His pride at once to humble and to please,
And join the dignity of life with ease, [hand
Be now my theme. O thou, whom Nature's
Fram'd for this beft, this delicate command,
And taught, when lifping without Reafon's aid,
At the fame time to fpeak and to perfuade,
WYNDHAM, with diligence a while attend,
Nor fcorn thinftructions of an older friend.;
Who, when the world's great commerce fhall
have join'd

-The deep reflection and the ftrength of mind
To the bright talents of thy youthful state,
In turn fhail on thy better leffons wait.
"Whence comes it, that, in ev'ry art, we fee
Many can rife to a fupreme degree;
Yet, in this art, for which all feem defign'd
By Nature, fcarcely one complete we find ?
You'll fay, perhaps, we think, we speak, we

move,

By the ftrong fprings alone of Selfish Love:
Yet, among all the fpecies, is there one
Whom with more caution than ourselves we
What is it fills a puppetfhow or court? [fhun?
Go none but for the profit or the sport?
If fo, why comes each foul fatigu'd away,
And curfes the dull puppets fame dull play;
Yet, unconvinc'd, is tempted still to go?
'Tis that we find at home our greatest foc.
And reafon good why folitude we flee:
Can wants with felf-fufficiency agree e?
Yet, fuch our inconfiftency of mind,
We court fociety, and hate mankind!
With fome we quarrel; for they're too fincere:
With others; for they're clofe, referv'd, and

queer:
This is too learn'd, too prudent, or too wise;
And that, we for his ignorance defpife:
A voice perhaps our ear fhall harshly strike,
Then ftrait e'en Wit itfelf thall raife diflike!
Our eye may by fome feature be annoy'd;
Behold at once a character deftrov'd!
One's fo good-natur'd, he's beyond all bearing;
He'll ridicule no friend-tho' out of hearing:
Another, warm'd with zeal, offends our eyes,
Because he holds the mirror up to vice.
No wonder then, fince fancies wild as thefe
Can move our fpleen, that real faults displease.
When Mævius, fpite of dulnefs, will be bright,
And teach Argyle to fpeak, and Swift to write;
When Flavia entertains us with her dreams,
And Macer with his no lefs airy fchemes;
When peevishnefs, and jealoufy, and pride,
And int'reft, that can brother hearts divide,
In their imagin'd forms our eyefight hit,
Of an old maid, a poet, peer, or cit;
Can then, you'll fay, philofophy refrain,
And check the torrent of cach boiling vein ?
Yes. She can fill do more; view paffion's flave
With mind ferene, indulge him, and yet fave.
But Self-Conceit fteps in, and, with ftrict eye,
Scans ev'ry man,—and ev'ry man awry!

That reigning paffion which, thro' ev'ry ftage
Of life, ftill haunts us with unccafing rage.
No quality fo mean but what can raise
Some drudging driv❜ling candidate for praise;
Ev'n in the wretch, who wretches can defpife,
Still felf-conceit will find a time to rife.
Quintus falutes you with forbidding face,
And thinks he carries his excufe in lace:
You afk, why Clodius bullies all he can?
Clodius will tell you, he's a gentleman!
Myrtilla ftruts and fhudders half the year
With a round cap, that fhews a fine turn'd ear:
The lowest jeft makes Delia laugh to death;
Yet fhe's no fool,-fhe'as only handfome teeth.
Ventofo lolls, and fcorns all humankind

For the gilt coach with four lac'd flaves behind.
Does all this pomp and state proceed from merit?
Mean thought! he deems it nobler to inherit:
While Fopling from fome title draws his pride,
Meanlefs, or infamous, or mifapply'd;
Free-mafon, rake, or wit, 'tis juft the fame,
The charm is hence, he's gain'd himself a

name.

