Mufe! at that Name thy facred forrows fhed,
Those tears eternal, that embalm the dead:
Call round her Tomb each object of defire,
Each purer frame inform'd with purer fire:
Bid her be all that cheers or softens life,
The tender fifter, daughter, friend, and wife :
Bid her be all that makes mankind adore;
Then view this Marble, and be vain no more!
Yet ftill her charms in breathing paint engage;
Her modeft cheek fhall warm a future age.
Beauty, frail flow'r, that ev'ry season fears,
Blooms in thy colours for a thousand years.
Thus Churchill's race fhall other hearts furprize,
And other Beauties envy Worfley's eyes;
Each pleasing Blount fhall endless smiles bestow,
And foft Belinda's blush for ever glow,

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Oh lasting as thofe Colours may they shine, Free as thy ftroke, yet faultless as thy line; New graces yearly like thy works display, Soft without weakness, without glaring gay; Led by fome rule, that guides, but not constrains; And finish'd more through happiness than pains.

The

NOTES.

VER. 60. Worley's eyes;] This was Frances Lady Worley, Wife of Sir Robert Worfley, Bart. of Appuldercombe, in the Isle of Wight; Mother of Lady Carteret, Wife of John Lord Carteret, afterwards Earl Granville. There is an excellent letter of this Lady to Dr. Swift in his Letters, p. 77.

The kindred Arts fhall in their praise conspire,
One dip the pencil, and one string the lyre.
Yet fhould the Graces all thy figures place,
And breathe an air divine on ev'ry face;
Yet should the Muses bid my numbers roll
Strong as their charms, and gentle as their foul;
With Zeuxis' Helen thy Bridgewater vie,
And these be sung till Granville's Myra die :
Alas! how little from the grave we claim!
Thou but preferv'ft a Face, and I a Name.

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NOTES.

VER. 70. One dip the pencil,] The great Michael Angelo Buanoriti did both. See his Poems, printed at Florence, in 4to. 1623; fome of which are very elegant, and nearly equal to Petrarch.

VER. 78. A name.] Pope ufed to fay that Jervas translated Don Quixote without understanding Spanish. Warburton added a fupplement to the preface of this tranflation, concerning the origin and nature of romances of chivalry; which supplement Pope extols in his letters; but the opinions in it are thoroughly and entirely confuted by Mr. Tyrrwhit, in vol. ii. of Supplemental Obfervations in Shakespeare, p. 373.

EPISTLE

ΤΟ

MRS. BLOUNT,

WITH THE WORKS OF VOITURE.

IN

N thefe gay thoughts the Loves and Graces fhine, And all the Writer lives in ev'ry line;

His eafy Art may happy Nature seem,

Trifles themselves are elegant in him.

Sure to charm all was his peculiar fate,
Who without flatt'ry pleas'd the fair and great;
Still with esteem no lefs convers'd than read;
With wit well-natur'd, and with books well-bred:
His heart, his mistress and his friend did share,
His time, the Muse, the witty, and the fair.
Thus wifely carelefs, innocently gay,
Chearful he'play'd the Trifle, Life, away;
Till fate fcarce felt his gentle breath fuppreft,
As fmiling Infants fport themselves to rest,
Ev'n rival Wits did Voiture's death deplore,

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And the gay mourn'd who never mourn'd before;

The

NOTES.

VER. 1. In thefe gay] The works of Voiture, after having been idolized in France, are now juftly funk into neglect and oblivion.

The trueft hearts for Voiture heav'd with fighs,
Voiture was wept by all the brightest Eyes:

The Smiles and Loves had dy'd in Voiture's death,
But that for ever in his lines they breathe.

Let the ftrict life of graver mortals be
A long, exact, and ferious Comedy;

In ev'ry scene some Moral let it teach,

And, if it can, at once both please and preach.
Let mine an innocent gay

Farce appear,

And more diverting ftill than regular,

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Have Humour, Wit, a native Eafe and Grace,
Tho' not too strictly bound to Time and Place:
Critics in Wit, or Life, are hard to please,
Few write to thofe, and none can live to these. 30
Too much your Sex is by their forms confin'd,
Severe to all, but moft to Womankind;

NOTES.

Custom,

VER. 19. The fmiles] Alluding to an elegant epitaph on

Voiture:

"Etrufcæ Veneres, Camænæ Iberæ,
Hermes Gallicus, et Latina Siren;
Rifus, Deliæ, et Dicacitates,
Lufûs, Ingenium, Joci, Lepores:
Et quid quid unquam fuit elegantiarum,
Quo Vecturius hoc jacent fepulcro."

Many curious particulars of his life may be found in the enter taining Mifcellanies of Vigneul Marville, vol. ii. p. 409.

Corneille was invited to read his Polycucte at the Hotel de Rambouillet, where the wits of that time assembled, and where Voiture prefided. It was coldly received; and Voiture was fent to tell Corneille in gentle terms, that it was the opinion of his friends that Polyeucte would not fucceed. Such judges were the most fashionable wits of France!

Cuftom, grown blind with Age, must be your guide; Your pleasure is a vice, but not your pride;

By Nature yielding, ftubborn but for fame:

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Made Slaves by honour, and made Fools by fhame.
Marriage may all thofe petty Tyrants chase,
But fets up one, a greater in their place:

Well might you wish for change by thofe accurft,
But the last Tyrant ever proves the worst.
Still in constraint your fuff'ring Sex remains,
Or bound in formal, or in real chains:
Whole years neglected, for fome months ador'd,
The fawning Servant turns a haughty Lord.
Ah quit not the free innocence of life,

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For the dull glory of a virtuous Wife ;

Nor let falfe Shews, nor empty Titles please:
Aim not at Joy, but reft content with Eafe.

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The Gods, to curfe Pamela with her pray'rs, Gave the gilt Coach, and dappled Flanders Mares, The fhining robes, rich jewels, beds of ftate, And, to complete her bliss, a Fool for Mate. She glares in Balls, front Boxes, and the Ring, A vain, unquiet, glitt'ring, wretched Thing! Pride, Pomp, and State but reach her outward part; She fighs, and is no Duchefs at her heart.

you

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But, Madam, if the fates withstand, and Are deftin'd Hymen's willing Victim too; Trust not too much your now refistless charms, Thofe, Age or Sickness, foon or late, difarms: 60

Good