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The Works of Peter Pindar [i.e. John Wolcot]

... With a Copious Index. To which is prefixed Some Account of his Life. In Four Volumes

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ŒCONOMY.

ŒCONOMY's a very useful broom;
Yet should not ceaseless hunt about the room
To catch each straggling pin to make a plumb—
Too oft œconomy's an iron vice,
That squeezes ev'n the little guts of mice,
That peep with fearful eyes, and ask a crumb.
Proper œconomy's a comely thing—
Good in a subject—better in a king;
Yet push'd too far, it dulls each finer feeling—
Most easily inclin'd to make folks mean;
Inclines them too to villany to lean,
To over-reaching, perjury, and stealing.
Ev'n when the heart should only think of grief,
It creeps into the bosom like a thief,
And swallows up th' affections all so mild—
Witness the Jewess, and her only child.