For which he takes such pains to be thought wise, And screws his actions in a forc'd disguise, Leading a tedious life in misery,

Under laborious, mean hypocrisy.

Look to the bottom of this vast design,
Wherein man's wisdom, pow'r and glory join;

The good he acts, the ill he does endure,
"Tis all for fear, to make himself secure.
Merely for safety after fame we thirst;
For all men would be cowards if they durst;
And honesty's against all common-sense;
Men must be knaves, 'tis in their own defence.
Mankind's dishonest; if you think it fair
Amongst known cheats to play upon the
You'll be undone -

square,

Nor can weak truth your reputation save,
The knaves will all agree to call you knave:
Wrong'd shall he live, insulted o'er, opprest,
Who dares be less a villain than the rest.

Thus, sir, you see what human nature craves;.
Most men are cowards, all men should be knaves.
The diff'rence lies, as far as I can see,
Not in the thing itself, but the degree;
And all the subject-matter of debate,
Is only, who's a knave of the first rate?
All this with indignation have I hurl'd
At the pretending part of the proud world,

Docteur, si, pénétrant dans leurs vastes desseins, Vous lisiez dans le cœur des malheureux humains, Vous verriez que la peur fait toute leur vaillance Et qu'ils immolent tout à leur chère existence. Qu'ils sont tous, en un mot, et coquins et poltrons, Qu'ils sont tous, plus ou moins, et lâches et fripons;

Et

que l'art se réduit à distinguer en face

Le lâche et le fripon de la première classe.

Du

C'est ainsi qu'en mes vers j'attaquais, sans pitié, pauvre genre humain l'orgueilleuse moitié :

Who, swoln with selfish vanity, devise,
False freedoms, holy cheats, and formal lies,
Over their fellow-slaves to tyrannize.

But if in court so just a man there be,
(In court a just man! yet unknown to me)
Who does his needful flattery direct,
Not to oppose and ruin, but protect;
Since flattery, which way soever laid,
Is still a tax on that unhappy trade;
If so upright a statesman you can find,
Whose passions bend to his unbias'd mind;
Who does his arts and policies apply
To raise his country, not his family;

Is there a churchman who on God relies,
Whose life his faith and doctrine justifies?
blown up with vain prelatic pride,
Who, for reproach of sins, does man deride;
Whose envious heart with saucy eloquence,

Not one,

Dares chide at kings, and rail at men of sense;
Who from his Pulpit vents more peevish lies,
More bitter railings, scandals, calumnies,

Than at a gossiping are thrown about,

When the good wives get drunk, and then fall out;
None of the sensual tribe, whose talents lie
In avarice, pride, in sloth, and gluttony;
Who hunt good livings, but abhor good lives
Whose lust exalted, to that height arrives,

Ces adroits imposteurs qui, par de saintes fables, Veulent tyranniser, garotter leurs semblables.

Si l'on peut cependant me montrer, à la cour, Ce que je n'ai pu voir encor jusqu'à ce jour, Un homme juste, sage, employant sa puissance A réprimer le crime, à sauver l'innocence; Ami des malheureux, ennemi des flatteurs, Toujours inaccessible aux présens corrupteurs, Et qui, dans le haut rang où sa sagesse brille, Enrichit son pays et non pas sa famille.

Si l'on peut me montrer encor, dans le clergé, Non un de ces prélats de richesses gorgé, Qui prêche les vertus en pratiquant les vices, Qui, jamais bienfaisant, aime les bénéfices; Et de l'amour tout haut condamnant les écarts,

They act adultery with their own wives;
And e'er a score of years compleated be,
Can from the lofty pulpit proudly see
Half a large parish their own progeny.

But a meek humble man, of honest sense, Who, preaching peace, does practise continence; Whose pious life 's a proof he does believe Mysterious truths which no man can conceive;

If upon earth there dwell such godlike men, I'll here recant my paradox to them, Adore those shrines of virtue, homage pay, And with the rabble world their laws obey: If such there are, yet grant me this at least, Man differs more from man, than man from beast.

HUSBAND, thou dull unpity'd miscreant,
Wedded to noise, to misery and want;
Sold an eternal vassal for thy life,

Oblig'd to cherish and to hate thy wife!
Drudge on, till fifty, at thy own expence,
Breathe out thy life in one impertinence ;