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The artful unfufpected spright
With fatal aim attacks by night.

Her troops advance with filent tread,
And ftab the hero in his bed;

Or fhoot the wing'd malignant lye,
And female honours pine and die.

So prowling wolves, when darkness reigns,
Intent on murder fcour the plains;
Approach the folds where lambs repose,
Whofe guiltless breafts fufpect no foes;
The favage gluts his fierce defires,
And bleating innocence expires.

SLANDER fmil'd horribly, to view
How wide her daily conquefts grew :
Around the crouded levees wait,
Like oriental flaves of ftate:
Of either fex whole armies prefs'd,
But chiefly of the fair and beft.

Is it a breach of friendship's law, To say what female friends I faw? SLANDER affumes the idol's part, And claims the tribute of the heart.

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The beft, in fome unguarded hour,

Have bow'd the knee, and own'd her pow'r.

Then let the poet not reveal

What candour wifhes to conceal.

If I beheld fome faulty fair,
Much worfe delinquents crouded there :
Prelates in facred lawn I faw,
Grave phyfic, and loquacious law :
Courtiers, like fummer flies, abound;
And hungry poets fwarm around.
But now my partial story ends,
And makes my females full amends.

If ALBION'S ifle fuch dreams fulfils, "Tis ALBION's ifle which cures thefe ills; Fertile of every worth and grace,

Which warm the heart, and flufh the face.

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Fancy disclos'd a smiling train

Of British nymphs, that trip'd the plain: GOOD-NATURE firft, a fylvan queen, Attir'd in robes of cheerful green:

A

A fair and smiling virgin fhe!

With ev'ry charm that fhines in thee.
PRUDENCE affum'd the chief command,
And bore a mirror in her hand;
Grey was the matron's head by age,
Her mind by long experience fage;
Of ev'ry distant ill afraid,

And anxious for the fimp'ring MAID.
The GRACES danc'd before the fair;
And white-rob'd INNOCENCE was there.
The trees with golden fruits were crown'd,
And rifing flow'rs adorn'd the ground;
The fun difplay'd each brighter ray,
And fhone in all the pride of day.

When SLANDER ficken'd at the fight, And fkulk'd away to fhun the light,.

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CONTENT.

ΜΑΝ

'AN is deceiv'd by outward show'Tis a plain home-spun truth, I know; The fraud prevails at ev'ry age, So fays the school-boy and the fage; Yet ftill we hug the dear deceit, And still exclaim against the cheat. But whence this inconfiftent part ? Say, moralifts, who know the heart: If you'll this labyrinth purfue, I'll go before, and find the clue.

I dreamt ('twas on a birth-day night)
A fumptuous palace rose to fight :
The builder had, thro' ev'ry part,
Obferv'd the chastest rules of art;
Raphael and Titian had display'd
All the full force of light and fshade;
Around the liv'ry'd fervants wait;
An aged porter kept the gate.

As

As I was traverfing the hall,

Where Bruffels' looms adorn'd the wall, (Whose tap'ftry fhews without my aid, A nun is no fuch useless maid) A graceful perfon came in view, (His form it seems is known to few ;) His dress was unadorn'd with lace, But charms! a thoufand in his face.

This, Sir, your property? I cry'dMafter and manfion coincide;

Where all, indeed, is truly great,

And proves, that blifs may dwell with ftate.
Pray, Sir, indulge a stranger's claim,
And grant the favour of your name.

"CONTENT," the lovely form reply'd,
But think not, here that I reside:
Here lives a courtier, bafe and fly;
An open, honeft, ruftic, I.
Our taste and manners difagree;
His levee boaft no charms for me:
For titles, and the smiles of kings,
To me are cheap unheeded things.

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