Water where yonder spout to heav'n ascends,
Rides in tremendous triumphs; Ocean bends;
And ruin raising high her baleful head,
Broods o'er the waste, the bursting mass will
spread.

Enough of watry wonders :-all-dismay'd,
E'en Fancy starts at forms herself hath made.
Let them whom terror can inspire, pursue
Themes too terrific: I with humble view,
Retire unequal,nor will e'er again

To Water's greater works devote my strain;
Content to praise it, when with gentle sway,
Profuse of rich increase, it winds its way

Thro' the parch'd glebe; or fills with influence

bland

Where stately thro' the public way,
Amidst the trumpet's clangors, and th' acclaim
Of civic zeal, in long procession move
Nobles and chiefs of venerable fame;

Mark how the soldier's eye
[bit
Looks proud defiance! How his heart bea
With glorious expectation! What inspires-
What fans his martial fires?
What but the power of sound?
The clam'rous drums his anxious ardour re
His blood flows quicker round;
At once he hears, he feels, enjoys, obeys.

Where gathering storms incessant lour,
And niggard nature chills th' abortive g

From her bleak heights see Scotland post
Blithe lads and lassies trim; an hardy ta,
Down the crag, and o'er the lea,
Following still, with hearty glee,
The bag-pipes' mellow minstrelsy.
Tinge Italy's serener skies,
Where cloudless suns, with glowing dies,
Soft the winding lawns along

The lover's lute complains;
While ling'ring Echo learns the song,
Gives it the woods; and, loth to lose
One accent of th` impassion'd muse,

Bids woods return it to the plains. Time was when, stretch'd beneath the bee shade,

The simple shepherd warbled his swer Lur'd to his rustic reed, the gentle maid

Welcom'd the morn, and caroll'd dow i Why do our swains depart from ancient Why sounds no pastoral reed on Britain's -The innocence which tun'd it is no

Easy with care, and sprightly, tho' serez
To inark th' instructions echoing strai
vey,

And with just steps each tuneful note
I teach; be present, all ye sacred choir.
Blow the soft lute, and strike the sound
When Fielding bids, your kind assistance
And at her feet the lowly tribute fling
Oh, may her eyes (to her this verse is de
What first themselves inspir'd vouchs
view.

Or haply sovereign majesty displays. To public view the lustre of its rays, And proves at once, and wins, a nation's love? Hail, loftiest art! thou canst all hearts ene Hark! how the solemn ocean calls And make the fairest still appear more Attention's sober ears to hallow'd walls, Beauty can little execution do, Where meek, yet warm, beneath the temple's Unless she borrows half her charms from Devotion secks, with stedfast eyes, Few, like Pygmalion, doat on lifeless c The God whose glories every gloom pervade,Or care to clasp a statue in their arms; To whom for ever prayer is made,

And daily praises rise.

[shade,

What notes, in swiftest cadence running,
Thro' many a maze of varied measure,

Mingled by the master's cunning,
Give th alarm to festive pleasure?
Cambria, 'twas thy harps of old
Each gallant heart's recess explor'd,
Announcing feats of chieftains bold,
To grace the hospitable boud.

But breasts of flint must melt with fierced
When art and motion wake the sleeping
A Venus drawn by great Apelles' hand,
May for a while our wond'ringeyes com
But still, tho' form'd with all th' powersTM
The lifeless piece can never warm the hea
So fair a nymph, perhaps, may please the
Whilst all her beauteous limbs unactive i
But when her charms are in the dance disp
Then every heart adores the lovely man;

This sets her beauty in the fairest light, And shews each grace in full perfection bright; Then, as she turns around, from every part, Like porcupines, she sends a piercing dart: In vain, alas! the fond spectator tries To shun the pleasing dangers of the eyes, For, Parthian-like, she wounds as sure behind With flowing curls, on ivory neck reclin'd. Whether her steps the minuet's mazes trace, Or the slow Louvre's more majestic pace; Whether the rigadoon employs her care, Or sprightly jigg displays the nimble fair; At ev'ry step new beauties we explore, And worship now what we admir'd before. So when ueas, in the Tyrian grove, Fair Venus met, the charining queen of love, The beauteous goddess, whilst unmov'd she To make the finish'd piece completely fine; stood, [wood; When least adorn'd, another steals our hearts, icem'd some fair nymph, the guardian of the And rich in native beauties, wants not arts. But when she mov'd, at once her heavenly In some are such resistless graces found, mien, That in all dresses they are sure to wound; And graceful step, confess'd bright Beauty's Their perfect forms all foreign aids despise, New glories o'er her form each moment rise, And gems but borrow lustre from their eyes. nd all the goddess opens to his eyes. [way; Let the fair nymph, in whose plump check is Now haste, my muse, pursue thy destin'd What dresses best become the dancer say; he rules of dress forget not to impart, lesson precious to the dancing art. The soldier's scarlet, glowing from afar, Jews that his bloody occupation's war; 'hilst the lawn band, beneath the double chin, 5 plainly speaks divinity within; [snows, he milk-maid safe through driving rains and - 'rapp'd in her cloak, and propp'd on patiens

