Last night, her Lord was all that's good and great; A Knave this morning, and his Will a Cheat. Strange! by the Means defeated of the Ends, By Spirit robb'd of Pow'r, by Warmth of Friends, By Wealth of Follow'rs! without one distress 145 Sick of herself thro' very selfishness! Atoffa, curs'd with ev'ry granted pray'r, Childless with all her Children, wants an Heir. To Heirs unknown defcends th'unguarded store, Or wanders, Heav'n-directed, to the Poor. 150 Pictures like thefe, dear Madam, to defign, Asks no firm hand, and no unerring line; Some wand'ring touches, fome reflected light, Some flying stroke alone can hit 'em right: For how should equal Colours do the knack? 155 Chameleons who can paint in white and black? VARIATIONS. After Ver. 148 in the MS. This Death decides, nor lets the bleffing fall If any part should wander to the poor. NOTES. VER. 150. Or wanders, Heav'n-directed, &c.] Alluding and referring to the great principle of his Philofophy, which he never lofes fight of; and which teaches, that Providence is inceffantly turning the evils, arifing from the follies and vices of men, to general good. VER. 156. Chameleons who can paint in white and black?] There is one thing that does a very diftinguished honour to "Yet Cloe fure was form'd without a spot."--Nature in her then err'd not, but forgot. "With ev'ry pleasing, ev'ry prudent part, 66 Say, what can Cloe want?"--She wants a Heart. NOTES. the accuracy of our Poet's judgment, of which, in the course of these obfervations, I have given many inftances. I fhall here explain in what it confifts; it is this, that the Similitudes in his didactic poems, of which he is not fparing, and which are all highly poetical, are always chofen with fuch exquifite difcernment of Nature, as not only to illustrate the particular point he is upon, but to establish the general principles he would enforce; fo, in the inftance before us, he compares the inconftancy and contradiction in the characters of women, to the change of colours in the chameleon; yet it is nevertheless the great principle of this poem to fhew that the general characteriftic of the fex, as to the ruling Paffions, which they all have, is more uniform than that in man: Now for this purpose, all Nature could not have fupplied fuch another illuftration as this of the chameleon; for though it inftantaneously affumes much of the colour of every fubject on which it chances to be placed, yet, as the moft accurate Naturalifts have obferved, it has two native colours of its own, which, (like the two ruling Paffions in the Sex, fee Ver. 208.) amidst all these changes, are never totally difcharged; but, though often difcoloured by the neighbourhood of adventitious ones, ftill make the foundation, and give a tincture to all those which, from thence, it occafionally affumes. VER. 157. Yet Che fure, &c.] The purpofe of the Poet in this character is important: it is to fhew, that the politic or prudent government of the Paffions is not enough to make a character amiable, nor even to secure it from being ridicu lous, if the end of that government be not purfued; which is the free exercife of the facial appetites, after the felfish ones have been fubdued; for that if, though reafon govern, the heart be never confulted, we intereft ourselves as little in the fortune of fuch a character, as in any of the foregoing, which paffions or caprice drive up and down at random, She speaks, behaves, and acts just as she ought; 161 But never, never, reach'd one gen'rous Thought. Virtue fhe finds too painful an endeavour, Content to dwell in Decencies for ever. So very reasonable, fo unmov'd, As never yet to love, or to be lov'd. 165 She, while her Lover pants upon her breast, NOTES. 175 VER. 181. One certain Portrait-the fame for ever-] This is entirely ironical; and conveys under it this general moral truth, that there is, in life, no fuch thing as a perfect cha THE SAME FOR EVER! and defcrib'd by all We owe to models of an humble kind. If QUEENSBERRY to ftrip there's no compelling, 'Tis from a Handmaid we must take a Helen. From Peer or Bishop 'tis no eafy thing 195 To draw the Man who loves his God, or King: Alas! I copy (or my draught would fail) From honest Mah'met, or plain Parfon Hale. VARIATIONS. After Ver. 198. in the MS. Fain I'd in Fulvia spy the tender Wife; NOTES. racter; fo that the fatire falls not on any particular Character, or Station; but on the Character-maker only. See Note on Ver. 78 1 Dialogue 1738. VER. 198. Mab'met, fervant to the late King, faid to be the fon of a Turkish Baffa, whom he took at the Siege of Buda, and conftantly kept about his perfon. P. VR 198. 1. Stephen Hale; not more eftimable for his ufe difcoveries as a natural Philofopher, than for his exemplary life and paitoral charity as a parish priest. But grant, in Public, Men fometimes are shown, A Woman's feen in Private Life alone: 200 There, none diftinguish 'twixt your Shame or Pride, VARIATIONS. And, for a noble pride, I blufh no lefs, The Poet supposes it, not to be the love of verse, but of the fashion, which engages the Ladies in the pretty amuse-' ment of reading Milton. He therefore promises that the Fair One, who is without AFFECTATION, and yet loves that fort of moral poetry which most effectually eradicates this ridiculous vice, fhall have his verfe, to make her amends for her unfashionable modefty. NOTES. VER: 199. But grant, in Public, &c.] In the former Editions, between this and the foregoing lines, a want of Connexion might be perceived, occafioned by the omiffion of certain Examples and Illuftrations to the Maxims laid down; and though fome of these have fince been found, viz. the Characters of Philomedé, Atoffa, Cloe, and fome verfes following, others are still wanting, nor can we answer that these are exactly inferted. P. VER. 203. Bred to difguife, in Public 'tis you hide;] There is fomething apparently exceptionable in the turn of this |