Examples I could cite you more ;

But be contented with these four:

For, when one's proofs are aptly chosen,

Four are as valid as four dozen.

One came from Greece, and one from Rome;
The other two grew nearer home.

For some in ancient books delight;
Others prefer what moderns write:
Now I should be extremely loth,
Not to be thought expert in both.

CANTO II.

BUT shall we take the muse abroad,
To drop her idly on the road?

And leave our subject in the middle;
As Butler did his bear and fiddle?
Yet he, consummate master, knew
When to recede, and where pursue;
His noble negligences teach
What others' toils despair to reach.
He, perfect dancer, climbs the rope,
And balances your fear and hope:
If, after some distinguish'd leap,

*

*Ut quasdam artes, ita eloquentiam nihil magis, quam ancipitia commendant. Vides qui per funem in summa nituntur, quantos soleant excitare clamores, cum jam jamque casuri videntur. Plinii Epistolæ, 1. 9, ep. 26.

He drops his pole, and seems to slip,
Straight gathering all his active strength,
He rises higher half his length.

With wonder you approve his slight;*
And owe your pleasure to your fright.
But like poor Andrew I advance,
False mimic of my master's dance;
Around the cord awhile I sprawl,
And thence, though low, in earnest fall.
My preface tells you, I digress'd:
He's half absolv'd who has confess'd.
I like, quoth Dick, your simile,
And, in return, take two from me.
As masters in the clare obscure
With various light your eyes allure;
A flaming yellow here they spread :
Draw off in blue, or charge in red;
Yet, from these colours oddly mix'd,
Your sight upon the whole is fix'd:
Or as, again, your courtly dames
(Whose clothes returning birth-day claims)
By arts improve, the stuffs they vary;
And things are best as most contrary;
The gown, with stiff embroidery shining,
Looks charming with a slighter lining;
The out, if Indian figure stain,

The in-side must be rich and plain :

Sunt enim maxime mirabilia, que maxime inexpectata, et maxime-periculosa. Pliny. See Hurd's Horace.

So

you great authors have thought fit To make digression temper wit: When arguments too fiercely glare, You calm them with a milder air:

To break their points, you turn their force, And furbelow the plain discourse.

Richard, quoth Mat, these words of thine Speak something sly, and something fine: But I shall e'en resume my theme, However thou mays't praise or blame. As people marry now, and settle, Fierce love abates his usual mettle : Worldly desires, and household cares, Disturb the godhead's soft affairs: as health or temper changes, In larger compass Alma ranges, This day below, the next above, As light or solid whimsies move. So merchant has his house in town, And country-seat near Banstead-down; From one he dates his foreign letters, Sends out his goods, and duns his debtors: In t'other, at his hours of leisure,

So now,

He smokes his pipe, and takes his pleasure.
And now your matrimonial Cupid,
Lash'd on by time, grows tir'd and stupid.
For story and experience tell us,

That man grows old, and woman jealous
Both would their little ends secure;
He sighs for freedom, she for power.

His wishes tend abroad to roam,
And hers, to domineer at home.
Thus passion flags by slow degrees,
And, ruffled more, delighted less,
The busy mind does seldom go
To those once-charming seats below;
But, in the breast incamp'd, prepares
For well-bred feints and future wars.
The man suspects his lady's crying
(When he last autumn lay a-dying)
Was but to gain him to appoint her
By codicil a larger jointure.

The woman finds it all a trick,

That he could swoon when she was sick; And knows, that in that grief he reckon'd On black-ey'd Susan for his second.

Thus, having strove some tedious years
With feign'd desires, and real fears;
And, tir'd with answers and replies
Of John affirms, and Martha lies,
Leaving this endless altercation,
The mind affects a higher station.
Poltis, that generous king of Thrace,

I think, was in this very case.
All Asia now was by the ears,

And gods beat up for volunteers
To Greece and Troy; while Poltis sat
In quiet governing his state.

And whence, said the pacific king,
Does all this noise and discord spring?

Why, Paris took Atrides' wife-
With ease I could compose this strife:
The injur'd hero should not lose,
Nor the young lover want a spouse.
But Helen chang'd her first condition,
Without her husband's just permission.
What from the dame can Paris hope?
She may as well from him elope.
Again, how can her old good-man
With honour take her back again?
From hence I logically gather,
The woman cannot live with either.
Now, I have two right honest wives,
For whose possession no man strives:
One to Atrides I will send,

And t'other to my Trojan friend.

Each prince shall thus with honour have What both so warmly seem to crave: The wrath of gods and man shall cease, And Poltis live and die in peace.

Dick, if this story pleaseth thee, Pray thank Dan Pope, who told it me. Howe'er swift Alma's flight may vary,

(Take this by way of corollary) Some limbs she finds the very same,

In place, in dignity, in name :

These dwell at such convenient distance,

That each may give his friend assistance. Thus he who runs or dances begs

The equal vigour of two legs;