Je!

VII.
Of all the plagues that torture hapless man,

Those that relate to money are the worst;
And ever since the coining pest began,

Of mortal evils it has stood the first;
So hard to get-to keep so hard to plan,
The
very

melal seems to be accurst;
That even those who have the most, but find
It leaves a lasting fever in the mind.

VUI.
Else why should thousands squander it so fast?

Drink-gamble-try a hundred ways to spend it:
If 'twere a good, they'd strive to make it last,

Not mar their health-toil night and day to end it. Some risk it wholesale on a desperate cast,

Take shares in theatres,-build bridges,-lend it;
Others, as if they could not bear their sight on't,
Bury it where the sun can shed no light on't,

IX.
Some, when they've got it, don't know what to do

To keep it from the prying eyes of men;
Try every art to shut it out from view,

Yet seem to wish to find it safe again;
Hide it in garrets, walls, and cellars too,

Like some black proof of crime, from mortal ken!
Which proves that its possession but disgraces,
Or else why put it in such secret places ?

X.
Apd others, with a rueful face of sorrow,

Though rich as Cresus, swear they've not a penny;
For fear some bosom friend should beg or borrow;

Tell all the world, (and 'tis the case with many,)
They don't know where to get a meal to-morrow:

And, as for hope of change, they have not any;
Which shows us, that they hold the very name
Of being rich, a mark of guilt or shame.

XI.
The wealthy scarcely kuow if those who speak

Their friendship, act from interest or love;
They know not how the smile that decks the cheek

The touchstone of adversity might prove:
But they who kindly come the poor to seek-

To sooth- to aid, -regard alone must move;
They who have nothing in the world to spare,
May deem sincere the friendship that they share.

XII.
The rich have scarce an hour to call their owo;

Their Midas knockers echo night and day;
They hardly know what 'tis to be alone,

To give their thoughts uninterrupted play,
The poor are little visited or known

The unregarding crowd pass on their way
Their time, their only property on earth,
Is all their own, howe'er of little worth.

XIII.
I hate unnecessary ceremony,

The rich are tortured by it night and day;
While I, who haply have not any money,

Am ne'er obstructed by it on my way:
It might be thought, to me, all hearts were stony,-

I deem it is a compliment they pay;
Since man is freest with his dearest friends,
Nor caręs a farthing when he lowest bends.

XIV.
But when the rich man comes into a room,

All start from off their seats in such a hurry,
As if it were high treason to presuine

To sit in quiet, and betray no flurry,-
Or, until he is fix'd, their posts resume:

All this to me would be a perfect worry!
Whatever place I enter, no one caresma
All are so free--ev'u school-boys keep their chairs.

XV.
He who increaseth wealth, increaseth sorrow

And yet man lays up all his treasure here;
His joys-rhis hopes-still hang upon the morrow,

Nor often are more certain, nor more near.
"Twere better toil like slaves, or beg, or borrow,

Than waste the day in care-the night in fear,
Dreaming of debtors, compositions, losses--
And all the thousand terms of money's crosses.

XVI.
If, as the school-boy says, multiplication

(When a sad row of figures meets his eye,) Is nothing but the acme of vexation;

In after life, when love of gold is high,
Subtraction is a greater tribulation;

When bankrupts-(not bank)-dividends draw nigh
Where, when the creditor desires addition,
Some vile insolvent comes and works division.

XVII.
He who possesses much, has much to lose,

And that's a thing which tries the temper much ;
More than a crying child, or scolding spouse :

He who invades the pocket, dares to touch What few are willing other hands should use,

And therefore grasps it with an iron clutch ; And, when against the will 'tis forced apart, 'Tis like phlebotomizing from the heart.

XVIII. 1-(that's the fancied bard who sings-not me--)

Am safe from all the agonies of loss ; From robber-debtor-borrowing friend-am free,

And therefore such can never make me cross : The wind might joiu in conflict with the sea

I have no argosies for storins to toss;
Earthquakes might wreck from Greenland to the line,
They could not bury house nor land of mine.

XIX,
Money involves the world in tribulation,

Produces envy, hatred, theft, and strife;
Gives birth to half the laws that vex the nation,

It makes friends quarrel, severs. man and wife!
Named every day and hour with execration,

Man's first-last trouble—and prime pest of life.
Nations and individuals war about it,
Because men fancy they can't do without it.