And now, ye youthful fair, I sing to you,
With pleasing smiles my useful labors view:
For you the silk-worms fiue-wrought webs
display,

And lab'ring spin their little lives away;
For you bright gems with radiant colours glow,
Fair as the dies that paint the heavenly bow;.
For you the sea resigns its pearly store,
And earth unlocks her mines of treasur'd ore;
In vain yet nature thus her gifts bestows,
Unless yourselves with art those gifts dispose.
Yet think not, nymphs, that in the glittring
ball,

One form of dress prescrib'd can suit with all;
Que brightest shines when wealth and art
combine

goes;

queen;

hilst the soft belle, immur'd in velvet chair,
beds but the silken shoe, and trusts her bosom
bare.
[warm,
The woolley drab, and English broad-cloth
ard well the horseman from the beating

storm;

seeu

A constant blush, be clad in cheerful green;
In such a dress the sportive sea-nymphs go,
So in their grassy beds fresh roses blow:
The lass whose skin is like the hazel brown,
With brighter yellow should o'ercome her own;
While maids grown pale with sickness or
despair,

The sable's mournful dye should chuse to wear:
So the pale moon still shines with purest light,
Cloth'd in the dusky mantle of the night.

arts,

Bat far from you be all those treach'rous
[hearts;
That wound with painted charms unwary
Dancing's a touchstone that true beauty tries,
Nor suffers charins that nature's hand denies:
Tho' for a while we may with wonder view
The rosy blush and skin of lovely hue, [glow,
Yet soon the dance will cause the cheeks to
And melt the waxen lips and neck of snow.
So shine the fields in icy fetters bound,
Whilst frozen gems bespangle all the ground;
Thro' the clear crystal of the glittring snow,
With scarlet dye the blushing hawthorns
glow.

it load the dancer with too great a weight,
id call from every pore the dewy sweat.
ther let him his active limbs display
camblet thin, or glossy paduasoy.
t no unwieldy pride his shoulders press,
it airy, light, and easy be his dress;
in be his yielding sole, and low his heel,
shall he nimbly bound, and safely wheel.
Butlet not precepts known my verse prolong, O'er all the plains unnumber'd glories rise,
cepts which use will better teach than song;' And a new bright creation charms our eyes,
why should I the gallant spark command, Tül Zephyr breathes, then all at once decay.
ith clean white gloves to fit his ready hand? The splendid scenes, their glories fade away;
in his fob enlivening spirits wear,
The fields resign the beauties not their own,
d pungent salts to raise the fainting fair? And all their snowy charms run trickling down.
hint the sword that dangles at his side,
ould from its silken bandage be unty'd?
Why should my lays the youthful tribe advise,
st sЯowy clouds from out their wigs arise?
shall their partners mourn their laces spoil'd,
ad shining silks with greasy powder soil'd.
or need I, stire, bid prudent youths beware,
At with erected tongues their buckles stare:
de pointed steel shall oft their stocking rend,
oft the approaching petticoat offend.

Dare I in such momentous points advise,
I should condemn the hoop's enormous size.
Of ills I speak by long experience found:
Oft have I trod th' unmeasurable round,
And inonta'd my shins bruis'd black with
mant a wound.

Nor should the tighten'd stays, too straitly laced
In whalebone bondage, gail the slender waist;
or waving lappets should the dancing fair,
Nor ruffes edged with dangling fringes wear;

Oft

What daring hand shall e'er attempt to tell
The powers that in this little weapon dwell?
What verse can c'er explain its various parts,
Its numerous uses, motions, charms, and arts?
Its painted folds, that oft extended wide,
Th' afflicted fair one's blubber'd beauties hide,
When secret sorrows her sad bosom fill,
If Strephon is unkind, or Shock is ill:
Its sticks, on which her eyes dejected pore,
And pointing fingers number o'er and o'er,
When the kind virgin burns with secret shame,
Dies to consent, yet fears to own her flame;
Its shake triumphant, its victorious clap,
Its angry flutter, and its wanton tap.

[sing, Forbear, my muse, th' extensive theme to Nor trust in such a flight thy tender wing; Rather do you in humble lines proclaim, From whence this engine took its form and

℗ should the dancer, ere he tries to move, With care his strength, and weight, and genius prove;

• Arte cite veloque rates remoque moventur
Arte leves currus.

+--Nec audit currus habenas.

Fuillet wrote the Art of Dancing by Characters, in French, since translated by Weaver.

