Works all her Folly up, and cafts it outward
To the World's open View.
Dryd. All for Love.
Ah, what is Man when his own Wish prevails!
How rafh, how fwift to plunge himself in Ill!
Proud of his Pow'r, and boundlefs in his Will!
With what unequal Tempers are we fram'd!
One Day the Soul, fupine with Eafe and Fulness,
Revels fecure, and fondly tells herself,
The Hour of Evil can return no more:
The next, the Spirits, pall'd and fick of Riot,
Turn all to Difcord, and we hate our Beings;
Curfe the paft Joy, and think it Folly all,
And Bitterness and Anguifh.
Mankind one Day ferene and free appear;
The next they're cloudy, fullen, and fevere.
New Paffions, new Opinions ftill excite,
And what they like at Noon, defpife at Night.
They cain with Labour what they quit with Eafe,
And Health, for want of Change, becomes Difeafe.
Religion's bright Authority they dare,
And yet are Saves to fuperftitious Fear.
They counfel others, but themselves deceive,
And tho' they're couzen'd ftill, they still believe.
Mankind upon each other's Ruin rife,
Cowards maintain the Brave, and Fools theWife. How. Veft.
Mankind each other's Stories ftill repeat,
And Man to Man is a fucceeding Cheat. How. D. of Lerm.
Were I [who, to my Coft, already am,
One of thole ftrange prodigious Creatures, Man]
A Spirit free to chufe for my own Share
What Cafe of Flesh and Blood I'd pleafe to wear;
I'd be a Dog, a Monkey, or a Bear;
Or any thing but that vain Animal,
Who is fo proud of being rational.
The Senfes are too grofs, and he'l contrive
A fixth to contradi& the other five:
And before certain Inftinct will prefer
Reafon, which fifty times for one does err.
Reafon, an Ignis ratuus in the Mind,
Which, leaving Light of Nature, Senfe, behind,
Pathlefs, and dang'rous wand'ring Ways it takes,
Thio' Error's fenny Bogs, and thorny Brakes;
While the mifguided Follow'r climbs, with Pain,
Mountains of Whimfeys heap'd in his own Brain;
Stumbling from Thought to Thought, falls headlong down
Into Doubt's boundlefs Sea, where, like to drown,
Books bear him up a while, and make him try
To fwim with Bladders of Philofophy,
In hopes ftill to o'ertake th'efcaping Light;
Till, pent, it leaves him to eternal Night.
Huddled in Dirt the reas'ning Engine lies,
Who was fo proud, fo witty, and fo wife:
Pride drew him in, as Cheats their Bubbles catch,
And make him venture to be made a Wretch :
His Wifdom did his Happine's deftroy,
Aiming to know what World he should enjoy :
And Wit was his vain frivolous Pretence
Of pleafing others at his own Expence :
For Wits are treated just like common Whores,
Firft they're enjoy'd, and then kick'd out of Doors.
Women and Men of Wit are dang'rous Tools,
And ever fatal to admiring Fools.
Those Creatures are the wifeft who attain,
By fureft Means the Ends at which they aim:
If therefore fowler finds and kills his Hare
Better than Meer's fupplies Committee-Chair,
Tho' one's a Statefman, th'other but a Hound,
Fowler, in Juitice, would be wifer found.
Birds feed on Birds, Beats on each other Prey,
But favage Man alone does Man betray:
Prefs'd by Neceffity, they kill for Food;
Man undoes Man to do limfelf no Good.
With Teeth and Claws by Nature arm'd, they hant
Nature's Allowance to supply their Want :
But Man with Smiles, Embraces, Friendship, Praise,
Unhumanly his Fel ow's Life betrays ;
With voluntary Pains works his Diftrefs,
Not thro' Neceflity, but Wantennefs.
For Hunger or for Love they fight and tear,
While wretched Man-is ftill in Arms for Fear:
For Fear he Arms, and is of Arms afraid;
By Fear to Fear fucceffively betray'd
Bafe Fear, the Source when his bett Paffions came,
His boafted Honour, and his dear-bought Fame:
The Good he acts, the Ills he does endure,
'Tis all for Fear, to make himself fecure:
Merely for Safety, after Fame we thirft;
For all Men would be Cowards if they durft.
And Honefty's against all common Sense;
Men must be Knaves, 'tis in their own Defence
Mankind's dishonest: If you think it fair
Among known Cheats to play upon the Square,
Nor can weak Truth your Reputation fave;
The Knaves will all agree to call you Knave:
Long fhall he live infulted o'er, opprefs'd,
Who dares be lefs a Villain than the rest..
MARRIAGE. See Hufband. Wife.
To the nuptial Bower
I led her, blufhing like the Morn; all Heaven,
And happy Conftellations on that Hour
Shed their felected Influence: The Earth
Gave Sign of Gratulation, and each Hill:
Joyous the Birds: Fresh Gales and gentle Airs
Whisper'd it to the Woods; and from their Wings
Flung Rofe, flung Odours from the fpicy Shrub;
Difporting till the am'rous Bird of Night
Sung Spoufal, and bid hafte the Evening-Star
On his Hill-top to light the bridal Lamp.
