VERS DE SOCIÉTÉ, ETC.

THE BASSET-TABLE.'

AN ECLOGUE.

CARDELIA. SMILINDA.

CARDELIA.

THE Basset-table spread, the tallier' come;
Why stays Smilinda in the dressing-room?
Rise, pensive nymph, the tallier waits for you:

SMILINDA.

Ah, madam, since my Sharper is untrue,
I joyless make my once ador'd alpeu.'
I saw him stand behind Ombrelia's chair,
And whisper with that soft, deluding air,

And those feign'd sighs which cheat the list'ning fair.)

This Eclogue was first published as Pope's in Warburton's edition of 1751. Warburton says it is the only one of the Court Poems that was written by the poet. The game of Basset was played thus: Each punter, or player, had thirteen cards, upon each of which he placed his stake, according to his fancy. The tallier then, taking the whole pack in his hand, turned up the bottom card, which was called the Fasse, and each player had to pay him half of the sum which had been staked on that particular card. He then proceeded with his deal, and the next card won for the player whatever he had put upon it. After this, two cards being taken together,

the first that appeared was a winning, and the second a losing one for the punters.

to

2 i.e. the keeper of the Bank, who laid down a sum of money before the players, to answer every winning card that appeared in the course of his dealing.

3

Alpeu, or Paroli, was when the punter having won the couch, or money staked on the first card, declined to take the stake from the tallier, but crooked the corner of his card, and let his money lie on it, to show that he intended to go on to the sept-et-le-va, for which see note to ver. 12.

CARDELIA.

Is this the cause of your romantic strains?
A mightier grief my heavy heart sustains.
As you by love, so I by fortune cross'd;
One, one bad deal, three septleva's' have lost.

SMILINDA.

Is that the grief, which you compare with mine?

With ease, the smiles of fortune I resign:

Would all my gold in one bad deal were gone,

Were lovely Sharper mine, and mine alone.

CARDELIA.

A lover lost, is but a common care;

And prudent nymphs against that change prepare:
The knave of clubs thrice lost: oh! who could guess
This fatal stroke, this unforeseen distress?

SMILINDA.

See Betty Lovet! very à propos,

She all the cares of love and play does know:
Dear Betty shall th' important point decide;
Betty, who oft the pain of each has try'd;
Impartial, she shall say who suffers most,
By cards' ill usage, or by lovers lost.

10

15

20

25

LOVET.

Tell, tell your griefs; attentive will I stay, Tho' time is precious, and I want some tea.

1 i.e., the first great chance in the game, when the punter, having won the first stake, and made a paroli by crooking the corner of his card, won

again on the second card, when the stake due to him was called "Septet-le-va," being seven times the amount he had laid upon his card.

CARDELIA.

Behold this equipage, by Mathers wrought,
With fifty guineas (a great pen'worth) bought.
See, on the toothpick, Mars and Cupid strive;
And both the struggling figures seem alive.
Upon the bottom shines the queen's bright face;
A myrtle foliage round the thimble-case.
Jove, Jove himself, does on the scissors shine;
The metal, and the workmanship, divine!

SMILINDA.

This snuff-box,-once the pledge of Sharper's love, When rival beauties for the present strove;

At Corticelli's he the raffle won;

Then first his passion was in public shown:
Hazardia blush'd, and turn'd her head aside,

A rival's envy (all in vain) to hide.

This snuff-box,-on the hinge see brilliants shine:
This snuff-box will I stake; the prize is mine.

CARDELIA.

Alas! far lesser losses than I bear,

Have made a soldier sigh, a lover swear.

And oh! what makes the disappointment hard,
"Twas my own lord that drew the fatal card.
In complaisance, I took the queen he gave;
Tho' my own secret wish was for the knave.
The knave won sonica,' which I had chose;
And, the next pull, my septleva I lose.

1 Cotton, who gives in his Booke of Games (1709) the only account of Basset that I have met with in

English, does not mention this

term.

SMILINDA.

But ah! what aggravates the killing smart,
The cruel thought, that stabs me to the heart;
This curs'd Ombrelia, this undoing fair,

By whose vile arts this heavy grief I bear;
She, at whose name I shed these spiteful tears,
She owes to me the very charms she wears.
An awkward thing, when first she came to town;
Her shape unfashion'd, and her face unknown :
She was my friend; I taught her first to spread
Upon her sallow cheeks enliv'ning red:
I introduc'd her to the park and plays;
And, by my int'rest, Cozens made her stays.
Ungrateful wretch, with mimic airs grown pert,
She dares to steal my fav'rite lover's heart.

CARDELIA.

Wretch that I was, how often have I swore, When Winnall tally'd, I would punt no more? I know the bite, yet to my ruin run;

And see the folly, which I cannot shun.

SMILINDA.

How many maids have Sharper's vows deceiv'd?
How many curs'd the moment they believ'd?
Yet his known falsehoods could no warning prove:
Ah! what is warning to a maid in love?

CARDELIA.

But of what marble must that breast be form'd,
To gaze on Basset, and remain unwarm'd ?
When kings, queens, knaves are set in decent rank;
Expos'd in glorious heaps the tempting bank,

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