I

N these gay thoughts the Loves and Graces shine,
And all the Writer lives in every line;

His eafy Art may happy Nature feem,
Trifles themselves are elegant in him.
Sure to charm all was his peculiar fate,
Who without flattery pleas'd the fair and great;
Still with esteem no lefs convers'd than read;
With wit well-natur'd, and with books well-bred:
His heart, his mistress and his friend did fhare,
His time, the Muse, the witty and the fair.
Thus wifely careless, innocently gay,
Chearful he play'd the trifle, Life, away;
Till fate fcarce felt his gentle breath fuppreft,
As fmiling Infants fport themselves to reft.
Ey'n rival Wits did Voiture's death deplore,

And the gay mourn'd who never mourn'd before;
The trueft hearts for Voiture heav'd with fighs,
Voiture was wept by all the brightest Eyes:
The Smiles and Loves had died in Voiture's death,
But that for ever in his lines they breathe.
Let the ftrict life of graver mortals be

A long, exact, and ferious Comedy;

In every fcene fome Moral let it teach,

And, if it can, at once both please and preach.

Let

Let mine, an innocent gay farce appear,

And more diverting still than regular,

Have Humour, Wit, a native Ease and Grace,
Though not too ftrictly bound to Time and Place:
Critics in Wit, or Life, are hard to please,

Few write to thofe, and none can live to these.

Too much your Sex are by their forms confin'd, Severe to all, but most to Womankind; Custom, grown blind with Age, must be your guide; Your pleasure is a vice, but not your pride;

By Nature yielding, stubborn but for fame;

Made Slaves by honour, and made fools by Shame. Marriage may all those petty Tyrants clace,

But fets up one, a greater in their place :

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Well might you wish for change by those accurst,
But the last Tyrant ever proves the worft.

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Still in conftraint your fuffering Sex remains,

Or bound in formal, or in real chains:

Whole years neglected, for fome months ador'd,

The fawning Servant turns a haughty Lord.

Ah, quit not the free innocence of life,

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For the dull glory of a virtuous Wife;

Nor let falfe Shews, nor empty Titles please:

Aim not at Joy, but reft content with Eafe.

The Gods, to curfe Pamela with her prayers,
Gave the gilt Coach and dappled Flanders Mares,
The shining robes, rich jewels, beds of state,
And, to complete her blifs, a Fool for Mate.
She glares in Balls, front Boxes, and the Ring,
A vain, unquiet, glittering, wretched Thing!

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Pride, Pomp, and State, but reach her outward part; 55
She fighs, and is no Dutchess at her heart.

But, Madam, if the fates withstand, and you
Are deftin'd Hymen's willing Victim too;
Trust not too much your now refiftless charms,
Thofe, Age or Sickness, foon or late difarms:
Good-humour only teaches charms to last,
Still makes new conquefts, and maintains the past;
Love, rais'd on Beauty, will like that decay,
Our hearts may bear its slender chain a day;
As flowery bands in wantonness are worn,
A morning's pleasure, and at evening torn ;
This binds in ties more eafy, yet more strong,
The willing heart, and only holds it long.

*

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Thus Voiture's early care ftill fhone the fame, And Monthaufier was only chang’d in name; By this, ev'n now they live, ev'n now they charm, Their Wit ftill fparkling, and their flames ftill warm.

Now crown'd with Myrtle, on th' Elyfian coast,

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Amid those Lovers, joys his gentle Ghost:
Pleas'd, while with smiles his happy lines you view, 75
And finds a fairer Ramboüillet in'you.

The brightest eyes in France inspir'd his Muse;

The brightest eyes in Britain now perufe ;

And dead, as living, 'tis our Author's pride
Still to charm those who charm the world befide.

* Mademoiselle Paulet.

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VOL. II.

Z

EPISTLE

L E

EPIST

TO THE SAME,

On her leaving the Town after the Coronation, 1715.

A

S fome fond Virgin, whom her mother's care

Drags from the Town to wholesome Country air,
Just when she learns to roll a melting eye,
And hear a fpark, yet think no danger nigh;
From the dear man unwilling she must sever,
Yet takes one kifs before the parts for ever:
Thus from the world fair Zephalinda flew,
Saw others happy, and with fighs withdrew;
Not that their pleasures caus'd her difcontent,
She figh'd, not that they stay'd, but that she went. 10
She went to plain-work, and to purling brooks,
Old-fashion'd halls, dull Aunts, and croaking rooks:
She went from Opera, Park, Affembly, Play,
To morning-walks, and prayers three hours a-day;
To part her time 'twixt reading and Bohea,
To mufe, and spill her folitary tea,

Or o'er cold coffee trifle with the spoon,
Count the flow Clock, and dine exact at noon;
Divert her eyes with pictures in the fire,
Hum half a tune, tell stories to the 'Squire ;
Up to her godly garret after seven,

There starve and pray, for that's the way to heaven.
Some 'Squire, perhaps, you take delight to rack;
Whofe game is Whift, whofe treat a toaft in fack:

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Who

Who vifits with a gun, presents you birds,
Then gives a smacking buss, and cries,-No words!
Or with his hounds comes hallooing from the ftable,
Makes love with nods, and knees beneath a table;
Whose laughs are hearty, though his jefts are coarse,
And loves you best of all things-but his horfe.

In fome fair evening, on your elbow laid,
You dream of Triumphs in the rural shade;
In pensive thought recall the fancy'd fcene,
See Coronations rife on every green;

Before you pass th' imaginary fights

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Of Lords, and Earls, and Dukes, and garter'd Knights,
While the spread fan o'erfhades your closing eyes ;
Then give one flirt, and all the vision flies.
Thus vanish fceptres, coronets, and balls,
And leave you in lone woods, or empty walls!
So when your flave, at some dear idle time,
(Not plague'd with head-achs, or the want of rhyme)
Stands in the streets, abftracted from the crew,
And while he seems to study, thinks of you.
Juft when his fancy points your fprightly eyes,
Or fees the blush of foft Parthenia rise,

Gay pats my shoulder, and you vanish quite,
Streets, Chairs, and Coxcombs, rufh upon my fight;
Vex'd to be ftill in town, I knit my brow,

Look four, and hum a Tune, as you may now.

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THE