Unnumber’d maladies his joints invade,
  Lay siege to life, and press the dire blockade;
  But unextinguish’d Avarice still remains,
  And dreaded losses aggravate his pains;
  He turns, with anxious heart and crippled hands,
  His bonds of debt, and mortgages of lands;
  Or views his coffers with suspicious eyes,
  Unlocks his gold, and counts it till he dies. 290

   But grant, the virtues of a temperate prime
  Bless with an age exempt from scorn or crime—­
  An age that melts with unperceived decay,
  And glides in modest innocence away,
  Whose peaceful day Benevolence endears,
  Whose night congratulating Conscience cheers;
  The general favourite as the general friend: 
  Such age there is, and who shall wish its end?

   Yet e’en on this her load Misfortune flings,
  To press the weary minutes’ flagging wings; 300
  New sorrow rises as the day returns,
  A sister sickens, or a daughter mourns. 
  Now kindred Merit fills the sable bier,
  Now lacerated Friendship claims a tear;
  Year chases year, decay pursues decay,
  Still drops some joy from withering life away;
  New forms arise, and different views engage,
  Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage,
  Till pitying Nature signs the last release,
  And bids afflicted worth retire to peace. 310

   But few there are whom hours like these await,
  Who set unclouded in the gulphs of Fate. 
  From Lydia’s monarch[4] should the search descend,
  By Solon caution’d to regard his end,
  In life’s last scene what prodigies surprise,
  Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise! 
  From Marlborough’s eyes the streams of dotage flow,
  And Swift expires a driveller and a show.

   The teeming mother, anxious for her race,
  Begs for each birth the fortune of a face:  320
  Yet Vane[5] could tell what ills from beauty spring;
  And Sedley[6] cursed the form that pleased a king. 
  Ye nymphs of rosy lips and radiant eyes,
  Whom pleasure keeps too busy to be wise,
  Whom joys with soft varieties invite,
  By day the frolic, and the dance by night,
  Who frown with vanity, who smile with art,
  And ask the latest fashion of the heart;
  What care, what rules your heedless charms shall save,
  Each nymph your rival, and each youth your slave? 
  The rival batters, and the lover mines. 
  With distant voice neglected Virtue calls,
  Less heard and less, the faint remonstrance falls;
  Tired with contempt, she quits the slippery reign,
  And Pride and Prudence take her seat in vain;
  In crowd at once, where none the pass defend,
  The harmless freedom and the private friend. 
  The guardians yield, by force superior plied—­
  To Interest, Prudence; and to Flattery, Pride. 340
  Here Beauty falls betray’d, despised, distress’d,
  And hissing Infamy proclaims the rest.