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But grant, in Public Men fometimes are shown, A Woman's feen in Private life alone:

Our bolder Talents in full light display'd;

Your Virtues open fairest in the fhade.

Bred to difguife, in Public 'tis you hide;

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There, none diftinguifh 'twixt your Shame or Pride, Weakness or Delicacy; all so nice,

That each may feem a Virtue, or a Vice.

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

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VER. 199. But grant, in Public, etc.] In the former Editions, between this and the foregoing lines, a want of Connexion might be perceived, occafioned by the omiffion of certain Examples and Illuftrations to the Maxims laid down; and though fome of thefe have fince been found, viz. the Characters of Philomede, Atoffa, Chloe, and fome verfes following, others are ftill wanting, nor can we answer that these are exactly inferted.

VER. 207. The former part having fhewn, that the 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

VARIATIONS.

And, for a noble pride, I blush no less,
Inftead of Berenice to think on Befs.
Thus while immortal Cibber only fings
(As* and H**y preach) for queens and kings,
The nymph, that ne'er read Milton's mighty line,
May, if the love, and merit verfe, have mine,

VER. 207. In the first Edition,

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

Thofe, only fix'd, they firft or laft 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 oppreffion curst,
They seek the second not to lose the first.

Men, fome to Bus'nefs, fome to Pleasure take;

But ev'ry Woman is at heart a Rake:

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Men, fome to Quiet, fome to public Strife;

But ev'ry Lady would be Queen for life.

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 fcarce a fubject 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 fcience to the Fair as Great!

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VER. 211. This is occafioned partly by their Nature, partly their Education, and in fome degree by Neceffity.

VER. 216. But ev'ry Woman is at heart a Rake :] "Some "men (says the Poet) take to business, fome to pleasure, but "every woman would willingly make pleasure her business:" which being the peculiar characteristic of a Rake, we must needs think that he includes (in his use of the word here) no more of the Rake's ill qualities than are implied in this definition, of one who makes pleasure bis business.

VER. 219. What are the Aims and the Fate of this Sex? -I. As to Power.

Beauties, like Tyrants, old and friendless grown,
Yet hate repofe, and dread to be alone,

Worn out in public, weary ev'ry eye,

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 last, to follies Youth could scarce defend, 235
It grows their Age's prudence to pretend;
Asham'd to own they gave delight before,
Reduce 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!

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Ah! Friend! to dazzle let the Vain design; To raise the thought, and touch the Heart be thine!

VER. 231.-II. As to Pleasure.

VER. 249. Advice for their true Interest,

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 sight,
All mild afcends the Moon's more sober light,
Serene in Virgin Modesty she fhines,

And unobferv'd the glaring Orb declines.

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Oh! bleft with Temper, whose unclouded ray Can make to-morrow chearful as to-day: She, who can love a Sifter's charms, or hear Sighs for a Daughter with unwounded ear;

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VER. 253. So when the Sun's broad beam, etc.] One of the great beauties obfervable in the poet's management of his Similitudes, is the ceremonious preparation he makes for them, in gradually raising the imagery of the fimilitude in the lines preceding, by the use of metaphors taken from the subject of it: while what fatigues the ring,

Flaunts and goes down, an unregarded thing. And the civil difmiffion he gives them by the continuance of the fame metaphor, in the lines following, whereby the traces of the imagery gradually decay, and give place to others, and the reader is never offended with the fudden or abrupt disappearance of it,

Oh! bleft with Temper, whofe unclouded ray, etc.

Another instance of the fame kind we have in this epiftle, in the following lines,

Chufe a firm cloud before it fall, and in it

Catch, ere fhe change, the Cynthia of this minute.
Rufa, whofe eye quick-glancing o'er the Park,
Attracts each light gay Meteor of a Spark, etc.

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She who ne'er anfwers 'till a Hufband cools,
Or, if the rules him, never fhews fhe rules;
Charms by accepting, by fubmitting fways,
Yet has her humour most, when she obeys;
Let Fops or Fortune fly which way they will; 265
Difdains all lofs of Tickets, or Codille;
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 still.
Heav'n, when it strives to polish all it can
Its last best work, but forms a softer Man;
Picks from each sex, to make the Fav'rite bleft,
Your love of Pleasure, our defire of Rest:
Blends, in exception to all gen'ral rules,
Your taste of Follies, with our Scorn of Fools:
Referve with Franknefs, Art with Truth ally'd,
Courage with Softnefs, Modefty with Pride;
Fix'd Principles, with Fancy ever new ;
Shakes all together, and produces---You.
Be this a Woman's Fame: with this unbleft,
Toasts live a scorn, and Queens may die a jest.
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;

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286

VER. 285, etc. Afcendant Phoebus watch'd that bour with care, Averted half your Parents' fimple Pray'r ; And gave you

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