Well knowing, from the books the read,
What dangerous paths young virgins tread:
Would feldom at the Par appear,
Nor faw the play-houfe twice a year;
Yet, not incurious, was inclin'd
To know the converfe of mankind.
Firft iffued from perfumers' fhops,
A croud of fashionabl: fops:

They ak'd her, how the lik'd the play;
Then told the tattle of the day;
A duel fought last night at two,
About a lady-you know who;
Mention'd a new Italian come
Either from Mufcovy or Rome;
Gave hints of who and who's together;
Then fell a talking of the weather;
Laft night was fo extremely fine,
The ladies walk'd till after nine;
Then, in foft voice and speech abfurd,
With nonfenfe every fecond word,
With fuftian from exploded plays,
They celebrate her beauty's praife;
Run o'er their cant of ftupid lies,
And tell the murders of her eyes.
With filent fcorn Vanefla fat,
Scarce liftening to their idle chat;
Further than fometimes by a frown,

When they grew pert, to pull them down.
At laft fhe fpitefully was bent
To try their wifdom's full extent;
And faid the valued nothing lefs
Than titles, figure, fhape and drefs;
That merit fhould be chiefly plac'd

In judgment, knowledge, wit, and tafte;
And thefe fhe, offer'd to difpute,
Alone diftinguifh'd man from brute:
That prefent times have no pretence
To virtue, in the noble fenfe
By Greeks and Romans understood,
To perish for our country's good.
She Lam'd the ancient heroes round,
Explain'd for what they were renown'd;
Then fpoke with cenfure or applaufe
Of foreign customs, rites, and laws;
Through nature and through art fhe rang'd,
And gracefully her fubject chang'd;
In vain! her hearers had no share

In all fhe fpoke, except to itare.

Their judgment was, upon the whole,
That lady is the dullet foul !—
Then tipt their forehead in a jeer,
As who fhould fay-She wants it here!
She may be handfome, young, and rich,
But none will burn her for a witch!

A party next of glittering dames,
From round the purlieus of St. James,
Came early, out of pure good will,
To fee the girl in difhabille.
Their clamour, lighting from their chairs,
Grew louder all the way up ftairs;
At entrance loudeft, where they found
The room with volumes litter'd round,
Vaneffa held Montaigne, and read,
Whilft Mrs. Sufan comb'd her head.
They call'd for tea and chocolate,
And fell into their ufual chat,

310

Difcourfing, with important face, On ribbons, fans, and gloves, and lace; Shew'd patterns juit from India brougnt, And gravely alk'd her what he thought, Whether the red or green were belt, 315 And what they cost? Vaneifa guess'd, As came into her fancy fr;

Nam'd half the rates, and lil'd the work. To fcandal next-What au' ward thing Was that last Sunday in the ring? 320 I'm forry Mopfa breaks fo falt; I faid, her face would never laft. Corinna, with that youtuful air, Is thirty, and a bit to ipare: Her fondness for a certain Earl 325 Began when I was but a girl! Prillis, who but a month ago Was marry'd to the Tunbridge-beau, I faw coquetting t'other night In public with that odious knight!

330

They rally'd next Vanefa's dreís :
That gown was made for old Queen Befs.
Dear Madam, let me fee your head:
Don't you intend to put on red?
A petticoat without a hoop!

335 Sure, you are not asham'd to floop!
With handfome garters at your knees,
No matter what a fellow fees.

Fill'd with difdain, with rage inflam'd, Both of herself and fex afham'd,

340 The nymph food ilent out of spight, Nor would vouchfale to fet them right. Away the fair detractors went,

And gave by turas their cenfures vent.
She's not fo handfome in my eyes:

345 For wit, I wonder where it lies!

She's fair and clean, and that's the most :
But why proclaim her for a toadi?
A baby face; no life, no airs,
But what the learn'd at country-fairs ;

350 Scarce knows what difference is between
Rich Flanders lace and Colberteen.
I'll undertake, my little Nancy
In flounces hath a butter fancy!
With all her wit, I would not ask
er judgment, how to buy a mask.
We begg'd her but to patch her face,
She never hit one proper place;
Which every girl at five years old
Can do as foon as he is told.
360 Iown, that out-of-hion stuff

355

Becomes the creature well enough. The girl might pafs, if we could get her To know the world a little better. (To know the world! a modern phrase 365 For vilts, ombre, balls, and plays.) Thus, to the world's perpetual flame, The Queen of Beauty loft her aim; Too late with grief fhe understood, Pallas had done more harm than good; For great examples are but vais. Where ignorance begets difdain, Both fexes, arm'd with guilt and fpite, Against Vaneffa's power unite:

370

To copy her, few nymphs aspir'd ; 675 Her virtues fewer fwains admir'd.

