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Yet graceful eafe, and fweetnefs void of pride

Might hide her faults, if Belles had faults to hide:

If to her share fome female errors fall,

Look on her face and you'll forget 'em all.

15

This Nymph, to the destruction of mankind, Nourish'd two Locks, which graceful hung behind 20 In equal curls, and well confpir'd to deck With fhining ringlets the smooth iv'ry neck. Love in these labyrinths his flaves detains, And mighty hearts are held in flender chains. With hairy fpringes we the birds betray, Slight lines of hair furprize the finny prey, Fair treffes man's imperial racè infnare,

25

And beauty draws us with a fingle hair.

Th' advent'rous Baron the bright locks admir'd; He faw, he wifh'd, and to the prize afpir'd.

30

Refolv'd to win, he meditates the way,
By force to ravish, or by fraud betray;
For when fuccefs a Lover's toil attends,

Few afk, if fraud or force attain'd his ends.

For this, ere Phoebus rofe, he had implor'd
Propitious heav'n, and ev'ry pow'r ador'd,
But chiefly Love-to Love an Altar built,
Of twelve vast French Romances, neatly gilt.

NOTES.

35

VER. 25. With hairy fpringes] In allufion to Anacreon's

manner.

VER. 28. with a fingle hair.] In allusion to those lines of Hudibras, applied to the fame purpose,

"And tho' it be a two foot Trout,
"'Tis with a fingle hair pull'd out.

There lay three garters, half a pair of gloves;
And all the trophies of his former loves

;

With tender billet-doux he lights the pyre,
And breathes three am'rous fighs to raise the fire.
Then proftrate falls, and begs with ardent eyes
Soon to obtain and long poffefs the prize:

The pow'rs gave ear, and granted half his pray'r, 45
The reft, the winds difpers'd in empty air.

But now fecure the painted veffel glides, The fun-beams trembling on the floating tides: While melting mufic fteals upon the sky, And foften'd founds along the waters die; Smooth flow the waves, the zephyrs gently play, Belinda fmil'd, and all the world was gay. All but the Sylph-with careful thoughts oppreft, Th' impending woe fat heavy on his breast. He fummons ftrait his Denizens of air; The lucid fquadrons round the fails repair: Soft o'er the fhrouds aërial whifpers breathe, That seem'd but zephyrs to the train beneath. Some to the fun their infect-wings unfold, Waft on the breeze, or fink in clouds of gold; Transparent forms, too fine for mortal fight, Their fluid bodies half diffolv'd in light. Loofe to the wind their airy garments flew, Thin glitt'ring textures of the filmy dew,

IMITATIONS.

VER. 45. The pow'rs gave ear,] Virg. Æn. xi. P.

50

55

60

Dipt in the richest tincture of the skies,

Where light difports in ever-mingling dyes;

While ev'ry beam new tranfient colours flings, Colours that change whene'er they wave their wings. Amid the circle on the gilded mast,

Superior by the head, was Ariel plac'd;

His purple pinions op'ning to the sun,

He rais'd his azure wand, and thus begun.

༡༠

Ye Sylphs and Sylphids, to your chief give ear, Fays, Fairies, Genii, Elves, and Dæmons hear! Ye know the spheres, and various tasks affign'd 75 By laws eternal to th' aërial kind.

Some in the fields of pureft Æther play,

And bask and whiten in the blaze of day.

Some guide the course of wand'ring orbs on high,
Or roll the planets thro' the boundless sky.
Some lefs refin'd, beneath the moon's pale light
Pursue the ftars that shoot athwart the night,
Or fuck the mists in groffer air below,

80

Or dip their pinions in the painted bow,

Or brew fierce tempefts on the wintry main,

85

Or o'er the glebe diftil the kindly rain.
Others on earth o'er human race prefide,

Watch all their ways, and all their actions guide:
Of these the chief the care of Nations own,

And guard with Arms divine the British Throne. 90 NOTES.

VER. 90. And guard with Arms] The Poet was too judicious to defire this should be understood as a compliment.

Our humble province is to tend the Fair,
Not a lefs pleafing, tho' lefs glorious care;
To fave the powder from too rude a gale,
Nor let th' imprison'd effences exhale;

To draw fresh colours from the vernal flow'rs:
To fteal from Rainbows e'er they drop in fhow'rs
A brighter wash; to curl their waving hairs,
Affift their blufhes, and infpire their airs;
Nay, oft in dreams, invention we bestow,
To change a Flounce, or add a Furbelow.

95

100

This day, black Omens threat the brightest Fair
That e'er deferv'd a watchful spirit's care;
Some dire difafter, or by force, or flight;

But what, or where, the fates have wrapt in night.
Whether the nymph fhall break Diana's law,
Or fome frail China jar receive a flaw;
Or ftain her honour, or her new brocade;
Forget her pray'rs, or miss a masquerade!
Or lose her heart, or necklace, at a ball;

105

Or whether Heav'n has doom'd that Shock must fall.

NOTES.

He intended it for a meer piece of raillery; fuch as he more openly pursues on another occafion; when he fays,

"Where's now the Star with lighted Charles to rife? "With that which follow'd Julius to the fkies.

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Angels, that watch'd the Royal Oak fo well,

"How chanc'd you flept when luckless Sorrel fell? VER. 105. Whether the nymph, etc.] The difafter, which makes the fubject of this poem, being a trifle, taken feriously; it naturally led the Poet into this fine fatire on the female eftimate of human mifchances.

III

115

Hafte then, ye fpirits! to your charge repair:
The flutt'ring fan be Zephyretta's care;
The drops to thee, Brillante, we confign;
And, Momentilla, let the watch be thine;
Do thou, Crifpiffa, tend her fav'rite Lock;
Ariel himself shall be the guard of Shock.
To fifty chofen Sylphs, of fpecial note,
We trust th' important charge, the petticoat:
Oft have we known that feven-fold fence to fail,
Tho' ftiff with hoops, and arm'd with ribs of whale;
Form a strong line about the filver bound,
And guard the wide circumference around.
Whatever fpirit, careless of his charge,
His poft neglects, or leaves the Fair at large,
Shall feel sharp vengeance foon o'ertake his fins, 125
Be ftop'd in vials, or tranfix'd with pins;

Or plung'd in lakes of bitter washes lie,

Or wedg'd whole ages in a bodkin's

eye:

Gums and Pomatums fhall his flight reftrain,

121

While clog'd he beats his filken wings in vain; 130

Or Alum ftyptics with contracting pow'r

Shrink his thin effence like a rivel'd flow'r :

IMITATIONS.

VER. L19-clypei dominus feptemplicis Ajax.

Ovid.

VER. 121. about the filver bound,] In allufion to the fhield of Achilles,

"Thus the broad fhield complete the Artift crown'd, "With his laft hand, and pour'd the Ocean round : "In living Silver feem'd the waves to roll,

"And beat the Buckler's verge, and bound the whole.

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