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Unnumber'd treasures ope at once, and here
The various off'rings of the world appear;
From each she nicely culls with curious toil,
And decks the goddess with the glitt'ring spoil.
This casket India's glowing gems unlocks,
And all Arabia breathes froin yonder box:
The tortoise here and elephant unite, [white:
Transform'd to combs, the speckled and the
Here files of pins extend their shining rows,
Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux.
Now awful beauty puts on all its arms;
The fair each moment rises in her charms,
Repairs her smiles, awakens ev'ry grace,
And calls forth all the wonders of her face.
Secs by degrees a purer blush arise,
And keener lightning quicken in her eyes.
The busy Sylphs surround their darling care;
These set the head, and those divide the hair;
Some fold the sleeve, while others plait the gown;
And Betty's prais'd for labors not her own.

CANTO II.

Nor with more glories, in th' ethereal plain, The suu first rises o'er the purpled main, Than, issuing forth, the rival of his beams Launch'd on the bosom of the silver Thames. Fair nymphs, and well-drest youths, around her But ev'ry eye was fix'd on her alone. [shane; On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore, Which Jews might kiss, and Infidels adore. Her lively looks a sprightly mind disclose, Quick as her eyes, and as unfixt as those: Favors to none, to all she smiles extends; Oft she rejects, but never once offends. Bright as the sun her eyes the gazers strike, And, like the sun, they shine on all alike. Yet graceful ease, and sweetness void of pride, Might hide their 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 destruction of mankind, Nourish'd two Locks, whichgraceful hung behind In equal curls, and well conspir'd to deck With shining ringlets the smooth iv'ry neck. Love in these labyrinths his slaves detains, And mighty hearts are held in slender chains. With hairy springes we the birds betray; Slight lines of hair surprise the finny prey; Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare, And beauty draws us with a single hair.

Th' advent rous Baron the bright locks admir'd; He saw, he wish'd, and to the prize aspir'd. Resolv'd to win, he meditates the way, By force to ravish, or by fraud betray; For when success a lover's toil attends, Few ask if fraud or force attain'd his ends. For this, ere Phoebus rose, he had implor'd Propitious Heaven, and ev'ry pow'r ador'd; But chiefly Love to Love an altar built Of twelve vast 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 sighs to raise the fire:

Then prostrate falls, and begs with ardent eyes
Soon to obtain, and long possess the prize.
The pow'rs gave car, and granted half his pray'r;
The rest, the winds dispers'd in empty air.

But now secure the painted vessel glides,
The sun-beams trembling on the floating tides;
While melting music steals upon the sky,
And soften'd sounds along the waters die;
Smooth flow the waves the Zephyrs gently play;
Belinda smil'd, and all the world was gay.
All it the Sylph-with careful thoughts opprest,
Th' impending woe sat heavy on his breast.
He summons straight his denizens of air,
The lucid squadrons round the sails repair:
Soft o'er the shrouds aërial whispers breathe,
That seem'd but Zephyrs to the train bencath.
Some to the sun their insect wings unfold,
Waft on the breeze, or sink in clouds of gold;
Transparent forms, too fine for mortal sight,
Their Huid bodies half dissolv'd in light.
Loose to the winds their airy garments flew,
Thin glitt'ring textures of the filmy dew,
Dipp'd in the richest tincture of the skies
Where light disports in ever-mingling dyes;
While ev'ry beam new transient colors flings,
Colors that change whene'er they wave their
Amid the circle on the gilded mast, [wings,
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 :

Ye Sylphs and Sylphids, to your chief give ear: Fays, fairies, genii, elves, and dæmous hear! Ye know the spheres and various tasks assign'd By laws eternal to th' aërial kind.

Some in the fields of open 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, less refin'd, beneath the moon's pale light,
Pursue the stars that shoot across the night,
Or suck the mists in grosser air below,
Or dip their pinions in the painted bow,
Or brew fierce tempests on the wint'ry main,
Or o'er the glebe distill the kindly rain:
Others on earth o'er human race preside,
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 humble province is to tend the Fair,
Not a less pleasing, tho' less glorious care;
To save the powder from too rude a gale,
Nor let th' imprison'd essences exhale;
To draw fresh colors from the vernal flow'rs;
To steal from rainbows,ere they drop in show'rs,
A brighter wash; to curl their waving hairs,
Assist their blushes, and inspire 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 deserv'd a watchful spirit's care; Some dire disaster, or by force, or slight, But what, or where, the fates have wrapt in night. Whether the nymph shall break Diana's law, Or some frail China jar receive a flaw;

