University of Virginia Library

“Wretch that I am! since to thy fortune bound,
“What plan, what project, with success is crown'd?
“I, who a thousand secret arts possess,
“Who every rank approach with right address;
“Who've loosed a guinea from a miser's chest,
“And worm'd his secret from a traitor's breast;
“Thence gifts and gains collecting, great and small,
“Have brought to thee, and thou consum'st them all;
“For want like thine—a bog without a base—
“Ingulfs all gains I gather for the place;
“Feeding, unfill'd; destroying, undestroy'd;
“It craves for ever, and is ever void:—
“Wretch that I am! what misery have I found,
“Since my sure craft was to thy calling bound!”