Rich with this gift, and none befide,
In Fashion's ftream how many glide ?
Secure from ev'ry mental woe,
From treach'rous friend or open foe;
From social sympathy, that fhares
The public lofs or private cares;
Whether the barb'rous foe invade,
Or merit pine in Fortune's fhade.
Hence gentle Anna, ever gay,
The fame to-morrow as to-day.
Save where, perchance, when others weep
Her cheek the decent forrow fteep.

Save when, perhaps, a mélting tale,

O'er ev'ry tender breast prevail.

The good, the bad, the great, the fmall,

She likes, fhe loves, the honours all. W

And yet, if fland'rous malice blame,

Patient fhe yields a fifter's fame.

Alike if fatyr or if praife,

She fays whate'er the circle fays;
Implicit does whate'er they do,
Without one point in with or view.
Sure teft of others, faithful glass,

'Thro' which the various phantoms pass...uly. Wide blank, unfeeling when alone;"

No care, no joy, no thought her own.

Not thus fucceeds the peerlefs dame,.

Who looks, and talks, and acts for fame tat!)

Intent, fo wide her cares extend,...

To make the univerfe her friend.or

در

Now

Now with the gay in frolics fhines,
Now reasons deep with deep divines.
With courtiers now extols the great,
With patriots fighs o'er Britain's fate.
Now breathes with zealots, holy fires,
Now melts in lefs refin'd defires.
Doom'd to exceed in each degree,

Too wife, too weak, too proud, too free;
Too various for one fingle word,

The high fublime of deep abfurd.
While ev'ry talent nature grants

Juft ferves to fhew how much she wants.

The virtues of our fex and thine :

Her hand restrains the widow's tears;

Her fenfe informs, and fooths, and cheers:

Yet, like an angel in disguise,

She shines but to fome favour'd eyes ;

Nor is the distant herd allow'd

To view the radiance thro' the cloud...
But thine is ev'ry winning art;
Thine is the friendly, honeft heart;
And fhou'd the gen'rous fpirit flow
Beyond where prudence fears to go;
Such fallies are of nobler kind,
Than virtues of a narrow mind.

HANS CARVE L. ..

This bagatelle, for which, by the bye, Mr. Prior has got his greateft reputation, was a tale told in all the old Italian collections of jefts, and borrowed from thence by Fontaine. It had been tranflated once or twice before into English, yet was never regarded till it fell into the hands of Mr. Prior. A ftrong inftance how much every thing is improved in the hands of a man of genius.

H

ANS CARVEL, impotent and old,

Married a lafs of London mold:
Handfome enough; extremely gay;
Lov'd mufic, company, and play:
High flights fhe had, and wit at will;
And fo her tongue lay feldom ftill:
For, in all vifits, who but fhe,

To argue, or to repartee?

She made it plain, that human paffion

Was order'd by predeftination;

That if weak women went aftray,"

Their ftars were more in fault than they :
Whole tragedies fhe had by heart:
Enter'd into Roxana's part:
To triumph in her rival's blood,
The action, certainly, was good.

How

How like a vine young Ammon curl'd!
Oh that dear conqu'ror of the world!
She pity'd Betterton in age,in qu

That ridicul'd the godlike rage.eu fou l'esat
She first of all the town, was told, infagro 1
Where newest India things were fold : !
So, in a morning, without bodice,
Slipt fometimes out to Mrs. Thody's;
To cheapen tea, to buy a fcreen : ⠀ .
What else could fo much virtue mean?
For, to prevent the least reproach,
Betty went with her in the coach.

But, when no very great affair

Excited her peculiar care,

i

She, without fail, was wak'd at ten;
Drank chocolate, then flept again:

At twelve fhe rofe; with much ado rodod
Her cloaths were huddled on by two:
Then, does my lady dine at home?
Yes, fure ;- -but is the Col'nel come è
Next, how to spend the afternoon,
And not come home again too foon;
The change, the city, or the play,
As each was proper for the day;
A turn, in fummer, to Hyde Park,
When it grew tolerably dark.

Wife's pleasure caufes husband's pain: Strange fancies come in Hans's brain: He thought of what he did not name; And would reform; but durft not blame.

At first, he, therefore, preach'd his wife
The comforts of a pious life :

Told her, how tranfient beauty was ;
That all must die, and flesh was grafs u
He bought her fermons, pfalms, and graces
And doubled down the ufeful places.

But, ftill, the weight of worldly care
Allow'd her little time for pray'rs
And Cleopatra was read o'er,

While Scot, and Wake, and twenty more,
That teach one to deny one's felf,
Stood unmolested on the shelf.

An untouch'd bible grac'd her toilet::

No fear that thumb of her's should spoil it
In fhort, the trade was ftill the fame ;

The dame went out; the Col'nel came. in 21
What's to be done? poor Carvel cry'd §
Another batt'ry must be try'd:

What if to spells I had recourfe?

"Tis but to hinder fomething worse.
The end must juftify the means;
He only fins, who ill intends:
Since, therefore, 'tis to combat evil,
'Tis lawful to employ the Devil.

Forthwith, the Devil did appear
(For name him and he's always near)
Not in the shape in which he plies
At Mifs's elbow when the lies ;
Or ftands before the nurs❜ry doors,
To take the naughty boy that roars :

But