Her ruddy lips the deep vermilion dyes;
Length to her brows the pencil's art supplies,
And with black bending arches fhades her eyes.
Well pleas'd at length the picture she beholds,
And spots it o'er with artificial molds;

Her countenance compleat, the beaux fhe warms
With looks not hers; and, spight of nature, charms.
Thus artfully their perfons they disguise,

Till the last flourish bids the curtain rife.
The prince then enters on the Stage in state;
Behind, a guard of candle-fnuffers wait:
There, fwoln with empire, terrible and fierce,
He shakes the dome, and tears his lungs with verse:
His fubjects tremble; the fubmiffive pit,

Wrapt up in filence and attention, fit;
Till, freed at length, he lays afide the weight,
Of public bufinefs and affairs of state:
Forgets his pomp, dead to ambitious fires,

And to fome peaceful brandy-shop retires;
Where in full gills his anxious thoughts he drowns,
And quaffs away the care that waits on crowns.

The princess next her painted charms difplays,
Where every look the pencil's art betrays;
The callow 'fquire at diftance feeds his eyes,
And filently for paint and washes dies:
But if the youth behind the scenes retreat,
He fees the blended colours melt with heat,
And all the trickling beauty run in sweat.
The borrow'd vifage he admires no more,
And nauseates every charm he lov'd before :

So the fam'd fpear, for double force renown'd,
Apply'd the remedy that gave the wound.

In tedious lifts 'twere endless to engage,

And draw at length the rabble of the Stage,
Where one for twenty years has given alarms,
And call'd contending monarchs to their arms;
Another fills a more important poft,

And rifes every other night a ghoft;

Through the cleft Stage, his mealy face he rears,
Then stalks along, groans thrice, and disappears;
Others, with swords and fhields, the foldier's pride,
More than a thousand times have chang'd their fide,
And in a thousand fatal battles dy'd.

Thus feveral perfons several parts perform ;
Soft lovers whine, and blustering heroes ftorm.
The stern exasperated tyrants rage,

Till the kind bowl of poifon clears the Stage,
Then honours vanith, and diftinctions ceafe;
Then, with reluctance, haughty queens undrefs.
Heroes no more their fading laurels boast,
And mighty kings in private men are lost.

He, whom fuch titles fwell'd, fuch power made proud,
To whom whole realms and vanquish'd nations bow'd,
Throws off the gaudy plume, the purple train,
And in his own vile tatters ftinks again.

N

ON THE LADY MANCHESTER.

WHILE haughty Gallia's dames, that spread

O'er their pale cheeks, an artful red,

Beheld this beauteous ftranger there
In native charms, divinely fair;
Confufion in their looks they show'd';
And with unborrow'd blushes glow'd.

САТО.

"Ecce fpectaculum dignum, ad quod refpiciat, intentus operi fuo, Deus! Ecce par Deo dignum, "vir fortis cum malâ fortunâ compofitus! Non ❝ video, inquam, quid habeat in terris Jupiter pul"chrius, fi convertere animum velit, quàm ut "spectet Catonem, jam partibus non femel fractis, "nihilominùs inter ruinas publicas erectum."

SEN. de Divin. Prov.

ON THE LADY MANCHESTER.

WH
Wer their

HILE haughty Gallia's dames, that spread O'er their pale cheeks, an artful red, Beheld this beauteous ftranger there In native charms, divinely fair; Confufion in their looks they show'd'; And with unborrow'd blushes glow'd.

CATO.