And Venus blefs'd with nuptial Bliss the sweet laborious
Eros and Anteros on either Side,
One fir'd the Bridegroom, and one warm'd the Bride;
And Hymen, long attending from above
Show'r'd on the Bed the whole Idalian Grove. Dryd. Pal. & Hail wedded Love! myfterious Law, true Source
Of human Offspring! fole Propriety
In Paradife, of all Things common elfe!
By thee adult'rous Luft was driv'n from Man
Among the beftial Herds to range: By thee,
Founded in Reafon, loyal, juft, and pure,
Relations dear, and all the Charities
Of Father, Son, and Brother, firft were known!
Perpetual Fountain of domeftic Sweets!
Here Love his golden Shafts employs; here lights
His conftant Lamp, and waves his purple Wings:
Here reigns and revels; not in the bought Smile
Of Harlots, lovelefs, joylefs, unindear'd,
Cafual Fruition; nor in Court-Amours,
Mix'd Dance, or wanton Mask, or Midnight Ball,
Or Serenade, which the ftarv'd Lover fings
To his proud Fair, beft quitted with Difdain.
In Nuptials bleft, each loose Defire we shun; Nor Time can end what Innocence begun.
When fix'd to one, Love safe at Anchor rides,
And dares the Fury of the Wind and Tides;
But lofing once that Hold, to the wide Ocean born, (Love. It drives away at will, to ev'ry Wave a Scorn. Dryd. Tyr. All Women would be of one Piece,
The virtuous Matron and the Mifs; The Nymphs of chafte Diana's Train, The fame with those in Lukenor's-Lane; But for the Diff'rence Marriage makes "Twixt Wives and Ladies of the Lakes. Marriage, thou Curfe of Love, and Snare of Life! That firft debas'd a Mistress to a Wife! Love, like a Scene, at Distance should appear, But Marriage views the grofs-daub'd Landskip near. Love's naufeous Curfe! thou cloy'ft whom thou should'st And when thou cur'ft, then thou art the Difeafe. (please; When Hearts are loofe, thy Chain our Bodies ties; (Gran. Love couples Friends, but Marriage Enemies. Dryd. Cong. of. And Wedlock without Love, fome say, Is but a Lock without a Key;
It is a kind of Rape to marry
One that neglects or cares not for
For what does make it Ravishment,
But being 'gainst the Mind's Confent?
A Slavery beyond enduring,
But that 'tis of our own procuring:
As Spiders never feek the Fly,
But leave him of himself t'apply;
So Men are by themselves betray'd
To quit the Freedom they enjoy'd,
And run their Necks into a Noofe,
They'd break 'em after to break loofe.
Marriage is but a Beast, some say,
That carries double in foul Way;
Therefore 'tis not to be admir'd
It should fo fuddenly be tir'd.
For after Matrimony's over,
He that holds out but half a Lover,
Deferves, for ev'ry Moment, more
Than half a Year of Love before.
Fondness is ftill th'Effect of new Delight: Marriage is but the Pleasure of a Day ;
The Metal's bafe, the Gilding worn away. Dryd. Aureng. Marriage at beft, is but a Vow,
Which all Men either break or bow.
Lord of yourself, uncumber'd with a Wife!
Where for a Year, a Month, perhaps a Night,
Long Penitence fucceeds a fhort Delight.
Minds are fo hardly match'd: that ev'n the first,
Tho' pair'd by Heav'n, in Paradife, were curs'd:
For Man and Woman, tho' in one they grow,
Yet, first or laft, return again to two:
He to God's Image, fhe to his was made;
So farther from the Fount the Stream at random stray'd:
How could he stand, when, put to double Pain,
He muft a weaker than himself sustain ?
Each might have ftood perhaps, but each alone;
Two Wrestlers help to pull each other down.
Not that my Verfe would blemish all the Fair;
But yet, if fome be bad, 'tis Wifdom to beware;
And better fhun the Bait, than ftruggle in the Snare. Dryd.
I would not wed her:
No! were the all Defire could with, as fair
As would the vaineft of her Sex be thought,
With Wealth beyond what Woman's Pride could waste,
She should not cheat me of my Freedom. Marry!
When I am old, and weary of the World,
I may grow desperate,
And take a Wife to mortify withal.
Marriage to Maids, is like a War to Men; The Battle caufes Fear, but the fweet Hopes Of winning at the last still draws them in.
The God of War, whofe unrefifted Sway The Labours and Events of Arms obey.
Stern Pow'r of War! by whom the mighty Fall, Who bathe in Blood, and shake th'embattl'd Wall. PopeHom. Mad, furious Pow'r, whofe unrelenting Mind
No God can govern, and no Juftice bind.
Of all the Gods that tread the fpangled Skies, Thou most unjust, moft odious in our Eyes: Inhumane Difcord is thy chief Delight,
The Waste of Slaughter, and the Rage of Fight:
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