V. ENIGMA 55. By Lucinda.
FOUL does my outward Form appear,
Within I am exceeding Fair:
What most to Sight you wish expos'd,
In my dark Dungeon is inclos'd.
Tho' thro' my Eyes you may discover
The Brightness of a Female Lover;
Yet Her, awhile, I fouly taint,
And make a Devil of a Saint:
While fome, difguis'd, are fo uncivil,
Without all Saint, within all Devil!
VI. ENIGMA 56, By Mr. WILLIAM CHAPPLE.
WHAT Sages did of Old explore in vain---
Th' Enigma all pretend they can explain,
Is me,---and Spite of all the Ladies Skill,
Perhaps I may remain a Riddle ftill.
Not but that I might be much better known
Were Men difpos'd their Ignorance to own:
Enough, indeed, is even now reveal'd,
To guess at Charms which still remain conceal'd;
Tho' One whofe ill-plac'd Pow'r (we are affur'd)
By Villains, to oppofe me was procur'd,
Afk my Great Parent, whom I represent,
(In hafty Language) What by me was meant ?
Offspring of Heav'n, from Heav'n I best am known,
Unchangeable, yet variably fhewn :
Drefs'd in the Fashion, which beft fuits the Times,
And differently difguis'd in different Climes:
Yet, all agree, I charm when naked most,
For all my Beauty in my Robes is loft;
Nor Change of Time or Place can alter me,
I always was the fame, and still shall be.
Mankind, to gain me, various Arts employ ;
All claim me, all pretend they me enjoy :
Yet force me on each other with Diffentions,
And ftill difpute each other's vain Pretenfions.
In Queft of me, a thousand bufy Fools,
Guided by Reasoning Pride's fallacious Rules,
Thro' endless Intricacies, vainly ftray,
Whilft the more prudent take the plainest Way.
Some obftinately choose Bye-Paths to tread,
And grafp, at length, a Phantom in my Stead;
Whilft others run into a worfe Extream,
And fancy my Existence but a Dream;
Reject the Evidence plain Senfe conveys,
And fhut their Eyes against my brightest Rays:
Which fhali, at length, drive Clouds and Mifts away,
And my prevailing Luftre crown th' 'Eternal Day.
VII. ENIGMA 57. By Londinenfis.
LADIES, pray look on One who has not been
Thefe twenty Years in any Di'ry feen;
Of all the Works of Nature, few can vie
With me for Beauty and Variety.
All Colours in my Garments may be seen,
Red, White, and Yellow, Black and Blue, and Green ;;
So truly mix'd, fhaded so very fine,
As plainly fhew the Architect Divine,
The richest Silks embroider'd e'er fo well,
Look faint to me, I greatly them excel.
Then there's fo great a Luftre in my Eyes
As cannot fail to ftrike you with Surprise !
But for the Number that's unfixt; I'm known
Sometimes I've twenty, other Times but one,
Nay one of us (but that was counted rare)
Had full an hundred Eyes, I do declare;
Sometimes I in your very Bofom play,
Heighten your Charms, and make you look more gay :-
At other Times I fcruple not to fip,
The Heav'nly Nectar from your balmy Lip:
In me, it never yet was thought a Crime,
To take you by the Nofe at any Time;
I keep the beft of Company in Town,
Refort with Lords and Ladies of Renown,
And they on me beftow both Coft and Care
To make me look more lively, bright and fair.
I am perfum'd and powder'd very fine,
The more I'm powder'd ftill the more I fhine.
Th' Arabian Phoenix' Neft cou'd ne'er difclofe
Scents fweeter, or more grateful to the Nose.
Take one Hint more, there's many a Town of Fame
Has, once a Year, a Feaft that bears my Name.
VIII. ENIGMA 58. By Morpethenfis.
AS Chloe came from making Hay,
She chanc'd to come fo near me,
That he did catch me on the Way,
Yet did not then my Perfon fee.
I pinch'd her 'till I made her fcream,
Then fhe for me did look about,
But I was hid behind a Screen,
And fo fhe cou'd not find me out..
After long Search for me in vain,
On going Home fhe then was bent,
She took me with her, I again,
Did pinch her all the Way fhe went.
Got Home again, fhe fought for me,
And found me out indeed, at last,
When I lay fnug below her Knee,
From whence he took me out in hafte. Then threw me down upon the Ground, All o'er befmear'd with Blood and Gore, Where I was never after found,
And never once was heard of more,
IX. ENIGMA 59. By Luftritia.
SOME to the Seas, fome to the Earth,
Are pleas'd to fay I owe my Birth;
Others are pleas'd to fay to neither
I owe my Shape, ---but to the Weather.
Like Weather-Glafs I often vary,
And feldom the fame Body carry.
Trav'ling I always vary Pace,
Yet always keep the felf-fame Place.
I'm often croft, yet ne'er difturb'd,
The fame to Beggar as to Lord.
Thousands I nourish ev'ry Day
And Thousands more I keep for Prey.
As I tell you the Truth
Do not think me a Wonder!
Tho' my Head and my Mouth
Are the farthest asunder.
X. ENIGMA 60. By Kalophilus.
MY Ufe to Mankind thro' all Ages is known,
Both in Country and City, nay Village and Town;
To the Church and the Playhouse, the 'Change and the Court,
My Fraternity oft in great Numbers refort.
To the Fair Ones Delight and Inftruction I give,
And Garrick fam.'d Honours by me does receive.
'Mongft a Circle of Goffips I freely can play,
And am bufy at Westminster ev'ry Term Day.
Tho' useful to all, I'm clofe Pris'ner confin'd;
And with Walls I'm furrounded before and behind.
