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;
In various talk the instructive hours theypass'd,
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.

Snuff, or the fan, supply each pause of chat;
With sighing, 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
peace,

And the long labours of the toilet cease.
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 conquests 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, th' aërial guard
Descend, and sit on each important card:
First Arici perch'd upon a matadore,
Then each according to the rank they bore;
For Sylphs, yet mindful of their ancient race,
Are, as when women, wond'rous fond of place.
Behold, four kings in majesty rever'd,
With hoary whiskers and a forked beard;
And four fair queens whose hands sustain a
flow'r,

Th' expressive emblem of their softer pow'r;
Fem knaves in garb succinct, a trusty band,
Cps on their heads, and halberts in their
hand;

And party coloured troops, a shining train, Drawn forth to combat on the velvet plain. The skifal 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!

Let off two captive trumps, and swept the board.

As many more Manillo fore'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 sight reveal'd,
The rest his many-colour'd robe conceal'd.
The rebel Knave, who dares his prince engage,
Proves the just victim of his royal rage.
E'en mighty Pam, 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 he 4 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;
That long behind be trails his pompous robe,
And, of all monarchs, only grasps the globe?

The Baron now his Diamonds pours space; Th' embroider'd King who shews but half his face,

And his refulgent Queen, with pow'rs combin'd,

Of broken troops au casy conquest find
Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, in wild disorder scen,
With throngs promiscuous strew 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 natious fly,
Of various habit, and of various dye;
The pierc'd battalions disunited fall
In heaps on heaps; one fate o'erwhelms them
all.

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

At this, the blood the virgin's cheek forsook ;
A livid paleness spreads o'er all her look ;
She secs, 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'rai fate.
An Ace of Hearts steps forth: the King, un-

seen,

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 nymph 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 honours shall be snatch'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 shining altars of Japan they raise
The silver lamp; the fiery spirits blaze:
From silver spouts the grateful liquors glide,
While China's earth 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 faming liquor fann'd ;
Some o'er her lap their careful plumes dis-
play'd,

Trembling, aud conscious of the rich brocade. Coffee (which makes the policitian wise,

And see thro' all things with his half-shut eyes)

Sent up in vapours to the Baron's brain
New stratagems, the radiant Lock to gain.
Al 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 beud their will,
How soon they find fit instruments of ill!
Just then 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 finger's 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 turus, blow back the
hair;

And thrice they twitch'd the diamond in her car;

Thrice she looks back, and thrice the foe drew

near.

Just in that instant anxious Aricl sought
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 at her heart.
Amaz'd, confus'd, he found his pow'r expir'd;
Resign'd to fate, and with a sigh retir'd.
The Peer now spreads the glittring forfex
wide,

T'inclose the Lock; now joins it to divide.
Ev'n then before the fatal engine clos'd,
A wretched Sylph too foudly interpos'd?
Fate urg'd the sheers, and cut the Sylph in
twain,

But airy substance soon unites again;
The meeting points the sacred hair dissever
From the fair head, for ever, and for ever!
La Belle Assembled.-No. XL.

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 breathe 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 solemu days,
When num'rous wax-lights in bright order
blaze;

While nymphs take treats, or assignations give,
So long my honour, name,and praise shall live!
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 dust th' imperial tow'rs of Troy;
Steel could the works of mortal pride con-

found,

And hew triumphal arches to the ground. What wonder, then, fair nymph! thy hirs should feel

The conqu'ring force of unresisted steci ?

CANTO IV.

BUT anxious carcs the pensive nymph oppress'd,

And secret passions labour'd in her breast.
Not youthful kings in battle seiz'd alive,
Not scornful virgins who their charms survive
Not ardent lovers robb'd of all their bliss,
Not ancient ladies when refus'd a kiss,
Not tyrants fierce that unrepenting die,
Not Cynthia 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-
drew,

And Ariel weeping from Belinda flew,
Umbriel, a dusky melancholy sprite,
As ever suliied 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 vapour reach'd the dismal done.
No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows ;
The dreaded 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 at her side, and Megrim at her head.

D

place,

But diff'ring far in figure and in face.
Here stood Ill-nature, like an ancient maid,
Her wrinkled form in black and white array'd;
With store of pray'rs for mornings, nights,

and noons,

Her hand is fill'd; her bosom with lampoons.

There Aficctation, with a sickly mien, Shews in her check 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 dis

ease.

A constant vapour 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 in machines.

Unnumbered throngs on cv'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, walks; Here sighs 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. 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, wayward queen!

Who rule the sex to fifty from fifteen:
Parent of vapours, 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.
A nymph there is, that all thy pow'r disdains,
And thousands more in equal mirth maintains.
But oh! if e'erthy 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 airy horns I planted heads,
Or rumpled petticoats, or tumbled beds,
Or cans'd suspicion when no soul was rude,
Or discompos'd the head-dress of a prude,
Or c'er to costive lapdog gave discase,
Which not the tears of brightest eyes could case; }

That single act gives half the world the spleen.
The goddess, with a discontented air,
Seems to reject him, tho' she grants his pray`r.
A wondrous bag with both her hands she
binds,

Like that where once Ulysses held the winds:
There she collects the force of female lunge,
Sighs, sobs, and passious, and the war of
tongues.

A vial next she fills with fainting fears,
Soft sorrows, melting griefs, and flowing tears.
The Gucme 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.
Belinda burns with more than mortal ire,
And fierce Thalestris fans the rising fire.
O wretched maid! she spread her hauds, and
cried,

(While Hampton's echoes, wretched maid replied)

Was it for this you took such constant care
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!

Honour forbid! at whose uurivall'd shrine
Ease, pleasure, virtue, all our sex resign.
Methinks already I your tears survey,
Already hear the horrid things they say;
Already see you a degraded toast,
And all your honour in a whisper lost!
How shall I, then, your hapless fame defend?
'Twill then be infainy to seem your friend!
And shall this prize, th' inestimable prize,
Expos'd thro' crystal to the gazing eycs,
And heighten'd by the diamond's circling rays,
On that rapacious haud for ever blaze?
Sooner shall grass in Hyde-park circus grow,
And wits take lodgings in the sound of Bow;
Sooner let earth, air, sea, to chaos fall;
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, what
"the devil!

"Z-ds! damn the Lock! 'fore Gad, you "must be civil