-

Yet, fpite of all the fools that pride has made,
'Tis not on man an useless burthen laid;
Pride has ennobled fome, and fome difgrac'd;
It hurts not in itfelf, but as 'tis plac'd. [bound;
When right, its view knows none but virtue's
When wrong, it fcarcely looks one inch around.
Mark! with what care the fair one's critic eve
Scans o'er her drefs, nor lets one fault flip by;
Each rebel hair must be reduc'd to place
With tedious fkill, and tortur'd into grace;
Betty muft o'er and o'er the pins difpofe,
Till into modifh folds the drapery flows,
And the whole frame is fitted to exprefs
The charms of decency and nakedness.
Why all this art, this labour'd ornament?
To captivate, you'll cry, no doubt, 'tis meant.
True. But let's wait upon this fair machine
From the lone clofet to the focial scene;
There view her loud, affected, fcornful, four,
Paining all others, and herself still more.
What means the at one inftant to difgrace
The labour of ten hours, her much lov'd face?
Why, 'tis the felf-fame paffion gratify'd;
The work is ruin'd that was rais'd by pride.

Yet, of all tempers, it requires least pain,
Could we but rule ourfelves, to rule the vain.
The prudent is by reason only sway'd;
With him each fentence and each word is
weigh'd:

The gay and giddy can alone be caught
By the quick luftre of a happy thought;
The mifer hates, unless he fteals your pelf;
The prodigal, unless you rob yourself;
The lewd will fhun you, if your wife
chafte;

The jealous, if a fimile on his be caft;
The fteady or the whimsical will blame,
Either because you're not, or are the fame;

prove

E c 2

The

It cheers the stranger, nay its foes defends ;
But then as oft it injures its best friends.

Study with care Politenefs, that must teach
The modifh forms of gefture and of speech:
In vain Formality, with matron mien,
And Pertnefs, apes her with familiar grin:
They against nature for applauses strain,
Distort themselves, and give all others pain:
She moves with eafy, tho' with measur❜d pace,
And fhews no part of study but the grace.
Yet, ev'n by this, man is but half refin'd,
Unless philofophy fubdues the mind:
'Tis but a varnish that is quickly loft,
Whene'er the foul in pallion's fea is toft.
Would you both please and be instructed too,
Watch well the rage of shining to subdue;
Hear ev'ry man upon his fav'rite theme,
And ever be more knowing than you feem.
The loweft genius will afford fome light,
Or give a hint that had escap'd your fight.
Doubt, till he thinks you on conviction yield,
And with fit questions let each pause be fill'd;
And the most knowing will with pleasure grant,
You're rather much referv'd than ignorant.

The rays of wit gild wherefoe'er they strike,
But are not therefore fit for all alike;
They charm the lively, but the grave offend,
And raise a foe as often as a friend;
Like the refiftless beams of blazing light,
That cheer the strong, and pain the weakly
fight.

If a bright fancy therefore be your share,
Let judgment watch it with a guardian's care:
'Tis like a torrent, apt to overflow,
Unless by conftant government kept low;
And ne'er inefficacious paffes by,
But overturns or gladdens all that's nigh:
Or elfe, like trees, when fuffer'd wild to fhoot,
That put forth much, but all unripen'd fruit;
It turns to affectation and grimace,
As like to wit as dulnefs is to grace.

How hard foe'er it be to bridle wit,
Yet mem'ry oft no lefs requires the bit:
How many, hurry'd by its force away,
For ever in the land of golfips ftray!
Ufurp the province of the nurfe to lull,
Without her privilege for being dull !
Tales upon tales they raife ten ftories high,
Without regard to ufe or fymmetry:
So Ripley, till his deftin'd fpace is fill'd,
Heaps bricks on bricks, and fancies 'tis to build.
A ftory fhould, to please, at least seem true,
Be apropos, well told, concife, and new;
And, whenfoe'er it deviates from thefe rules,
The wife will fleep, and leave applaufe to fools.
But others, more intolerable yet,

The wagg'rics that they've faid or heard repeat,

|

Heavy by mem'ry made, and, what's the worst,
At fecond-hand as often as at first:
And can ev'n patience hear, without disdain,
The maiming register of Sense once flain?
While the dull features, big with archness, strive
In vain the forc'd half-finile to keep alive.

