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Afham'd to own they gave delight before,

Reduc'd to feign it, when they give no more:
As Hags hold Sabbaths, less for joy than fpight,
So these their merry, miferable Night;
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Still round and round the Ghosts of Beauty glide,
And haunt the places where their Honour dy❜d.

See how the World its Veterans rewards!
A Youth of Frolicks, an old Age of Cards;
Fair to no purpose, artful to no end,
Young without Lovers, old without a Friend;
A Fop their Paffion, but their Prize a Sot,
Alive, ridiculous, and dead, forgot!

245

Ah! Friend! to dazzle let the Vain defign; 249 To raise the Thought, and touch the Heart be thine! That Charm fhall grow, while what fatigues the Ring,

Flaunts and goes down, an unregarded thing:
So when the Sun's broad beam has tir'd the fight,
All mild afcends the Moon's more fober light,
Serene in Virgin Modesty she shines,

And unobferv'd the glaring Orb declines.

255

Oh! bleft with Temper, whofe unclouded ray Can make to-morrow chearful as to-day;

NOTES.

VER. 249. Advice for their true Interest. P.

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She, who can love a Sifter's charms, or hear
Sighs for a Daughter with unwounded ear;
She, who ne'er anfwers till a Hufband cools,
Or, if the rules him, never shows fhe rules;
Charms by accepting, by fubmitting sways,
Yet has her humour moft, when the obeys;
Let Fops or Fortune fly which way they will; 265
Difdains all lofs of Tickets, or Codille;

Spleen, Vapours, or Small-pox, above them all,
And Mistress of herself, tho' China fall.

And yet, believe me, good as well as ill,
Woman's at beft a Contradiction ftill.
Heav'n, when it strives to polish all it can
Its laft beft work, but forms a fofter Man;
Picks from each sex, to make the Fav'rite bleft,
Your love of Pleasure, our defire of Reft:

Blends, in exception to all gen'ral rules,

Your Taste of Follies, with our Scorn of Fools:

NOTES.

VER. 269. The Picture | of an estimable Woman, with the best kind of contrarieties, created out of the poet's imagination; who therefore feigned thofe circumstances of a Hufband, a Daughter, and love for a

270

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Sifter, to prevent her being mistaken for any of his acquaintance. And having thus made his Woman, he did, as the ancient poets were wont, when they had made their Mufe, invoke, and addrefs his poem to, her.

Referve with Frankness, Art with Truth ally'd,
Courage with Softnefs, Modefty with Pride;
Fix'd Principles, with Fancy ever new;
Shakes all together, and produces-You.

280

Be this a Woman's Fame: with this unbleft, Toafts live a fcorn, and Queens may die a jeft. This Phoebus promis'd (I forget the year) When those blue eyes firft open'd on the sphere; Afcendant Phoebus watch'd that hour with care, Averted half your Parents' fimple Pray'r;

NOTES.

286

VER. 285. &c. Afcendant | der the fublime claffical maPhoebus watch'd that hour chinery of Phoebus in the with care, Averted half afcendant, watching the nayour Parents' fimple Pray'r; tal hour of his favourite, And gave you Beauty, but and averting the ill effects of deny'd the Pelf] The poet her parents mistaken fondconcludes his Epistle with a nefs For Phoebus, as the fine Moral, that deferves the god of Wit, confers Genius; ferious attention of the pub. and, as one of the astronolic: It is this, that all the mical influences, defeats the extravagances of thefe vi- adventitious byas of educacious Characters here de- tion. fcribed, are much inflamed by a wrong Education, hinted at in 203; and that even the best are rather fecured by a good natural than by the prudence and provividence of parents; which obfervation is conveyed un

In conclufion, the great Moral from both these Epiftles together is, that the two rareft things in all Na

ture are a DISINTERESTED

MAN, and a REASONABLE
WOMAN.

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And gave you Beauty, but deny'd the Pelf
That buys your fex a Tyrant o'er itself.
The gen'rous God, who Wit and Gold refines,
And ripens Spirits as he ripens Mines,

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Kept Drofs for Ducheffes, the world shall know it,

To you gave Senfe, Good-humour, and a Poet.

MORAL ESSAYS.

EPIST LE III.

то

Allen Lord Bathur ft.

ARGUMENT.

Of the Ufe of RICHES.

THAT it is known to few, most falling into one of the extremes, Avarice or Profufion, 1, &c. The Point difcufs'd, whether the invention of Money has been more commodious, or pernicious to Mankind, 21 to 77. That Riches, either to the Avaricious or the Prodigal, cannot afford Happiness, scarcely Neceffaries,

89 to 160. That Avarice is an abfolute Frenzy, without an End or Purpose, 113, &c. 152. Conjectures about the Motives of Avaricious men, † 121 to 153. That the conduct of men, with respect to Riches, can only be accounted for by the ORDER OF PROVIDENCE, which works the general Good out K

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