Theftylis, Phyllis, and inconftant Chloris,
Neara, Galatea, and Lycoris ;
Let 'em, live like the unregarded Throng,
No more the Subject of your Verse and Song;
On whose Injustice you in vain exclaim'd:
What Woman e'er had Grace to be reclaim'd?
I now grown old, by long Experience wise,
Can fet things paft, to come before your Eyes,
And from their Cheats can pluck off the Disguise.
If leffer Birds the Eagle's Tallons shun,
If Stags thofe Gins by which they are undone,
If Sheep their Enemy the Wolf avoid,
And Deer the Hounds by which they are destroy'd;
Shepherds, why do you not with Horror fly
From Woman, your more mortal Enemy?.
In her the Crocodile you may difcern;
Of her the Hyena may Subtlety learn..
When the intreats you gently with her Eyes,
And to make furer of you, fawns and cries,
Perdition lurks beneath the fair Disguise.
With these Decoys deluded Man she takes,
And to her boundlefs Will a Vaffal makes.
No Refolution, Virtue, Strength or Power
Truft, to fecure thee from a dangerous Whore.
Although in Perfeus Armour thou wert clad,
Didft thou come near her,1 fhou'd think thee mad;
She has more Charms than e'er Medusa had:
And dangles on her Breaft no Lock of Hair,
But what's more fatal than thofe Serpents were..
Some have kill'd Monsters, others Giants flain,
Some Cities fack'd, and fome beftrid the Main,
And pointed Hills have levell'd with the Plain;
Yet all thefe Heroes have, as Stories tell,
To Woman's Pride and Luft a Trophy fell.
Wife David, and his yet much wifer Son,
And mighty Sampson who fuch Fame had won,
Were all by these base Proftitutes undone.
A Woman's Luft is harder far fubdu'd,
Than tubborn Fires by boisterous Winds made rude,
The Sword, the Plague, the Rocks and angry Seas,
Are to our Lives more merciful than these.
For they, whofe Looks by Nature kill before,
With Art do ftrive to make 'em kill the more:
Their Heads are shaded, not a Hair awry,
And tempting Curles upon their Foreheads lye;
Whilft glift'ring Jewels fet in Gold do grace,
And give a Luftre to their painted Face:
As brighter Beams upon some River play,
And gild its Surface on a Sun-shine Day.
When in this order, this exactness dress'd,
They then confult what Look becomes 'em beft;
And round about their Dreffing-Room they stalk,
To see what Gate becomes 'em as they walk.
If they are courted, they to Corners fly,
As if they were made up of Modefty,
But 'tis to give you Opportunity ;
Where they ftill hope, although they bid you go,
You have more Manners than to leave 'em fo:
And with inviting and lafcivious Eyes,
They grant you fafter than their Tongue denies.
Thus North-west Winds, as Naturalists rehearse,
Attract thofe Clouds which they again difperfe.
So have we often seen such flatt'ring Weather,
When Rain and Sun-shine both contend together,
Let me advife, I fay, b' Experience taught,
How to preferve thee e'er thou yet art caught.
They conquer both by Kindness and Disdain;
Know how to leffen, how increase the Pain.
As fubtle Surgeons with their Patients deal,
Now apply Caustick, and now Balm to heal:
Study to make themselves, tho' foul, look fair;
In Bed or up, 'tis their continual Care.
See 'em undreft, the Spectacles will fright,
And poifon you like Bafilisks at fight.
Pomatums, Washes, Paints, Perfumes they use,
And never think they can be too profuse.
Falfe Skins, falfe Shapes, falfe colour'd Locks they Falfe Smiles, and Looks more falfe than is their Hair,
Thus they, like Actors 'till the Play is done,
Have nothing on that they can call their own.
Confult their Glaffes how to move their Lips,
To thrust their Breech out, and to shake their Hips;
Then look again, and turn their Eyes afide,
Practife to laugh, to fawn, and to deride,
What means their naked Breafts, that open way
For wand'ring Thoughts to enter at and ftray,
But to inflame our Hearts into Defire,
And kindle in our Bloods a wanton Fire.
