So now, as health or temper changes,
In larger compafs 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 smokes his pipe, and takes his pleasure.
And now your matrimonial Cupid,
Lash'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, fhe for power:
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 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

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By codicil a larger jointure.

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The woman finds it all a trick,

That he could fwoon when fhe was fick ;

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 noife and difcord fpring?
Why, Paris took Atrides' wife-
With eafe I could compofe this ftrife:
The injur'd hero fhould not lofe,
Nor the young lover want a fpoufe.
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:
VOL. XXXIII.
M

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 affistance.
Thus he who runs or dances begs
The equal vigour of two legs;
So much to both does Alma trust,

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She ne'er regards which goes the first.

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Teague could make neither of them stay,

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,

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T'other would take it wondrous ill,

If in your pocket he lay ftill.

And, when you shoot, and fhut one eye,

You cannot think he would deny

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To lend the other friendly aid,

Or wink as coward, and afraid.

No,

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,

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That one, though warm, decides more flow

Than t'other executes the blow.

A ftander-by may chance to have it,

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Ere Hack himfelf perceives he gave it.

The amorous eyes thus always go
A-trolling 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,
The eye by fympathy looks out,
Knows Florimel, and longs to meet her,
And, if he fees, is fure to greet her,
Though at fafh-window, on the flairs,
At court, nay (authors fay) at prayers.—

M 2

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170

The

The funeral of fome valiant knight Mày give this thing its proper light. View his two gauntlets; these declare That both his hands were us'd to war.

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And from his two gilt spurs 'tis learn'd
His feet were equally concern'd.

But have you not with thought beheld
The fword hang dangling o'er the shield?

Which fhews the breaft, that plate was us❜d to,

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And, by the peep-holes in his crest,

Had an ally right arm to trust to :

Is it not virtually confest

That there his eyes took diftant aim,
And glanc'd refpect to that bright dame,
In whose delight his hope was center'd,
And for whofe glove his life he ventur’d ?
Objections to my general System

May rife perhaps; and I have mift them:

But I can call to

my

affiftance

Proximity (mark that!) and diftance;
Can prove that all things, on occafion,
Love union, and defire adhesion;

That Alma merely is a scale,

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And motives, like the weights, prevail.

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If neither fide turn down nor up,

With lofs or gain, with fear or hope,
The balance always would hang even,

Like Mah'met's tomb, 'twixt earth and heaven.

This, Richard, is a curious cafe :

Suppofe your eyes fent equal rays

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Upon