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But she, howe'er of victory sure,

Contemns the wreath too long delayed,
And, armed with more immediate power,
Calls cruel silence to her aid.

Deeper to wound, she shuns the fight:
She drops her arms, to gain the field;
Secures her conquest by her flight,

And triumphs when she seems to yield.
So when the Parthian turned his steed
And from the hostile camp withdrew,
With cruel skill the backward reed

He sent, and as he fled he slew.

[THE DYING HADRIAN TO HIS SOUL]

Poor, little, pretty, fluttering thing,

Must we no longer live together?

And dost thou prune thy trembling wing

To take thy flight, thou know'st not whither? Thy humorous vein, thy pleasing folly,

Lies all neglected, all forgot:

And pensive, wavering, melancholy,

Thou dread'st and hop'st, thou know'st not what.

A BETTER ANSWER

Dear Chloe, how blubbered is that pretty face!
Thy cheek all on fire, and thy hair all uncurled!
Prithee quit this caprice, and (as old Falstaff says)
Let us e'en talk a little like folks of this world.

How canst thou presume thou hast leave to destroy
The beauties which Venus but lent to thy keeping?
Those looks were designed to inspire love and joy;
More ordinary eyes may serve people for weeping.

To be vexed at a trifle or two that I writ,

Your judgment at once and my passion you wrong; You take that for fact which will scarce be found wit: Od's life! must one swear to the truth of a song?

What I speak, my fair Chloe, and what I write, shows The difference there is betwixt nature and art:

I court others in verse, but I love thee in prose;

And they have my whimsies, but thou hast my heart.

The god of us verse-men (you know, child), the sun,
How after his journeys he sets up his rest;
If at morning o'er earth 'tis his fancy to run,
At night he reclines on his Thetis's breast.

So when I am wearied with wandering all day,
To thee, my delight, in the evening I come:
No matter what beauties I saw in my way;

They were but my visits, but thou art my home.

Then finish, dear Chloe, this pastoral war,
And let us like Horace and Lydia agree;
For thou art a girl as much brighter than her
As he was a poet sublimer than me.

BERNARD DE MANDEVILLE

FROM THE GRUMBLING HIVE; OR, KNAVES TURNED HONEST

A spacious hive, well stocked with bees,
That lived in luxury and ease;

And yet as famed for laws and arms,
As yielding large and early swarms;
Was counted the great nursery

Of sciences and industry.

Vast numbers thronged the fruitful hive;
Yet those vast numbers made 'em thrive;
Millions endeavouring to supply

Each others lust and vanity,

While other millions were employed
To see their handiworks destroyed;

They furnished half the universe,
Yet had more work than labourers.
Some with vast stocks, and little pains,
Jumped into business of great gains;

And some were damned to scythes and spades,
And all those hard laborious trades
Where willing wretches daily sweat
And wear out strength and limbs, to eat;
While others followed mysteries
To which few folks bind prentices,
That want no stock but that of brass,
And may set up without a cross,-
As sharpers, parasites, pimps, players,
Pickpockets, coiners, quacks, soothsayers,
And all those that in enmity

With downright working, cunningly
Convert to their own use the labour

Of their good-natured heedless neighbour.
These were called knaves; but bar the name,
The grave industrious were the same:
All trades and places knew some cheat,
No calling was without deceit.

Thus every part was full of vice,
Yet the whole mass a paradise:
Flattered in peace, and feared in wars,
They were th' esteem of foreigners,
And lavish of their wealth and lives,
The balance of all other hives.

Such were the blessings of that state;
Their crimes conspired to make them great.

The root of evil, avarice,

That damned, ill-natured, baneful vice,

Was slave to prodigality,

That noble sin; whilst luxury

Employed a million of the poor,
And odious pride a million more;
Envy itself, and vanity,
Were ministers of industry;

Their darling folly-fickleness
In diet, furniture, and dress-

That strange, ridiculous vice, was made
The very wheel that turned the trade.
Their laws and clothes were equally
Objects of mutability;

For what was well done for a time,
In half a year became a crime.

How vain is mortal happiness!

Had they but known the bounds of bliss,
And that perfection here below
Is more than gods can well bestow,
The grumbling brutes had been content
With ministers and government.

But they, at every ill success,

Like creatures lost without redress,
Cursed politicians, armies, fleets;

While every one cried, 'Damn the cheats!'
And would, though conscious of his own,
In others barbarously bear none.

One that had got a princely store
By cheating master, king, and poor,
Dared cry aloud, "The land must sink
For all its fraud'; and whom d'ye think
The sermonizing rascal chid?

A glover that sold lamb for kid!

The least thing was not done amiss,
Or crossed the public business,
But all the rogues cried brazenly,
'Good Gods, had we but honesty!'
Mercury smiled at th' impudence,
And others called it want of sense,
Always to rail at what they loved:
But Jove, with indignation moved,
At last in anger swore he'd rid
The bawling hive of fraud; and did.
The very moment it departs,
And honesty fills all their hearts,

There shews 'em, like th' instructive tree,

Those crimes which they're ashamed to see,

Which now in silence they confess
By blushing at their ugliness;

Like children that would hide their faults
And by their colour own their thoughts,
Imagining when they're looked upon,
That others see what they have done.

But, O ye Gods! what consternation! How vast and sudden was th' alternation! In half an hour, the nation round, Meat fell a penny in the pound.

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Now mind the glorious hive, and see
How honesty and trade agree.
The show is gone; it thins apace,
And looks with quite another face.
For 'twas not only that they went
By whom vast sums were yearly spent;
But multitudes that lived on them,
Were daily forced to do the same.
In vain to other trades they'd fly;
All were o'erstocked accordingly.

As pride and luxury decrease,
So by degrees they leave the seas.
Not merchants now, but companies,
Remove whole manufactories.
All arts and crafts neglected lie:
Content, the bane of industry,

Makes 'em admire their homely store,
And neither seek nor covet more.
So few in the vast hive remain,

The hundredth part they can't maintain
Against th' insults of numerous foes,
Whom yet they valiantly oppose,

Till some well-fenced retreat is found,
And here they die or stand their ground.
No hireling in their army's known;
But bravely fighting for their own
Their courage and integrity
At last were crowned with victory.
They triumphed not without their cost,
For many thousand bees were lost.

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