Her lively looks a sprightly mind difclofe,
Quick as her eyes, and as unfix'd as those :
Favours to none, to all she smiles extends;
Oft she rejects, but never once offends.
Bright as the fun, her eyes the gazers strike,
And, like the fun, they shine on all alike.
Yet graceful ease, and sweetness void of pride,
Might hide her faults, if Belles had faults to hide :
If to her share some female errors fall,
Look on her face, and you'll forget them all.
This Nymph, to the deftruction of mankind,
Nourish'd two Locks, which graceful hung behind
In equal curls, and well confpir'd to deck
With fhining ringlets the smooth ivory neck.
Love in these labyrinths his slaves detains,
And mighty hearts are held in slender chains.
With hairy fpringes we the birds betray,
Slight lines of hair furprize the finny prey,
Fair treffes man's imperial race insnare,
And Beauty draws us with a single hair.
Th' adventurous Baron the bright locks admir'd;
He faw, he wish'd, and to the prize aspir'd,
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 heaven, and every power ador'd;
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 amorous fighs to raise the fire.
Then proftrate falls, and begs with ardent eyes
Soon to obtain, and long poffefs the prize :
The powers gave ear, and granted half his prayer,
The rest, 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 steals 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 breaft.
He fummons ftrait his Denizens of air;
The lucid squadrons round the fails repair :
Soft o'er the shrouds aerial 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;
Transparent forms, too fine for mortal fight,
Their fluid bodies half diffolv'd in light.
Loose to the wind their airy garments flew,
Thin glittering textures of the filmy dew,
Dip'd in the richest tincture of the skies,
Where light difports in ever-mingling dyes,
While every 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 opening to the fun,
He rais'd his azure wand, and thus begun.
Ye Sylphs and Sylphids, to your chief give ear,
Fays, Fairies, Genii, Elves, and Dæmons, hear!
Ye know the fpheres, and various tasks affign'd
By laws eternal to th' aerial kind.
Some in the fields of pureft æther play,
And bask and whiten in the blaze of day.
Some guide the course of wandering orbs on high,
Or roll the planets through the boundless sky.
Some, lefs refin'd, beneath the moon's pale light
Pursue the stars that shoot athwart the night,
Or fuck the mifts in groffer air below,
Or dip their pinions in the painted bow,
Or brew fierce tempests on the wintery 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 thefe 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, though lefs glorious care;
To fave the powder from too rude a gale,
Nor let th' imprifon'd effences exhale;
To draw fresh colours from the vernal flowers;
To steal from rainbows, ere they drop in showers,
Affift their blushes, and infpire their áirs;
K 4
A brighter wash; to curl their waving hairs,
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 deserv'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 shall break Diana's law,
Or fome frail China-jar receive a flaw :
Or ftain her honour, or her new brocade;
Forget her prayers, or miss a masquerade;
Or lose her heart, or necklace at a ball;
Or whether Heaven has doom'd that Shock must fall,
Hafte then, ye fpirits! to your charge repair:
The fluttering fan be Zephyretta's care;
The drops to thee, Brillante, we consign;
And, Momentilla, let the watch be thine;
Do thou, Crifpiffa, tend her favorite Lock;
Ariel himself shall be the guard of Shock,
To fifty chofen Sylphs, of special note,
We trust th' important charge, the Petticoat:
Oft have we known that feven-fold fence to fail,
Though ftiff with hoops, and arm'd with ribs of whale;
Form a ftrong 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 viols, 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 ftyptics with contracting power
Shrink his thin effence like a fhrivel'd flower:
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 spoke; 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.
LOSE by thofe meads, for ever crown'd with flowers,
Where Thames with pride furveys his rifing towers,
There stands a structure of majestic frame,
Which from the neighboring Hampton takes its name.
Here Britain's statesmen 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 resort,
To taste a while the pleasures of a Court;
Ver. 1. Close by thofe meads,] The first edition cons
tinues from this line to ver. 24. of this Canto.
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