But view him in another scene,
When all his drink is Hippocrene,
His money spent, his patrons fail,
His credit out for cheese and ale;
His two-years coat so smooth and bare,
Through every thread it lets in air;
With hungry meals his body pined,
His guts and belly full of wind;
And, like a jockey for a race,
His flesh brought down to flying case:
Now his exalted spirit loathes
Encumbrances of food and clothes;
And up he rises like a vapour,
Supported high on wings of paper.
He singing flies, and flying sings,
While from below all Grub-Street rings.
THE SOUTH-SEA PROJECT. 1721
Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto,
Arma virum, tabulaeque, et Troia gaza per undas.
VIRG.
For particulars of this famous scheme for reducing the National Debt,
projected by Sir John Blunt, who became one of the Directors of it, and
ultimately one of the greatest sufferers by it, when the Bubble burst,
see Smollett's "History of England," vol. ii; Pope's "Moral Essays,"
Epist. iii, and notes; and Gibbon's "Memoirs," for the violent and
arbitrary proceedings against the Directors, one of whom was his
grandfather.--_W. E. B._
Ye wise philosophers, explain
What magic makes our money rise,
When dropt into the Southern main;
Or do these jugglers cheat our eyes?
Put in your money fairly told;
_Presto_! be gone--'Tis here again:
Ladies and gentlemen, behold,
Here's every piece as big as ten.
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