Worn out in public, weary ev'ry eye,

Nor leave one figh behind them when they die. 230
Pleasures the fex, as children Birds, purfue,
Still out of reach, yet never out of view;
Sure, if they catch, to fpoil the Toy at most,
To covet flying, and regret when loft:

At last, to follies Youth could fcarce defend, 235
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 spight,
So these their
merry, miserable 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 Frolicks, 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!

240

245

Ah! Friend! to dazzle let the Vain defign;

To raife the Thought, and touch the Heart be

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 fight, All mild afcends the Moon's more fober light, Serene in Virgin Modesty fhe fhines,

And unobferv'd the glaring Orb declines.

255

Oh! bleft with Temper, whofe unclouded ray Can make to-morrow chearful as to-day; She, who can love a Sifter's charms, or hear Sighs for a Daughter with unwounded ear; 260

NOTES.

VER. 253. So when the Sun's broad beam &c.] One of the great beauties obfervable in the poet's management of his Similitudes, is the ceremonious preparation he makes for

them, in gradually raifing the imagery of the fimilitude in the lines preceding, by the use of metaphors taken from the fubject of it:

while what fatigues the ring, Flaunts and goes down, an unregarded thing. And the civil difmiffion he gives | them by the continuance of the fame metaphor, in the lines following, whereby the traces. of the imagery gradually decay,

and give place to others, and the reader is never offended with the fudden or abrupt difappearence of it,

Oh! bleft with Temper, whofe unclouded ray &c. Another inftance of the fame kind we have in this epiftle, in the following lines,

Chufe a firm cloud before it fall, and in it

Catch, e'er he change, the Cynthia of this minute.

Rufa, whofe eye quick-glancing o'er the Park,

Attracts each light gay Meteor of a Spark, &c.

She, who ne'er answers till a Hufband cools,
Or, if the rules him, never fhows fhe rules;
Charms by accepting, by submitting sways,
Yet has her humour moft, when she obeys;
Let, Fops or Fortune fly which way they will; 265
Difdains all lofs of Tickets, or Codille;

Spleen, Vapours, or Small-pox, above them all,
And Mistress of herself, tho' China fall.

270

And yet, believe me, good as well as ill, Woman's at beft a Contradiction ftill. Heav'n, when it strives to polish all it can Its last best 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,

275

Your Taste of Follies, with our Scorn of Fools:

Reserve with Frankness, Art with Truth ally'd, Courage with Softness, Modesty with Pride ;

NOTES.

VER. 269. The Picture of an eftimable Woman, with the best kind of contrarieties, created out of the poet's imagination; who therefore feigned thofe circumftances of a Hufband, a Daughter, and love for a Sifter, to prevent

her being mistaken for any of his acquaintance. And having thus made his Woman, he did, as the ancient poets were wont, when they had made their Mufe, invoke, and addrefs his poem to, her.

Fix'd Principles, with Fancy ever new;
Shakes all together, and produces-You.

280

286

Be this a Woman's Fame: with this unbleft, Toafts live a scorn, and Queens may die a jeft. This Phoebus promis'd (I forget the year) When those blue eyes firft open'd on the sphere; Afcendant Phoebus watch'd that hour with care, Averted half your Parents' fimple Pray'r; And gave you Beauty, but deny'd the Pelf That buys your fex a Tyrant o'er itself. The gen'rous God, who Wit and Gold refines, And ripens Spirits as he ripens Mines, Kept Drofs for Ducheffes, the world fhall know it,

To

290

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

NOTES.

fublime claffical machinery of Phoebus in the afcendant, watching the natal hour of his favourite, and averting the ill effects of her parents mistaken fondnefs: For Phoebus, as the god of Wit, confers Genius; and, as one of the aftronomical influences, defeats the adventitious byas of education.

VER. 285. &c. Afcendant | fervation is conveyed under the Phoebus watch'd that hour with care, Averted half your Parents' fimple Prayer; And gave you Beauty, but deny'd the Pelf] The poet concludes his Epiftle with a fine Moral, that deferves the serious attention of the public: It is this, that all the extravagances of thefe vicious Characters here defcribed, are much inflamed by a wrong Education, hinted at in 203; and that even the best are rather fecured by a good natural than by the prudence and providence of parents; which ob

In conclufion, the great Moral from both thefe Epiftles together is, that the two rareft things in all Nature are a DISINTERESTED MAN, and a REASONABLE WOMAN.

MORAL ESSAYS,

EPISTLE

то

III.

Allen Lord Bathurst.

ARGUMENT.

Of the Ufe of RICHES.

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

extremes, Avarice or Profufion, 1, &c. The Point difcufs'd, whether the invention of Money bas been more commodious, or pernicious to Mankind, & 21 to 77. That Riches, either to the Avaricious or the Prodigal, cannot afford Happiness, fcarcely Neceffaries, y 89 to 160. That Avarice is an abfolute Frenzy, without an End or Purpose, 113, &c. 152. Conjectures about the Motives of Avaricious men, 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, 161 to 178. How a Mifer acts upon Principles which appear to him reafonable, 179. How a Prodigal does the fame, The due Medium, and true ufe of Riches, 219. The Man of Rofs, 250. The fate of the Profufe and the Covetous, in two examples; both miferable in Life and in Death, 300, &c. The Story of Sir Balaam, 339 to the end.

199.