That charm shall grow, while what fatigues the ring And unobserv'd the glaring orb declines. O! bless'd with temper, whose unclouded ray Can make to-morrow cheerful 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. Heaven, when it strives to polish all it can Its last best work, but forms a softer man ; Picks from each sex to make the favourite bless'd, Your love of pleasure, our desire of rest; Blends, in exception to all general rules, Your taste of follies with our scorn of fools; Reserve with frankness, art with truth allied, Courage with softness, modesty with pride; Fix'd principles, with fancy ever new: Shakes all together, and produces-you Be this a woman's fame; with this unbless'd Toasts live a scorn, and queens may die a jest. This Phoebus promis'd (I forget the year) When those blue eyes tirst open'd on the sphere; Ascendant Phoebus watch'd that hour with care, Kept dross for duchesses, the world shall know it, To you gave sense, good humour, and a poet. ÉPISTLE III. TO ALLEN, LORD BATHURST. OF THE USE OF RICHES. ARGUMENT. That it is known to few, most falling into one of the extremes, avarice or profusion.-The point discussed, whether the invention of money has been more commodious or pernicious to mankind.-That riches, either to the avaricious or the prodigal, cannot afford happiness, scarcely necessaries.-That avarice is an absolute frenzy, without an end or purpose.-Conjectures about the motives of avaricious men.-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. How a miser acts upon principles which appear to him reasonable.-How a prodigal does the same.-The due medium and true use of riches.-The Man of Ross.-The fate of the profuse and the covetous, in two examples; both miserable in life and in death.-The story of Sir Balaam. P. WHO shall decide when doctors disagree, Like doctors thus, when much dispute has past, No grace of Heaven, or token of the' elect; B. What nature wants, commodious gold bestows; 'Tis thus we eat the bread another sows. P. But how unequal it bestows observe; "Tis thus we riot, while who sow it starve: What nature wants (a phrase I much distrust) Extends to luxury, extends to lust: Useful I grant, it serves what life requires, But dreadful too, the dark assassin hires. B. Trade it may help, society extend. P. But lures the pirate, and corrupts the friend. B. It raises armies in a nation's aid. P. But bribes a senate, and the land's betray'd. Bless'd paper-credit! last and best supply! Our fates and fortunes as the winds shall blow; Oh! that such bulky bribes as all might see Still, as of old, encumber'd villany! Could France or Rome divert our brave designs With all their brandies or with all their wines? What could they more than knights and 'squires confound, Or water all the quorum ten miles round? A statesman's slumbers how this speech would spoil! Poor Avarice one torment more would find, Drive to Saint James's a whole herd of swine? To spoil the nation's last great trade,-quadrille ! |