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LORD HER VE Y.

IN THE YEAR 1730. FROM WORCESTERSHIRE.

Strenua nos exercet inertia: navibus atque "Quadrigis petimus bene vivere: quod petis, hic eft ; "Eft ulubris, animus fi te non deficit æquus." HOR.

FAVOURITE of Venus and the tuneful Nine,

Pollio, by Nature form'd in courts to shine,
Wilt thou once more a kind attention lend,
To thy long abfent and forgotten friend;
Who, after feas and mountains wander'd o'er,
Return'd at length to his own native shore,
From all that's gay retir'd, and all that's great,
Beneath the shades of his paternal seat,
Has found that happiness he fought in vain
On the fam❜d banks of Tiber and of Seine?

>"Tis not to view the well-proportion'd pile,
The charms of Titian's and of Raphael's ftyle;
At foft Italian founds to melt away ;
Or in the fragrant groves of myrtle ftray;
That lulls the tumults of the foul to reft,
Or makes the fond poffeffor truly bleft.
In our own breafts the fource of pleasure lies,
Still open, and ftill flowing to the wife;
Not forc'd by toilfome art and wild defire
Beyond the bounds of nature to aspire,

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But,

But, in its proper channels gliding fair ;
A common benefit, which all may share.
Yet half mankind this eafy good difdain,
Nor relish happiness unbought by pain;

Falfe is their tafte of blifs, and thence their fearch
is vain.

So idle, yet so restless, are our minds,

We climb the Alps, and brave the raging winds;
Through various toils to feek Content we roam,
Which with but thinking right were ours at home,
For not the ceafelefs change of shifted place
Can from the heart a fettled grief erase,
Nor can the purer balm of foreign air
Heal the diftemper'd mind of aking care.
The wretch, by wild impatience driven to rove,
Vext with the pangs of ill-requited love,
From Pole to Pole the fatal arrow bears,
Whofe rooted point his bleeding bofom tears;
With equal pain each different clime he tries,
And is himself that torment which he flies.

For how fhould ills, which from our paffions flow,
Be chang'd by Africk's heat, or Ruffia's fnow?
Or how can aught but powerful reason cure
What from unthinking folly we endure?
Happy is He, and He alone, who knows
His heart's uncafy difcord to compofe;
In generous love of others good, to find
The sweetest pleasures of the focial mind;
To bound his wishes in their proper fphere;

To nourish pleafing hope, and conquer anxious fear:

}

This was the wisdom ancient fages taught,

This was the fovereign good they justly sought;
This to no place or cliinate is confin'd,

But the free native produce of the mind.

Nor think, my Lord, that courts to you deny
The useful practice of philofophy:

Horace, the wifeft of the tuneful choir,
Not always chofe from greatness to retire;
But, in the palace of Auguftus, knew
The fame unerring maxims to pursue,
Which, in the Sabine or the Velian fhade,
His study and his happiness he made.

May you, my friend, by his example taught,
View all the giddy scene with fober thought;
Undazzled every glittering folly fee,

And in the midst of flavish forms be free;
In its own centre keep your fleady mind,
Let Prudence guide you, but let Honour bind.
In fhow, in manners, act the courtier's part,
But be a country gentleman at heart.

ADVICE TO A LADY.

M. DCC. XXXI.

THE counfels of a friend, Belinda, hear,
Too roughly kind to please a lady's ear,

Unlike the flatteries of a lover's pen,

Such truths as women feldom learn from men.

Nor

Nor think I praise you ill, when thus I show
What female vanity might fear to know.
Some merit's mine, to dare to be fincere;
But greater yours, fincerity to bear.

Hard is the fortune that your fex attends;
Women, like princes, find few real friends :
All who approach them their own ends pursue;
Lovers and Minifters are seldom true.

Hence oft from Reafon heedlefs Beauty ftrays,
And the most trufted guide the most betrays :
Hence, by fond dreams of fancied power amus'd,
When moft ye tyrannize, you're most abus'd.
What is your fex's earlieft, latest care,
Your heart's fupreme ambition?—To be fair.
For this, the toilet every thought employs,
Hence all the toils of drefs, and all the joys:
For this, hands, lips, and eyes, are put to school,
And each instructed feature has its rule:
And yet how few have learnt, when this is given,
Not to difgrace the partial boon of Heaven!
How few with all their pride of form can move
How few are lovely, that are made for love!
Do you, my fair, endeavour to poffefs
An elegance of mind as well as drefs;
Be that your ornament, and know to please
By graceful Nature's unaffected ease.

Nor make to dangerous wit a vain pretence,
But wifely rest content with modest sense;
For wit, like wine, intoxicates the brain,
Too ftrong for feeble woman to sustain:

of

Of those who claim it more than half have none;
And half of those who have it are undone.

Be ftill fuperior to your fex's arts,
Nor think difhonesty a proof of parts :
For you, the plaineft is the wifeft rule:
A cunning woman is a knavish fool.

Be good yourfelf, nor think another's fhame
Can raise your merit, or adorn your fame.
Prudes rail at whores, as ftatesmen in disgrace
At minifters, because they wish their place.
Virtue is amiable, mild, ferene;

Without, all beauty; and all peace within:
The honour of a prude is rage and storm,
"Tis ugliness in its most frightful form.
Fiercely it ftands, defying gods and men,
As fiery monsters guard a giant's den.
Seek to be good, but aim not be great :
A woman's nobleft ftation is retreat :
Her faireft virtues fly from public fight,
Domestic worth, that fhuns too ftrong a light..
To rougher man Ambition's task refign:
'Tis ours in fenates or in courts to shine;
To labour for a funk corrupted state,
Or dare the rage of Envy, and be great.
One only care your gentle breasts should move,
Th' important business of your life is love;
To this great point direct your constant aim,
This makes your happinefs, and this your fame,
Be never cool referve with palion join'd;
With caution chufe; but then be fondly kind.
VOL. LXIV.

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