But chiefly Love-to Love an Altar built,
Of twelve vaft French Romances, neatly gilt.
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,
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 whispers breathe,
That feem'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;
Tranfparent forms, too fine for mortal fight,
Their fluid bodies half diffolv'd in light.
Loose to the wind their airy garments flew,
Thin glitt'ring textures of the filmy dew,
Dip'd in the richett 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 fun,
He rais'd his azure wand, and thus begun.
Ye Sylphs and Sylphids, to your chief give ear,
Fay, Fairies, Genii, Elves, and Dæmons hear!
Ye know the spheres, and various tasks affign'd
By laws eternal to the aërial kind.
Some in the fields of pureft æther play,
And bask and whiten in the blaze of day;
Some guide the courfe 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 mifts in groffer air below,
Or dip their pinions in the painted bow,
Or brew fierce tempefts on the wintry main,
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.
Our humbler 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 essences exhale;
To draw fresh colours from the vernal flow'rs;
To steal from rainbows ere they drop in show'rs,
A brighter
A brighter wash; to curl their waving hairs,
Affift their blushes, and infpire their airs;
Nay oft, in dreams, invention we bestow,
To change a Flounce, or add a Furbelow.
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 wrap'd 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;
Or whether heav'n has doom'd that Shock muft fall.
Hafte then, ye spirits! 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 seven-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,
Be ftop'd in vials, or transfix'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 restrain,
While, clog'd, he beats his filken wings in vain ;
Or Alum flyptics, with contracting pow'r,
Shrink his thin effence like a fhrivel'd flow'r:
Or, as Ixion fix'd, the wretch fhall feel
The giddy motion of the whirling mill,
In fumes of burning Chocolate fhall glow,
And tremble at the fea that froths below!
He fpoke; the fpirits from the fails defcend;
Some, orb in orb, around the nymph extend;
Some thrid the mazy ringlets of her hair;
Some hang upon the pendants of her ear;
With beating hearts the dire event they wait,
Anxious, and trembling for the birth of Fate.
Close by thofe meads, for ever crown'd with flow'rs,
Where Thames with pride furveys his rifing tow'rs,
There ftands a structure of majestic frame,
Which from the neighb'ring Hampton takes its name.
Here Britain's ftatesmen oft the fall foredoom
Of foreign Tyrants, and of Nymphs at home;
Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey,
Doft fometimes counfel take-and fometimes tea.
Hither the heroes and the nymphs refort,
To tafte awhile the pleasures of a Court;
In various talk th' inftructive hours they paft,
Who gave the ball or paid the vifit laft:
One fpeaks the glory of the British Queen,
And one defcribes a charming Indian screen ;
A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes ;-
At ev'ry word a reputation dies.
Snuff, or the fan, fupply each paufe of chat,
With finging, laughing, ogling, and all that.
Meanwhile, declining from the noon of day,
The fun obliquely shoots his burning ray ;
The hungry judges foon the fentence fign,
And wretches hang that Jurymen may dine;
The merchant from th' Exchange returns in peace,
And the long labours of the toilet cease.
Belinda now, whom thirft of fame invites,
Burns to encounter two advent'rous Knights,
At Ombre fingly to decide their doom,
And fwells her breast with conquests yet to come.
Strait the three bands prepare in arms to join,
Each band the number of the facred nine.
Soon as she spreads her hand, th' aërial guard
Defcend, and fit on each important card :
First Ariel perch'd upon a Matadore,
Then each according to the rank he bore;
For Sylphs, yet mindful of their ancient race,
Are, as when women, wond'rous fond of place.
Behold, four Kings in majefty rever'd,
With hoary whiskers and a forky beard;
And four fair Queens, whofe hands fuftain a flow'r,
Th' expreffive emblem of their fofter pow'r ;
Four knaves in garbs fuccinct, a trufty band;
Caps on their heads, and halberts in their hand;
And party-colour'd troops, a shining train,
Drawn forth to combat on the velvet plain.
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