Honour, that praise which real merit gains,

Or e'en imaginary worth obtains,

Here passes current; paid from hand to hand,

It shifts in splendid traffic round the land;

From courts to camps, to cottages it strays,

And all are taught an avarice of praise:

They please, are pleased; they give to get esteem,

Till, seeming blest, they grow to what they seem.

But while this softer art their bliss supplies,

It gives their follies also room to rise;