The Borough Part 10

CLAUD.

Nunquam parvo contenta paratu, Et quaesitorum terra pelagoque ciborum Ambitiosa fames, et lautae gloria mensae.

LUCAN.

Et Luxus, populator Opum, tibi semper adhaerens, Infelix humili gressu comitatur Egestas.

CLAUD.

Behold what blessing wealth to life can lend.

POPE.

LIFE OF BLANEY.

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 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 changed, 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! - Gamed without skill, without inquiry 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 aspired to loftier flights of vice, To singing harlots of enormous price: He took a jockey in his gig to buy A 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 d.i.c.k, 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 expenses blind, Profuse, not just, and careless, but not kind.

Yet, thus a.s.sisted, ten long winters pa.s.s'd 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 n.o.body 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 ruled, but far from English ground: He gave employ that might for bread suffice, Correct his habits and restrain his vice.

Here Blaney tried (what such man's miseries teach) To find what pleasures were within his reach; These he enjoy'd, though not in just the style He once possess'd them in his native isle; Congenial souls he found in every place, Vice in all soils, and charms in every race: His lady took the same amusing way, And laugh'd at Time till he had turn'd them gray; At length for England once again they steer'd, By ancient views and new designs endear'd; His kindred died, and Blaney now became An heir to one who never heard his name.

What could he now?--The man had tried before The joys of youth, and they were joys no more; To vicious pleasure he was still inclined, But vice must now be season'd and refined; Then as a swine he would on pleasure seize, Now common pleasures had no power to please: Beauty alone has for the vulgar charms, He wanted beauty trembling with alarms: His was no more a youthful dream of joy, The wretch desired to ruin and destroy; He bought indulgence with a boundless price, Most pleased when decency bow'd down to vice, When a fair dame her husband's honour sold, And a frail countess play'd for Blaney's gold.

"But did not conscience in her anger rise?"

Yes! and he learn'd her terrors to despise; When stung by thought, to soothing books he fled, And grew composed and harden'd as he read; Tales of Voltaire, and essays gay and slight.

Pleased him, and shone with their phosphoric light; Which, though it rose from objects vile and base, Where'er it came threw splendour on the place, And was that light which the deluded youth, And this gray sinner, deem'd the light of truth.

He different works for different cause admired, Some fix'd his judgment, some his pa.s.sions fired; To cheer the mind and raise a dormant flame, He had the books, decreed to lasting shame, Which those who read are careful not to name: These won to vicious act the yielding heart, And then the cooler reasoners soothed the smart.

He heard of Blount, and Mandeville, and Chubb, How they the doctors of their day would drub; How Hume had dwelt on Miracles so well, That none would now believe a miracle; And though he cared not works so grave to read, He caught their faith, and sign'd the sinner's creed.

Thus was he pleased to join the laughing side, Nor ceased the laughter when his lady died; Yet was he kind and careful of her fame, And on her tomb inscribed a virtuous name; "A tender wife, respected, and so forth,"

The marble still bears witness to the worth.

He has some children, but he knows not where; Something they cost, but neither love nor care; A father's feelings he has never known, His joys, his sorrows, have been all his own.

He now would build, and lofty seat he built, And sought, in various ways, relief from guilt.

Restless, for ever anxious to obtain Ease for the heart by ramblings of the brain, He would have pictures, and of course a Taste, And found a thousand means his wealth to waste.

Newmarket steeds he bought at mighty cost; They sometimes won, but Blaney always lost.

Quick came his ruin, came when he had still For life a relish, and in pleasure skill: By his own idle reckoning he supposed His wealth would last him till his life was closed; But no! he found this final h.o.a.rd was spent, While he had years to suffer and repent.

Yet, at the last, his n.o.ble mind to show, And in his misery how he bore the blow, He view'd his only guinea, then suppress'd, For a short time, the tumults in his breast, And mov'd by pride, by habit, and despair, Gave it an opera-bird to hum an air.

Come ye! who live for Pleasure, come, behold A man of pleasure when he's poor and old; When he looks back through life, and cannot find A single action to relieve his mind; When he looks forward, striving still to keep A steady prospect of eternal sleep; When not one friend is left, of all the train Whom 'twas his pride and boast to entertain, - Friends now employ'd from house to house to run, And say, "Alas! poor Blaney is undone!" - Those whom he shook with ardour by the hand, By whom he stood as long as he could stand, Who seem'd to him from all deception clear, And who, more strange! might think themselves sincere.