Some know no joy like what a word can raise,
Haul'd thro' a language's perplexing maze,
Till on a mate, that feems t'agree, they light,
Like man and wife that still are oppofite.
Not lawyers at the bar play more with fenfe,
When brought to the laft trope of eloquence,
Than they, on ev'ry subject, great or finall,
At clubs, or councils, at a church, or ball;
Then cry, we rob them of their tributes due:
Alas! how can we laugh and pity too?

While others to extremes as wild will run, And, with four face, anatomize a pun When the brifk glass to freedom does entice, And rigid wifdom is a kind of vice. But let not fuch grave fops your laughter spoil; Ne'er frown where fenfe may innocently fimile.

Cramp not your language into logic rules; To roftrums leave the pedantry of schools: Nor let your learning always be difcern'd; But chufe to feem judicious more than learn'd. Quote feldom, and then let it be, at least, Some fact that's prov'd, or thought that's well expreft.

But left, disguis'd, your eye it should escape,
Know, pedantry can put on ev'ry shape;
For, when we deviate into terms of art,
Unless constrain'd, we act the pedant's part.
Or if we're ever in the felf-fame key,
No matter of what kind the subject be,
From laws of nations down to laws of drefs;
For statesmen have their cant, and belles no lefs.
As good hear Bentley + dictate on epiftles,
Or Burman comment on the Grecian whistles,
As old Obefus preach upon his belly,
Or Phileunucha rant on Farinelli,
Flirtilla read a lecture on a fan,

Or Wd fet forth the praife of Kouli-Khan:
But, above all things, Raill'ry decline;
Nature but few does for that task design:
'Tis in the ableft hand a dang’rous tool;
But never fails to wound the meddling fool:
For, all muft grant, it needs no common art
To keep men patient when we make them smart.
Not wit alone nor humour's felf will do,
Without good-nature and much prudence too,
To judge aright of perfons, place, and time;
For tafte decrees what's low, and what's fublime;
And what might charm to-day, or o'er a glass,
Perhaps at court, or next day, would not pafs.
Then leave to low buffoons, by cuftom bred,
And form'd by nature to be kick'd and fed,

+ See Bentley on the Epiftles of Phalaris.

The

The vulgar and unenvy'd task, to hit
All perfons, right or wrong, with random wit.
Our wife forefathers, born in fober days,
Retiga'd to fools the tatt and witty phrafe;
The notley coat gave warning for the jeft,
Excus'a the wound, and fanctify'd the peft:
But we, from high to low, all ftrive to incer,
Will all be wits, and not the liv'ry wear.

Of all the qualities that help to raile
In men the univerfal voice of praife,
Whether in pleasure or in ufe they end,
There's none that can with Modefty contend:
'Tis a "rafparent veil that helps the fight,
And lets us look on merit with delight;
In others, 'tis a kindly night that fecins
To guld the worit effects with borrow'd beams.
Ye, 'tis but little that its form be caught,
Unless its origin be firf in thought
Elle rebel Nature will reveal the cheat,
And the whole work of art at once defeat.
Hold forth upon yourfelf on no pretence,
Unlefs invited, or in felt-defence:
The praife you take, altho' it be your due,
Will be fufpected, if it coines from you;
For each man, by experience taught, can tell
How ftrong a flatt'rer does within him dwell.
And, if to fulf-condemning you incline,
In fover fadnefs, and without defign
(For fome will fily arrogate a vice
That from excels of virtue takes its rife)
The world cries out, why does he hither come?
Let him do penance for his fins at home.

No part of conduct asks for ikill more nice, Tho' none more common, than to give advice: Mifers themselves in this will not be saving, Unless their knowledge makes it worth the having.

And, where's the wonder, when we will obtrude
An ufelefs gift it meets ingratitude ?
Shuo then, unafk'd, this arduous task to try;
But, if confulted, ufe fincerity:
Tuo facred is the welfare of a friend,
To give it up for any felfifh end.

