Like a very gallant will I compliment all

Like a very gallant will I compliment all:
I must leer at and ogle the pretty,
Tell the short ones they're neat, and majestic the tall
And call all the homely ones witty.
Thus agreeable falsehood still passing for truth,
I shall tickle their vanity snugly,
Talk of prudence to age, and of pleasure to youth,
And console with a fortune the ugly.

To the pale I'll on delicate lilies begin,
To the florid I'll hold forth on roses,
Call squinting a leer, find a smile in a grin,
And proportion where chins kiss with noses:
Thus agreeable falsehood still passing for truth,
I'll their vanity tickle so snugly,
That I'll please tall and short, fat and lean, ageand youth,
And reconcile even the ugly.