I like, quoth Dick, your fimile:
And, in return, take two from me.
As mafters in the clare obfcure
With various light your eyes allure;
A flaming yellow here they fpread;
Draw off blue, or charge in red;
Yet, from these colours oddly 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 ftuffs they vary;
And things are best as moft contrary;
The gown, with stiff embroidery fhining,
Looks charming with a flighter lining;
The out- if Indian figure stain,
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 them 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 fomething 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 whimfies 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 old, and woman jealous.
Both would their little ends fecure;

He fighs for freedom, the for power.
His wishes tend abroad to roam;
And her's, 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 breast incamp'd, prepares
For well-bred 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.

55

60

65

70

75

8ο

The woman finds it all a trick,

That he could fwoon when he was fick

E 2

And

And knows, that in that grief he reckon'd
On black-ey'd Sufan for his fecond.

Thus, having ftrove fome tedious years
With feign'd defires, and real fears;
And, tir'd with anfwers and replies
Of John affirms, and Martha lies,
Leaving this endless altercation,
The mind affects a higher station.
Poltis, that generous king of Thrace,
I think, was in this very cafe.
All Afia now was by the ears;

And Gods beat up for volunteers

To Greece and Troy; while Poltis fat
In quiet governing his state.
And whence, faid the pacific king,
Does all this noise and discord spring?
Why, Paris took Atrides' wife-

With ease I could compofe this ftrife:
The injur'd hero fhould not lofe,
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-inan
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 seem to crave :

115

The wrath of Gods and man fhall ceafe ;
And Poltis live and die in peace.

Dick, if this story pleaseth thee,
Pray thank Dan Pope, who told it me.
Howe'er swift Alma's flight may vary,

(Take this by way of corollary)
Some limbs fhe finds the very fame,
In place, and dignity, and name:

120

Thefe dwell at fuch convenient diftance,

125

That each may give his friend atfistance.
Thus he who runs or dances begs
The equal vigour of two legs;
So much to both does Alma trust,

She ne'er regards which goes the first.

130

Teague could make neither of them stay,
When with himself he ran away.

And, when you shoot, and shut one eye,

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 stature
Unlike, and not a-kin by Nature,
In concert act, like modern friends
Because one ferves the other's ends.

;

145

}

150

155

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

The amorous eyes thus always go
A-ftrolling for their friends below:
For, long before the fquire and dame
Have tête à tête reliev'd their flame,
Ere vifits yet are brought about,

it.

160

165

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,

170

At court, nay (authors fay) at prayers.➡

The