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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;
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;
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.
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,

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265

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Your love of pleasure, our desire of rest :

Blends, in exception to all genʼral rules,

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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.

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

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Ascendant Phoebus 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,

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Kept dross for duchesses, the world shall know it,

To you gave sense, good-humour, and a poet.

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ARGUMENT.

Of the Use of RICHES

THAT it is known to fer, 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 160. 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 which appear to him 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.

EPISTLE III.

ΤΟ

ALLEN LORD BATHURST.

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 160. 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 which 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.

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