VERSE VIÍ.

LET him drink, and forget his Poverty; and remember his Mifery no more.

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HEREFORE, Son Lemuel, as I hope you will be a liberal and generous Prince in your Manhood; when you meet with fuch a dif confolate Creature upon the Brink of perishing through Poverty, or of breaking his Heart almoft with Heaviness and Sorrow, I befeech you to have fome tender Compaffion of his Circumftances. Accommodate him with Neceffaries out of your gracious Goodness, Bounty and Abundance. Let your Wine be brought forth in Plenty to relieve his Languifhment. Let it be fet before him in an ample Manner of Hospitality. Let him drink freely of it, to make his Heart chearful, and to raise his Faculties above any melancholy Refentments of his poor Conditi on. It will, in all Likelihood, put new Life into him; rowze up his drooping Spirits, and recreate his Mind with Alacrity: It will prefently change his Sadnefs and his Sorrow into Joy and good Humour. It will quickly divert his Thoughts from repining at his Poverty, Adverfity or Mifery. It will immediately make him fo merry and plea fant, with Moderation, as to bury his Anxieties in Oblivion for the Time Being. And why may not he be allow'd to

drink heartily, to fuch a virtuous Pitch as to alleviate the heavy Troubles of his Mind, the wearifome Labours of his Body, or the fretting Cares of his Fortune, by the Benefit of good Converfation and fober Company? Drinking ftrong Liquors with Difcretion is an acknowledg'd Relief for fuch Maladies, and reputed a fovereign Remedy for fuch Melancholies. If it cannot cure, it may correct the aggravating Thoughts of a Difeafe, or ease the prefent Pain and Anguish of a miferable AfAliction. And therefore let him plentifully make Use of fuch refreshing Auxiliaries and Reinforcements of Nature, as are most agreeable to his weak Conftitution, or convenient for helping his lingring Indifpofition, according to the comfortable Direction of this kind in

Atructive Leffon. Let him take the most reviving Cordials, which his own Pocket or his Friends can afford him out of their wonted Liberality. Let him drink the most generous Wines, without ftinting him to the Juice of the Grape only; anfwerable to the Nature of his Diftemper or Neceffity: but never to Excefs, never to Inflammation, never to Madness or Forgetfulness of his Duty. Moderation can only make them exactly wholesome and good for procuring Patience under all his Sufferings, Difafters or Sorrows. They must be drank to no Higher than an exhilarating Degree of Satisfaction? fo as to drive away the Cares and Anxieties of the World; to banish the Troubles and Vexations of Spirit; to difcard the thoughtful Reflections of the Mind upon a declining Fortune; to cancel the Memorial of our moft difturbing Misfortunes; or to bring all our de fpiriting Loffes, Difappointments, Diftreffes,

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Adverfities and ill Treatments into Oblivion, A moderate Glafs will be fufficient to make fuch heavy-hearted People foget their Poverty, think no more of their Hardships, and grieve no longer at the Remembrance of their Miferies; if they can be merry and wife in their Defires.

ΤΗ

REMARK S.

THIS is a divine Precept which her Majefty preffes; an excellent Recipe for a poor Man languishing under Misfortunes, Impoverishments, or Sorrows of Heart. He ought to make as much of himfelf as he can conveniently afford, in fuch difcouraging Circumftances of Life. He may very well be allow'd a chearful Bottle in Tribulation, to take away his tormenting Heart-Akes, and to affwage the Anguish of his Mind by the Powers of good Wine. Quacks may boast of their grand Elixirs, appealing Anodynes, or noble Febrifuges for the Body: But this has the Character, even in Holy Scripture, of a more wonderful Virtue or compofing Efficacy; being well prepar'd, and duly directed for the Health of the Patient: which is able to allay the greatest Grief, lighten the heaviest Burden, and caft off the moft virulent Bitternefs of his Soul, by its powerful Alleviation of Mifery.

POVERTY, however, in common Opinion, feems to be the most afflicting Story in the World. Some erroneous half-witted People may perhaps falfely think it a Curfe next to Reprobation, or a final falling from Grace; as if Riches were the fole Bleffing. But indeed it is very often no Sin to be poor; and requires

no

no forrowful Repentance, no tormenting After-Thought, nor to drink of fo bitter a Cup as a Remorse of Confcience, notwithstanding all its Oppreffions. For it may befal a Man without any of his own Fault; out of meer Neceffity, by manifeft Compulfion, or notorious Injustice. However, if we heartily confider it, either abstractedly in it felf, or in its unfortunate Circumstances, and in the miferable Confequences that it carries along with it; we fhall find it to be more than a meer Name and a very great Affliction, far more grievous than the bare Word imports at the firft Hearing of Want and Neceffity.

I. IN it felf, I do not take Poverty indeed to be either fo terrible a Scare-Crow on the one Side, or fo idle a Whimfy of a Chimara on the other, as fome Perfons vulgarly conjeature. Contentment is an immediate Cure for that growing Evil, and Patience a perfect Re medy against the fwelling Humours of fuch a repining Malady. Who can look upon it to

be

any more than a fanciful Bug-Bear to wifer Heads; that are not to be frighten'd with vain Shadows, or imaginary Phantoms? They Cannot terrify a generous Soul, well fortify'd with Courage, and arm'd with a full Relignation to God Almighty's good Providence, in all his infinitely wife Difpenfations: being fupported alfo over and above with an abfolute Refolution, rather to foffer than fin; rather to die than diftruft his Protection, or disobey his Authority. But, after all, how like a Thief and a Robber does it often fteal in upon the nobler Faculties of the Mind! It generally furprizes fome unthinking, cowardly People unawares, with the most frightful ConfternaG 2 tions.

tions. It frequently deters them from Virtue ; either disorders their Memory; perverts their Reason; disturbs their Will; confounds their Judgment; ruffles their Paffions; rifles the Cabinet of their Understanding; carries off their brightest Thoughts of Value, the Jewels of Wit; or deprives fuch difcontented Sufferers of their Freedom, Satisfaction and Security all at once by the Stealth. Poverty and Riches are both a-like in this Refpect; they both cheat their Masters and their Slaves of Happinefs, through their Deceitfulness, Impofition, and Infatuation. Nothing cows or discourages fome Men, even among the biggest Braggadocio's, more than the Apprehenfion of the Approaches of Poverty; at what a vast Distance foever it threatens an Attack. But when it marches-up at the Head of a formidable Army of Miferies, and offers prefent Battle; then it will be found difficult for the boldest Bravo to conquer it in the Encounter; to cope or to capitulate; to make Peace with it; or to reconcile the Fiend to become a familiar Friend, or a faithful Ally of a mortal Enemy: without the most couragious Conftancy, impregnable Patience, and undaunted Valour. 'Tis the Nature of Poverty to infult and triumph over pufillanimous Daftards. It fhews no Favour to the fneaking Coward, and gives no Quarter to the fubmitting Defponder. But the good Chriftian Hero may foon defeat, vanquish, and put to flight all its dreadful Forces in Array, by Virtue of his Equanimity and Long-Suffering. A Perfon truly magnanimous will never yield the Conqueft to crofs Fortune, nor tamely give-up the Victory to fuch a pitiful Ufurper; but ftand his Ground