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ON A CERTAIN LADY AT COURT.
I KNOW the thing that's most uncommon,
(Envy be silent, and attend!)
I know a reasonable woman,
Handsome and witty, yet a friend.
Not warp'd by passion, aw'd by rumour;
Not grave thro' pride, or gay thro' folly;
An equal mixture of good humour,
And sensible, soft melancholy.
"Has she no faults, then (Envy says) sir?"
Yes, she has one, I must aver:
When all the world conspires to praise her,
The woman's deaf, and does not hear.
ALEXANDER POPE, ARMIGER.
ET,
QVOD EXIMIO APVD ERVDITAS NOMINI
INVIDENDAM ATTVLIT DIGNITATIS
ACCESSIONEM,
EFFIGIEM DEDIT,
ET VIRVM COHONESTAVIT,
A. D. MDCCXXII,
HONORATISSIMVS
EDWARDVS COMES OXON. ET MORTIMER.
In English:
ALEXANDER POPE, ESQUIRE.
And, what gives to a Name admired by
the Learned
