Knaves turned Honest.

Cursed politicians, armies, fleets;
While every one cried, Damn the cheats,
And would, though conscious of his own,
In others barbarously tolerate none.

Gnat and Camel

One, who had gathered a princely store,
By cheating master, king, and poor,
Dared cry aloud, The land must sink
For all its fraud; and whom do you think
The sermonizing rascal scolded?
A glover who sold lamb for kid.

Honesty established generally, pages 7 & 8.

The least thing was not done amiss,
Or crossed the public business;
But all the rogues cried brazenly,
Good Gods, had we but honesty!
Mercury smiled at the impudence,
And others called it want of sense,
Always to rail at what they loved:
But Jove, with indignation moved,
At last in anger swore, He would rid
The bawling hive of fraud; and did.
The very moment it departs,
And honesty fills all their hearts;
There shows them, like the instructive tree,
Those crimes which they are ashamed to see;
Which now in silence they confess,
By blushing at their ugliness:
Like children, who would hide their faults,
And by their color own their thoughts;
Imagining, when they are looked upon,
That others see what they have done.
But, Oh you Gods! What consternation,
How vast and sudden was the alteration!
In half an hour, the nation round,
Meat fell a penny in the pound.
The mask of hypocrisy is flung down,
From the great statesman to the clown:
And some in borrowed looks well known,
Appeared like strangers in their own.

that?