Since this happy day

Now ev'ry man may

Rob (as fafe as in office) upon the highway. For Bluefkin's fharp penknife hath set you at ease;

And ev'ry man round me may rob, if he pleafe.

V.

Some cheat in the customs, fome rob the excife; But he who robs both is esteemed moft wife. Church-wardens, too prudent to hazard the halter,

As yet only venture to fteal from the altar. But now to get gold,

They may be more bold,

And rob on the highway, fince Jonathan's cold:

For Bluefkin's fharp penknife hath set you at ease;

And ev'ry man round me may rob, if he please.

VI.

Some by publick revenues, which pass'd through their hands,

Have purchas'd clean houfes, and bought dirty lands:

Some to steal from a charity think it no fin, Which at home (fays the proverb) does always

begin.

But,

But, if ever you be

Affign'd a trustee,

Treat not orphans like mafters of the chancery;

But take the highway, and more honestly feize;

For ev'ry man round me may rob, if he please.

VII.

What a pother has here been with Wood and his brafs,

Who would modeftly make a few half-pennies pass!

The patent is good, and the precedent's old, For Diomede changed his copper for gold: But, if Ireland despise

The new half-pennies,

With more fafety to rob on the road I advife:

For Bluefkin's fharp penknife hath set thee at ease;

Andev'ry man round me may rob, if he please.

On Wood * the patentee's Irish half-pence.

Α AS

Written in the Year 1724.

I.

S when the 'fquire and tinker, Wood, Gravely confulting Ireland's good, Together mingled in a mass

Smith's duft, and copper, lead, and brass;
The mixture thus by chymick art
United close in ev'ry part,

In fillets roll'd, or cut in pieces,
Appear'd like one continu'd fpecies;
And, by the forming engine ftruck,
On all the fame impreffion ftuck.
So, to confound this hated coin,
All parties and religions join;
Whigs, Tories, Trimmers, Hanoverians,
Quakers, Conformists, Presbyterians,
Scotch, Irish, English, French unite,
With equal int'reft, equal pight;
Together mingled in a lump,
Do all in one opinion jump ;
And ev'ry one begins to find
The fame impreffion on his mind.
A strange event! whom gold incites
To blood and quarrels, brafs unites:

* See an Account of Wood's project in the Drapier's letters, Vol. X. .

So

So, goldfmiths fay, the coarseft ftuff
Will ferve for folder well enough:
So by the kettle's loud alarm
The bees are gather'd to a fwarm:
So by the brazen trumpet's blufter
Troops of all tongues and nations muster:
And fo the harp of Ireland brings
Whole crowds about its brazen ftrings.

II.

There is a chain let down from Jove, But faften'd to his throne above, So ftrong, that from the lower end, They fay, all human things depend. This chain, as ancient poets hold, When Jove was young, was made of gold. Prometheus once this chain purloin'd, Diffolv'd, and into money coin'd; Then whips me on a chain of brass: (Venus * was brib'd to let it pass.)

Now, while this brazen chain prevail'd, Jove faw that all devotion fail'd;

No temple to his Godfhip rais'd;
No facrifice at altars blaz'd;

In fhort, fuch dire confufion follow'd,

Earth must have been in chaos fwallow'd.

* A great lady was faid to have been bribed by Wood.

Jove flood amaz'd; but, looking round,
With much ado the cheat he found;
'Twas plain he cou'd no longer hold
The world in any chain but gold;
And to the God of wealth, his brother,
Sent Mercury to get another.

Prometheus on a rock is laid,

Ty'd with a chain himself had made,
On icy Caucafus to fhiver,

While vulturs eat his growing liver.

III.

Ye pow'rs of Grubftreet, make me able Discreetly to apply this fable;

Say, who is to be understood

By that old thief Prometheus? WOOD.
For fove, it is not hard to guess him ;
I mean his Majefty, God bless him.
This thief and blackfmith was fo bold,
He ftrove to steal that chain of gold,
Which links the fubject to the king,
And change it for a brazen ftring.
But fure, if nothing else must pass
Between the king and us, but brass,
Although the chain will never crack,
Yet our devotion may grow flack.
But Jove will foon convert, I hope,
This brazen chain into a rope;