red, came to the Banks of the Styx, desiring to be ferry'd over along with the other Ghosts. Charon demands his Fare, and is surpriz'd to see the Miser, rather than pay it, throw himself into the River, and swim over to the other Side, notwithstanding all the Clamour and Opposition that cou'd be made to him. All Hell was in an Uproar; and each of the Judges was meditating some Punishment, suitable to a Crime of such dangerous Consequence to the infernal Revenues. Shall he be chain'd to the Rock along with Prometheus? Or tremble below the Precipice in Company with the Danaïdes? Or assist Sisyphus in rolling his Stone? No, says Minos, None of these. We must invent some severer Punishment. Let him be sent back to the Earth, to see the Use his Heirs are making of his Riches.
I hope it will not be interpreted as a Design of setting myself in Opposition to this famous Author, if I proceed to deliver a Fable of my own, which is intended to expose the same Vice of Avarice. The Hint of it was taken from these Lines of Mr. Pope,
Our