Bat ufe one caution, fift him o'er and o'er,
To find if all be not refolv'd before.
I fuch the cafe, in fpite of all his art,
Some word will give the foundings of his heart;
And why fhould you a bootlefs freedom ufe
That ferves him not, and may his friendship lofe?
I tuli on Truth beftow this mark of love,
Ner to commend the thing you can't approve.
Sincerity has fuch refiftlefs charins,
She oft the fierceft of our foes difarms:
No at the knows, in native whitenefs drefs'd;
Her thoughts all pure and therefore all exprefs'd:
She takes from error its deformity;
And, without her, all other virtues die.
Bigght fource of goodness! to my aid defcend,
Watca o't my heart, and all my words attend:
If A thou deign te fut the foot below,
Among a race quite politi'd int fhow,
Oh! fave me from the jit's diflembling part,
Who grants to all all favours but her heart:

|

Perverts the end of charming for the fame;
To fawn her bufines, to deceive her aim:
She fimiles on this man, tips the wink on that,
Gives one a squeeze, another a kind pat;
Now jogs a foot, now whispers in an ear;
Here flips a letter, and there cafts a leer,
Till the kind thing, the company throughout,
Diftributes all its pretty felf about;
While all are pleas'd, and wretched foon or late
All but the wife, who fee and fhun the bait.
Yet if, as complaisance requires to do,
And rigid virtue fometimes will allow,
You ftretch the truth in favour of a friend,
Be fure it ever aim at fome good end;
To cherish growing virtue, vice to fhame,
And turn to noble views the love of fame:
And not, like fawning parafites, unaw’d
By fenfe or truth, be ev'ry paffion's bawd.

Be rarely warm in cenfure, or in praise;
Few men deserve our pallion either ways:
For half the world but floats 'twixt good and ill,
As chance difposes objects, these the will:
'Tis but a fee-faw game, where virtue now
Mounts above vice, and then fiaks down as low.
Refides, the wife ftill hold it for a rule,
Totruft that judgment moft that feems moft cool!
For all that rifes to hyperbole

Proves that we err, at least in the degree.
But, if your temper to extremes fhould lead,
Always upon th'indulging fide exceed;
For, tho' to blame moft lend a willing ear,
Yet hatred ever will attend on fear;
And, when a neighbour's dwelling blazes out,
The world will think 'tis time to look about.

Let not the curious from your bosom steal
Secrets, where Prudence ought to set her feal;
Yet be fo frank and plain that, at one view,
In other things, each man may fee you thro':
For, if the mafk of policy you wear,
The honeft hate you, and the cunning fear.

Would you be well receiv'd where'er you go,
Remember, cach man vanquish'd is a foe;
Refift not, therefore, with your utinoft might,
But let the weakeft think he's fometimes right;
He, for each triumph you fhall thus decline,
Shall give ten opportunities to fhine:

He fecs, fince once you own'd him to excel,
That 'tis his int'reft you should reafon well;
And, tho' when roughly us’d he's full of choler,
As bluft'ring Bentley to a brother fcholar,
Yet, by degrees inure him to fubmit,
He's tame, and in his mouth receives the bit.
But chiefly against trifling contefts guard;
'Tis here fubmiffion feems to man moft hard?
Nor imitate that refolute old fool *,
Who undertook to kick against his mule.
But those who will not by inftruction learn,
How fatal trifles prove, let flory warn.
Panthus and Euclio, link'd by friendship's tie,
Liv'd each for each, as each for each would die:
Like objects pleas'd them, and like objects
pain'd;

'Twas but one foul that in two bodies reign'd!

.One

One night, as ufual 'twas their nights to pass,
They ply'd the cheerful but fill temp'rate glafs,
When lo! a doubt is rais'd about a word;
A doubt that must be ended by the fword!
One falls a victim,-Mark, O man, thy fhame,
Because their gloffaries were not the faine !
Could Bailey's felf more tendernefs have shown
For his two tones of words, tho' half his own?

