And he must fall a prey to time,
While the continues in her prime.

CADENUS, common forms apart,

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In ev'ry scene had kept his heart;

Had figh'd and languish'd, vow'd and writ,
For paftime, or to fhew his wit.

But time, and books, and ftate-affairs,

She hourly prefs'd for fomething new ;
Ideas came into her mind

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So faft, his leffons lagg'd behind;
She reafon'd, without ploding long,
Nor ever gave her judgment wrong.
But now a fudden change was wrought:
She minds no longer what he taught.

Cadenus was amaz'd to find

Such marks of a distracted mind :.

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For, tho' fhe feem'd to liften more

To all he spoke, than e'er before,

He found her thoughts would abfent range,

Yet guefs'd not whence could fpring the change.
And first he modeftly conjectures

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His pupil might be tir'd with lectures;

Which help'd to mortify his pride,

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Yet gave him not the heart to chide:
But in a mild dejected strain,

He wak'd, and found it but a dream;

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A project far above his skill;
For nature must be nature ftill.
If he was bolder than became
A fcholar to a courtly dame,
She might excufe a man of letters ;
Thus tutors often treat their betters :
And, fince his talk offenfive grew,
He came to take his laft adieu.

VANESSA, fill'd with just disdain,
Would fill her dignity maintain,
Inftructed, from her early years,
To fcorn the art of female tears.

HAD he employ'd his time fo long

To teach her what was right and wrong,

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Yet could fuch notions entertain,

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That all his lectures were in vain ?

She own'd the wand'ring of her thoughts;
But he must answer for her faults.

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She well remember'd, to her cost,
That all his leffons were not loft.
Two maxims she could still prodące,
And fad experience taught their use ;
That virtue, pleas'd by being fhown,
Knows nothing which it dares not own;
Can make us without fear disclose
Our inmost fecrets to our foes:
That common forms were not defign'd
Directors to a noble mind *.

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Vaneffa, confcious that her paffion was virtuous, had no motive to conceal it: for "virtue knows nothing that it dare not "own." She therefore confeffed it to Cadenus, contrary to the common forms, which require that the first address fhould be made by the man. For common forms are only for common minds; they only veil defects, and are not necessary where defects are not found. Hawkef.

Lord Orrery has been fo far from acting upon the principle on which Mr Pope framed this petition in his univerfal prayer,

Teach me

To hide the fault I fee,

that where he has not found the appearance of a fault, he has laboured hard to make one. An inftance of which will be found in his remark upon a maxim of Cadenus to Vanessa :

That virtue, pleas'd by being shown,
Knows nothing which it dares not own.

"He taught her," fays his Lordfhip, "that vice, as soon as it "defied fhame, was immediately changed into virtue." But the moft obvious and natural meaning is just contrary: That we desire to conceal no act which upon reflection we do not difcover to be vitious, because virtue is pleased in proportion as it is displayed. And indeed these verses could not be fuppofed an apology for lewdnefs, if his Lordship believed his own affertion, that the Dean was "not to be swayed by deliberate evil.” Hawkef.

Lord

Now, faid the nymph, I'll let you fee

My actions with your rules agree;

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Lord Orrery fays above, p. 11. That Dr Swift taught Vanessa, "that vice, as foon as it defied fhame, was immediately changed "into virtue." If Cadenus ever inftilled that maxim into the foul of Vanessa, we must, I am afraid, give him entirely up to cenfure, as an agent for the prince of darkness. But, without any racking, or tranfmutation of words, Swift's maxim was,

That virtue, pleas'd by being shown,
Knows nothing which it dares not own;
Can make us without fear difclofe

Our inmoft fecrets to our foes.

A maxim which every man of honour would inftil into the hearts of his children; and which Dr Swift himself hath occafionally expreffed in other terms highly advantageous, on feeing verses written upon windows.

And fuch were the noble sentiments of that old Roman, I forget his name, whofe reply to an architect could have proceeded only from the mouth of an hero. The architect made him an offer, upon his giving him fo much money, to contrive a house for him in fuch a manner, as that none from abroad fhould poffibly look into it. I will give you double the fum, replied the hero, if you will contrive a house for me in such a manner, as that every one that pleases may look into every corner of it.

This maxim of the Doctor's,

That common forms were not defign'd
Directors to a noble mind,

is fo clear and plain, that it can no more be tortured into an encouragement to vice, as Lord Orrery alledges, above, p. 11. than the fecond commandment into an encouragement to idolatry. Where do we find in the lines one fyllable relating either to vice or virtue? Are common forms either vices or virtues? Whoever can imagine them to be either the one or the other, must have a certain vacuity in his brain for the reception of the most grofs and palpable abfurdities. Swift.

That I can vulgar forms defpife,

And have no fecrets to disguise.

I knew, by what you faid and writ,

How dang❜rous things were men of wit;
You caution'd me against their charms,

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But never gave me equal arms;

Your leffons found the weakest part,

Aim'd at the head, but reach'd the heart.
CADENUS felt within him rife

Much lefs could his declining age

Vaneffa's earliest thoughts engage;
And if her youth indiff'rence met,
His perfon must contempt beget:
Or, grant her paffion be fincere,
How fhall his innocence be clear?
Appearances were all fo ftrong,

The world muft think him in the wrong;
Would fay, he made a treach'rous use
Of wit, to flatter and feduce:
The town would fwear he had betray'd
By magic spells the harmlefs maid:
And ev'ry beau would have his jokes,
That scholars were like other folks ;
That, when Platonic flights were over,
The tutor turn'd a mortal lover.

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