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Or stain her honor, or her new brocade;
Forget her pray'rs, or miss a masquerade;
Or lose her heart, or necklace, at a ball; [fall,
Or whether Heaven has doom'd thatShock must
Haste then, ye spirits! to your charge repair:
The flutt'ring fan be Zephyretta's care;
The drops to thee, Brillante, we consign;
And, Momentilla, let the watch be thine;
Do thou, Crispissa, tend her fav'rite Lock;
Ariel himself shall be the guard of Shock.

To fifty chosen Sylphs, of chosen note,
We trust the important charge, the Petticoat:
Oft have we known that seven-fold fence to fail,
Tho' stiff with hoops, and arm'd with ribs of
Forma strong line about the silver bound, [whale:
And guard the wide circumference around.

Whatever spirit, careless of his charge,
His post neglects, or leaves the fair at large,
Shail feel sharp vengeance soon o'ertake his sins,
Be stopp'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 shall his flight restrain,
While clogg'd he beats his silken wings in vain:
Or alum styptics with contracting pow'r,
Shrinks his thin essence like a shrivell'd flow'r
Or, as Ixion fix'd, the wretch shall feel
The giddy motion of the whirling mill;
In fumes of burning chocolate shall glow,
And tremble at the sea that froths below.
He spoke; the spirits from the sails descend;
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.

CANTO III.

CLOSE by those meads, for ever crown'd with flow'rs, [tow'rs, Where Thames with pride surveys his rising There stands a structure of majestic frame, Which from the neighb'ring 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,
Dost sometimes counsel take and sometimes tea.
Hither the heroes and the nymphs resort,
To taste awhile the pleasures of a court;

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Belinda now, whom thirst of fame invites,
Burns to encounter two advent'rous knights,
At ombre singly to decide their doom;
And swells her breast with conquest yet to come.
Straight the three bands prepare in arms to join,
Each band the number of the sacred nine.
Soon as she spreads her hand, the aërial guard
Descend, and sit on each important card:
First Ariel perch'd upon a matadore,
Then each according to the rank they bore;
For Sylphs, yet mindful of their antient race,
Are, as when women, wond'rous fond of place.
Behold, four kings in majesty rever'd,
With hoary whiskers and a forky beard; [flow't,
And four fair queens whose hands sustain a
Th' expressive eniblem of their softer pow'r;
Four knaves in garbs succinct, a trusty band,
Caps on their heads, and halberds in their hands;
And party-colored troops, a shining train,
Drawn forth to combat on the velvet plain.

The skilful nymph reviews her force with care
Let Spades be trumps! she said, and trumps they

were.

Now move to war her sable matadores,
In show like leaders of the swarthy Moors.
Spadillo first, unconquerable lord!
Led off two captive trumps, and swept the board.
As many more Manillo forc'd to yield,

And march'd a victor from the verdant field.
Him Basto follow'd, but his fate more hard
Gain'd but one trump, and one Plebeian card.
With his broad sabre next, a chief in years,
The hoary Majesty of Spades appears,
Puts forth one manly leg, to fight reveal'd,
The rest his many-color'd robe conceal'd.
The rebel Knave, who dares his prince engage,
Proves the just victim of his royal rage.
E'en mighty Palm, that Kings and Queens o'er-
threw,

And mow'd down armies in the fights of Loo,
Sad chance of war! now destitute of aid,
Falls undistinguish'd by the victor Spade!

Thus far both armies to Belinda yield;
Now to the Baron fate inclines the field.
His warlike Amazon her host invades,
Th' imperial consort of the crown of Spades.
The Club's black tyrant first her victim died,
Spite of his haughty mien, and barb'rous pride:
What boots the regal circle on his head;
His giant limbs, in state unwieldy spread;

In various talk the instructive hours they pass'd,That long behind he trails his pompous robe,

Who gave the ball, or paid the visit last;
One speaks the glory of the British Queen,
And one describes a charming Indian screen;
A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes;
At ev'ry word a reputation dies.