Lo! now the hero shuffling through the town, To hunt a dinner and to beg a crown; To tell an idle tale, that boys may smile; To bear a strumpet's billet-doux a mile; To cull a wanton for a youth of wealth (With reverend view to both his taste and health); To be a useful, needy thing between Fear and desire--the pander and the screen; To flatter pictures, houses, horses, dress, The wildest fashion, or the worst excess; To be the gray seducer, and entice Unbearded folly into acts of vice: And then, to level every fence which law And virtue fix to keep the mind in awe, He first inveigles youth to walk astray, Next prompts and soothes them in their fatal way, Then vindicates the deed, and makes the mind his prey.

Unhappy man! what pains he takes to state - (Proof of his fear!) that all below is fate; That all proceed in one appointed track, Where none can stop, or take their journey back: Then what is vice or virtue?--Yet he'll rail At priests till memory and quotation fail; He reads, to learn the various ills they've done, And calls them vipers, every mother's son.

He is the harlot's aid, who wheedling tries To move her friend for vanity's supplies; To weak indulgence he allures the mind, Loth to be duped, but willing to be kind; And if successful--what the labour pays?

He gets the friend's contempt and Chloe's praise, Who, in her triumph, condescends to say, "What a good creature Blaney was to-day!"

Hear the poor demon when the young attend, And willing ear to vile experience lend; When he relates (with laughing, leering eye) The tale licentious, mix'd with blasphemy: No genuine gladness his narrations cause, The frailest heart denies sincere applause; And many a youth has turn'd him half aside, And laugh'd aloud, the sign of shame to hide.

Blaney, no aid in his vile cause to lose, Buys pictures, prints, and a licentious Muse; He borrows every help from every art, To stir the pa.s.sions and mislead the heart: But from the subject let us soon escape, Nor give this feature all its ugly shape; Some to their crimes escape from satire owe; Who shall describe what Blaney dares to show?

While thus the man, to vice and pa.s.sion slave, Was, with his follies, moving to the grave, The ancient ruler of this mansion died, And Blaney boldly for the seat applied: Sir Denys Brand, then guardian, join'd his suit: "'Tis true," said he, "the fellow's quite a brute - A very beast; but yet, with all his sin, He has a manner--let the devil in."

They half complied, they gave the wish'd retreat, But raised a worthier to the vacant seat.

Thus forced on ways unlike each former way, Thus led to prayer without a heart to pray, He quits the gay and rich, the young and free, Among the badge-men with a badge to be: He sees an humble tradesman rais'd to rule The gray-beard pupils of this moral school; Where he himself, an old licentious boy, Will nothing learn, and nothing can enjoy; In temp'rate measures he must eat and drink, And, pain of pains! must live alone and think.

In vain, by fortune's smiles, thrice affluent made, Still has he debts of ancient date unpaid; Thrice into penury by error thrown, Not one right maxim has he made his own; The old men shun him,--some his vices hate, And all abhor his principles and prate; Nor love nor care for him will mortal show, Save a frail sister in the female row.

LETTER XV.

INHABITANTS OF THE ALMS-HOUSE.

She early found herself mistress of herself. All she did was right; all she said was admired. Early, very early, did she dismiss blushes from her cheek: she could not blush because she could not doubt; and silence, whatever was her subject, was as much a stranger to her as diffidence.

RICHARDSON.

Quo fugit Venus! heu! Quove color? decens Quo motus? Quid habes illius, illius, Quae spirabat amores, Quae me surpuerat mihi?

HORACE, Odes.

CLELIA.

Her lively and pleasant Manners--Her Reading and Decision--Her Intercourse with different Cla.s.ses of Society--Her kind of Character--The favoured Lover--Her Management of him: his of her-- After one Period, Clelia with an Attorney; her Manner and Situation there--Another such Period, when her Fortune still declines-- Mistress of an Inn--A Widow--Another such Interval: she becomes poor and infirm, but still vain and frivolous--The fallen Vanity-- Admitted into the House: meets Blaney.

WE had a sprightly nymph--in every town Are some such sprights, who wander up and down; She had her useful arts, and could contrive, In Time's despite, to stay at twenty-five; - "Here will I rest; move on, thou lying year, This is mine age, and I will rest me here."

