I KNOW a 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, awed by rumour;   Not grave through pride, nor gay through 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.