Sauff, or the fan, supply each pause of chat;
With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that.
Meanwhile, declining from the noon of day,
The sun obliquely shoots his burning ray;
The hungry judges soon the sentence sign,
And wretches hang, that jurymen may
dine;
The merchant from th Exchange returns in
And the long labors of the toilet cease. [peace,

And, of all monarchs, only grasps the globe?

The Baron now his Diamonds pours apace;
Th' embroider'd King who shows but halfhis face,
And his refulgent Queen, with pow'rs com-
Of broken troops an easy conquest find. [bin'd,
Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, in wild disorder seen.
With throngs promiscuous strow the level green.
Thus when dispers'd a routed army runs,
Of Asia's troops, and Afric's feeble sons,
With like confusion diff'rent nations fly,
Of various habit, and of various dve;
The pierc'd battalions disunited fall
In heaps on heaps; one fate.o'erwhelms them all.

The

The Knave of Diamonds tries his wily arts,
And wins (oh shameful chance!) the Queen of
Hearts.

At this, the blood the virgin's check forsook;
A livid paleness spreads o'er all her look ;
She sees,
and trembles at the approaching ill,
Just in the jaws of ruin, and Codille,
And now (as oft in some distemper'd state)
On one nice trick depends the gen'ral fate.
An Ace of Hearts steps forth: the King, unseen,
Lurk'd in her hand, and mourn'd his captive.
Queen:

He springs to vengeance with an eager pace,
And falls like thunder on the prostrate Ace.
The Nympth exulting fills with shouts the sky;
The walls, the woods, and long canals reply.

O thoughtless mortals! ever blind to fate,
Too soon dejected, and too soon elate,
Sudden these honors shall be snatch'd away,
And curs'd for ever this victorious day. [crown'd,
For, to the board with cups and spoons is
The berries crackle, and the niill turns round:
On shining altars of Japan they raise
The silver lamp; the fiery spirits blaze :
From silver spouts the grateful liquors glide,
While China's carth receives the smoking tide:
At once they gratify their scent and taste,
And frequent cups prolong the rich repast.
Straight hover round the Fair her airy band:
Some, as she sipp'd, the fuming liquor fann'd;
Some o'er her lap their careful plumes display'd,
Trembling, and conscious of the rich brocade.
Coffee (which makes the politician wise,
And see thro' all things with his half-shut eyes)
Sent up in vapors to the Baron's brain
New stratagems, the radiant Lock to gain..
Ah cease, rash youth! desist ere 'tis too late,
Fear the just gods, and think of Scylla's fate!
Chang'd to a bird, and sent to flit in air,
She dearly pays for Nisus' injur'd hair!

But when to mischief mortals bend their will,
How soon they find fit instruments of ill!
Just when Clarissa drew with tempting grace,
A two-edg'd weapon from her shining case:
So Ladies, in romance, assist their Knight,
Present the spear, and arm him for the fight.
He takes the gift with rev'rence, and extends
The little engine on his fingers' ends;
This just behind Belinda's neck he spread,
As o'er the fragrant steam she bends her head.
Swift to the Lock a thousand sprites repair,
A thousand wings, by turns, blow back the hair;
And thrice they twitch'd the diamond in her ear;
Thrice she looks back, and thrice the foe drew
Just in that instant, anxious Ariel sought [near.
The close recesses of the Virgin's thought:
As on the nosegay in her breast reclin'd,
He watch'd the ideas rising in her mind.
Sudden he view'd, in spite of all her art,
An earthly Lover lurking in her heart.
Amaz'd, confus'd, he found his pow'r expir'd;
Resign'd to fate, and with a sigh retir'd. [wide,
The Peer now spreads the glitt'ring forfex
T'inclose the Lock; now joins it to divide.

Ev'n then before the fatal engine clos'd,
A wretched Sylph too fondly interpos'd;
Fate urg'd the sheers, and cut the Sylph in
But airy substance soon unites again; [twain,
The meeting points the sacred hair dissever
From the fair head, for ever, and for ever!

Then flash'd the living lightning from her eyes,
And screams of horror rend the affrighted skies.
Not louder shrieks to pitying heaven are cast,
When husbands or when lapdogs breath their
last;

Or when rich China vessels, fallen from high,
In glitt'ring dust and painted fragments lie!

