1 me, with an Ive to these. To mua vur ex sy her frens ecafin'd, Severe a ul, but n.8 D vimankind;
Custom, grown hindi vita igre, must be your guide;
Your pleasure is a res, but not your pade;
By nature re.ding, subcorn but for fame,
Made saves by honour, and made fools by shame.
Marriage may all those petty tyrants chase,
But sets up one, a greater, in their place:
Well might you wish for change by those accurst;
But the last tyrant ever proves the worst.
Still in constraint your suffering sex remains,
Or bound in formal or in real chains:
Whole years neglected for some months ador'd,
The fawning servant turns a haughty lord.
Ah! quit not the free innocence of life
For the dull glory of a virtuous wife;
Nor let false shows nor empty titles please:
Aim not at joy, but rest content with ease.
The gods, to curse Pamela with her prayers,
Gave the gilt coach and dappled Flanders' mares,
The shining robes, rich jewels, beds of state,
And, to complete her bliss, a fool for mate.
She glares in balls, front boxes, and the ring,
A vain, unquiet, glittering, wretched thing!
Pride, pomp, and state, but reach her outward
part;
She sighs, and is no duchess at her heart.
But, madam, if the fates withstand, and you
Are destin'd Hymen's willing victim too,
Trust not too much your now resistless charms,
Those age or sickness, soon or late, disarms;
Good-humour only teaches charms to last,
Still makes new conquests, and maintains the
past.
Love rais'd on beauty will like that decay,
Our hearts may bear its slender chain a day,
As flowery bands in wantonness are worn,
A morning's pleasure, and at evening torn;
This binds in ties more easy, yet more strong,
The willing heart, and only holds it long.
Thus Voiture's early care1 still shone the same, And Monthausier was only chang'd in name: By this e'en now they live, e'en now they charm, Their wit still sparkling, and their flames still
Now crown'd with myrtle on th' Elysian coast,
Amid those lovers joys his gentle ghost;
Pleas'd while with smiles his happy lines you view,
And finds a fairer Rambouillet in you.
The brightest eyes of France inspir'd his Muse:
The brightest eyes of Britain now peruse;
And dead, as living, 'tis our author's pride
Still to charm those who charm the world beside.
EPISTLE TO MRS. TERESA BLOUNT,
ON HER LEAVING THE TOWN AFTER THE CORONATION.
As some fond virgin, whom her mother's care
Drags from the town to wholesome country air,
Just when she learns to roll a melting eye,
And hear a spark, yet think no danger nigh:
From the dear man unwilling she must sever,
Yet takes one kiss before she parts for ever:
Thus from the world fair Zephalinda flew,
Saw others happy, and with sighs withdrew;
Mademoiselle Paulet. 2 Of George the First.
Not that their pleasures caus'd her discontent;
She sigh'd not that they stay'd, but that she went.
She went to plain work, and to purling brooks,
Old fashion'd halls, dull aunts, and croaking rooks:
She went from opera, park, assembly, play,
To morning walks, and prayers three hours a day;
To part her time 'twixt reading and bohea,
To muse, and spill her solitary tea,
Or o'er cold coffee trifle with the spoon,
Count the slow clock, and dine exact at noon;
Divert her eyes with pictures in the fire,
Hum half a tune, tell stories to the squire;
Up to her godly garret after seven,
There starve and pray, for that's the way to heaven.
Some squire, perhaps, you take delight to rack,
Whose game is whisk, whose treat a toast in sack;
Who visits with a gun, presents you birds,
Then gives a smacking buss, and cries-no words;
Or with his hounds comes hallooing from the
Makes love with nods, and knees beneath a table; Whose laughs are hearty, though his jests are
And loves you best of all things-but his horse.
In some fair evening, on your elbow laid,
You dream of triumphs in the rural shade ;
In pensive thought recall the fancied scene,
See coronations rise on every green:
Before you pass th' imaginary sights
Oflords, and earls, and dukes, and garter'd knights,
While the spread fan o'ershades your closing eyes;
Then give one flirt, and all the vision flies.
Thus vanish sceptres, coronets, and balls,
And leave you in lone woods, or empty walls!
So when your slave, at some dear idle time,
(Not plagued with headaches or the want of rhyme)
Stands in the streets, abstracted from the crew,
And while he seems to study, thinks of you;
Just when his fancy points your sprightly eyes,
Or sees the blush of soft Parthenia rise,
Gay pats my shoulder, and you vanish quite,
Streets, chairs, and coxcombs rush upon my sight;
Vext to be still in town, I knit my brow,
Look sour, and hum a tune, as you may now.
AUTHOR OF THE CELEBRATED WORM-POWDER.
How much, egregious Moore! are we
Deceiv'd by shows and forms!
Whate'er we think, whate'er we see,
All humankind are worms.
Man is a very worm by birth,
Vile reptile, weak, and vain!
A while he crawls upon the earth,
Then shrinks to earth again.
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