Page:Poems of Anne Countess of Winchilsea 1903.djvu/335

 COUNTESS OF WINCHILSEA 197 �No Luxury's by either unenjoy'd, �Or cost withheld, tho' awkardly employ'd. 20 �How comes this Wealth ? a Country Friend demands, Who scarce cou'd live on Product of his Lands, How is it that, when Trading is so bad That some are Broke, and some with Fears run Mad, You can in better State yourself maintain, And your Effects still unimpair'd remain! My Industry, he cries, is all the Cause; Sometimes I interlope, and slight the Laws ; I wiser Measures, than my Neighbours, take, And better speed, who better Bargains make. 30 �I knew, the Smyrna-Fleet wou'd fall a Prey, And therefore sent no Vessel out that way: My busy Factors prudently I chuse, And in streight Bonds their Friends and Kindred noose : At Home, I to the Publick Sums advance, Whilst, under-hand in Fee with hostile France, I care not for your Tourvills, or Du-Baris, No more than for the Rocks, and Shelves in Charts: My own sufficiency creates my Gain, Rais'd, and secur'd by this unfailing Brain. 40 �This idle Vaunt had scarcely past his Lips, When Tydings came, his ill-provided Ships Some thro' the want of Skill, and some of Care, Were lost, or back return'd without their Fare. From bad to worse, each Day his State declin'd, 'Till leaving Town, and Wife, and Debts behind, To his Acquaintance at the Rural Seat He Sculks, and humbly sues for a Retreat. Whence comes this Change, has Wisdom left that Head, (His Friend demands) where such right Schemes were bred? 50 �What Phrenzy, what Delirium mars the Scull, ��� �