Classic Poem

Does great and splendid villany allure?
Go search in W — — 's trial for a cure.
Blest with enough, would'st thou increase it still?
Examine Ch — — 's life, and R — — d's will.
Would'st thou be happy? then these rules receive,
Read this verse gratis , and thy soul shall live.
Learn from this man, who now lies five feet deep,
To drink when doubting; and when tempted, sleep:
This led him safe through life's tempestuous steerage,
Poor by no place, ignoble by no peerage;
An easy mind, by no entails devis'd;
An humble virtue, by no kings excis'd:
Stated no law-case, and no critic quoted;
Spoke what he thought; and never swore, nor voted.
Courts he abhorr'd, their errors, their abuses,
St. James, Versailles; all, all, but Sancta Crucis:
There where no statesman buys, no bishop sells;
A virtuous palace, where no monarch dwells.
With kind Bargeny, faithful to his word,
Whom Heav'n made good and social, though a Lord;
The cities view'd of many-languag'd men,
Popes, pimps, kings, gamesters; and saw all was vain.
Enjoy'd, what Hopetoun's groves could never yield,
The philosophic rapture of the field!
Nor ask'd, nor fear'd. His life, and humble lays,
No critics envy, and no flatterers praise.
Sure those who know how hard to write, and live,
Would judge with candor, pity and forgive.
Known but to few, as if he ne'er had been,
He stole through life unheeded and unseen:
He often err'd, but broke no social duty;
Unbrib'd by statesmen, and unhurt by beauty.