Hear and believe! thy own importance know, 35
Nor bound thy narrow views to things below.
Some fecret truths, from learned pride conceal'd,
To Maids alone and Children are reveal'd:
What tho' no credit doubting Wits may give?
The Fair and Innocent shall still believe.
Know then, unnumber'd Spirits round thee fly,
The light Militia of the lower fky:
Thefe, tho' unfeen, are ever on the wing,
Hang o'er the Box, and hover round the Ring.
Think what an equipage thou haft in Air, 45
And view with fcorn two Pages and a Chair.

As now your own, our beings were of old,
And once inclos'd in Woman's beauteous mould;
Thence, by a foft tranfition, we repair

From earthly Vehicles to these of air.

40

50

Think not, when Woman's tranfient breath is fled, That all her vanities at once are dead;

NOTES.

VER. 47. As now your own, etc.] He here forfakes the Rofi+ crufian fyftem; which, in this part, is too extravagant even for Poetry; and gives a beautiful fiction of his own, on the Platonic Theology of the continuance of the paffions in another ftate, when the mind, before its leaving this, has not been purged and purified by philofophy; which furnishes an occafion for

Succeeding vanities she still regards,

And tho' fhe plays no more, o'erlooks the cards. Her joy in gilded chariots, when alive,

55

And love of Ombre, after death furvive.

60

For when the Fair in all their pride expire,
To their first Elements their Souls retire:
The Sprites of fiery Termagants in Flame
Mount up and take a Salamander's name.
Soft yielding minds to Water glide away,
And fip, with Nymphs, their elemental Tea.
The graver Prude finks downward to a Gnome,
In fearch of mifchief ftill on Earth. to roam.
The light Coquettes in Sylphs aloft repair,
And sport and flutter in the fields of Air.

Know farther yet; whoever fair and chaste Rejects mankind, is by fome Sylph embrac'd : For Spirits, freed from mortal laws, with ease Affume what sexes and what shapes they please.

NOTES.

65

VIR. 68. is by fome Sylph embrac'd] Here again the Author refumes a tenet peculiar to the Roficrufian fyftem. But the principle, on which it is founded, was by no means fit, to be employed in fuch a fort of poem.

V ́ER. 54, 55.

IMITATIONS.

Quæ gratia currûm

Armorumque fuit vivis, quæ cura nitentes
Pafcere equos, cadem fequitur tellur e repoftos.

-Virg. En. vi. P

What guards the purity of melting Maids,
In courtly balls, and midnight masquerades,
Safe from the treach'rous friend, the daring spark,
The glance by day, the whisper in the dark,
When kind occafion prompts their warm defires,
When mufic foftens, and when dancing fires? 76
"Tis but their Sylph, the wife Celestials know,
Tho' Honour is the word with Men below.

Some nymphs there are, too conscious of their
face,

For life predestin'd to the Gnomes embrace. 80
These swell their prospects and exalt their pride,
When offers are disdain'd, and love deny'd:
Then gay Ideas croud the vacant brain,
WhilePeers,and Dukes,and all their sweeping train,
And Garters, Stars, and Coronets appear,
And in foft founds, Your Grace falutes their ear.
'Tis these that early taint the female foul,
Inftruct the eyes of young Coquettes to roll,
Teach Infant-cheeks a bidden blush to know,
And little hearts to flutter at a Beau.

NOTES.

85

90

VER. 78. Tho' honour is the word with Men below.] Parody of Homer.

VER. 79. too confcious of their face,] i. e. too fenfible of their beauty.

way,

Oft, when the world imagine women stray,
The Sylphs thro' mystic mazes guide their
Thro' all the giddy circle they pursue,
And old impertinence expel by new.
What tender maid but muft a victim fall

95

To one man's treat, but for another's ball?
When Florio fpeaks, what virgin could withstand,
If gentle Damon did not squeeze her hand?
With varying vanities, from ev'ry part,
They fhift the moving Toyshop of their heart;
Where wigs with wigs, with fword-knots fword-
knots ftrive,

ΙΟΙ

Peaux banish beaux, and coaches coaches drive. This erring mortals Levity may call,

Oh blind to truth! the Sylphs contrive it all.

Of these am I, who thy protection claim, 105

A watchful fprite, and Ariel is my name.
Late, as I rang'd the crystal wilds of air,
In the clear Mirror of thy ruling Star

NOTES.

VER. 108. In the clear Mirror] The Language of the Platonifts, the writers of the intelligible world of Spirits, etc. P.

VER. IOI.

IMITATIONS.

Jam clypeus clypeis, umbone repellitur umbo,

Ente minax enfis, pede pes, et cufpide cufpis, etc. Stat.

I faw, alas! fome dread event impend,

Ere to the main this morning fun descend,

ΙΙΟ

But heav'n reveals not what, or how, or where: Warn'd by the Sylph, oh pious maid, beware! This to disclose is all thy guardian can:

Beware of all, but moft beware of Man!

He faid; when Shock, who thought she slept

too long,

115

Leap'd up, and wak'd his mistress with his tongue.
"Twas then, Belinda, if report fay true,
Thy eyes firft open'd on a Billet-doux;
Wounds, Charms, and Ardors, were no fooner read,
But all the Vision vanish'd from thy head.

120

And now, unveil'd, the Toilet stands display'd, Each filver Vase in myftic order laid.

NOTES.

VER. 113. This to difclofe, etc.] There is much pleafantry in the conduct of this fcene. The Roficrufian Doctrine was delivered only to Adepts, with the utmoft caution, and under the most folemn feal of fecrecy. It is here communicated to a Woman, and in that way of conveyance a Woman most delights to make the fubject of her converfation, that is to fay, her Dreams.

VER. 121. And now, unveil'd, etc.] The tranflation of these verfes, containing the defcription of the toilette, by our Author's friend Dr. Parnell, deferve, for their humour, to be here inferted.

P.