The EXPERIMENT. A TAL E. By Mr. GREVILLE. Irtue and Vice, two mighty Pow'rs, On Hodge they fix, a Country Boor, He He swore with Grace, got nobly drunk, And kept in Pomp his twentieth Punk. One Morning, as in easy Chair Hodge fat, with ruminating Air, Vice, like a Lady, fair and gay, Approach'd, and thus was heard to say(Behind her Virtue, all the while, Stood flily lift'ning with a Smile) • Know, favour'd Mortal, know that I The Pleafures of thy Life fupply; I rais'd thee from the Clay-built Cell, • Where Want, Contempt, and Slav'ry dwell; And, as each Joy on Earth is fold, To purchase all, I gave thee Gold: This made the Charms of Beauty thine, This blefs'd thee with the Joys of Wine; This gave thee, in the rich Repaft, • Whate'er can please the tutor❜d Taste. • Confefs the Bleffings I bestow, And pay the grateful Thanks you owe; • That I fhou'd rob you of your Due- This Beauty brought, and, with the Dame, The Pox, a bleft Companion! came. And now to fhew how much I prize The Joys, which from your Bounty rise, Each coupled with fo dear a Brother, I'll give you one to take the other. Avaunt, depart from whence you came, And thank your Stars that I am lame.' Enrag'd and griev'd, away fhe flew, And all her Gifts from Hodge withdrew. Now, in his fad repentant Hour, Celestial Virtue try'd her Pow'r; For Wealth, Content the Goddess gave, Th' unenvy'd Treasure of the Slave! From wild Defires she set him free, And fill'd his Breast with Charity; No more loud Tumults Riot breeds, And Temp'rance Gluttony fucceeds. Hodge, in his native Cot at Reft, Now Virtue found, and thus addrefs'd: • You • You gave Content-a boundless Store ! • That all Vice promises, you give.' Vice heard, and fwore that Hodge for Hire Had giv❜n his Verdict like a Liar; And Virtue, turning with Difdain, Vow'd ne'er to speak to Vice again. ELOISA to ABELARD. IN By Mr. POPE. N thefe deep Solitudes and awful Cells, Where heav'nly-penfive Contemplation dwells, And * Abelard and Eloisa flourished in the twelfth Century; they were two of the most diftinguished Perfons of their Age in Learning and Beauty, but for nothing more famous than for their unfortunate Paffion. After a long Course of Calamities, they retired each to a feveral Convent, and confecrated the Remainder of their Days to Religion. It was many Years after And ever-musing Melancholy reigns; Dear fatal Name! reft ever unreveal'd, Her Heart ftill dictates, and her Hand obeys, Relentless Walls! whofe darkfome Round contains Repentent Sighs, and voluntary Pains: And pitying Saints, whofe Statues learn to weep! this Separation, that a Letter of Abelard's to a Friend, which contained the Hiftory of his Misfortune, fell into the Hands of Eloifa. This, awakening all her Tenderness, occafioned thofe celebrated Letters (out of which the following is partly extracted) which give fo lively a Picture of the Struggles of Grace and Nature, Virtue and Paffion, |