That flattery is the food of fools;
Yet now and then your men of wit
Will condescend to taste a bit.
SWIFT.
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The Subiect - Poverty and Cunning described - When united, a jarring Couple - Mutual reproof - the Wife consoled by a Dream - Birth of a Daughter - Description and Prediction of Envy - How to be rendered ineffectual, explained in a Vision - Simulation foretells the future Success and Triumphs of Flattery - Her power over various Characters and Different Minds; over certain Classes of Men; over Envy himself - Her successful Art of softening the Evils of Life; of changing Characters; of meliorating Prospects and affixing Value to Possessions, Pictures, &c. Conclusion.
Muse of my Spenser, who so well could sing
The passions all, their bearings and their ties;
Who could in view those shadowy beings bring,
And with bold hand remove each dark disguise,