Let wreaths of triumph now my temples twine,
The Victor cried: the glorious prize is mine!
While fish in streams, or birds delight in air,
Or in a coach and six the British Fair,
As long as Atalantis shall be read,
Or the small pillow grace a Lady's bed;
While visits shall be paid on solemn days, [blaze;
When num'rous wax-lights in bright order
While nymphs take treats, or assignations give,
So long my honor, name, and praise shall live!
What Time would spare, froni steel receives its
And monuments, like men, submit to fate! [date,
Steel could the labor of the gods destroy,
And strike to dust th' imperial tow'rs of Troy;
Steel could the works of mortal pride confound,
And hew triumphal arches to the ground.
What wonder, then, fair Nymph! thy hairs should
The conqu'ring force of unresisted steel? [feel

CANTO IV.

[press'd,

BUT anxious cares the pensive nyniph op-
And secret passons labor'd in her breast.
Not youthful kings in battle seis'd alive,
Not scornful virgins who their charms survive.
Not ardent lovers robb'd of all their bliss,
Not antient ladies when refus'd a kiss,
Not tyrants fierce that unrepenting die,
Not Cynchia when her mantua's pinn'd awry,
E'er felt such rage, resentment, and despair,
As thou, sad Virgin! for thy ravish'd Hair.

For that sad moment when the Sylphs with
And Ariel weeping from Belinda flew. [drew,
Umbriel, a dusky melancholy sprite,
As ever sullied the fair face of light,
Down to the central earth, his proper scene,
Repair'd to search the gloomy cave of Spleen.

Swift on his sooty pinions flits the Gnome,
And in a vapor reach'd the dismal dome.
No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows;
The dreadful East is all the wind that blows.
Here, in a grotto, shelter'd close from air,
And screen'd in shades from day's detested glare,
She sighs for ever on her pensive bed,
Pain on her side, and Megrim at her head. [place,

Two handmaids wait the throne! alike in
But diffring far in figure and in face.
Here stood Ill-nature, like an antient maid,
Her wrinkled form in black and white array'd,
With store of pray'rs for mornings, nights, and

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There Affectation, with a sickly mien,
Shows in her cheek the roses of eighteen ;
Practis'd to lisp, and hang the head aside,
Faints into airs, and languishes with pride;
On the rich quilt sinks with becoming woe,
Wrapt in a gown, for sickness and for show.
The fair ones feel such maladies as these,
When each new night-dress gives a new disease.
A constant vapor o'er the palace flies,
Strange phantoms rising as the mists arise;
Dreadful as hermits dreams in haunted shades,
Or bright as visions of expiring maids :'
Now glaring fiends, and snakes on rolling spires,
Pale spectres, gaping tombs, and purple fires;
Now lakes of liquid gold, Elysian scenes,
And crystal domes, and angels and machines.
Unnumber'd throngs on ev'ry side are seen
Of bodies chang'd to various forms by Spleen.
Here living tea-pots stand, one arm held out,
One bent; the handle this, and that the spout:
A pipkin there, like Homer's tripod, avalks;
Here sighs a jar, and there a goose-pye
talks ;
Men prove with child, as powerful fancy works,
And inaids, turn'd bottles, call aloud for corks.
Safe pass'd the Gnome thro' this fantastic band,
A branch of healing spleenwort in his hand :
Then thus address'd the Pow'r :- Hail, way-Sooner let earth, air, sea, to chaos fall;

Belinda burns with more than mortal ire,
And fierce Thalestris fans the rising fire. [cried,
O wretched maid! she spread her hands, and
(While Hampton's echoes Wretched maid re-
Was it for this you took such constant care [plied)
The bodkin, comb, and essence to prepare?
For this your Locks in paper durance bound,
For this with tort'ring irons wreath'd around?
For this with fillets strain'd your tender head,
And bravely bore the double loads of lead !
Gods! shall the ravisher display your hair,
While the fops envy, and the ladies stare!
Honor forbid! at whose unrivall'd shrine
Ease, pleasure, virtue, all our sex resigu.
Methinks already I your tears survey,
Already hear the horrid things they say;
Already see you a degraded toast,
And all your honor in a whisper lost!
How shall I, then, your helpless fame defend?
"Twill then be infaniy to seem your friend!
And shall this prize, th' inestimable prize;
Expos'd thro' crystal to the gazing eyes,
And heighten'd by the diamond's circling rays,
On that rapacious hand for ever blaze?
Sooner shall grass in Hyde-park Circus grow,
And wits take lodgings in the sound of Bow;

ward Queen!

