Hans faft afleep, as foon as laid;
The duty of the night unpaid :
The waking dame, with thoughts oppreft,
That made her hate both him and reft:
By fuch a husband, fuch a wife!
"Twas Acme's and Septimius' life:
The lady figh'd: the lover fnor'd:
The punctual devil kept his word:
Appear'd to honest Hans again :
But not at all by madam seen :
And giving him a magic ring,
Fit for the finger of a king;
Dear Hans, said he, this jewel také,
And wear it long for Satan's fake :
'Twill do your business to a hair :
For, long as you this ring shall wear,
As fure as I look over Lincoln,
That ne'er shall happen which you
Hans took the ring with joy extream;
(All this was only in a dream)
And, thrusting it beyond his joint,
"Tis done, he cry'd: I've gain'd my point.What point, faid fhe, you ugly beaft? You neither give me joy nor rest:
'Tis done.What's done, you drunken bear? You've thrust your finger G-d knows where.
FIRE, water, woman, are man's ruin ;
Says wife profeffor Vander Brüin.
By flames a houfe I hir'd was loft
Last year and I must pay the coft.
This fpring the rains o'erflow'd my ground:
And my best Flanders mare was drown'd.
A flave I am to Clara's eyes:
The gipfey knows her power, and flies.
Fire, water, woman, are my ruin :
And great thy wisdom, Vander Brüin.
Eft enim quiddam, idque intelligitur in omni virtute, quod deceat: quod cogitatione magis à virtute poteft quàm re feparari. Cic. de Off. L. 2.
BEYOND the fixed and settled rules
Of vice and virtue in the schools,
Beyond the letter of the law,
Which keeps our men and maids in awe,
The better fort fhould fet before 'em
A grace, a manner, a decorum;
Something, that gives their acts a light;
Makes 'em not only juft, but bright;
And fets them in that open fame,
Which witty malice cannot blame.
For 'tis in life, as 'tis in painting:
Much may be right, yet much be wanting;
From lines drawn true, our eye may trace
A foot, a knee, a hand, a face :
May justly own the picture wrought
Exact to rule, exempt from fault:
Yet, if the colouring be not there,
The Titian ftroke, the Guido air;
To niceft judgment show the piece;
At best 'twill only not displease:
It would not gain on Jersey's eye :
Bradford would frown, and fet it by.
Thus in the picture of our mind
The action may be well defign'd;
Gaided by law, and bound by duty;
Yet want this Je ne fçay quoi of beauty:
And though it's error may be fuch,
As Knags and Burgess cannot hit ;
It yet may feel the nicer touch
Of Wicherley's or Congreve's wit.
What is this talk? replies a friend,
And where will this dry moral end?
The truth of what you here lay down
By fome example should be shown.
With all my heart,-for once; read on.
An honeft, but a fimple pair
(And twenty other I forbear)
May serve to make this Thefis clear.
A Doctor of great skill and fame,
Paulo Purganti was his name,
Had a good, comely, virtuous wife;
No woman led a better life:
* Two divines. Knags was Lecturer of St. Giles in the Fields; Burgess a Diffenter.
She to intrigues was ev'n hard-hearted:
She chuckl'd when a Bawd was carted;
And thought the nation ne'er would thrive,
'Till all the whores were burnt alive.
On married men, that dar'd be bad,
She thought no mercy fhould be had;
They should be hang'd, or ftarv'd, or flead,
Or ferv'd like Romish priests in Swede.
In fhort, all lewdness she defy'd:
And stiff was her parochial pride.
Yet, in an honest way, the dame
Was a great lover of that fame;
And could from fcripture take her cue,
That husbands should give wives their due.
Her prudence did fo justly fteer
Between the gay and the severe,
That if in fome regards fhe chose
To curb poor Paulo in too close ;
In others fhe relaxed again,
And govern'd with a looser reign.
Thus though fhe ftrictly did confine
The doctor from excefs of wine:
With oysters, eggs, and vermicelli,
She let him almost burft his belly:
Thus drying coffee was deny'd:
But chocolate that lofs fupply'd:
And for tobacco (who could bear it)
Filthy concomitant of claret!
(Bleft revolution!) one might fee
Eringo roots, and bohea tea.
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