Th' Addrefs, the Delicacy-ftoops at once,
And makes her hearty meal upon a Dunce.
Flavia's a Wit, has too much fenfe to pray;
To toast our wants and wishes, is her way;
Nor afks of God, but of her Stars, to give
The mighty bleffing, "while we live, to live."
Then all for Death, that Opiate of the foul !
Lucretia's dagger, Rofamonda's bowl.
Say, what can caufe fuch impotence of mind?
A Spark too fickle, or a Spoufe too kind.

85

90

Wife Wretch ! with pleasures too refin'd to please ; 95 With too much spirit to be e'er at ease ;

With too much Quickness ever to be taught ;

With too much thinking to have common Thought;
You purchase Pain with all that Joy can give,
And die of nothing but a Rage to live.

100

Turn then from Wits; and look on Simo's Mate,

No Afs fo meek, no Afs fo obftinate.

Or her, that owns her Faults, but never mends,
Because she's honeft, and the best of Friends.

Or her, whofe life the Church and Scandal share, 105
For ever in a Paffion, or a Pray'r.

Or her, who laughs at Hell, but (like her Grace) Cries, "Ah! how charming, if there's no fuch place!" Or who in fweet viciffitude appears

110

Of Mirth and Opium, Ratifie and Tears,
The daily Anodyne, and nightly Draught,
To kill thofe foes to fair ones, Time and Thought.
Woman and Fool are two hard things to hit;
For true No-meaning puzzles more than Wit.

VER. 87. Contrarieties in the Witty and Refined.

VER. 89. Nor afks of God, but of her Stars-Death, that Opiate of the foul!] See note on ver. 90. of Ep. to Lord Cobham.

VER. 107. Or ber, who laughs at Hell, but (like her Grace )— Cries, "Ab! bow charming, if there's no fuch place!"] i. e. Her who affects to laugh out of fashion, and strives to disbelieve out of fear.

But what are these to great Atoffa's mind?
Scarce once herself, by turns all Womankind!
Who, with herself, or others, from her birth
Finds all her life one warfare upon earth:
Shines, in expofing Knaves, and painting Fools,
Yet is, whate'er fhe hates and ridicules.
No Thought advances, but her Eddy Brain
Whisks it about, and down it goes again.
Full fixty years the World has been her Trade,
The wifeft Fool much Time has ever made.
From loveless youth to unrefpected age,
No Paffion gratify'd, except her Rage,
So much the Fury ftill out-ran the Wit,

115

120

125

The Pleasure mifs'd her, and the Scandal hit.

Who breaks with her, provokes Revenge from Hell, But he's a bolder man who dares be well.

130

Her ev'ry turn with Violence pursu❜d,

No more a storm her Hate than Gratitude :
To that each Paffion turns, or foon or late;

135

Love, if it makes her yield, muft make her hate:
Superiors death! and Equals? what a curfe!
But an Inferior not dependant? worse.
Offend her, and she knows not to forgive;
Oblige her, and fhe'll hate you while you live:
But die, and she'll adore you-Then the Buft
And Temple rife-then fall again to duft.
Laft night, her Lord was all that's good and great ;
A Knave this morning, and his Will a Cheat.
Strange! by the Means defeated of the Ends,
By Spirit robb'd of Pow'r, by Warmth of Friends,

140

VARIATION S.

After ver. 122. in the MS.

Opprefs'd with wealth and wit, abundance fad!
One makes her poor, the other makes her mad.

By Wealth of Follow'rs! without one distress
Sick of herself, thro' very selfishness !
Atoffa, curs'd with every granted pray'r,
Childless with all her Children, wants an Heir.
To Heirs unknown defcends th' unguarded store,
Or wanders, Heav'n directed, to the Poor.
Pictures like thefe, dear Madam, to design,
Afk no firm hand, and no unerring line;
Some wand'ring touches, fome reflected light,
Some flying ftroke alone can hit 'em right:
For how should equal Colours do the knack?
Chameleons who can paint in white and black?

