In Men, we various Ruling Paffions find; In Women, two almoft divide the kind;

Thofe, only fix'd, they first or last obey,

The Love of Pleasure, and the Love of Sway. 210
That, Nature gives; and where the leffon taught
Is but to please, can Pleasure seem a fault?
Experience, this; by Man's oppression curft,
They seek the second not to lose the first.

216

Men, fome to Bus'nefs, fome to Pleasure take; But ev'ry Woman is at heart a Rake: Men, fome to Quiet, fome to public Strife;

But ev'ry Lady would be Queen for life.

VARIATIONS.

VER. 207. in the first Edition,

In fev'ral Men we fev'ral paffions find;
In Women, two almost divide the Kind.

NOTES.

VER. 207. The former | cation, and in fome degree part having fhewn, that the by Neceffity. P. particular Characters of Women are more various than those of Men, it is nevertheless obferved, that the general Characteristic of the fex, as to the ruling Paffion, is more uniform. P.

VER. 213. Experience this, &c.] The ironical apology continued: That the Second is, as it were, forced upon them by the tyranny and oppreffion of man, in order to fecure the first.

VER. 216. But ev'ry Woman is at heart a Rake :]

VER. 211. This is occafioned partly by their Nature, and partly their Edu-" Some men (says the Poet)

Yet mark the fate of a whole Sex of Queens!

Pow'r all their end, but Beauty all the means: 220
In Youth they conquer, with fo wild a rage,
As leaves them scarce a subject in their Age:
For foreign glory, foreign joy, they roam;
No thought of peace or happiness at home.
But Wisdom's triumph is well-tim❜d Retreat,
As hard a science to the Fair as Great!
Beauties like Tyrants, old and friendless grown,
Yet hate repose, and dread to be alone,
Worn out in public, weary ev'ry eye,

225

Nor leave one figh behind them when they die. 230
Pleasures the fex, as children Birds, pursue,

Still out of reach, yet never out of view;
Sure, if they catch, to spoil the Toy at most,
To covet flying, and regret when loft:

At laft, to follies Youth could scarce defend, 235
It grows their Age's prudence to pretend;

<

Asham'd to own they gave delight before,.

Reduc'd to feign it, when they give no more:
As Hags hold Sabbaths, less for joy than spight,
So these their merry, miferable Night; 240
Still round and round the Ghofts of Beauty glide,
And haunt the places where their Honour dy'd.

See how the World its Veterans rewards!
A Youth of Frolicks, an old Age of Cards;
Fair to no purpose, artful to no end,
Young without Lovers, old without a Friend;
A Fop their Paffion, but their Prize a Sot,
Alive, ridiculous, and dead, forgot!

245

Ah! Friend! to dazzle let the Vain design; 249 To raise the Thought, and touch the Heart be thine! That Charm fhall grow, while what fatigues the Ring,

Flaunts and goes down, an unregarded thing:
So when the Sun's broad beam has tir'd the fight,
All mild afcends the Moon's more fober light,
Serene in Virgin Modesty she shines,

And unobferv'd the glaring Orb declines.

255

Oh! bleft with Temper, whose unclouded ray Can make to-morrow chearful as to-day;

NOTES.

VER. 249.

Advice for their true Intereft. P.

260

She, who can love a Sifter'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 fubmitting fways,
Yet has her humour moft, when she obeys;
Let Fops or Fortune fly which way they will; 265
Difdains all lofs of Tickets, or Codille;

.270

Spleen, Vapours, or Small-pox, above them all,
And Mistress of herself, tho' China fall.
And yet, believe me, good as well as ill,
Woman's at best a Contradiction ftill.
Heav'n, when it ftrives to polish all it can
Its laft beft work, but forms a softer Man;
Picks from each fex, to make the Fav'rite bleft,
Your love of Pleasure, our defire of Reft:
Blends, in exception to all gen'ral rules,

Your Taste of Follies, with our Scorn of Fools:

NOTES.

275

VER. 269. The Picture | Sifter, to prevent her being of an estimable Woman, mistaken for any of his acwith the best kind of contrarieties, created out of the poet's imagination; who therefore feigned thofe circumftances of a Hufband, a Daughter, and love for a

quaintance. And having thus made his Woman, he did, as the ancient poets were wont, when they had made their Mufe, invoke, and address his poem to, her.

Referve with Franknefs, Art with Truth ally'd,
Courage with Softness, Modesty with Pride;
Fix'd Principles, with Fancy ever new;
Shakes all together, and produces-You.

280

Be this a Woman's Fame: with this unblest, Toafts live a scorn, and Queens may die ajest. This Phoebus promis'd (I forget the year) When those blue eyes firft open'd on the sphere; Afcendant Phoebus watch'd that hour with care, Averted half your Parents' fimple Pray'r;

:

NOTES.

286

chinery of Phoebus in the afcendant, watching the natal hour of his favourite, and averting the ill effects of her parents miftaken fondnefs For Phoebus, as the god of Wit, confers Genius ; and, as one of the astronomical influences, defeats the adventitious byas of education.

:

VER. 285. &c. Afcendant | der the fublime claffical maPhabus watch'd that hour with care, Averted half your Parents' fimple Pray'r; And gave you Beauty, but deny'd the Pelf. The poet concludes his Epistle with a fine Moral, that deferves the ferious attention of the pub lic It is this, that all the extravagances of these vicious Characters here defcribed, are much inflamed by a wrong Education, hinted at in 203; and that even the best are rather secured by a good natural than by the prudence and provividence of parents; which obfervation is conveyed un

In conclufion, the great Moral from both thefe Epiftles together is, that the two rareft things in all Na

ture are a DISINTERESTED

MAN, and a REASONABLE
WOMAN.