Who rule the sex to fifty from fifteen :
Parent of vapors, and of female wit,
Who gives th' hysteric or poetic fit;
On various tempers act, by various ways,
Make some take physic, others scribble plays;
Who cause the proud their visits to delay,
And send the godly in a pet to pray.

Men, monkeys, lapdogs, parrots, perish all!

She said; then raging to Sir Plume repairs,
And bids her beau demand the precious hairs;
(Sir Plume of amber snuff-box justly vain,”
And the nice conduct of a clouded cane):
With earnest eyes, and round unthinking face,
He first the snuff-box open'd, then the case.
And thus broke out-"My Lord, why, whatthe
["must be civil!

"devil!

Z-ds! damn the Lock! 'fore Gad, you Plague on't! 'tis past a jest-nay, prithee, pox! "Give her the hair?"-he spoke, and rapp'd

his box.

It grieves me much (replied the Peer again)
Who speaks so well should ever speak in vain
But by this Lock, this sacred Lock, I swear,
(Which never more shall join its parted hair;
Which never more its honors shall renew,
Clipp'd from the lovely head where late it grew),
That while my nostrils draw the vital air,
This hand, which won it, shall for ever wear.
He spoke, and speaking in proud triumph spread
The long-contended honors of her head.

A Nymph there is, that all thy pow'r disdains,
And thousand more in equal mirth maintains."
But, oh! if e'er thy Gnome could spoil a grace,
Or raise a pimple on a beauteous face,
Like citron-waters matrons cheeks inflame,
Or change complexions at a losing game;
If e'er with hairy horns I planted heads,
Or rumpled petticoats, or tumbled beds,
Or caus'd suspicion when no soul was rude,
Or discompos'd the head-dress of a prude,
Or c'er to costive lapdog gave disease,
Which not the tears of brightest eyes could ease,
Hear me, and touch Belinda with chagrin :
That single act gives half the world the spleen.
The goddess, with a discontented air,
Seems to reject him, tho' she grant his pray'r.
A wond'rous bag with both her hands she binds,
Like that where once Ulysses held the winds;
There she collects the force of female lungs,
Sighs, sobs, and passions, and the war of tongues,
A vial next she fills with fainting fears,
Soft sorrows, melting griefs, and flowing tears.
The Gnome rejoicing bears her gifts away,
Spreads his black wings, and slowly mounts to

day.

Sunk in Thalestris' arms the Nymph he found,
Her eyes dejected, and her hair unbound:
Full o'er their heads the swelling bag he rent,
And all the Furies issued at the vent.

But Umbriel, hateful Gnome! forbear not so,
He breaks the vial whence the sorrows flow.
Then, see! the nymph in beauteous griefappears,
Her eyes half-languishing half-drown'd in tears
On her heav'd bosom hung her drooping head,
Which with a sigh she rais'd, and thus she said."
For ever curs'd be this detested day,
Which snatch'd my best, my fav'rite curlaway!
Happy, ah ten times happy, had I been,
If Hampton-Court these eyes had never seen!
Yet am not I the first mistaken maid
By love of courts to num'rous ills betray'd.
Oh, had I rather unadmir'd remain'd
In some lone isle, or distant northern land:

Where

Where the guilt chariot never marks the way,
Where none learn Ombre, none e'er taste bohea;
There kept my charms conceal'd from mortal eye,
Like roses that in desarts bloom and die.
What mov'd my mind withyouthful lords to roam?
O had I stay'd, and said my pray'rs at home!
"Twas this the morning omnens scem'd to tell :
Thrice from my trembling hand the patch-boxfell;
The tott ring China shook without a wind;
Nay Poll sat mute, and Shock was most unkind!
A sylph too warn'd me of the threats of Fate
In mystic visions, now believ'd too late!
See the poor remnant of these slighted hairs!
My hand shall rend what ev'n thy rapine spares:
These, in two sable ringlets taught to break,
Once gave new beauties to the snowy
neck;
The sister lock now sits uncouth alone,
And in its fellow's fate foresees its own;
Uncurl'd it hangs, the fatal sheers demands,
And tempts once more thy sacrilegious hands.
Oh hadst thou, cruel! been content to seise
Hairs less in sight, or any hairs but these!

CANTO V.

