Untwists a wire, and from her gums
A fet of teeth completely comes.
Pulls out the contriv'd to prop
rags
Her flabby dugs, and down they drop.
Proceeding on, the lovely Goddess
Unlaces next her steel-ribb'd bodice,
Which, by the operator's skill,
Prefs down the lumps, the hollows fill.
Up goes her hand, and off she flips
The bolsters that fupply her hips.
With gentleft touch the next explores
Her fhankres, iffues, running fores;
Effects of many a fad disaster,
And then to each applies a plaister :
But muft, before she goes to bed,
Rub off the daubs of white and red,
And fmooth the furrows in her front
With greafy paper stuck upon't.
She takes a bolus ere the fleeps;
And then between two blankets creeps.
With pains of love tormented lies;
Or, if the chance to close her
eyes,
Of Bridewell and the Compter dreams,
And feels the lash, and faintly screams;
Or, by a faithless bully drawn,
At fome hedge-tavern lies in pawn;
Or to Jamaica feems tranfported
Alone, and by no planter courted;
Or, near Fleet-ditch's oozy brinks,
Surrounded with a hundred stinks,
24
Belated, feems on watch to lie,
And fnap fome cully paffing by;
Or, ftruck with fear, her fancy runs
On watchmen, conftables, and duns,
From whom the meets with frequent rubs;
But never from religious clubs,
Whofe favour fhe is fure to find,
Because the pays them all in kind.
Corinna wakes. A dreadful fight!
Behold the ruins of the night!
A wicked rat her plaister stole,
Half eat, and dragg'd it to his hole.
The cryftal eye, alas! was miss'd;
And pufs had on her plumpers p-ss'd.
A pigeon pick'd her iffue-peas:
And Shock her treffes fill'd with fleas.
The nymph, though in this mangled plight,
Must every morn her limbs unite.
But how fhall I defcribe her arts
To recollect the scatter'd parts ?
Or fhew the anguish, toil, and pain,
Of gathering up herself again?
The bashful Mufe will never bear
In fuch a fcene to interfere.
Corinna, in the morning dizen'd,'
Who fees, will fpue; who fmells, be poifon'd.
STREPHON AND CHLOE. 1731..
F Chloe all the town has rung,.
By every fize of poets fung:
So beautiful a nymph appears
But once in twenty thousand years;
By Nature form'd with nicest care,
And faultlefs to a fingle hair.
Her graceful mien, her fhape, and face,.
Confefs'd her of no mortal race:
And then fo nice, and so genteel;
Such cleanliness from head to heel:
No humours grofs, or frowzy fteams,
No noifome whiffs, or fweaty ftreams,
Before, behind, above, below,
Could from her taintlefs body flow:
Would fo difcreetly things difpofe,
None ever faw her pluck a rofe.
Her dearest comrades never caught her
Squat on her hams, to make maid's water:
You'd fwear that fo divine a creature
Felt no neceffities of nature.
In fummer had the walk'd the town,
Her arm-pits would not ftain her gown:
At country-dances not a nofe
Could in the dog-days fmell her toes.
Her milk-white hands, both palms and backs,
Like ivory dry, and foft as wax.
Her hands, the fofteft ever felt,
Though cold would burn, though dry would meln
Dear Venus, hide this wondrous maid,
Nor let her loofe to fpoil your trade.
While the ingroffes every fwain,
You but o'er half the world can reign.
Think what a cafe all men are now in,
What ogling, fighing, toasting, vowing!
What powder'd wigs! what flames and darts !
What hampers full of bleeding hearts!
What fword-knots! what poetic strains!
What billet-doux, and clouded canes !
But Strephon figh'd fo loud and strong,
He blew a fettlement along;
And bravely drove his rivals down
With coach and fix, and house in town.
The bashful nymph no more withstands,
Because her dear papa commands.
The charming couple now unites :
Proceed we to the marriage-rites.
Imprimis, at the temple-porch
Stood Hymen with a flaming torch:
The fmiling Cyprian Goddess brings
Her infant-loves with purple wings :
And pigeons billing, fparrows treading,
Fair emblems of a fruitful wedding.
The Mufes next in order follow,
Conducted by their fquire, Apollo :
Then Mercury with filver tongue;
And Hebe, goddess ever you ng.
Behold, the bridegroom and his bride
Walk hand in hand, and fide by fide;
She by the tender Graces dreft,
But he by Mars, in scarlet vest.
The nymph was cover'd with her flammeum,
And Phoebus fung th' epitbalamium.
And laft, to make the matter fure,
Dame Juno brought a priest demure.
Luna was abfent, on pretence
Her time was not till nine months hence.
The rites perform'd, the parfon paid,
In ftate return'd the grand parade;
With loud huzza's from all the boys,
That now the pair must crown their joys.
But still the hardest part remains :
Strephon had long perplex'd his brains,
How with fo high a nymph he might
Demean himself the wedding-night:
For, as he view'd his person round,
Mere mortal flesh was all he found:
His hand, his neck, his mouth, and feet,
Were duly wash'd, to keep them sweet
(With other parts that fhall be nameless,
The ladies elfe might think me shameless)..
The weather and his love were hot;
And, fhould he struggle, I know what
Why, let it go, if I must tell it
He'll fweat, and then the nymph may fmell it;
While fhe, a goddefs dy'd in grain,
Was unfufceptible of stain,
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