But ere they come, permit me to disclose
How first, as legend's tell, this pastime rose :-
In ancient times (such times are now no more)
When Albion's crown illustrious Arthur wore,
In some fair opening glade, each summer's
night,

Where the pale moon diffus'd her silver light,
On the soft carpet of a grassy field,
The sporting fairies their assemblies held;
Some lightly tripping with their pigny queen,
In circling ringlets mark'd the level green,
Some with soft notes bade mellow pipes
sound,

But let not outward charms your judgment

sway,

Your reason rather than your eyes obey,
And in the dance, as in the marriage noose,
Rather for merit than for beauty choose:
Be her your choice, who knows with perfect
skill
[be still:
When she should move, and when she should
Who uninstructed can perform her share,
And kindly half the pleasing burthen bear.
Unhappy is that hopeless wretch's fate
re-Who, fetter'd in the matrimonial state,
With a poor, simple, unexperienced wife,
Is forc'd to lead the tedious dance of life;
And such is his, with such a partner join'd,
A moving puppet, but without a mind:
Still must his hand be pointing out the way,
Yet ne'er can teach so fast as she can stray;
Beneath her follies he must ever groan,
And ever blush for errors not his own.

And music warbled thro' the groves around:
Oft lonely shepherds by the forest side,
Belated peasants oft their revels spy'd,
And home returning, o'er the nut-brown ale,
Their guests diverted with the wond'rous tale.
Instructed hence, throughout the British isle,
And fond to imitate the pleasing toil,
Round where the trembling may-pole's fix'd
on high,

But now behold united hand in hand, Rang'd on each side the well-pair'd couple star Each youthful bosom beating with delight, Waits the brisk signal for the pleasing fight, While lovely eyes that flash unusual rays, And snowy bosoms seen above the stays, Quick busy hands and bridling heads declare The fond impatience of the starting fair. And see the sprightly dance is now begun!

And bears its flowery honours to the sky,
The ruddy maids and sun-burnt swains resort,
And practise ev'ry night the lovely sport;
On ev'ry side Æolian artists stand,
Whose active elbows swelling winds command;
The swelling winds harmonious pipes inspire,
And blow in ev'ry breast a generous fire.
Thus taught at first the country-dance began,Now here, now there, the giddy maze they ran
And hence to cities and to courts it ran;
Succeeding ages did in time impart
Various improvements to the lovely art:
From fields and groves to palaces remov'd,
Great ones the pleasing exercise approv'd:
Hence the loud fiddle and shrill trumpet's
:sounds,

Are made companions of the dancer's bounds;
Hence gems and silks, brocades and ribbons
join,

To make the ball with perfect lustre shine.
So rude at first the tragic muse appear'd,
Her voice alone by rustic rabble heard;
Where twisting trees a cooling arbour made,
The pleas'd spectators sat beneath the shade,
The homely stage with rushes green was strew'd,
And in a cart the strolling actors rode:
Till time at length improv'd the great design,
And bade the scenes with painted landskips
shine.

Now with slow steps they pace the circling
Now all confus'd too swift for sight they spr
So in a wheel with rapid fury toss'd,
The undistinguish'd spokes are in the mot

The dancer here no more requires a guid
To no strict steps his nimble feet are tyd:
The muse's precepts here would useless be
Where all is fancied, unconfin'd, and free.
Let him but to the music's voice attend,
By this instructed he can ne'er offend.
If to his share it falls the dance to lead,
In well-known paths he may be sure to trea
If others lead let him their motions view,
And in their steps the winding maze pursu

In every country-dance a serious mind
Turn'd for reflection, can a moral find.
In Hunt the squirrel, thus the nymph we vie
Seeks when we fly, bu flies when we purs
Thus in round dances, where our part
change,

And unconfin'd from fair to fair we range, As soon as one from his own consort flies, sky,Another seizes on the lovely prize;

Then art did all the bright machines dispose,
And theatres of Parian marble rose;
Then mimic thunder shook the canvass
And gods descended from their towers on high.
With caution now let ev'ry youth prepare
To choose a partner from the mingled fair:
Vain would be here th' instructing muse's voice,
If she retended to direct his choice:
1
Beauty alone by fancy is express'd, [breast:
And charms in dif'rent forms each diffrent
A snowy skin this am'rous youth admires,
Whilst nut-brown cheeks another's bosom fires.
Sinall waists and slender limbs some hearts in-

snare,

While others love the more substantial fair.

Awhile the fav'rite youth enjoys her charms
Till the next comer steals her from his arm
New ones succeed, the last is still her care
How true an emblem of th' inconstant fart!

Where can philosophers and sages wise,
Who read the curious volumes of the skies,
A model more exact than dancing name.
Of the creation's universal frame?
[way.
Where worlds unnumbered o'er the athere
In a bright regular confusion stray;
[h.
Now here, now there, they whirl along the
Now near approach, and now far distant fly:
Now