To Darkness I'm doom'd, much a Stranger to Light,
'Mongft the Ladies I'm feldom admitted to Sight.
Tho' fo ftrictly immur'd, myself more to explain,
Without my Affiftance few Lovers they'd gain:
But when Celia with Freedom my Parts can display
Ev'ry Swain fits attentive, is jocund and gay.
XI. ENIGMA 61. By Mr. John Lutener, one of the
Egyptian Tradefmen's Sons, at Blackburne, Lancashire.
1. IN Youth exalted high in Air,
Nature to form me took Delight,
Or bathing, in the Water fair,
She clad my Body all in White.
2. My Perfon tall, with flender Waiste,
"Till me that Tyrant Man efpy'd;
On either Hand with Fringes grac'd,
He drag'd me from my Mother's Side.
3. No wonder, now I look fo thin,
My Skin is flea'd, my Hair is cropt;
The Tyrant ftript me to the Skin,
At Head and Foot my Body lopt.
4. And then, with Heart more hard than Stone,
To vex me more he took a Freak;
He pick'd my Marrow from the Bone,
And flit my Tongue, and made me speak.
That which ftill wonderful appears,
He oft employs me in Disguise;
To Eyes I fpeak, and not to Ears,
And often tell a thoufand Lies.
6. I fee his Vanity and Pride,
His Follies to his greatest Foes;
From me no Secret he can hide,
And my Delight is to expose!
7. All Languages I can command,
In Learning yet don't know a Line;
Without my Aid none understand,
A Word, not even the best Divine.
8. The Lawyer must forget his Pleading,
Without me, who can kill or fave;
The Scholar cou'd not fhew his Reading,
To whom I am an Abject Slave!
9. I grant fome Thousand Pounds a Year,
Which only haften on my Fate!
I make the Beggar of a Peer,
While thus my Life I do relate.
10. My Tongue is black, my Mouth is furr'd,
I die unpitied and forgot;
Now hardly I can force a Word,
And on fome Dunghill I muft rot.
XII. ÆNIGMA 62. By Mr. William Priffon.
I'M in every one's Way, yet no Christian I stop,
My four Horns ev'ry Day,
And my Head is nail'd down at the Top.
Whoever fends Answers before the End of January next will be intitled, by Lot, to 5, 4, and 3 Palladiums, of equal Value with 10, 8, and 6 Diaries, respectively.
PRIZE-ENIGMA. By IGNIS FATUUS.
IF, from my Profeffion, my Name you can find,..
Know, of old, I was greatly to Phyfic inclin'd;
At Athens and Rome, the fam'd Galen withstood,
Who affirm'd, in that Art, I fpoil'd all that was good :
Of late, the like Herefy addling my Brain,
To London I ftroll'd in Pursuance of Gain;
Here finding that e'ery Thing novel went down,
With Affurance, my Noftrums I palm'd on the Town,
And, as to my Practice, the Doctors gave way,
My Purfe and my Patients increas'd ev'ry Day.
So I foon open'd Shop, and got Warehouses ftor'd,
With Journeymen proper to wait at the Board,
That I, round the Kingdom, to propagate Trade,
Like other Great Dealers might make a Parade.
Here I boaft of my Cures in the Fields, and the Street,
And impofe on each credulous Dame that I meet;
And with Mouth open wide, while the Lout at me ftares !
I tofs in the poisonous Pill unawares;
Now and then I the Squire of a Parish secure,
And the Lady of Quality toops to my Lure:
So Anglers who traverfe the River about,
With the Roach, Dace and Gudgeon, sometimes take a Trout.
What still seems more ftrange, they're no fooner decoy'd,
Than Perception is gone, and all Reason destroy'd :
For tho' Crocodile's Tears both my Cheeks overflow,
And my Songs, like the Sirens, prognofticate Woe.
Tho' the Dofe I prefcribe,---'tis amazing to tell,---
Sends many to Bedlam, and I iear fome to Hell;
Tho' my Notions are whimsical, Geftures are odd,
Some call me their SAVIOUR,---some make me their God.
The ROYAL ORACLE, or QUERIST.
I. Quere 35. By Mr. E. G.
HOW came America originally peopled?`
II. Quere 36. By Mr. John Scott.
IF Marriage is inftituted for Procreation of Children, and for avoiding Fornication, Why are the very old permitted to marry, as fuch are fuppofed incapable of the One, and of the Other.
III. Quere 37. By Mr. Henry Salmon, of Whitchurch.
WHETHER we are influenced to esteem and refpect Men for their Riches and Rank they bear in the World, more than for their innate Worth and Merit? And, how comes it to pass, that the Gifts of Blind Fortune should be lefs liberally beftow'd (as we commonly obferve) on Men of Parts and Genius, than they are on the Reft of Mankind?
IV. Quere 38. By Lucinda.
WHAT is the Nature of Visible Shadows, whose Motions and Places are as evidently perceptible, as the Places and Motions of Vifible Subftances?
V. Quere 39. By a Sadler.
WHETHER the Shades, now fo much in Fashion among the Ladies, were not taken from the Net-Wark wore by Horfes ? And whether they are not defigned for the fame Ufe.
VI. Quere 40. By a Bashaw.
WHETHER Mahometifm, propagated in England, would not be of as great Advantage as Methodifm, as at prefent tolerated?
VII. Quere 41. By Coufin Tommy Fluxion.
FOR what Reafon does Mr. Landen fign his Name Waltonienfis, and who was his New Godfather? And why, after his making fo many Mistakes about a Cypher, and the running of a Bowl to its Rias, he fhould prefume to vaunt his Correction of Fluents, and to reproach his Superior, Mr. Emerson, for Inaccuracy of Judgment? VIII. Quere
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