His passion still, to covet general praise;
His life, to forfeit it a thousand ways;
A constant bounty, which no friend has made;
An angel tongue, which no man can persuade;
A fool, with more of wit than half mankind,
Too rash for thought, for action too refined:
A tyrant to the wife his heart approves;
A rebel to the very king he loves;
He dies, sad outcast of each church and state,
And harder still! flagitious, yet not great.
Ask you why Wharton broke through every rule; 'Twas all for fear the knaves should call him fool. Nature well known, no prodigies remain, Comets are regular, and Wharton plain.
Yet, in this search, the wisest may mistake, 210 If second qualities for first they take.
When Catiline by rapine swell'd his store:
When Cæsar made a noble dame a whore
In this the lust, in that the avarice,
Were means, not ends; ambition was the vice.
That very Cæsar, born in Scipio's days,
Had aim'd like him, by chastity, at praise,
Lucullus, when frugality could charm,
Had roasted turnips in the Sabine farm.
In vain the observer eyes the builder's toil,
But quite mistakes the scaffold for the pile.
In this one passion man can strength enjoy,
As fits give vigour just when they destroy.
Time, that on all things lays his lenient hand,
Yet tames not this; it sticks to our last sand.
Consistent in our follies and our sins,
Here honest Nature ends as she begins.
Old politicians chew on wisdom past,
And totter on in business to the last;
As weak, as earnest; and as gravely out,
As sober Lanesborow dancing in the gout.
Behold a reverend sire, whom want of grace
Has made the father of a nameless race,
Shoved from the wall perhaps, or rudely press'd
By his own son, that passes by unbless'd:
Still to his wench he crawls on knocking knees,
And envies every sparrow that he sees.
A salmon's belly, Helluo, was thy fate;
The doctor call'd, declares all help too late.
'Mercy' cries Helluo, 'mercy on my soul ! 240
Is there no hope ?-Alas!-then bring the jowl.'
The frugal crone, whom praying priests attend,
Still strives to save the hallow'd taper's end,
Collects her breath, as ebbing life retires,
For one puff more, and in that puff expires.
'Odious! in woollen ! 'twould a saint provoke,*
Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke;
'No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace
Wrap my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face;
One would not, sure, be frightful when one's dead-
And-Betty-give this cheek a little red.'
The courtier smooth, who forty years had shined An humble servant to all human kind,
Just brought out this, when scarce his tongue could stir,
'If-where I'm going-I could serve you, sir!'
'I give and I devise,' old Euclio said,
And sigh'd, 'iny lands and tenements to Ned." *Your money, sir ?'-' My money, sir, what all? Why, if I must'-then wept, 'I give it Paul.' "The manor, sir ?-'The manor! hold,' he cried, 260 'Not that, I cannot part with that,'-and died. And you! brave Cobham, to the latest breath, Shall feel your ruling passion strong in death: Such in these moments as in all the past,
"Oh, save my country, Heaven!' shall be your last..
Of the Characters of Women.
That the particular characters of women are not so strongly marked as those of men, seldom so fixed, and still more inconsistent with themselves, ver. 1, &c. Instances of contrarieties given, even from such characters as are more strongly marked, and seemingly, therefore, most consistent: as, 1. In the affected.-2. In the soft natured.3. In the cunning and artful.-4. In the whimsical.-5. In the lewd and vicious.-6. In the witty and refined.-7. In the stupid and simple, ver. 21 to 207. The former part having shown that the particular characters of women are more various than those of men, it is nevertheless observed that the general characteristic of the sex, as to the ruling passion, is more uniform, ver, 207. This is occasioned partly by their nature, partly by their educa tion, and in some degree by necessity, ver. 211. What are the aims and the fate of this sex-1. As to power.-2. As to pleasure, ver. 219. Advice for their true interest.-The picture of an estimable woman, with the best kind of contrarieties, ver. 219 to the end,
There is nothing in Mr. Pope's works more highly finished than this epistle: yet its success was in no proportion to the pains he took in composing it. Something he chanced to drop in a short advertisement prefixed to it on its first publication, may, perhaps account for the small attention given to it. He said that no one character in it was drawn from the life. The public believed him on his word, and expressed little curiosity about a satire, in which there was nothing personal.
NOTHING SO true as what you once let fall, 'Most women have no characters at all.
Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear,
And best distinguish'd by black, brown, or fair
How many pictures of one nymph we view
All how unlike each other, all how true!
Arcadia's countess, here, in ermined pride
Is there, Pastora by a fountain side.
Here Faunia, leering on her own good man,
And there, a naked Leda with a swan.
Let then the fair-one beautifully cry
In Magdalen's loose hair, and lifted cyc
Or dress'd in smiles of sweet Cecila stric,
With simpering angels, palms, and haps divine;
Whether the charmer sinner it, or sunt is
If folly grow romantic, I must paint it.
Come then the colours and the ground prepare!
Dip in the rainbow, trick her off in air;
Choose a firm cloud, before it fail, and in it
Catch, ere she change, the Cynthia of this minute. 20
Rufa, whose eye, quick glancing o'er the park,
Attracts each light gay meteor of a spark,
Agrees as ill with Rufa studying Locke,
As Sappho's diamonds with her dirty smock;
Or Sappho at her toilet's greasy task,
With Sappho fragrant at an evening mask :
So morning insects, that in muck begun,
Shine, buzz, and fly-blow in the setting sun.
How soft is Silia! fearful to offend;
The frail-one's advocate, the weak-one's friend, 30
To her, Calista proved her conduct nice;
And good Simplicius asks of her advice.
Sudden, she storms! she raves! You tip the wink,
But spare your censure; Silia does not drink.
All eyes may see from what the change arose,
All eyes may see--a pimple on her nose.
Papilia, wedded to her amorous spark,
Sighs for the shades-'How charming is a park!'
A park is purchased, but the fair he sees
All bathed in tears-' Oh odious, odious trees!'
Ladies, like variegated tulips, show,
'Tis to their changes half their charms they owe
Fine by defect, and delicately weak,
Their happy spots the nice admirer take.
'Twas thus Calypso once each heart alarm'd,
Awed without virtue, without beauty charm'd;
Her tongue bewitched as oddly as her eyes;
Less wit than mimic, more a wit than wise :
Strange graces still, and stranger flights she had,
Was just not ugly, and was just not mad;
Yet ne'er so sure our passions to create,
As when she touch'd the brink of all we hate.
Narcissa's nature, tolerably mild,
To make a wash would hardly stew a child;
Has e'en been proved to grant a lover's prayer,
And paid a tradesman once to make him stare;
Gave alms at Easter in a christian trim,
And made a widow happy for a whim.
Why then declare good-nature is her scorn,
When 'tis by that alone she can be borne ?
Why pique all mortals, yet affect a name?
A fool to pleasure, yet a slave to fame :
Now deep in Taylor and the book of Martyrs,
Now drinking citron with his grace and Chartres:
Now conscience chills her, and now passion burns;
And atheism and religion take their turns;
A very heathen in the carnal part,
Yet still a sad good christian at her heart.
See sin in state, majestically drunk,
Proud as a peeress, prouder as a punk;
Chaste to her husband, frank to all beside,
A teeming mistress, but a barren bride.
What then? let blood and body bear the fault,
Her head's untouch'd, that noble seat of thought;
Such this day's doctrine-in another fit
She sins with poets through pure love of wit.
What has not fired her bosom or her brain?
Cæsar and Tall-boy, Charles and Charlemagne.
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