SATYR.
83
For what, but Miracles, can serve
So great a Madness to preserve;
As his, that ventures Goods and Chattles
(Where there's no Quarter giv'n) in Battles,
45 And fights with Money-bags as bold,
As Men with Sand-bags did of old:[1]
Puts Lands, and Tenements, and Stocks
Into a paultry Jugler's Box;
And, like an Alderman of Gotham,
50 Embarketh in so vile a Bottom:
Engages blind and senseless Hap
'Gainst High, and Low, and Slur and Knap,
(As Tartars with a Man of Straw
Encounter Lions, Hand to Paw)
55 With those, that never venture more,
Than they had safely 'nsur'd before;
Who, when they knock the Box and shake,
Do, like the Indian Rattle-Snake,
But strive to ruin, and destroy
60 Those that mistake it for fair Play:
That have their Fulhams at command,[2]
Brought up to do their Feats at hand;
So great a Madness to preserve;
As his, that ventures Goods and Chattles
(Where there's no Quarter giv'n) in Battles,
45 And fights with Money-bags as bold,
As Men with Sand-bags did of old:[1]
Puts Lands, and Tenements, and Stocks
Into a paultry Jugler's Box;
And, like an Alderman of Gotham,
50 Embarketh in so vile a Bottom:
Engages blind and senseless Hap
'Gainst High, and Low, and Slur and Knap,
(As Tartars with a Man of Straw
Encounter Lions, Hand to Paw)
55 With those, that never venture more,
Than they had safely 'nsur'd before;
Who, when they knock the Box and shake,
Do, like the Indian Rattle-Snake,
But strive to ruin, and destroy
60 Those that mistake it for fair Play:
That have their Fulhams at command,[2]
Brought up to do their Feats at hand;
- ↑ 46. As Men with Sand-bags did of old.] The same and Thought and the same Lines in Hudibras P. III. Canto 2. line 79. upon which, in Dr. Grey's Edition, there is a Note to which the Reader may have recourse.
- ↑ 61. That have their Fulhams at command] Fulhams was, in those Days, a cant Term for false Dice, which ran high or low according as they were loaded.
75. Alsbough