XX.
All things alarm the nionied man,—the wind,

Raging at night, appals his soul with fears;
He dreads, when morning comes, that he shall find

Barns, or old houses, blown about bis ears; If it be moonlight-tben his anxious mind

Thinks of his tenants,-reckons their arrears,—
And deems that he shall find them gone next day,
And neither goods nor chattels left to pay.

XXI.
A movarch’s death, the altering of a law,

News from a friendly or a hostile state,
The quarrels of two kings he never saw,--

Intelligence received too soon—too late,
A Royal stomach's gout,~a legal flaw,-

These are sufficient to affect his fate!
Chances and changes, barr'd from all' insurance,
Threaten his

pcace and pocket past endurance.

XXII.
They who have much are always wanting more,

And seldom have a shilling they can spare;
Grasping at purchases to swell their store,

Present enjoyment pever claims their care: While I, who ne'er o'er sales by auction pore,

(And, if I did, should have no business there,).
Reckless enjoy my little day by day,
And make myself as happy as I may.

XXIII.
I'm poor and old, and I remember well

What thousands hurried to the Bank one day
To get their gold, when luckless paper fell;

They crowded round the door demanding pay,
Lawyers, physicians, spinsters, mix'd pell mell -

Peers, tradesmen, farmers, elbowing away, -
All classes,--all conditions,-save the poet,
Gold they have none, their lofty souls forego it!

XXIV.
I saw that crowd-beheld unmoved their trouble,

Their eyeballs in the yellow fever rolld;
The half of them are gone, despite the bubble, -

I, who had nothing, live-and they are cold;
And cold they would be, had their stock been double ;

They died, however three per centum sold; While I have had each needful boon of life, Without their stock, scrip, omnium, or strife.

XXV.
When fortune's at its lowest, things must mend ;

He who has nothing, kuows no fear of worse :
If Hope be still man's best and dearest friend,

He who has all to hope for, from the curse Of dark despair is freest,-she may send

That needful thing (as life is now) a purse: Hope is the poor man's friend, and be enjoys it, Even though disappointment oft alloys it.

XXVI.
There is a pleasure even in despair,

A calm, mix'd, wine-and-water reverie;
He, who can fearlessly stand forth, and dare

Fortune to send him one more misery,
Has there a boast the richer cannot share:

They who are high may, therefore, lower be;
But he who is at fortune's lowest state,
Is really placed beyond the reach of fate.

XXVII.
From Poverty spriog half our being's joys !

From her, the luxuries of life arise ; "Tis indigence,-necessity,-employs

The hands that charm our tastes, our ears, our eyes ; The impulse that no love of ease destroys,

The power whose inspiration never dies !
She makes the painter toil, the soldier fight,
The cook endure the fire,—the author write.

XXVIII.
No footpad takes the pains to dog my path ;

No highwayman upon the lonely heath
Thinks me an object worthy of his wrath,—

Who, bad I gold, in change would give me death ! While he the world calls blest, because he hath

What I have not, too soon resigns his breath;
When I walk, rest, or sleep, without alarm,-
My coat a passport and defence from barm.

XXIX.
I need no locks, nor bars, nor bolts at home;

I always find my chattels as I left them;
Fearing no unasked visitors, I roam-

Such as when rich men go abroad have reft them Of worldly goods, whose loss has made them foam ;

Secured by doors and chains,-till the rogues cleft them: I have so little moveables in store, "Twere nothing if I never found them more.

XXX.
There's something charming in variety;

'Tis said so,-and I try to find it true: To gaze on oue scene breeds satiety,

And therefore do I often change the view;
I'm seldom long in one society-

Friends, prospects, resting-places ever new ;
I'm here to-day, - I'm somewhere else to-morrow;
And manage every-where some charms to borrow.

XXXI.
How many thousands are undone by wealth!

While poorer men are safe, nor scarce can fall;
Gold undermines the morals and the health ;

The frantic gamester risks and loses all : His fortune sinks at once—and not by stealth,

And then he flies to death without his call; While none to play a game with me would chuse, Fearful alike if they should win or lose.