Wit and Beauty

Beauty and wit the mighty maker gave To woman, to reward the great and brave. To wing their winter hours, and sooth their cares, And sweeten the fatigues of camps and wars. Beauty and wit and every charming grace Which brightens and adorns the mind and face, The power creating has in her express'd And him with every many virtue blest. The pleasure beauty gives is an excess, And nothing in excess, can always please, Things exquisitely fine will soonest cloy And man's too apt to surfeit e'en of joy; But then the rapture's lasting when 'tis join'd With wit the winning beauty of the mind. Wit warms society by pleasing strife, And quickens and refines the joys of life. Wit's always gay, agreeable and new. And pleases when it bites, and when it flatters too Their mutual aid they to each other lend Beauty is Wit's and wit is beauty's friend: But when with virtue they together shine, The transport is eternal and divine.