Page:A Series of Plays on the Passions Volume 1.pdf/332

To suit their taste, tho' whimsical and strange,
As ever fancy own'd.
Beauty of every cast and shade is there,
From the perfection of a faultless form,
Down to the common, brown, unnoted maid,
Who looks but pretty in her Sunday gown.

1st Gent. There is, indeed, a gay variety.

Rez. And if the liberality of nature
Suffices not, there's store of grafted charms
Blending in one the sweets of many plants
So obstinately, strangely opposite,
As would have well defy'd all other art
But female cultivation. Aged youth,
With borrow'd locks in rosy chaplets bound,
Cloaths her dim eye, parch'd lip, and skinny cheek
In most unlovely softness.
And youthful age, with fat round trackless face,
The down-cast look of contemplation deep,
Most pensively assumes.
Is it not even so? The native prude,
With forced laugh, and merriment uncouth,
Plays off the wild coquet's successful charms
With most unskilful pains; and the coquet,
In temporary crust of cold reserve,
Fixes her studied looks upon the ground
Forbiddingly demure.

Freberg. Fy! thou art too severe.

Rez.Say, rather, gentle,
I' faith! the very dwarfs attempt to charm
With lofty airs of puny majesty,
Whilst potent damsels, of a portly make,