Th' Address, the Delicacy-stoops at once,
And makes her hearty meal upon a Dunce.
Flavia's a Wit, has too much sense to pray;
To toast our wants and wishes, is her way;
Nor asks of God, but of her Stars, to give
The mighty blessing, "while we live, to live."
Then all for Death, that Opiate of the soul!
Lucretia's dagger, Rosamonda's bowl.

Say, what can cause such impotence of mind?
A Spark too fickle, or a Spouse too kind.

85

90

Wise 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.

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

No Ass so meek, no Ass so obstinate.

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

100

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

Or her, who laughs at Hell, but (like her Grace)

Cries, "Ah! how charming, if there's no such place!">
Or who in sweet vicissitude appears

Of Mirth and Opium, Ratafie and Tears,
The daily Anodyne, and nightly Draught,

To kill those foes to fair ones, Time and Thought.

Ver. 87. Contrarieties in the Witty and Refined.

110

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

Ver. 107. Or her, who laughs at Hell, but like her Grace )—Cries "Ah! how charming if there's no such place!] i. e. Her who affects to laugh out of fashion, and strives to disbelieve out of fear.

Woman and Fool are two hard things to hit;
For true No-meaning puzzles more than Wit.

But what are these to great Atossa'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 exposing Knaves, and painting Fools,
Yet is whate'er she hates and ridicules.
No thought advances, but her eddy Brain
Whisks it about, and down it goes again.
Full sixty years the world has been her trade,
The wisest Fool much time has ever made.
From loveless Youth to unrespected Age,
No Passion gratify'd, except her Rage.
So much the Fury still out-ran the Wit,

115

120

125

The Pleasure miss'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 Passion turns, or soon or late;
Love, if it makes her yield, must make her hate:
Superiors ? death! and Equals? what a curse!
But an Inferior not dependant? worse.
Offend her, and she knows not to forgive;
Oblige her, and she'll hate you while you live:
But die, and she'll adore you-Then the Bust
And Temple rise then fall again to dust.
Last 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,

VARIATIONS.

After ver. 122. in the MS.

Oppress'd with wealth and wit, abundance sad! One makes her poor, the other makes her mad. VOL. II.

N

135

140

By Wealth of Follow'rs! without one distress
Sick of herself, thro' very selfishness!

Atossa, curs'd with ev'ry granted pray'r,
Childless with all her Children, wants an Heir.
To Heirs unknown descends th' unguarded store,
Or wanders, Heav'n-directed, to the Poor.
Pictures like these, dear Madam, to design,
Ask no firm hand, and no unerring line;
Some wand'ring touches, some reflected light,
Some flying stroke 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 referr ing to the great principle of his Philosophy, which he never loses sight of, and which teaches, that Providence is incessantly turning the evils arising 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 distinguished honour to the accuracy of our poet's judgment, of which, in the course of these observations, I have given many instances, and shall here explain in what it consists; it is this, that the Similitudes in his didactic poems, of which he is not sparing, and which are all highly poetical, are always chosen with such exquisite discernment of Nature, as not only to illustrate the particular point he is upon, but to establish the general principles he would enforce; so, in the instance before us, he compares the inconstancy 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 shew, that the general Characteristic of the Sex, as to the ruling Passions, which they all have, is more uniform than that in Man: Now for this purpose, all Nature could not have supplied such another illus. tration as this of the Chameleon; for, though it instantaneously assumes much of the colour of every subject on which it chances to be placed, yet, as the most accurate Virtuosi have observed, it has two native colours of its own, which (like the two ruling Passions in the Sex) amidst

VARIATIONS.

After ver. 148. in the MS.

This Death decides, nor lets the blessing fall
On any one she hates, but on them all.
Curs'd chance! this only could afflict her more,
If any part should wander to the poor.

"Yet Chloe sure was form'd without a spot”— Nature in her then err'd not, but forgot.

"With ev'ry pleasing, ev'ry prudent part,⚫

Say, what can Chloe want ?"-She wants a heart. She speaks, behaves, and acts just as she ought,

But never, never, reach'd one gen'rous thought;
Virtue she finds too painful an endeavour,
Content to dwell in Decencies for ever.
So very reasonable, so unmov'd,

161

165

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 chest;
And when she sees her Friend in deep despair,
Observes how much a Chintz exceeds Mohair.
Forbid it Heav'n, a Favour or a Debt

170

She e'er should cancel-but she may forget.
Safe is your secret still in Chloe's ear;
But none of Chloe's shall you ever hear.
Of all her Dears she never slander'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 wise?

173

Then never break your heart when Chloe dies.

180

amidst all these changes are never totally discharged, but, though often discoloured by the neighbourhood of adventitious ones, still make the foundation, and give a tincture to all those which, from thence, it occasionally assumes.

Ver. 157. "Yet Chloe sure, etc.] The purpose of the poet in this Character is important: It is to show that the politic or prudent government of the passions is not enough to make a Character amiable, nor even to seenre it from being ridiculous, if the end of that government be not pursued, which is the free exercise of the social appetites after the selfish ones have been subdued; for that if, though reason govern, the heart be never consulted, we interest ourselves as little in the fortune of such a Character, as in any of the foregoing, which passions or caprice drive up and down at random.

One certain portrait may (I grant) be seen, Which heav'n has varnish'd out, and made a Queen : The same for ever! and describ'd by all

With Truth and Goodness, as with Crown and Ball. Poets heap Virtues, Painters Gems at will,

185

And shew their zeal, and hide their want of skill.

'Tis well-but, artists, who can paint or write, To draw the naked is your true delight.

That Robe of Quality so struts and swells,

None see what parts of Nature it conceals:

190

Th' exactest traits of Body or of Mind,

We own to Models of an humble kind.

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

195

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

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

But grant, in Public Men sometimes are shown,

A Woman's seen in Private life alone:

200

Ver. 181. One certain Portrait,-the same for ever!-] This is entirely ironical, and conveys under it this general moral truth, that there is, in life, no such thing as a perfect character; so that the satire 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, servant 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, occasioned by the omission of certain Examples and Illustrations

VARIATIONS.

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 less,
Instead of Berenice to think on Bess.

Thus while immortal Cibber only sings
(As* and H**y preach) for queens and kings,

The Nymph, that ne'er read Milton's mighty line,
May, if she love, and merit verse, have mine.