So ftars beyond a certain height
Give mortals neither heat nor light.
Yet fome of either fex, endow'd
With gifts fuperior to the croud,
With virtue, knowledge, taite, and wit,
She condefcended to admit :
With pleafing arts the could reduce
Men's talents to their proper ufe;
And with addrefs each genius h.ld
To that wherein it moft excell'd;
Thus, making others' wifdom known,
Could pleate them, and improve her own.
A modeft youth faid fomet ing new;
She plac'd it in the strongest view.
All humble worth fhe ftrove to raife;
Would not be prais'd, yet lov'd to praise.
The learned met with free approach,
Altho. gh they came not in a coach:
Some clergy too£e would allow,

Nor quarrel'd at their awkward bow's
But this was for Cadenus' faxe,
A gownman of a different make;
Whom Pallas, once Vanella's tutor,
Had fix'd on for her coadjutor.

But Cupid, full of mitchief, longs
To vindicate his mother's wrongs.
On Pallas all attempts are vain :
One way he knows to give her pain;
Vows on Vaneffa's heart to take
Due vengeance, for her patron's fake.
Thofe early feeds by Venus fown,
In fpite of Pallas, now were grown;
And Cupid hop'd they would improve
By time, and ripen into love.
The boy made ufe of all his craft,
In vain difcharging many a fhaft,
Pointed at coloneb, lords, and beaux:
Cadenu warded on the blows;
For, placing full fome book betwixt,
The darts were in the cover fix'd,
Or, often blunted and recoil'd,
On Plutarch's Morals ftruck, were spoil'd.
The Queen of Wifdom could foresee,
But not prevent the Fates' decree :
And human caution tries in vain
To break that adamant.ne chain.
Vanefla, though by Pallas taught,
By Love invulnerable thought,
Searching in books for wifdom's aid,
Was, in the very farch, betray'd.

Cupid, though all his darts were loft, Yet ftill refolv'll to fpare no coft; He could not answer to his fame The triumphs of that ftubborn dame, A aymph fo hard to be fubdued, Who neither was coquette nor prude. I find, faid he, fhe wants a Doctor, Both to adore her, and inftruct her: I'll give her what the most admires, Among thofe venerable fres.

Cadenus is a fubje&t fit,

Grown old in politicks and wit,
Carefs'd by minifters of state,

Of half mankind the dread and hate,
VOL. V.

Whate'er vexations love attend,
She need no rivals apprehend.
Her fex, with univerfal voice,
445 Muft laugh at her capricious choice,
Cadeaus many things had writ:
Vaneffa much efteem'd his wit,
And call'd for his poetic works:
Mean time the boy in fecret lurks;

450 And, while the book was in her hand,
The urchin from his private ftand
Took aim, and hot with all his frength
A dart of fuch prodigious length,
It pierc'd the feeble volume through,
And deep transfix'd her bolom too.
Some lines, more noving than the reft,
Stuck to the point that pierc'd her breast,
And, borne directly to the heart,

455

510

515

520

460

With pains unknown, increas'd her smart. Vaneffa, not in years a score,

Which help'd to mortify his pride,
Yet gave him not the heart to chide :
But, in a mild dejected ftrain,
At laft he ventur'd to complain;
Said, the fhould be no longer teas'd,
Might have her freedom when the pleas'd;
Was now convinc'd he acted wrong,
To hide her from the world fo lorg,
And in dull studies to engage
One of her tender fex and age;
That every nymph with envy own'd,
How the might fhine in the grand monde;
And every fhepherd was undone
To fee her cloiter'd like a nun.
This was a vifionary scheme :

He wak'd, and found it but a dream;
A project far above his skill;
For nature muft be nature fill.
If he were bolder than became
A fcholar to a courtly dame,
She might excufe a man of letters;
Thus tutors often treat their betters:
And, fince his talk offenfive grew,
He came to take his laft adieu.

Vaneffa, fill'd with juft difdain,
Would fill her dignity maintais,
Inftructed from her early years
To fcorn the art of female tears.

