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The Peer now spreads the glitt'ring Forfex wide,
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 twain,
(But airy fubftance soon unites again)

The meeting points the facred hair diffever
From the fair head, for ever, and for ever!

150

154

Then flash'd the living lightning from her eyes,
And screams of horror rend th' affrighted fkies.
Not louder fhrieks to pitying heav'n are caft,
When husbands, or when lapdogs breathe their laft;
Or when rich China veffels fall'n from high,
In glitt'ring duft, and painted fragments lie! 160
Let wreaths of triumph now my temples twine,
(The Victor cry'd) the glorious Prize is mine!
While fish in streams, or birds delight in air,
Or in a coach and fix the British Fair,

As long as Atalantis shall be read,
Or the small pillow grace a Lady's bed,

165

While vifits fhall be paid on folemn days,
When num'rous wax-lights in bright order blaze,
While nymphs take treats, or affignations give, 169
So long my honour, name, and praise shall live!

L 4
What
VER, 152. But airy fubftance] See Milton, lib. vi.
of Satan cut afunder by the Angel Michael.

P.

VER. 165. Atalantis] A famous book written about
that time by a woman: full of Court, and Party-scandal;
and in a loose effeminacy of ftyle and fentiment, which
well fuited the debauched taste of the better Vulgar.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 163, 170.
Dum juga montis aper, fluvios dum pifcis amabit,
Semper honos, nomenque tuum laudefque manebunt,

Virg.

What Time would spare, from Steel receives its date,

And monuments, like men, submit to fate!

Steel could the labour of the Gods destroy,
And strike to duft th' imperial tow'rs of Troy;
Steel could the works of mortal pride confound,
And hew triumphal arches to the ground. 176
What wonder then, fair nymph! thy hairs fhould
feel,

The conqu❜ring force of unrefifted steel?

VER. 177.

IMITATIONS.

Ille quoque everfus mons eft, etc.

Quid faciant crines, cum ferro talia cedant?

Catull. de com. Berenices.

THE

THE

RAPE of the LOCK.

CANTO IV.

UT anxious cares the penfive nymph opprefs'd,

BUT

5

And fecret paffions labour'd in her breast.
Not youthful kings in battle feiz'd alive,
Not fcornful virgins who their charms furvive,
Not ardent lovers robb'd of all their blifs,
Not ancient ladies when refus'd a kifs,
Not tyrants fierce that unrepenting die,
Not Cynthia when her manteau's pinn'd awry,
E'er felt such rage, refentment, and despair,
As thou, fad Virgin! for thy ravish'd Hair.
For, that fad moment, when the Sylphs withdrew,
And Ariel weeping from Belinda flew,

10

Um

VARIATIONS,

VER. 11. For that fad moment, etc.] All the lines from hence to the 94th verfe that defcribe the houfe of Spleen are not in the firft Edition; inftead of them followed only thefe,

While her rack'd Soul repofe and peace requires,
The fierce Thaleftris fans the rifing fires.

And continued at the 94th Verse of this Canto.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 1. Virg. Æn. iv. At regina gravi, etc.

P.

P.

Umbriel, a dufky, melancholy fprite,

As ever fully'd the fair face of light,
Down to the central earth, his proper fcene,
Repair'd to fearch the gloomy Cave of Spleen.
Swift on his footy pinions flits the Gnome,
And in a vapour reach'd the dismal dome.
No chearful breeze this fullen region knows,
The dreaded Eaft is all the wind that blows.
Here in a grotto, fhelter'd clofe from air,
And screen'd in fhades from day's detefted glare,
She fighs for ever on her penfive bed,

Pain at her fide, and Megrim at her head.

15

20

Two handmaids wait the throne: alike in place, But diff'ring far in figure and in face.

Here flood ill nature like an ancient maid,

Her wrinkled form in black and white array'd; With ftore of pray'rs, for mornings, nights, and

noons,

Her hand is fill'd; her bofom with lampoons. 30
There Affectation, with a fickly inien,

Shows in her check the rofes of eighteen,
Practis'd to lifp, and hang the head afide,
Faints into airs, and languishes with pride,
On the rich quilt finks with becoming woe,
Wrapt in a gown, for sickness, and for show.
The fair-ones feel fuch maladies as thefe,
When each new night drefs gives a new difeafe,
A conftant Vapour o'er the palace flies;

35

Strange phantoms rifing as the mists arise;
Dreadful, as hermit's dreams in haunted fhades,
Or bright, as vifions of expiring maids,

40

Now

Now glaring fiends, and fnakes on rolling fpires,
Pale fpectres, gaping tombs, and purple fires:
Now lakes of liquid gold, Elyfian scenes,
And cryftal domes, and Angels in machines.

45

Unnumber'd throngs on ev'ry fide are feen,
Of bodies chang'd to various forms by Spleen.
Here living Tea-pots ftand, one arm held out,
One bent; the handle this, and that the spout:
A Pipkin there, like Homer's Tripod walks;
Here fighs a Jar, and there a Goose pye talks ;
Men prove with child, as pow'rful fancy works,
And maids turn'd bottles, call aloud for corks.

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Safe paft the Gnome thro' this fantaftic band,
A branch of healing Spleenwort in his hand.
Then thus addrefs'd the pow'r-Hail wayward
Queen!

Who rule the fex to fifty from fifteen :
Parent of vapours and of female wit,
Who give th' hyfteric, or poetic fit,
On various tempers act by various ways,
Make fome take phyfic, others fcribble plays;
Who cause the proud their vifits to delay,
And fend the godly in a pet to pray.

60

A nymph there is, that all thy pow'r difdains, 65 And thoufands more in equal mirth maintains.

But

IMITATIONS.

VER. 51. Homer's Tripod walks ;] See Hom. Iliad xviij. of Vulcan's walking Tripods.

VER. 52. and there a Goofe-pye talks.] Alludes to a real fact, a Lady of diftinction imagin'd herfelf in this condition, P.

2

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