,
When o'er your patron's treasure you prefide:
The world shall own, his choice was wife and juft,
For fons of Phoebus never break their trust.

Not love of beauty lefs the heart inflames
Of guardian eunuchs to the Sultan's dames:

* The Dean, having been told by an intimate friend, that the Duke of Queensberry had employed Mr. Gay to infpect the accounts and management of his Grace's receivers and stewards (which however proved to be a mistake), wrote this Epiftle to his riend.

+ The countess of Suffolk. N.

Their paffions not more impotent and cold,
Than those of poets to the luft of gold.
With Pæan's pureft fire his favourites glow,
The dregs will ferve to ripen ore below;
His meanest work: for, had he thought it fit,
That wealth fhould be the appennage of wit,
The god of light could ne'er have been so blind
To deal it to the worft of human-kind.

But let me now, for I can do it well,
Your conduct in this new employ foretel.
And first to make my obfervation right,
I place a fatefman full before my fight,
A bloated minifter in all his geer,
With fhameless vifage and perfidious leer;
Two rows of teeth arm each devouring jaw,
And oftrich-like his all-digefting maw.
My fancy drags this monfter to my view,
To fhew the world his chief reverse in you..
Of loud unmeaning founds a rapid flood

Rolls from his mouth in plenteous ftreams of mud;

With thefe the court and fenate-house he plies,
Made up of noife, and impudence, and lies.
Now let me fhew how Bob and you agree:

You ferve a potent prince, as well as he.
The ducal coffers, trufted to your charge,
Your honeft care may fill, perhaps enlarge:
His vaffais easy, and the owner bleft;
They pay a trifle, and enjoy the reft.
Not fo a nation's revenues are paid :

The fervant's faults are on the mafter laid.

The

The people with a figh their taxes bring:

And, curfing Bob, forget to bless the King.

Next hearken, Gay, to what thy charge requires, With fervants, tenants, and the neighbouring Squires Let all domeftics feel your gentle fway;

Nor bribe, infult, nor flatter, nor betray.

Let due reward to merit be allow'd;

*

Nor with your kindred half the palace crowd ↑
Nor think yourself secure in doing wrong,
By telling nofes with a party frong.

Be rich; but of your wealth make no parade;
At least, before your master's debts are paid:
Nor in a palace, built with charge immenfes
Prefume to treat him at his own expence.
Each farmer in the neighbourhood can count
To what your lawful perquifites amount.
The tenants poor, the hardness of the times,
Are ill excufes for a fervant's crimes.
With intereft, and a premium paid befide,
The master's preffing wants must be supply'd ;;
With hafty zeal behold the feward come

4

By his own credit to advance the fum;
Who, while th' unrighteous mammon is his friend,
May well conclude his power will never end.
A faithful treasurer! what could be do more?
He lends my Lord what was my Lord's before.
The law fo ftrictly guards the Monarch's health,
That no phyfician dares prescribe by stealth:
The council fit; approve the doctor's skill;
And give advice, before he gives the pill.

But

But the fate empiric acts a safer part;
And, while he poisons, wins the royal heart.
But how can I defcribe the ravenous breed?
Then let me now by negatives proceed.
Suppofe your Lord a trusty servant send
On weighty business to some neighbouring friend :
Prefume not, Gay, unless you serve a drone,
To countermand his orders by your own.

Should fome imperious neighbour sink the boats,
And drain the fib-ponds, while your master dotes ;
Shall he upon the ducal rights intrench,

Because he brib'd you with a brace of tench?
Nor from your Lord his bad condition hide,
To feed his luxury, or footh his pride.
Nor at an under-rate his timber fell,

And with an oath affure him, all is well;
Or fwear it rotten; and with humble airs
Requeft it of him to complete your flairs;
Nor, when a mortgage lies on half his lands,
Come with a purse of guineas in your hands.
Have Peter Waters always in your mind;
That rogue, of genuine minifterial kind,
Can half the peerage by his arts bewitch,
Starve twenty lords to make one fcoundrel rich:
And, when he gravely has undone a score,

Is humbly pray'd to ruin twenty more.

A dextrous steward, when his tricks are found,
Hufb-money
fends to all the neighbours round;
His mafter, unfufpicious of his pranks,
Pays all the coft, and gives the villain thanks.

And,