145

150

155

VER. 150. Or wanders, Heav'n directed, etc.] Alluding and referring to the great principle of his Philofophy, which he never lofes fight of, and which teaches, that Providence is inceffantly turning the evils arifing from the follies and vices of men to general good.

VER. 156. Chameleons who can paint in white and black?] There is one thing that does a very diftinguished honour to the accuracy of our poet's judgment, of which, in the course of these obfervations, I have given many inftances, and fhall here explain in what it confifts; it is this, that the Similitudes in his didactic poems, of which he is not fparing, and which are all highly poetical, are always chofen with fuch exquifite difcernment of Nature, as not only to illustrate the particular point he is upon, but to establish the general principles he would enforce; fo, in the inftance before us, he compares the inconftancy and contradiction in the Characters of Women, to the change of colours in the Chameleon: yet 'tis nevertheless the great principle of this poem to fhew, that the general Characteristic of the Sex, as to the ruling Paffions, which they all have, is more uniform than that in Man: Now for this purpose, all Nature could not have fupplied fuch another illuftration as this of the Chameleon; for though it instantaneously affumes much of the colour of every fubject on which it chances to be placed, yet, as the most accurate Virtuofi have obferved, it has two native colours

VARIATION S.

After ver 148. in the MS.

This Death decides, nor lets the bleffing fall
On any one she hates, but on them all.
Curs'd chance! this only could afflict her more,

If any part fhould wander to the poor.

"Yet Chloe fure was form'd without a spot."Nature in her then err'd not, but forgot. "With ev'ry pleafing, ev'ry prudent part,

"Say, what can Chloe want?"-She wants a Heart.
She fpeaks, behaves, and acts juft as fhe ought, 161
But never, never, reach'd one gen'rous Thought.
Virtue fhe finds too painful an endeavour,
Content to dwell in Decencies for ever.
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;
And when the fees her Friend in deep defpair,
Obferves how much a Chintz exceeds Mohair.
Forbid it Heav'n, a Favour or a Debt
She e'er should cancel-but she may forget.
Safe is your fecret still in Chloe's ear;
But none of Chloe's shall you ever hear.
Of all her Dears fhe never flander'd one,
But cares not if a thousand are undone.
Would Chloe know if you're alive or dead?
She bids her Footman put it in her head.
Chloe is prudent-Would you too be wife?
Then never break your heart when Chloe dies.

165

170

175

180

of its own, which (like the two ruling Paffions in the Sex) amidst all these changes are never totally discharged, but, though often difcoloured by the neighbourhood of adventitious ones, ftill make. the foundation, and give a tincture to all those which, from thence, it occafionally affumes.

VER. 157. "Yet Chloe fure, etc.] The purpofe of the poet in this Character is important: It is to fhew that the politic or prudent government of the paffions is. not enough to make a Character amiable, nor even to fecure it from being ridiculous, if the end of that government be not pursued, which is the free exercife of the focial appetites after the felfish ones have been fubdued; for that if, though reafon govern, the heart be never confulted, we intereft ourselves as little in the fortune of fuch a Character as in any of the foregoing, which paffions of caprice drive up and down

at random.

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. Poets heap Virtues, Painters Gems at will, 185 And fhew 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 swells, None fee what Parts of Nature it conceals: Th' exacteft traits of Body or of Mind, We owe to models of an humble kind.

If QUEENSBERRY to ftrip there's no compelling, 'Tis from a Handmaid we must take a Helen.

190

From Peer or Bishop 'tis no eafy thing

195

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.

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

200

VER. 181. One certain Portrait,-the fame for ever!-] This is entirely ironical, and conveys under it this general moral truth, that there is, in life, no fuch thing as a perfect character; so that the fatire falls not on any particular Character, or Station, but on the Character maker only. See Note on ver. 78. 1 Dialogue 1738. VER. 198. Mah'met, fervant to the late King.

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

VARIATION S.

After ver. 198. in the MS.

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 lefs,
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.