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At laft, to follies youth could scarce defend,
It grows their age's prudence to pretend;
Afham'd to own they gave delight before,
Reduc'd to feign it, when they give no more:
As Hags hold Sabbaths, lefs for joy than fpight,
So these their merry, miferable night;

Still round and round the Ghofts 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,
Young without Lovers, old without a Friend;
A Fop their paffion, but their prize a Sot,
Alive, ridiculous, and dead, forgot!

Ah! friend! to dazzle let the Vain defign;

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 fun's broad beam has tir'd the fight,
All mild afcends the moon's more fober light,
Serene in virgin modefty fhe fhines,

And unobferv'd the glaring orb declines.

Oh! bleft with Temper, whofe unclouded ray Can make to-morrow chearful as to-day : She, who can love a fifter's charms, or hear Sighs for a daughter with unwounded ear; She, who ne'er anfwers till a husband cools, Or, if the rules him, never fhews fhe rules; Charms by accepting, by fubmitting sways, Yet has her humour most, when she obeys; VOL. III.

H

Let fops or fortune fly which way they will;
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 still.

Heaven, when it strives to polish all it can
Its last beft work, but forms a fofter Man;
Picks from each fex, to make the Fav'rite bleft,
Your love of pleasure, our defire of rest:
Blends, in exception to all gen'ral rules,
Your taste of follics, with our fcorn of Fools:
Referve with Frankness, Art with Truth ally'd,
Courage with foftness, Modefty with Pride;
Fix'd Principles, with Fancy ever new;
Shakes all together, and produces-You.
Be this a woman's fame: with this unbleft,
Toafts 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;
Afcendant Phoebus watch'd that hour with care,
Averted half your parents' fimple prayer;
And gave you beauty, but deny'd the pelf
That buys your fex a tyrant o'er itself.
The generous God, who wit and gold refines,

And ripens fpirits as he ripens mines,

Kept Drofs for Dutcheffes, the world fhall know it,

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

EPIST I.E III.

ΤΟ

ALLEN, LORD BATHURST.

ARGUMENT.

Of the Ufe of RICHES.

THAT it is known to few, moft falling into one of the extremes, avarice or profufion, ver. 1. &c. The point difcuffed, whether the invention of money has been more commodious or pernicious to mankind, v. 21 to 77. That riches, either to the ava◄ ricious or the prodigal, cannot afford happiness, fcarcely neceffaries, v. 89 to 160. That avarice is an abfolute phrenzy, without an end or purpose, v. 113, &c. 152. Conjectures about the motives of avaricious men, v. 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 mifer acts upon principles which appear to him reasonable, verse 179. How a prodigal does the fame, v. 199. The due medium, and true ufe of riches, v. 219. The Man of Rofs, v. 250. The

fate of the profuse and the covetous, in two examples; both miferable in life and in death, v. 300, &c. The story of Sir Balaam, v. 339 to the end.

P.WHO fhall decide, when Doctors disagree,

And foundest Casuists doubt, like you and me!
You hold the word, from Jove to Momus given,
That Man was made the standing jeft of Heaven;
And gold but fent to keep the fools in play,
For fome to heap, and fome to throw away.
But I, who think more highly of our kind,
(And furely, Heaven and I are of a mind)
Opine, that Nature, as in duty bound,
Deep hid the fhining mifchief under ground:
But when by man's audacious labour won,
Flam'd forth this rival to, its fire, the fun,
Then careful Heaven fupply'd two forts of men,
To fquander thefe, and thofe to hide agen.

Like Doctors thus, when much dispute has past,
We find our tenets just the fame at last.
Both fairly owning, Riches, in effect,

No grace of Heaven or token of th' Elect;
Given to the Fool, the Mad, the Vain, the Evil,
To Ward, to Waters, Chartres, and the Devil.

B. What Nature wants, commodious gold bestows, "Tis thus we eat the bread another fows.

P. But how unequal it beftows, obferve,
"Tis thus we riot, while, who fow it, ftarve:
What nature wants (a phrase I much diftruft)
Extends to luxury, extends to luft:

Useful, I grant, it ferves what life requires,
But dreadful too, the dark Affaffin hires:

B. Trade it may help, fociety extend:

P. But lures the Pyrate, and corrupts the Friend. B. It raises armies in a Nation's aid:

P. But bribes a Senate, and the Land's betray'd.
In vain may heroes fight, and patriots rave;
If fecret gold fap on from knave to knave.
Once, we confefs, beneath the Patriot's cloak,
From the crack'd bag the dropping Guinea fpoke,
And jingling down the back-stairs, told the crew,
Old Cato is as great a rogue as you."

Bleft paper credit! last and best supply!
That lends Corruption lighter wings to fly !
Gold imp'd by thee, can compass hardest things,
Can pocket States, can fetch or carry Kings;
A fingle leaf fhall waft an Army o'er,
Or fhip off Senates to fome diftant Shore;
A leaf, like Sibyl's, fcatter to and fro

Our fates and fortunes, as the wind fhall blow:
Pregnant with thoufands flits the Scrap unfeen,
And filent fells a King, or buys a Queen.

Oh! that fuch bulky Bribes as all might fee,
Still, as of old, incumber'd Villainy!

Could France or Rome divert our brave defigns,
With all their brandies, or with all their wines?
What could they more than Knights and 'Squires con-
Or water all the Quorum ten miles round?

[found, A statesman's flumbers how this speech would spoil! Sir, Spain has fent a thousand jars of oil;

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