205

Bred to disguise, in public 'tis you hide ;
There, none distinguish 'twixt your shame or pride,
Weakness or delicacy; all so nice,
That each may seem a virtue, or a vice.

In men, we various ruling passions find;
In women, two almost divide the kind;
Those, only fix'd, they first or last obey,
The love of pleasure, and the love of sway. 210

That, nature gives ; and where the lesson taught Is but to please, can pleasure seem a fault ? Experience, this; by man's oppression curst, They seek the second not to lose the first.

Men, some to bus’ness, some to pleasure take ; But ev'ry woman is at heart a rake:

216 Men, some to quiet, some to public strife ; But ev'ry lady would be queen for life.

Yet mark the fate of a whole sex of queens ! Pow'r all their end, but beauty all the means: 220 In youth they conquer, with so wild a rage, As leaves them scarce a subject in their age : For foreign glory, foreign joy, they roam; No thought of peace or happiness at home. But wisdom's triumph, is well-tim'd retreat, As hard a science to the fair as great! Beauties, like tyrants, old and friendless grown, Yet hate repose, and dread to be alone,

Worn VER. 207. in the first edition,

In sev'ral men, we sev'ral passions find;
In women, two almost divide the kind.

225

240

Worn out in public, weary ev'ry eye,
Nor leave one sigh behind them when they die. 230

Pleasures the sex, as children birds, pursue,
Still out of reach, yet never out of view;
Sure, if they catch, to spoil the toy at most,
To covet flying, and regret when lost :
At last, to follies youth could scarce defend, 235
It grows their age's prudence to pretend ;
Asham’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 spight,
So these their merry, miserable night :
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 frolics, an old age of cards ; Fair to no purpose, artful to no end,

245 Young without lovers, old without a friend; A fop their passion, but their prize a sot, Alive, ridiculous ; and dead, forgot!

Ah! friend! to dazzle let the vain design; 249 To raise the thought, and touch the heart, be thine ! That charm shall grow, while what fatigues the ring, Flaunts and goes down, an unregarded thing : So when the sun's broad beam has tir’d the sight, All mild ascends the moon's more sober light, Serene in virgin modesty she shines, . 255 And unobserv'd the glaring orb declines.

*Oh! blest with temper, whose unclouded ray
Can make to-morrow chearful as to-day ;
She, who can love a sister's charms, or hear
Sighs for a daughter with unwounded ear; 260
She, who ne'er answers till a husband cools,
Or, if she rules him, never shows she rules ;
Charms by accepting, by submitting sways,
Yet has her humour most, when she obeys ;
Let fops or fortune fly which way they will; 265
Disdains all loss of tickets, or codille ;
Spleen, vapours, or small-pox, above them all,
And mistress of herself, though china fall.

And yet, believe me, good as well as ill,
Woman's at best a contradiction still.

270
Heav'n, when it strives to polish all it can
Its last best work, but forms a softer man;
Picks from each sex, to make the fav’rite blest,
Your love of pleasure, our desire of rest :
Blends, in exception to all gen’ral rules, 275
Your taste of follies, with our scorn of fools :
Reserve with frankness, art with truth ally'd,
Courage with softness, modesty with pride ;
Fix'd principles, with fancy ever new;
Shakes all together, and produces You. 280

Be this a woman's fame : with this unblest,
Toasts live a scorn, and queens may die a jest.
This Phæbus promis'd (I forget the year)
When those blue eyes first open'd on the sphere ;

Ascendant

Ascendant Phæbus watch'd that hour with care, 285
Averted half your parents' simple pray'r;
And gave you beauty, but deny'd the pelf
That buys your sex a tyrant o'er itself.
The gen'rous god, who wit and gold refines,
And ripens spirits as he ripens mines,

290 Kept dross for duchesses, the world shall know it, To you gave sense, good-humour, and a poet.

ARGUMENT.

Of the Use of RICHES

THAT it is known to few, most falling into one of the extremes,

Avarice or Profusion, ver. I, &c. The point discussed, whether the invention of money has been more commodious, or pernicious to mankind, ver. 21 to 77. That Riches either to the Avaricious or the Prodigal, cannot afford happiness, scarcely necessaries, ver. 89 to 166. That Avarice is an absolute frenzy, without an end or purpose, ver. 113, &c. 152. Conjectures about the motives of avaricious men, ver. 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 of extremes, and brings all to its great end by perpetual revolutions, ver. 161 to 178. How a Miser acts upon principles wbich appear to bim reasonable, ver. 179. How a Prodigal does the same, ver. 199. The due medium, and true use of Riches, ver. 219. The Man of Ross, ver. 250. The fate of the Profuse and the Covetous, in two examples; both miserable in life and in death, ver. 300, &c. The Story of Sir Balaam, ver. 339 to the end.