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From thence was carried off to bed:

John held his heels, and Nan his head.
My Lady was disturb'd: new forrow!
Which Hans muft answer for to-morrow.
In bed then view this happy pair;
And think how Hymen triumph'd there.
Hans faft afleep as foon as laid;"
The duty of the night unpaid:

The waking Dame, with thoughts oppreft,
That made her hate both him and reft:
By fuch a husband, fuch a wife!
'Twas Acme's and Septimius' life :
The Lady figh'd: the Lover fnor'd:
The punctual Devil kept his word:
Appear'd to honeft Hans again;
But not at all by Madam feen:
And giving him a magic ring,
Fit for the finger of a king;
Dear Hans, faid he, this jewel take,
And wear it long for Satan's fake:
"Twill do your business to a hair:
For, long as you this ring fhall wear,
As fure as I look over Lincoln,

That ne'er fhall happen which you think on.

Hans took the ring with joy extreme

(All this was only in a dream);

And, thrusting it beyond his joint,

'Tis done, he cry'd: I've gain'd my point. What point, faid fhe, you ugly beaft?

You neither give me joy, nor reft :.

"Tis done.

What's done, you drunken bear

You've thrust your finger God knows where.

A DUTCH PROVER B.

FIR

IRE, water, woman, are man's ruin;
Says wife Profeffor Vander Brüin.

By flames a house I hir'd was loft

Last year and I must pay the cost.

:

This fpring the rains o'erflow'd my ground:
And my beft Flanders mare was drown'd.
A flave I am to Clara's eyes:

The gipfy knows her power, and flies.
Fire, water, woman, are my ruin :
And great thy wisdom, Vander Brüin.

PAULO PURGANTI and his WIFE;

an HONEST, but a SIMPLE PAIR.

Eft enim quiddam, idque intelligitur in omni virtute, "quod deceat: quod cogitatione magis à virtute po"teft quàm re feparari." Cic. de Off. 1. i.

B

EYOND the fix'd and fettled rules

Of vice and virtue in the fchools,

Beyond the letter of the law,

Which keeps our men and maids in awe,

The

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The better fort fhould fet before 'em
A grace, a manner, a decorum;

Something, that gives their acts a light;
Makes them not only juft, but bright;
And fets them in that open fame,
Which witty malice cannot blame.

For 'tis in life, as 'tis in painting

Much may be right, yet much be wanting;
From lines drawn true, our eye may trace
A foot, a knee, a hand, a face;

May juttly own the picture wrought
Exact to rule, exempt from fault :
Yet, if the colouring be not there,
The Titian ftroke, the Guido air;
To niceft judgement fhow the piece,
At best 'twill only not displease:
It would not gain on Jerfey's eye;
Bradford would frown, and set it by.
Thus in the picture of our mind
The action may be well defign'd;
Guided by law, and bound by duty;
Yet want this je ne fcai quoi of beauty:
And though its error may be such,

As Knags and Burgess cannot hit ;
It yet may feel the nicer touch

Of Wicherley's or Congreve's wit.
What is this talk? replies a friend,
And where will this dry moral end?
The truth of what you here lay down
By fome example should be shown.-
With all
my heart for once; read on,

An

An honeft but a fimple pair

(And twenty other I forbear)
May ferve to make this thefis clear.
A doctor of great skill and fame,
Paulo Purganti was his name,
Had a good, comely, virtuous wife;
'No woman led a better life :

She to intrigues was ev'n hard-hearted:
She chuckled when a bawd was carted;
And thought the nation ne'er would thrive,
Till all the whores were burnt alive.

On married men, that dar'd be bad,
She thought no mercy fhould be had;
They should be hang'd, or starv'd, or flead,
Or ferv'd like Romish priests in Swede.
In fhort, all lewdnefs the defied:
And ftiff was her parochial pride.

Yet, in an honest way, the dame

Was a great lover of that same;
And could from Scripture take her cue,
That husbands fhould give wives their due.
Her prudence did so justly steer
Between the gay and the fevere,
That if in fome regards the chofe
To curb poor Paulo in too clofe;
In others she relax'd again,
And govern'd with a loofer rein.

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Thus though the strictly did confine "The Doctor from excefs of wine : With oysters, eggs, and vermicelli, She let him almoft burst his belly:

}

Thus

Thus drying coffee was denied;

But chocolate that lofs fupplied:

And for tobacco (who could bear it ?),

Filthy concomitant of claret :

(Bleft revolution !) one might fee Eringo roots, and Bohea tea.

She often fet the Doctor's band,

And ftroak'd his beard, and fqueez'd his hand :
Kindly complain'd, that after noon

He went to pore on books too foon:
She held it wholefomer by much,
To reft a little on the couch :-
About his waist in bed a-nights
She clung fo close for fear of fprites.
The Doctor understood the call;
But had not always wherewithal.

The lion's fkin too fhort, you know,
(As Plutarch's Morals finely fhow)
Was lengthen'd by the fox's tail:
And art fupplies, where ftrength may fail.
Unwilling then in arms to meet

The enemy he could not beat;
He ftrove to lengthen the campaign,
And fave his forces by chicane.
Fabius, the Roman chief, who thus
By fair retreat grew Maximus,
Shews us, that all that warrior can do,
With force inferior, is cunctando.

One day then, as the foe drew near,
With love, and joy, and life, and dear;

VOL. I.

L

Our

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