That Charm shall 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 the shines,

255 And unobserv'd the glaring orb declinés. Oh! blest with Temper, whose unclouded

ray' Can make to-morrow cliearful as to-day: She, who can love a Sister's charms, or hear Sighs for a Daughter with unwounded ear; 260 She who ne'er answers 'till a Husband cools, Or, if the rules him, never thews the rules; Charms by accepting, by submitting fways, Yet has her humour most, when she obeys ; Let Fops or Fortune fly which way they wll;

265 Disdains all loss of Tickets, or Codille; Spleen, Vapours, or Small-pox, above them all, And Mistress of herself, though China fall.

And yet, believe me, good as well as ill, Woman's at best a contradiction still.

270 Heaven when it strives to polish all it can Its last best work, but forms a softer Man; Picks from each sex, to make the Favourite blest, Your love of Pleasure, our desire of Rest: Blends, in exception to all general rules,

275 Your taste of Follies, with our scorn of Fools : Reserve with Frankness, 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,
Toasts live a scorn, and Queens may die a jeft.
This Phæbus promis'd (I forget the year)
When those blue eyes first opend on the sphere ;
Ascendant Phæbus watch'd that hour with care, 285
Averted half your Parents' Simple Prayer;
And gave you Beauty, but deny'd the Pelf
That buys your sex a Tyrant o'er itself.
The generous God, who Wit and Gold refines,
And ripens Spirits as he ripens Mines.

290 Kept Dross for Duchesses, the world shall know it, To you gave Sense, Good-humour, and a Poet.

MORAL

M O R A L

ESS A Y S.

E P I S T L E III.

TO ALLEN, LORD BATHURST.

ARGUMENT.

Of the Use of RICHES, THAT it is known to few, most falling into one of

the extremes, Avarice or Profusion, ver. 1, &c. The Point discussed, whether the invention of Money has been more commodious or pernicious to Mankind, ver. 21 to 77. That Riches, either to the Avaricious or the Prodigal, cannot afford Happiness, scarcely Necessaries, ver. 89 to 160. That Avarice is an absolute Frenzy, without an End or Purpose, ver. 113, &c. 152. Conjectures about the Motives of Avaricious men, ver. 121 to 153. That the conduct of men, with respect to Riches, can only be accountedfor by the Order of Providence, which works the general Good out of Extremes, and brings all to its great End by perpetual Revolutions, ver. 161 to 178. How a Miser acts upon Principles which appear to him reasonable, ver. 179. How a Prodigal does the fame, ver. 199. The due Medium, and true use of Riches, ver. 219. The Man of Ross, ver. 250. The fate of the Profuse and the Covetous, in two examples; both miserable in Life and in Death, ver. 300, &c. The Story of Sir Balaam, ver. 339 to the end.

EPISTIF

I 3

THIS Epistle was written after a violent outcry against

our Author, on a fuppofition that he had ridiculed à worthy nobleman merely for his wrong taste. He justified himself upon that article in a letter to the Earl of Burlington ; at the end of which are these words : “ I have learnt that there are some who would “ rather be wicked than ridiculous: and therefore it may

be safer to attack vices than follies. I will “ therefore leave my betters in the quiet possession of “ their idols, their groves, and their high-places ; “ and change my subject from their pride to their " meanness, from their vanities to miseries; “ and as the only certain way to avoid misconstruc- tions, to lessen offence, and not to multiply ill“ natured applications, I may probably in my next, “ make use of real names instead of fi&titious ones."

P. HO fall decide, when Doctors disagree,

And soundest Casuists doubt, like you and me?
You hold the word, from Jove to Momus given,
That Man was made the standing jest of Heaven :
And Gold but sent to keep the Fools in play, 5
For some to heap, and some to throw away.

But I, who think more highly of our kind,
(And, surely, Heaven and I are of a mind)
Opine, that Nature, as in duty bound,
Deep hid the shining mischief under ground :

But

Y

IO

20

But when, by Man's audacious labour won,
Flam'd forth this rival too, its Sire, the Sun,
Then careful Heaven supply'd two sorts of Men,
To squander These, and Those to hide again.

Like Doctors thus, when much dispute has past.
We find our tenets just the same at last,
Both fairly owning, Riches, in effect,
No grace of Heaven or token of th’ Elect;
Given to the Fool, the Mad, the Vain, the Evil,

To Ward, to Waters, Chartres, and the Devil.
B. What Nature wants, commodious Gold bestows,

'Tis thus we eat the bread another fows. P. But how unequal it bestows, observe ;

'Tis thus we riot, while, who sow it, starve :
What Nature wants (a phrase I much distrust) 2.5
Extends to Luxury, extends to Lust :
Useful, I grant, it serves what life requires,

But dreadful too, the dark Assassin hires :
B. Trade it may help, Society extend :
P. But lures the Pirate, and corrupts the Friend. 30
B. It raises Armies in a Nation's aid :
P. But bribes a Senate, and the Land 's betray'd.

In vain may Heroes fight, and Patriots rave;
If secret Gold fap on from knave to knave.
Once, we confess, beneath the Patriot's cloak, 35
From the crack'd bag the dropping Guinea spoke,
And jingling down the back-stairs, told the crew,
« Old Cato is as great a rogue as you."
Blest Paper-credit ! last and best supply!
That lends Corruption lighter wings to fly! 40
14

Gold,