Arch was her look, and she had pleasant ways Your good opinion of her heart to raise; Her speech was lively, and with ease express'd, And well she judged the tempers she address'd: If some soft stripling had her keenness felt, She knew the way to make his anger melt; Wit was allow'd her, though but few could bring Direct example of a witty thing; 'Twas that gay, pleasant, smart, engaging speech, Her beaux admired, and just within their reach; Not indiscreet, perhaps, but yet more free Than prudish nymphs allow their wit to be.

Novels and plays, with poems old and new, Were all the books our nymph attended to; Yet from the press no treatise issued forth, But she would speak precisely of its worth.

She with the London stage familiar grew, And every actor's name and merit knew; She told how this or that their part mistook, And of the rival Romeos gave the look; Of either house 'twas hers the strength to see, Then judge with candour--"Drury Lane for me."

What made this knowledge, what this skill complete?

A fortnight's visit in Whitechapel Street.

Her place in life was rich and poor between, With those a favourite, and with these a queen; She could her parts a.s.sume, and condescend To friends more humble while an humble friend; And thus a welcome, lively guest could pa.s.s, Threading her pleasant way from cla.s.s to cla.s.s.

"Her reputation?"--That was like her wit, And seem'd her manner and her state to fit; Sometking there was--what, none presumed to say; Clouds lightly pa.s.sing on a smiling day, - Whispers and hints which went from ear to ear, And mix'd reports no judge on earth could clear.

But of each s.e.x a friendly number press'd To joyous banquets this alluring guest: There, if indulging mirth, and freed from awe, If pleasing all, and pleased with all she saw, Her speech was free, and such as freely dwelt On the same feelings all around her felt; Or if some fond presuming favourite tried To come so near as once to be denied; Yet not with brow so stern or speech so nice, But that he ventured on denial twice: - If these have been, and so has Scandal taught, Yet Malice never found the proof she sought.

But then came one, the Lovelace of his day, Rich, proud, and crafty, handsome, brave, and gay; Yet loved he not those labour'd plans and arts, But left the business to the ladies' hearts, And when he found them in a proper train He thought all else superfluous and vain: But in that training he was deeply taught, And rarely fail'd of gaining all he sought; He knew how far directly on to go, How to recede and dally to and fro; How to make all the pa.s.sions his allies, And, when he saw them in contention rise, To watch the wrought-up heart, and conquer by surprise.

Our heroine fear'd him not; it was her part To make sure conquest of such gentle heart - Of one so mild and humble; for she saw In Henry's eye a love chastised by awe.

Her thoughts of virtue were not all sublime, Nor virtuous all her thoughts; 'twas now her time To bait each hook, in every way to please, And the rich prize with dext'rous hand to seize.

She had no virgin-terrors; she could stray In all love's maze, nor fear to lose her way; Nay, could go near the precipiee, nor dread A failing caution or a giddy head; She'd fix her eyes upon the roaring flood, And dance upon the brink where danger stood.

'Twas nature all, she judged, in one so young, To drop the eye and falter in the tongue; To be about to take, and then command His daring wish, and only view the hand: Yes! all was nature; it became a maid Of gentle soul t'encourage love afraid; - He, so unlike the confident and bold, Would fly in mute despair to find her cold: The young and tender germ requires the sun To make it spread; it must be smiled upon.

Thus the kind virgin gentle means devised, To gain a heart so fond, a hand so prized; More gentle still she grew, to change her way Would cause confusion, danger, and delay: Thus (an increase of gentleness her mode), She took a plain, unvaried, certain road, And every hour believed success was near, Till there was nothing left to hope or fear.

It must be own'd that, in this strife of hearts, Man has advantage--has superior arts: The lover's aim is to the nymph unknown, Nor is she always certain of her own; Or has her fears, nor these can so disguise, But he who searches reads them in her eyes, In the avenging frown, in the regretting sighs: These are his signals, and he learns tb steer The straighter course whenever they appear.

"Pa.s.s we ten years, and what was Clelia's fate?"

At an attorney's board alert she sate, Not legal mistress: he with other men Once sought her hand, but other views were then; And when he knew he might the bliss command, He other blessing sought without the hand; For still he felt alive the lambent flame, And offer'd her a home,--and home she came.

There, though her higher friendships lived no more, She loved to speak of what she shared before - "Of the dear Lucy, heiress of the hall, - Of good Sir Peter,--of their annual ball, And the fair countess!--Oh! she loved them all!"

The humbler clients of her friend would stare, The knowing smile,--but neither caused her care; She brought her spirits to her humble state, And soothed with idle dreams her frowning fate.