So very reasonable, fo unmov'd,

As never yet to love, or to be lov'd.

She, while her Lover pants upon her breast,
Can mark the figures on an Indian cheft;

165

And when she fees her Friend in deep despair,
Obferves how much a Chintz exceeds Mohair. 170
Forbid it Heav'n, a Favour or a Debt

She e'er should cancel-but she may forget.
Safe is your Secret still in Cloe's ear;
But none of Cloe's fhall you ever hear.

175

Of all her Dears fhe never flander'd one,
But cares not if a thousand are undone.
Would Cloe know if you're alive or dead?
She bids her Footman put it in her head.
Cloe is prudent-Would you too be wife?
Then never break your heart when Cloe dies.
One certain Portrait may (I grant) be feen,
Which Heav'n has varnish'd out, and made a Queen :
THE SAME FOR EVER! and defcrib'd by all
With Truth and Goodness, as with Crown and Ball.

180

no fuch thing as a perfect Character; so that the fatire falls not on any particular Character, but on the Character-maker only. See Note on 78, 1 Dialogue 1738.

1

Poets heap Virtues, Painters Gems at will,

185

And show their zeal, and hide their want of skill. 'Tis well-but, Artifts! who can paint or write, To draw the Naked is your true delight.

That Robe of Quality fo ftruts and fwells,

None fee what Parts of Nature it conceals :
Th'exacteft traits of Body or of Mind,

We owe to models of an humble kind.

190

If QUEENSBERRY to ftrip there's no compelling, 'Tis from a Handmaid we must take a Helen. From Peer or Bishop 'tis no easy thing

To draw the man who loves his God, or King:

Alas! I copy (or my draught would fail)
From honeft Mah'met, or plain Parfon Hale.

VARIATIONS.

After 198. in the MS.

195

Fain I'd in Fulvia spy the tender Wife ;
I cannot prove it on her, for my life:
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.

NOTES.

VER. 198. Mah'met, fervant to the late King, faid

il

to be the son of a Turkish Baffa, whom he took at the

200

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 disguise, in Public 'tis you hide;

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

That each may seem a Virtue, or a Vice.

NOTES.

Siege of Buda, and conftantly kept about his perfon. P.

Ibid. Dr Stephen Hales, not more estimable for his useful discoveries as a Natural Philofopher, than for his exemplary Life and Paftoral Charity as a Parish Prieft.

205

ing, nor can we answer that these are exactly inferted. P.

VER. 203. Bred to dif guife, in Public 'tis you hide ;] There is fomething particular in the turn of this affertion, as making their dif guifing in public the neceffary effect of their being bred to difguife; but if we confider that female Education is an art of teaching not to be, but to appear, we shall have no reason to find fault with the exactness of the expreffion.

VER. 199. But grant, in Public, &c.] In the former Editions, between this and the foregoing lines, a want of Connexion might be perceived, occafioned by the omiffion of certain Examples VER. 206. That each may and Illuftrations to the Max-feem a Virtue, or a Vice.] ims laid down; and tho' For Women are taught Virfome of these have fince tue fo artificially, and Vice been found, viz. the Cha- fo naturally, that, in the racters of Philomedé, Atoffa, nice exercife of them, they Cloe, and fome verfes fol- may be easily mistaken for lowing, others are still want- one another. SCRIB.

1

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

Those, 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 oppreffion 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 sev'ral paffions find;
In Women, two almost divide the Kind.

NOTES.

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. P.

VER. 211. This is occa

cation, and in fome degree by Neceffity. 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 firft.

fioned partly by their Nature, and partly their Edu-"

VER. 216. But ev'ry Woman is at heart a Rake :] Some men (fays 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;