He fprings to vengeance with an eager pace,
And falls like thunder on the proftrate ace.
The nymph exulting fills with fhouts the sky;
The walls, the woods, and long canals reply.
Q thoughtless mortals! ever blind to fate,
Too foon dejected and too foon elate.
Sudden, these honours fhall be fnatch'd away,
And curs'd for ever this victorious day.
For lo! the board with cups and spoons is
crown'd,
The berries crackle, and the mill turns round;
On fhining altars of Japan they raise
The filver lamp; the fiery fpirits blaze:
From filver spouts the grateful liquors glide,
While China's earth receives the finoaking tide:
At once they gratify their fcent and tafte,
And frequent cups prolong the rich repait.
Straight hover round the Fair her airy band;
Some, as the fipp'd; the fuming liquor fann'd,
Some o'er her lap their careful plumes display'd,
Trembling and confcious of the rich brocade.
Coffee (which makes the politician wife,
And fee through all things with his half-fhut eyes)
Sent up
in vapours to the Baron's brain
New ftratagems, the radiant lock to gain.
Ah ceafe, rafh youth! defift ere 'tis too late,
Fear the juft gods, and think of Scylla's fate!
Changd to a bird, and fent to flit in air,
She dearly pays for Nifus' injur'd hair!
But when to mischief mortals bend their will,
How foon they find fit inftruments of ill?
Just then Clariffa drew with tempting grace
A two-edg'd weapon from her fhining cafe:
So ladies in romance affift their knight,
Prefent the fpear, and arm him for the fight.
He takes the gift with rev'rence, and extends
The little engine on his fingers' ends;
This juft behind Belinda's neck be spread,
As o'er the fragrant fteams fhe bends her head.
Swift to the lock a thousand sp'rits repair,
A thoufand wings, by turns, blow back the hair;
And thrice they twitch'd the di'mond in her ear;
Thrice fhe look'd back, and thrice the foe drew
Juft in that inftant, anxious Ariel fought
The clofe receffes of the virgin's tought;
As on the nofegay in her breaft reclin'd,
He watch'd th' ideas rifing in her mind,
Sudden he view'd, in fpite of all her art,
And earthly lover lurking at her heart.
Amaz'd, confus'd, he found his pow'r expir'd,
Refign'd to fate, and with a figh retir'd.
The Peer now fpreads the glitt'ring forfex
wide,
T'inclofe 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 fheers, and cut the Sylph in twain,
(But airy fubftance foon unites again),
The meeting points the facred hair diffever
From the fair head for ever and for ever!
Then flash'd the living light'ning from her
eyes,
And screams of horror rend th' affrighted skies.
Not louder fhrieks to pitying Heav'n are caft;
When husbands, or when lap-dogs breathe their
laft;
Or when rich China veffels fall'n from high,
In glitt'ring duft and painted fragments lie!
Let wreaths of triumph now my temples twine,
(The victor cry'd), the glorious prize is mine!
While fish in ftreams. or birds delight in air,"
Or in a coach and fix the British fair,
As long as Atalantis fhall be read,
Or the small pillow grace a lady's bed,
While vifits shall be paid on folemn days,
When num'rous wax-lights in bright order blaze,
While nymphs take treats, or affignations give,
So long my honour, name, and praife fhall live,
What Time would fpare, from steel receives its date,
And monuments, like men, fubmit to fate!
Steel could the labour of the gods deftroy,
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.
What wonder then, fair nymph! thy hairs should
feel
The conqu'ering force of unrefifted steel?
Sir Samuel Garth, geb. ums J. 1670, geft. 1718, ein geschickter englischer Arzt, und Pope's vertrauter Freund, ist Verfasser der scherzhaften Epopde, The Difpenfary, die Armenapotheke, in sechs Gesängen. Dr. Garth hatte im J. 1696 solch eine Anstalt mit vielem Eifer zu befördern gesucht, worin armen Kranken unentgeltlich Rath ertheilt, und die Arznei um einen geringen Preis ges reicht wurde. Hierüber ward er, und mancher andere würz dige Arzt, von eigennütigern Zunftgenossen und Apothes kern gehafft und angefeindet; und diese suchte er in seinem Gedichte mit lebhaftem Wize dem Gelächter Preis zu gez ben. Offenbar ist das Gauze eine Nachahmung des Bois leau; auch hier findet man allegorische Personen als Mas schinen, die Trägheit, den Neid, die Glücksgöttin, u. a. m. Sehr glücklich parodirt er hie und da bekannte Stellen klassischer Dichter; seine Satyre ist scharf und treffend; auch seine Schreibart und Versifikation haben viel Verdienst und Anmuth. Sein Gedicht musste desto mehr Beifall erhalten, weil es die Sache der Menschlichkeit wider Unges rechtigkeit und Eigennuk, und gründlicher Einsichten wider anmaßliche Pedanterei in Schuß nahm. Warton bemerkt darin die freilich sehr auffallende Widersinnigkeit, daß die Krankheit, diese Furie, im vierten Gesange, wie ein Kunst richter redet, Regeln über die Schreibart giebt, und den besten damaligen Dichtern Lobsprüche ertheilt. Uebrigens hålt er den fünften Gesang, worin der Krieg beider Partheien von Aerzten und Apothekern sehr komisch und lebz haft erzählt wird, für den schönsten Theil des Gedichts. Hier ist eine Stelle daraus.
THE DISPENSARY, Canto V. v. 227 ss.
The adverfe hoft for action straight prepare
All cager to unveil the face of war.
Their chiefs lace on their helms, and take the
And to their trufty fquire refign the fhield.
To paint each knight, their ardour and alarms,
Would ask the Mufe that fung the Frogs in arms.
And now the fignal fummons to the fray,
Mock falchions flafh, and paltry enfigns play;
Their patron god his filver bowftrings twangs,
Though harness ruftles, and bold armour clangs;
The piercing cauftics ply their spiteful pow'r;
Emetics range, and keen cathartics fcour:
The deadly drugs in double dofes fly,
And pestles peal a martial fymphony.
Now from their levell'd fyringes they powr The liquid volley of a miffive fhow'r:
Not ftorms of fleet, which o'er the Baltic
drive,
Pufh'd on by northern gufts, fuch horror give:
Like spouts in fouthern feas the deluge broke,
And numbers funk beneath th' impetuous ftroke,
So when leviathans difpute the reign
And uncontroll'd dominion of the main,
From the rent rocks whole coral groves are torn,
And ifles of fea- weed on the waves are borne,
Such wat'ry ftores from their spread noftrils fly,
'Tis doubtful, which is fea and which is fky.
And now the stagg'ring braves, led by despair,
Advance, and to return the charge prepare.
Each feizes for his fhield a fpacious fcale,
And the brass weights fly thick as fhow'rs of hail,
Whole heaps of warriors welter on the ground,
With gallipots and broken phials crown'd,
Whilft empty jars the dire defeat refound.
Thus when fome ftorm its cryftall quarry
rends,
And Jove in rattling fhow'rs of ice defcends,
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