For, what remains of failings without end,
Morals muft fome, and fome the laws inuft mend:
While others in fuch monstrous forms appear,
As tongue-ty'd Sournefs, fly Sufpicion's leer,
Free-fifted Rudenefs, dropfical Pretence,
Proteus' Caprice, and elbowing Infolence;
No caution to avoid them they demand,
Like wretches branded by the hangman's hand.
If faith to fome philofophers be giv'n,
Man, that great lord of earth, that heir of heav'n,
Savage at firft, inhabited the wood,

And fcrambled with his fellow-brutes for food;
No focial home he knew, no friendship's tie,
Selfish in good, in ill without ally;

Till fome, in length of time, of stronger nerve
And greater cunning, forc'd the reft to ferve
One common purpose, and, in nature's fpite,
Brought the whole jarring fpecies to unite.
But might we not, with equal reason, fay
That ev'ry fingle particle of clay
Which forms our body, was at first defign'd
To lie for ever from the reft disjoin'd?
Can this be faid, and can it be allow'd,
'Twas with its pow'rs for no one end endow'd?
If fo, we own that man at firft, by art,
Was footh'd to act in focial life a part.
'Tis true, in fome the feeds of difcord feem
To contradict this all-uniting scheme;
But that no more hurts nature's gen'ral course,
Than matter found with a repelling force.

Turn we a while on lonely man our eyes,
And fee what frantic fcen.s of folly rife:
In fome dark monaftery's gloomy cells,
Where formal felf-prefuming Virtue dwells,
Bedoz'd with dreams of grace-diftilling caves,
Of holy puddles, unconfuming graves,
Of animated plaifter, wood, and stone,
And mighty cures by fainted finners done.
Permit me, Mufe, ftill farther to explore,
And turn the leaves of fuperftition o'er;
Where wonders upon wonders ever grow,
Chaos of zeal and blindnefs, inirth and woe,

2 Vifions of devils into monkies turn'd, That, hot from hell, roar at a finger burn'd; 3 Bottles of precious tears that faints have wept, 4 And breath a thoufand years in phials kept; 5 Sun-beams fent down to prop one friar's staff, 6 And hell broke loofe to make another laugh; 7 Obedient fleas, and 8 fuperftitious mice; 9 Confeffing wolves, and 10 fanctifying lice; ra Letters and houfes by an angel carry'd, 12 And, wond'rous !-Virgin nuns to Jefus

marry'd!
One monk, not knowing how to spend his time,
Sits down to find out fome unheard-of crime,
Increases the large catalogue of fins,
And, where the fober finish, there begins.
Of death eternal his decree is paft,
For the first crime as fix d as for the laft;
While that, as idle, and as pious too,
Compounds with falfe religion for the true;
He, courtly ufhers to the bleft abodes,
Weighs all the niceties of forms and modes,
And makes the rugged path fo fimooth and ev'n,"
None but an ill-bred man can mifs of heav'n !
One, heav'n-infpir'd, invents a frock or hood:
The taylor now cuts out, and men grow good.
Another quits his ftockings, breeches, fhirt,
Because he fancies virtue dwells with dirt:
While all concur to take away the ftrefs
From weightier points, and lay it on the lefs;
Anxious each paltry relique to preferve
Of him, whofe hungry friends they leave to
ftarve,

Harrafs'd by watchings, abftinence, and chains,
Strangers to joys, familiar grown with pains,
To all the means of virtue they attend
With ftricteft care, and only mifs the end.
Can fcripture teach us, or can fenfe perfuade,
That man for fuch employments e'er was
made?

Far be that thought! but let us now relate
A character as oppofite, as great,

In him 13, who, living, gave to Athens fame,
And, by his death, immortaliz'd her shame.
Great fcourge of fophifts! he from heav'n
brought down,

And plac'd true wifdom on th'ufurper's throne:
Philofopher in all things, but pretence,
He taught, what they neglected, common fenfe.
They, o'er the fiff Lyceum form'd to rule;
He, o'er mankind;-all Athens was his fchool:

2 St Dominic, vide fanfenus (Nic.)

3 Of our Saviour and others, vide Ferrand.

4 Of Jofeph, vide Molinæum.

St. Cathro's, vide Colganum.

St. Anthony.

7 Vide Life of St. Colman by Colganus.

8 The fame Life by the fame author.

9 Vide Speculum Vitae Sancti Francifci.

13 Socrates.