Oh! blefs'd with temper, whofe unclouded ray
Can make to-morrow cheerful as to-day;
She who can love a fifter's charms, or hear
Sighs for a daughter with unwounded ear;
She who ne'er anfwers till a husband cools;
Or if she rules him, never fhews fhe rules;
Charms by accepting, by fubmitting fways,
Yet has her humour moft, when the obeys;
Let fops or fortune fly which way they will,
Difdains all lofs of tickets or codille;
Spleen, vapours, or fmall-pox, above them all,
And mistress of herself, tho' china fall.
TO A FAVOURITE LADY ON HER BIRTH-DAY.
H be thou blefs'd with all that Heav'n can fend,
Long health, long youth, long pleasure, and a
friend:
Not with those toys the female world admire,
Riches that vex, and vanities that tire.
With added years, if life bring nothing new,
But like a fieve let every bleffing through;
Some joy still loft, as each vain year runs o'er,
And all we gain, some sad reflection more:
Is that a birth-day? 'tis, alas! too clear,
"Tis but the fun'ral of the former year.
Let joy or eafe, let affluence or content,
And the gay confcience of a life well spent,
Calm ev'ry thought, infpirit ev'ry grace,
Glow in thy heart, and fmile upon thy face.
Let day improve on day, and year on year, ́
Without a pain, a trouble, or a fear;
Till death unfelt that tender frame destroy,
In fome foft dream, or ecftafy of joy,
Peaceful fleep out the fabbath of the tomb,
And wake to raptures in a life to come.
ON CERTAIN LADY AT COURT.
KNOW the thing that's most uncommon,
(Envy be filent and attend!)
I know a reasonable woman,
Handsome and witty, yet a friend.
Not warp'd by paffion, aw'd by rumour;
Not grave through pride, or gay through folly; An equal mixture of good humour,
And fenfible foft melancholy.
Has fhe no fault then (Envy fays), Sir?"
Yes she has one, I muft aver;
When all the world confpires to praise her,
The woman's deaf and does not hear.
A PLEASING form; a firm, yet cautious mind;
Sincere, tho' prudent; conftant, yet refign'd:.
Honour unchang'd, a principle profeft,
Fix'd to one fide, but mod'rate to the reft;
An honeft courtier, yet a patriot too;
Juft to his prince, and to his country true;
Fill'd with the fense of age, the fire of youth,
A fcorn of wrangling, yet a zeal for truth;
A gen'rous faith, from fuperftition free;
A love to peace, and hate of tyranny;
Such this man was; who now, from earth remov'd,
At length enjoys that liberty he lov'd.
ON MR. ROWE AND HIS DAUGHTER, MR. GAY, AND.
'HY reliques, Rowe! to this fad shrine we trust,
And near thy Shakespeare place thy honour'd
Oh, next him, skill'd to draw the tender tear,
For never heart felt paffion more fincere;
To nobler fentiment to fire the brave,
For never Briton more disdain'd a flave.
Peace to thy gentle fhade, and endless reft;
Bleft in thy genius, in thy love too blest!
And bleft, that timely from our scene remov'd,
Thy foul enjoys the liberty it lov'd.
To these fo mourn'd in death, fo lov'd in life,
The childless parent, and the widow'd wife,
With tears infcribe this monumental ftone,
That holds their ashes, and expects her own.
Of manners gentle, of affections mild;
In wit, a man; fimplicity, a child:
With native humour temp'ring virtuous rage,
Form'd to delight at once and lash the age;
Above temptation in a low eftate,
And uncorrupted ev❜n among the great;
A fafe companion, and an eafy friend,
Unblam'd through life, lamented in thy end.
These are thy honours! not that here thy buft
Is mix'd with heroes, or with kings thy duft;
But that the worthy and the good fhall fay,
Striking their penfive bofoms-Here lies Gay.
Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night;
GOD faid, Let Newton be! and all was light.
ON A LADY, WHO DIED OF A CANCER IN HER BREAST
ERE refts a woman, good without pretence,
Blefs'd with plain reason, and with sober sense.
No conquefts fhe, but o'er herself defir'd;
No arts effay'd but not to be admir'd.
Paffion and Pride were to her foul unknown,
Convinc'd that Virtue only is our own.
So unaffected, fo compos'd a mind;
So firm, yet soft; so strong, yet so refin'd;
Heaven, as its pureft gold, by tortures tried!
The faint fuftain'd it, but the woman died.
STRIKING FEATURES OF SOME POPULAR AND GREAT CHARACTERS.
OT like Mifanthropos I quit the Town, Hating mankind, and loving felf alone: Good heaven knows, and all my friends can tell, I love fociety, perhaps too well:
I love fociety;-but it must be
From affectation and from folly free;
Men that will speak the language of the heart,
Nor wound decorum with licentious dart;
Women with fenfe enough and charms to please,
Whofe native pride is lost in native ease.
Sweet fuch fociety! and doubly blefs'd are those
Who from the weedy world can pluck so rich a rose!
But I, alas! have fearch'd and fearch'd around,
Till Patience has receiv'd her dying wound;
Nothing like friendship in the world I trace,
Though plagued with "greetings in the market-place."
'Tis true, acquaintance, each for his own end,
Squeezes my hand, and writes, “Your faithful friend."
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