BEAUTY. A satirical one.
Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes,
Misprising what they look on; and her wit
Values itself so highly, that to her
All matter else seems weak: she cannot love
Nor take no shape nor project of affection,
She is so self-endear'd.
How wise, how noble, young, how rarely featur'd,
But she would spell him backward: if fair-faced,
She'd swear the gentleman should be her sister,
If black, why, nature, drawing of an antic,
Made a foul blot, if tall, a lance ill headed
If low, an agate very vilely cut:
If speaking, why, a vane blown with all wind:
If silent, why a block mov'd with none.
So turns she every man the wrong side out:
And never gives to truth and virtue, that
Which simpleness and merit purchaseth.
BEAUTY. Moral and natural compared.
Look then abroad through nature, to the range
Of planets, suns, and adamantine spheres
Wheeling unshaken through the void immense;
And speak, Oman! does this capacious scene
With half that kindling majesty dilate
Thy strong conception, as when Brutus rose
Refulgent from the stroke of Cæsar's fate,
Amid the crowd of patriots; and his arm
Aloft extending, like eternal Jove
When guilt brings down the thunder, call'd aloud
On Tully's name, and shook his crimson steel. Akenside.
BEING. Pangs at our resigning.
For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey,
This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd,
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing, ling'ring look behind?
On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
Some pious drops the closing eye requires:
Ev'n from the tomb, the voice of nature cries,
Ev'n in our ashes live their wonted fires.
BELIAL. His Character.
Belial, in act more graceful and humane
A fairer person lost not Heav'n; he seem'd
For dignity compos'd and high exploit:
But all was false and hollow; though his tongue
Dropp'd manna, and could make the worse appear
The better reason, to perplex and dash
Maturest counsels; for his thoughts were low;
To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds
Timorous and slothful; yet he pleas'd the ear.
BELINDA. Character of.
On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore,
Which Jews might kiss and infidels adore.
Her lively looks a sprightly mind disclose,
Quick as her eyes, and as unfix'd as those
Favours to none, to all she smiles extends;
Oft she rejects, but never once offends.
Bright as the sun her eyes the gazers strike,
And, like the sun, they shine on all alike.
Yet graceful ease, and sweetness void of pride,
Might hide their faults, if belles had faults to hide;
If to her share some female errors fall,
Look on her face, and you'll forget them all.
BEELZEBUB. His Character.
Satan except, none higher sat, with grave
Aspect he rose, and in his rising seem'd
A pillar of state; deep on his front engraven,
Deliberation sat and public care;
And princely counsel in his face yet shone
Majestic, though in ruin; sage he stood,
With Atlantean shoulders fit to bear
The weight of mightiest monarchies; his look
Drew audience and attention, still as night
Or summer's noontide air.
BEPPO AND LAURA. Humorous Rencontre between.
Now, Laura, much recover'd, or less loth
To speak, cries "Beppo! what's your Pagan name?
Bless me! your beard is of amazing growth!
And how came you to keep away so long?
you not sensible 'twas very wrong?
"And are you really, truly, now a Turk?
With any other woman did you wive?
is 't true they use their fingers for a fork?
Well, that's the prettiest shawl, as I'm alive!-
You'll give it me?-they say you eat no pork—
And how so many years did you contrive
To-Bless me! did I ever-No, I never
Saw a man grown so yellow!-How's your liver?
"Beppo! that beard of your's becomes you not
It shall be shaved before you 're a day older;
Why do you wear it ?-Oh! I had forgot-
Pray, don't you think the weather here is colder?
How do I look ?-You shan't stir from this spot
In that queer dress, for fear that some beholder
Should find you out, and make the story known- .
How short your hair is!-Lord! how gray it's grown!
BLINDNESS. Milton's Complaint of.
Thee I revisit safe,
And feel thy sov'reign vital lamp; but thou
Revisit'st not these eyes, that roll in vain
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;
So thick a drop serene hath quench'd their orbs,
Or dim suffusion veil'd. Yet not the more
Cease I to wander, where the Muses haunt
Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill.—
Thus with the year
Seasons return, but not to me returns
Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn,
Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose,
Or flocks, or birds, or human face divine;
But cloud instead, and ever-during dark
Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men
Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair
Presented with an universal blank
Of nature's works, to me expung'd and ras'd,
And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.
So much the rather thou, celestial Light,
Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate; there plant eyes, all mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight.
BLISS. Human, small.
Yet oft a sigh prevails, and sorrows fall,
To see the hoard of human bliss so small
And oft I wish, amid the scene to find
Some spot to real happiness consign'd;
Where my worn soul, each wand'ring hope at rest,
May gather bliss to see my fellows blest.
BLUNTNESS. Affected.
This is some fellow,
Who, having been prais'd for bluntness, doth affect
A saucy roughness, and constrains the garb,
Quite from his nature: He cannot flatter, he!-
An honest mind and plain,—he must speak truth:
An' if they will take it, so; if not, he's plain.
These kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness
Harbour more craft, and more corrupter ends,
Than twenty silly ducking observants,
That stretch their duties nicely.
I'll hold thee any wager,
When we are both accouter'd like young men,
I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two,
And wear my dagger with a braver grace;
And speak, between the change of man and boy,
With a reed voice; and turn two mincing steps
Into a manly stride; and speak of frays,
Like a fine bragging youth; and tell quaint lies,
How honourable ladies sought my love,
Which I denying, they fell sick and died;
I could not do with all ;-then I'll repent,
And wish, for all that, that I had not kill'd them:
And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell,
That men shall swear, I have discontinued school
Above a twelvemonth.
BODIES. Heavenly, Regularity of.
Nor think thou seest a wild disorder here;
Through this illustrious chaos to the sight,
Arrangement neat, and chastest order reign.
The path prescrib'd, inviolably kept,
Upbraids the lawless sallies of mankind :
Worlds, ever thwarting, never interfere ;
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