He was the only person of his time
Who could cheat without the mask of
honesty,
Retain his primeval meanness
When possessed of ten thousand a year:
And having daily deserved the gibbet for
what he did,
Was at last condemned for what he
could not do.
Oh! indignant reader!
Think not his life useless to mankind!
Providence connived at his execrable designs,
To give to after ages
A conspicuous proof and example
Of how small estimation is exorbitant
wealth
In the sight of God,
By his bestowing it on the most
unworthy of all
mortals.

If one does intend to make a verbal assault upon any man, it
is well to do so in words which will sting and cut; and assuredly
Arbuthnot has succeeded in his laudable intention. The character
is justly drawn; and with the change of a very few words, it might
correctly be inscribed on the monument of at least one Scotch and
one English peer, who have died within the last half-century.

There are one or two extreme cases in which it is in good taste,
and the effect not without sublimity, to leave a monument with no