For Cowley's briefs, and pleas of Waller,
Still their authority was smaller.

There was on both fides much to fay :
She'd hear the cause another day;
And fo fhe did, and then a third;
She heard it-there she kept her word:
But with rejoinders and replies,
Long bills, and answers ftuff'd with lies,
Demur, imparlance, and effoign,
The parties ne'er could iffue join:
For fixteen years the cause was fpun,
And then flood where it first begun.
Now, gentle Clio, fing or fay,
What Venus meant by this delay.
The goddess, much perplex'd in mind
To fee her empire thus declin'd,
When first this grand debate arose,
Above her wifdom to compofe,
Conceiv'd a project in her head
To work her ends; which, if it fped,
Wou'd fhew the merits of the cause
Far better than confulting laws.

In a glad hour Lucina's aid
Produc'd on earth a wond'rous maid,
On whom the queen of love was bent
To try a new experiment.

She threw her law-books on the shelf,

And thus debated with herself :

"Since men alledge, they ne'er can find

Thofe beauties in a female mind,

Which raife a flame, that will endure
For ever uncorrupt and pure;

If 'tis with reafon they complain,
This inftant fhall restore my reign.
I'll fearch where ev'ry virtue dwells,
From courts inclufive down to cells;
What preachers talk, or fages write;
Thefe I will gather and unite,
And represent them to mankind

Collected in that infant's mind.”

This faid, fhe plucks in heav'n's high bow'rs

A fprig of amaranthine flow'rs,

In nectar thrice infufes bays,

Three times refin'd in Titan's rays;
Then calls the Graces to her aid,

And fprinkles thrice the new-born maid:
From whence the tender fkin affumes.
A sweetness above all perfumes:
From whence a cleanliness remains,
Incapable of outward ftains;

From whence that decency of mind,
So lovely in the female kind;

Where not one careless thought intrudes
Lefs modeft than the fpeech of prudes ; :
Where never blush was call'd in aid,
That fpurious virtue in a maid,
A virtue but at fecond-hand;

They blush, because they understand."'

The Graces next would act their part,

And fhew'd but little of their art;

Their work was half already done,.
The child with native beauty fhone ;
The outward form no help requir'd:
Each, breathing on her thrice, infpir'd
That gentle, foft, engaging air,
Which in old times adorn'd the fair:
And faid, "Vanessa be the name,
By which you shall be known to fame ;
Vaneffa, by the gods enroll'd:

Her name on earth-fhall not be told."
But ftill the work was not compleat,
When Venus thought on a deceit :
Drawn by her doves, away fhe flies,.
And finds out Pallas in the skies:
"Dear Pallas, I have been this morn
To fee a lovely infant born ;
A boy in yonder isle below,

So like my own without his bow,.
By beauty could your heart be won,
You'd fwear, it is Apollo's fon :
But it fhall ne'er be faid a child
So hopeful has by me been spoir'd;
I have enough befides to spare,
And give him wholly to your care.”

Wisdom's above fufpecting wiles:
The queen of learning gravely fmiles,
Down from Olympus comes with joy,
Mistakes Vaneffa for a boy; .

Then fows within her tender mind
Seeds long unknown to womankind; :

For

For manly bofoms chiefly fit;

The feeds of knowledge, judgment, wit:
Her foul was fuddenly endu'd

With juftice, truth, and fortitude;

With honour, which no breath can ftain,
Which malice muft attack in vain ;
With open heart and bounteous hand;
But Pallas here was at a stand;
She knew in our degen’rate days
Bare virtue could not live on praise ;·
That meat must be with money bought:
She therefore, upon fecond thought,
Infus'd, yet as it were by stealth,

Some fmall regard for ftate and wealth;
Of which, as he grew up, there stay'd
A tincture in the prudent maid:
She manag'd her estate with care,
Yet lik'd three footmen to her chair.
But, left he should neglect her ftudies,.
Like a young heir, the thrifty goddess
(For fear young mafter should be spoil'd)
Would use him like a younger child!
And, after long computing, found
'Twould come to just five thousand pound,
The queen of love was pleas'd, and proud,
To fee Vaneffa thus endow'd;

She doubted not but fuch a dame

Through ev'ry breast would dart a flame :
That ev'ry rich and lordly fwain

With pride would drag about her chain ;

That

That fcholars would defert their books
To study bright Vaneffa's looks;
As the advanc'd, that womankind
Would by her model form their mind,
And all their conduct would be try'd
By her, as an unerring guide;
Offending daughters oft would hear
Vaneffa's praife rung in their ear:
Mifs Betty, when she does a fault,
Lets fall a knife, or fpills the falt,
Will thus be by her mother chid,
"'Tis what Vaneffa never did.”
Thus by the nymphs and fwains ador'd,
My pow'r fhall be again reftor'd,
And happy lovers blefs my reign-
So Venus hop'd, but hop'd in vain,

For when, in time, the martial maid:
Found out the trick that Venus play'd,
She shakes her helm, she knits her brows,
And, fir'd with indignation, vows,
To-morrow, e're the fetting fun,
She'd all undo that fhe had done.
But in the poets we may find,

A wholesome law time out of mind
Had been confirm'd by fate's decree,
That gods, of whatfoe'er degree,
Refume not what themselves have giv❜n,
Or any brother-god in heav'n;
Which keeps the peace among the gods,
Or they must always be at odds:

And