TO A RICH MAN

Where did you get this money and estate?
'Twas by your labor honestly acquired,
Or left you when your relatives expired,
Else it is robber's booty, miser's bait.

That which you give the beggar at your gate
Is noble if your arms to get it tired;
If 'twas a legacy, 'tis nobly squired,
If 'twas a theft—good sir, your pride abate!

I once beheld a wolf that from his feast
Unto a starving cur the bones released
When he himself was gorged and sated through;

So thou, rich glutton, drop the leavings there,
And let the pauper have the mongrel's share,—
Unless the wolf be kinder still than you—?