These are the Dangers which all Youth do run ;
These are the Rocks and Gulphs I'd have 'em fhun,
Thus much we do in learned Umber find,
What in his Days he thought of Womankind:
That they were vicious then, we must allow,
But we all know they're much lefs vicious now.
Sir GEORGE ETHERIDGE to the Earl of MIDDLETON.
INCE Love and Verfe, as well as Wine,
Are brisker where the Sun does fhine,
'Tis fomething to lofe two Degrees,
Now Age it felf begins to freeze:
Yet this I patiently cou'd bear,
If the rough Danube's Beauties were.
But only two degrees lefs fair
Than the bright Nymphs of gentle Thames,
Who warm me hither with their Beams:
Such Power they have, they can difpence.
Five hundred Miles their Influence.
But Hunger forces Men to eat,
Though no Temptation's in the Meat.]
How would the ogling Sparks defpise
The darling Damfel of my Eyes;
Should they behold her at a Play,
As fhe's trick'd up on Holy-day;
When the whole Family combine
For publick Pride to make her shine?
Her Locks, which long before lay matted,
Are on this Day comb'd out and plaited:
A Diamond Bodkin in each Trefs,
The Badges of her Nobleness..
For ev'ry Stone, as well as she,
Can boaft an ancient Pedigree.
These form'd the Jewel erft did grace-
The Cap of the firft Grave o'th' Race,
Preferr'd by Graffin Marian
T'adorn the Handle of her Fan;
And as by old Record appears,
Worn fince in Renigunda's Years,
Now fparkling in the Frokin's Hair,
No Rocket breaking in the Air
Can with her ftarry Head compare.
Such Roaps of Pearl her Arms incumber,
She fcarce can deal the Cards at Ombre.
So many Rings each Finger freight,
They tremble with the mighty weight...
The like in England ne'er was feen,
Since Holben drew Hal and his Queen.
But after thefe fantaftick Flights,
The Luftre's meaner than the Lights.
The Thing that bears this glitt'ring Pomp
Is but a tawdry ill-bred Romp,
Whose brawny Limbs and martial Face
Proclaim her of the Gothick Race,
More than the mangled Pageantry
Of all the Father's Heraldry.
But there's another fort of Creatures,
Whofe ruddy Look and Grotefque Features >
Are fo much out of Nature's way,
You'd think 'em ftamp'd on other Clay;
No lawful Daughters of old Adam..
'Mongst these behold a City Madam,
With Arms in Mittins, Head in Muff,
A dapper Cloak and rev'rend Ruff:
No Farce so pleasant as this Maukin,
And the foft Sound of High-Dutch talking.
Here unattended by the Graces,
The Queen of Love in a fad Case is.
Nature, her active Minister,
Neglects Affairs, and will not stir;
Thinks it not worth the while to please,
But when she does it for her Ease.
Ev'n I, her moft devout Adorer,
With wand'ring Thoughts appear before her.
And when I'm making an Oblation,
Am fain to fpur Imagination
With fome fham London Inclination.
The Bow is bent at German Dame,
The Arrow flies at English Game.
Kindness, that can Indifference warm,
And blow that Calm into a Storm,
Has in the very tendereft Hour
Over my Gentleness a Power.
True to my Country-women's Charms,
When kiss'd and prefs'd in foreign Arms..
A Letter from Mr. DRYDEN to Sir GEORGE ETHERIDGE.
Tas May informs, of Fifty three,
O you who live in chill Degree,
And do not much for Cold attone,
By bringing thither Fifty one;
Methinks all Climes fhou'd be alike,
From Tropick ev'n to Pole Artique;
Since you have fuch a Conftitution
As no where fuffers Diminution.
You can be old in grave Debate,
And young in Love-affairs of State:
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