Had he employ'd his time fo long
To teach her what was right and wrong;
Yet could fuch notions entertain
That all his lectures were in vain?
She own'd the wandering of her thoughts;
But he muft anfwer for her faults.
She well remember'd to her coft,
That all his leffons were not loft.
Two maxims he could ftill produce,
And fad experience taught their ufc:
That virtue, pleas'd by being fhown,
Knows nothing which it dares not own;
Can make us without fear disclose
Our inmoft fecrets to our foes:
That common forms were not def gn'd
Directors to a noole mind.

Now, faid the nymph, to let you fee
My actions with your rules agree;
That I can vulgar forms defpife,
And have no fecrets to difquife:
I knew by what you faid and writ,
How dangerous things were men of wit;
You caution'd me against their charms,
But never gave me equal arms;
Your leffors found the weareft part,
Aim'd at the head, but reach'd the heart.

Cadenus felt within him rife
Shame, difappointment, guilt furprize.
He knew not how to reconcile,
Such language with her ufual ftyle:
And yet her words were fo expreft,
He could not hope the fpoke in jest.
His thoughts had wholly been confin'd
To form and cultivate her mind,
He hardly knew, till he was told,
Whether the nymph were young or old i
Had met her in a public place,
Without diftinguishing her face:

570, Much less could his declining age
Vaneffa's earlieft thoughts engage;
And, if her youth indifference met,
His perfon must contempt beget:
Or, grant her paffion be fincere,
575 How fhall his innocence be clear?
Appearances were all fo ftrong,

The world must think him in the wrong;
Would fay he made a treacherous ufe
Of wit, to flatter and seduce:

580 The town would fwear, he had betray'd
By magic fpells the harmlefs maid:
And every beau would have his jokes,
That scholars were like other folks;
And, when Platonic flights were over,
585 The tutor turn'd a mortal lover!
So tender of the young and fair!
It fhew'd a true paternal care-
Five thousand guineas in her purfe!
The Doctor might have fancy d worfe
Hardly at length he filence broke,
And faulter'd every word he fpoke;
Interpreting her complaisance,
Just as a man fans confequence.

590

She rallied well, he always knew:

595 Her manner now was something new;
And what the spoke was in an air
As ferious as a tragic player.
But those who aim at ridicule
Should fix upon fome certain rule,
Which fairly hints they are in jeft,
Elfe he must enter his proteít:
For, let a man be ne'er fo wife,
He may be caught with fober lies;
A fcience which he never taught,

600

605 And, to be free, was dearly bought;
For, take it in its proper light,
'Tis just what coxcombs call a bite.

But, not to dwell on things minute,
Vaneffa finish'd the difpute,

610 Brought weighty arguments to prove
That reafon was her guide in love.
She thought he had himself deferib’d,
His doctrines when fhe firft imbib'd :
What he had planted, now was growɑ;
615 His virtues the might call her own;
As he approves, as he dinikes,
Love or contempt her fancy ftrikes.
Self-love, in nature rooted fast,
Attends us firft, and leaves us laft;

620 Why the likes him, admire not at her;
She loves herself, and that's the matter.
How was her tutor wont to praise
The geniuses of ancient days!
(Thofe authors he fo oft' had nam❜d,

625 For learning, wit, and wifdom fam❜d)
Was truck with love, efeem, and awe,
For perfons whom he never faw.
Suppofe Cadenus flourish'd then,
He must adore fuch god-like men.

630 If one fhort volume could comprife
All that was witty, learn'd, and w fe,
How would it be efteem'd and read,
Although the writer long were dead!
If fuch an author were alive,

635 How all would for his friendship strive,

is pride began to interpofe;

referr'd before a croud of beaux! bright a nymph to come unfought! uch wonder by his merit wrought! is merit muft with her prevail! e never knew her judgment fail! noted all the ever read! d had a most discerning head! 'Tis an old maxim in the fchools, hat flattery's the food of fools; et now and then your men of wit ill condefcend to take a bit. So, when Cadenus could not hide, e chofe to justify, his pride; onftruing the paffion she had shown, uch to her praife, more to his own. ature in him had merit plac'd, her a moft judicious taste,

765 Grown by Vanefla's conduct wife; For, though by one perverfe event Pallas had crofs'd her first intent;

750

And will each accidental glance

Interpret for a kind advance,

But what fuccefs Vaneffa met,

Is to the world a fecret yet.

755

Whether the nymph, to please her swain, Talks in a high romantic ftrain;