A's mafters in the Glare-obfcure,
With various light your eyes allure::
A flaming yellow here they fpread;
Draw off in blue or charge in red-
Yet from thefe colours odly mix'd,.
Your fight upon the whole is fix'd.
Or as, again, your courtly dames
(Whose cloaths returning birth-day claims}}
By arts improve the stuffs they vary; -
And things are beft as moft contrary.
The gown with ftiff embroid'ry fhining,.
Looks charming with a flighter lining:
The out, if Indian figures ftain;
The in-fide must be rich and plain.
So you, great authors, have thought fit,,
To make digreffion temper wit:
When arguments too fiercely glare,
You calm 'em with a milder air:

To break their points, you turn their force ;
And Furbelow the plain discourse.

Richard, quoth Mat, thefe words of thine Speak fomething fly, and something fine : But I fhall e'en refume my theme; However thou may'ft praife, or blame. As people marry now, and fettle ;. Fierce love abates his usual mettle: Worldly defires, and household cares Disturb the godhead's foft affairs; So now, as health or temper changes, In larger compass Alma ranges,. This day below, the next above; As light or folid whimsies move,

So merchant has his houfe in town,
And country-feat near Banfted down:
From one he dates his foreign letters,
Sends out his goods, and duns his debtors:
In t'other, at his hours of leifure,

He fmoaks his pipe, and takes his pleasure.
And now your matrimonial Cupid,
Lafh'd on by time, grows tir'd and stupid.
For ftory and experience tell us,

That man grows cold, and woman jealous.
Both would their little ends fecure:
He fighs for freedom, fhe for pow'r.
His wishes tend abroad to roam;
And hers, to domineer at home.
Thus paffion flags by flow degrees;
And ruffled more, delighted lefs,
The bufy mind does feldom go
To thofe once charming feats below:
But, in the breaft incamp'd, prepares
For well-bread feints, and future wars.
The man fufpects his lady's crying
(When he last autumn lay a-dying)
Was but to gain him to appoint her
By codicil a larger jointure.

The woman finds it all a trick,

That he could fwoon, when she was fick ;
And knows, that in that grief he reckon'd
On black-ey'd Sufan for his second.

Thus having ftrove fome tedious years,
With feign'd defires, and real fears;.
And tir'd with anfwers and replies,
Qft John affirms, and Martha lies;

Leaving this endlefs altercation,
The mind affects a higher ftation.

Poltis, that gen'rous King of Thrace,
I think, was in this very cafe.
All Afia now was by the ears:
And gods beat up for voluntiers

To Greece, and Troy; while Poltis fat
In quiet, governing his state.

And whence, faid the pacific king,
Does all this noife, and difcord fpring ?-
Why, Paris took Atrides' wife-
With ease I could compose this strife:
The injur'd hero fhould not lose,
Nor the young lover want a spouse:
But Helen chang'd her firft condition,
Without her husband's juft permiffion.
What from the dame can Paris hope?
She may as well from him elope.
Again, how can her old good-man
With honour take her back again?
From hence I logically gather,
The woman cannot live with either.
Now I have two right honeft wives,
For whofe poffeffion no man ftrives:
One to Atrides I will fend;

And t'other to my Trojan friend.

Each prince fhall thus with honour have,
What both fo warmly feem to crave:
The wrath of gods and man fhall cease;
And Poltis live and die in peace.
Dick, if this ftory pleaseth thee,
Pray thank Dan Pope, who told it me.

Howe'er fwift Alma's flight may vary;
(Take this by way of Corollary :)
Some limbs fhe finds the very fame,
In place, and dignity, and name:
Thefe dwell at fuch convenient distance,
That each may give his friend affiftance.
Thus he who runs or dances, begs
The equal vigour of two legs;
So much to both does Alma truft,
She ne'er regards, which goes the firft.
Teague could make neither of them ftay,
When with himself he ran away.
The man who struggles in the fight,
Fatigues left arm as well as right:
For whilft one hand exalts the blow,
And on the earth extends the foe;
T'other would take it wond'rous ill,
If in your pocket he lay ftill.

And when you fhoot and shut one eyes
You cannot think, he would deny
To lend the other friendly aid,
Or wink, as coward, and afraid.
No, Sir; whilft he withdraws his flame;
His comrade takes the furer aim.
One moment if his beams recede;
As foon as e'er the bird is dead,
Opening again, he lays his claim
To half the profit, half the fame;
And helps to pocket up the game.
'Tis thus, one tradefman-flips away,
To give his partner fairer play.

}

Some limbs again in bulk or ftature
Unlike, and not a-kin by nature,
In concert act, like modern friends;
Because one ferves the other's ends.
The arm thus waits upon the heart,
So quick to take the bully's part :

That one, though warm, decides more flow
Than t'other executes the blow.
A ftander-by may chance to have it,
Ere Hack himself perceives he gave it.
The am'rous eyes thus always go
A-flrolling for their friends below:
For long before the 'Squire and dame
Have tete a tete reliev'd their flame;
Ere vifits yet are brought about,
The eye by fympathy looks out;
Knows Florimel, and longs to meet her:
And, if he fees, is fure to greet her,
Though at fash-window, on the stairs,
At court, nay (authors fay) at pray❜rs.-

The funeral of fome valiant knight
May give this thing its proper light.
View his two gauntlets: these declare
That both his hands were us'd to war.
And from his two gilt fpurs 'tis learn'd
His feet were equally concern'd.
But have you not with thought beheld
The fword hung dangling o'er the fhield?
Which shows the breaft, that plate was us'd to,

Had an ally right arm to truft to :
And by the peep-holes in his crest,
Is it not virtually confeft,