Page:The Annual Register 1758.djvu/394

 ANNUAL REGISTER, 175S,

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extras or two from the dedication , and the fermon it/elf, ive prefume n»ill not be dijagrecable to our readers.

MADAM, there is an Italian proverb, which fays, that handjome girls are born married: The meaning whereof is not what hath been vulgarly fuppofed, that marriages are made in heaven : But, that fuch is the power of beauty over the human heart, that when they n.uiU, they may. This being fo, the intimation to your Ladyfliip, is to look out, and pro- vide for a change of condition. To remain fingle, will not be long in your power, for beauty that ftrikes every eye, will necef- farily charm many hearts : Nature ordained it univerfal fway, and the corruptions of nature, multi- plied as they have been through a feries of 5000 years, have even yet been able to give it but one rival. In the human heart (I (peak it to their fname) temples have been erefted to the god of wealth : Many fair vidtims have we feen bleeding at his altars; and, what is worfe, the very hand now writ- ing to your Ladyfhip, hath fome- times been the facrificer. What therefore you have to learn, is only to chufe with difcretion ; to maintain with dignity the prof- fered fovereignty which contend- ing fuppliants will intreat you to accept.

All the great heroes, the moft renowned in their generations, the fcripture worthies in particular, have had their Dalilahs, to whofe bewitching charms they one and all yielded; reluflantly forae, and fondly others : Thefe proving their wifdom, and tho/e their folly, fince there is no incbantment againji

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beauty, nor any thing which it cannot inchant. He mull be fome- thing more, or fomething worfe, than a man — /. e. a god or a devil, who hath efcaped, or who can re- fill its power : The gods of the heathens could not: Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Apollo, their amours are as famous as their names : So that that fturdinefs in human na- ture, wherever it is found, which can refill, argues plainly how much of the devil is wrought up in the compofition: If the native power were not fo great as it is, fo many arts, fo many opportunities to footh and to perfuade, would make it impoffible.

This prating old man! will he never have done? Not yet; for to you, madam, and of you I could prate for ever. Garrulity is indeed the vice of old age: The higheit honorary tribute that youth pays to it, is patient attention : We grow fond of prating when we are good for nothing elfe. Befides, madam, it is, though I am forry to remind you of it, a vice commoa to both fexes; old women can prate as well as old men ; and the fame allowance on your part, if ever you come to it, will be demanded : and, alas ! young, gay, and blooming as you are, to this you will come at laft : lovely as that form is, it will wrinkle and wither, that vermi- lion will be turned into palenefs, thofc brilliant eyes grow dim and faint : in the gazing crowd, that now furrounds you, notwithlland- ing the blaze you make, the lul^.re with which you enamel and gild the fpot you Hand upon ; though you reanimate, give life, fenfation, appetite, a kind of rejuvenefcence, a defire at leaft, a with to live and be young again, to every thing you touch or look upon, the meanelt of

your