SHE said the pitying audience melt in tears.
But Fate and Jove had stopp'd the Baron's ears.
In vain Thalestris with reproach assails;
For who can move when fair Belinda fails?
Not half so fix'd the Trojan could remain,
While Anna begg'd, and Dido rag'd in vain.
Then grave Clarissa graceful way'd her fan;
Silence ensu'd, and thus the nymph began:

Say, why are beautics prais'd and honor❜d most,
The wise man's passion, and the vain man's toast?
Why deck'd with all that land and sea afford,
Why angels call'd, and angel-like ador'd? [beaux,
Why round our coaches crowd the white-glov'd
Why bows the side box from its inmost rows?
How vain are all these glories, all our pains,
Unless good sense preserve what beauty gains:
That men may say, when we the front-box grace,
Behold the first in virtue as in face!
Oh! if to dance all night, and dress all day,
Charm'd the small pox, or chas'd old age away,
Who would not scorn what housewife's cares
produce,

All side in parties, and begin th' attack: [crack
Fans clap, silks rustle, and tough whalebone
Heroes' and heroines' shouts confus'dly rise,
And bass and treble voices strike the skies.
No common weapons in their hands are found ;
Like gods they fight, nor dread a mortal wound.
So when bold Homer makes the gods engage,
And heavenly breasts with human passions rage,
'Gainst Pallas, Mars; Latona, Hermes, anus;
And all Olympus rings with loud alarms;
Jove's thunder roars, heav'n trembles all around,
Blue Neptunestorms, thebellowingdeepsresound?
Earth shakes her nodding tow'rs, the ground gives
And the pale ghosts start at the flash of day. [way,
Triumphant Umbriel on a sconce's height
Clapp'd his glad wings, and sat to view the fight
Propt on their bodkin spears, the sprites survey
The growing combat, or assist the fray.

While thro' the press enrag'd Thalestris frics,
And scatters death around from both her eyes
A beau and witling perish'd in the throng;
One died in metaphor, and one in song.
"Oh cruel nymph! a living death I bear,"
Cried Dapperwit, and sunk beside his chair.
A mournful glance Sir Fopling upwards cast;
"Those eyes are made so killing!" was his last.
Thus on Meander's flow'ry margin lies
Th' expiring Swan, and as he sings he dies.

When bold Sir Plume had drawnClarissa down,
Chloe stepp'd in, and kill'd him with a frown
She smil'd to see the doughty hero slain;
But, at her smile, the beau reviv'd again.

Now Jove suspends his golden scales in air,
Weighs the men's wits against the lady's hair;
The doubtful beam long nods from side to side;
At length the wits mount up, the hairs subside.
See fierce Belinda on the Baron flies,
With more than usual lightning in her eyes:
Nor fear'd the chief th' unequal fight to try,
Who sought no more than on his foe to die.
But this bold lord, with manly strength endued,
She with one finger and a thumb subdued :
Just where the breath of life his nostrils drew,
A charge of snuff the wily virgin threw ;
The Gnomes direct, to ev'ry atom just,
The pungent grains of titillating dust.
Sudden with starting tears each eye o'erflows,
And the high dome re-echoes to his nose.

Or who would learn one earthly thing of use?
To patch, nay ogle, might become a saint;
Nor could it sure be such a sin to paint.
Now meet thy fate, incens'd Belinda cried,
But since, alas! frail beauty must decay And drew her deadly bodkin from her side
Curl'd or uncurl'd, since locks will turn to grey; (The samé, his antient personage to deck,
Since painted, or not painted, all shall fade; Her great great-grandsire wore about his neck,
And she who scorns a man must die a maid; In three seal rings; which, after melted down,
What then remains, but well our pow'r to use, Form'd a vast buckle for his widow's gown :
And keep good humor still, whate'er we lose? Her infant grand-dames whistle next it grew,
And trust me, dear! good humor can prevail,The bells she jingled, and the whistle blew;
When airs, and flights, and screams, and scolding
fail,

Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll;
Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.
So spoke the dame, but no applause ensued;
Belinda frown'd, Thalestris call'd her Prude.
To arms, to arms! the fierce Virago cries,
And swift as lightning to the combat flies.

Then in a bodkin grac'd her mother's hairs,
Which long she wore, and now Belinda wears).
Boast not my fall, he cried, insulting foe!
Thou by some others shall be laid as low:
Nor think, to die dejects my lofty mind;
All that I dread is leaving you behind!
Rather than so, ah let me still survive,
And burn in Cupid's flames but burn alive.
Restore

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