A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes;
At ev'ry word a reputation dies.

Snuff, or the fan, supply each pause of chat,
With finging, laughing, ogling, and all that.
Meanwhile, declining from the noon of day,
The fun obliquely fhoots his burning ray;
The hungry Judges foon the sentence fign,
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 fingly to decide their doom,

And fwells her breaft with conquefts yet to come.
Straight the three bands prepare in arms to join,
Each band the number of the facred Nine.
Soon as the fpreads her hand th' aërial guard
Defcend, and fit on each important card:
First Ariel perch'd upon a Matadore,

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Then each according to the rank they bore;
For fylphs, yet mindful of their ancient race,
Are, as when women, wondrous fond of place.
Behold, four Kings in majesty rever'd,

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With hoary whiskers and a forky beard;

And four fair Queens, whofe hands fuftain a flow`r,
Th' expreffive emblem of their fofter pow'r;

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Four Knaves, in garbs fuccinct, a trufty band,
Caps on their heads, and halberts in their hand;
And party-colour'd troops, a fhining train,
Draw forth to combat on the velvet plain.

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The skilful nymph reviews her force with care: Let fpades be trumps! fhe faid, and trumps they were. Now move to war her fable Matadores,

In fhow like leaders of the fwarthy Moors.

Spadillio first, unconquerable lord!

Let off two captive trumps, and fwept the board.
As many more Manillio forc'd to yield,
And march'd a victor from the verdant field.
Him Bafto follow'd, but his fate, more hard,
Gain'd but one trump and one plebeian card.

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With his broad fabre next, a chief in years,
The hoary majefty of Spades appears,
Puts forth one manly leg, to fight reveal'd;
The reft his many-colour'd robe conceal'd.
The rebel Knave, who dares his prince engage,

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Proves the juft victim of his royal rage.

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Ev'n mighty Pam, that kings and queens o'erthrew,
And mow'd down armies in the fights of Lu,
Sad chance of war! now deftitute of aid,
Falls undiftinguish'd by the victor Spade!

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Thus far both armies to Belinda yield:
Now to the Baron Fate inclines the field.
His warlike Amazon her hoft invades,
Th' imperial confort of the crown of Spades.
The Club's black tyrant firft her victim dy'd,
Spite of his haughty mien, and barb'rous pride;
What boots the regal circle on his head,
His giant limbs, in ftate unwieldy spread;
That long behind he trails his pompous robe,
And, of all monarchs, only grafps the globe?
The Baron now his Diamonds pours apace!
Th' embroider'd King, who thews but half his face,
And his refulgent Queen, with pow'rs combin'd
Of broken troops, an eafy conqueft find.

Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, in wild diforder seen,
With throngs promifcuous ftrow the level green.
Thus when difperf'd a routed army runs,
Of Afia's troops, and Afric's fable fons,
With like confusion diff'rent nations fly,
Of various habit, and of various dye;
The pierc'd battalions disunited fall,

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In heaps on heaps; one fate o'erwhelms them all.
The Knave of Diamonds tries his wily arts,

And wins (oh fhameful chance!) the Queen of Hearts.
At this, the blood the virgin's cheek forfook,
A livid palenefs fpreads o'er all her look ;
She fees, and trembles at th' approaching ill,

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Juft in the jaws of ruin, and Codille.

And now (as oft in fome diftemper'd state)
On one nice trick depends the general fate:

An

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An Ace of Hearts fteps forth: the King unfeen
Lurk'd in her hand, and mourn'd his captive Queen:
He fprings to vengeance with an eager pace,
And falls like thunder on the proftrate Ace.
The nymph, exulting, fills with fhouts the sky;
The walls, the woods, and long canals, reply.

O thoughtless mortals! ever blind to Fate,
Too foon dejected, and too foon elate.
Sudden thefe honours fhall be fnatch'd away,
And curs'd for ever this victorious day.

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For lo! the board with cups and spoons is crown'd,

The berries crackle, and the mill turns round;

On fhining altars of Japan they raise

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The filver lamp; the fiery fpirits blaze:
From filver spouts the grateful liquors glide,
While China's earth receives the fmoking 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 the fipp'd, the fuming liquor fann'd,
Some o'er her lap their careful plumes difplay'd,
Trembling, and confcious of the rich brocade.
Coffee (which makes the politician wife,
And see thro' all things with his half-shut eyes)
Sent up in vapours to the Baron's brain
New ftratagems, the radiant Lock to gain.
Ah cease, rash youth! defift ere 'tis too late;
Fear the juft gods, and think of Scylla's fate!
Chang'd to a bird, and fent to flit in air,
She dearly pays for Nifus' injur'd hair!

But when to mifchief mortals bend their will,
How foon they find fit inftruments of ili!
Just then, Clariffa drew with tempting grace
A two-edg'd weapon from her fhining cate:
So ladies, in romance, affift 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 fingers' ends:
This just behind Belinda's neck he spread,
As o'er the fragrant fteams the bends her head.

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Swift

Swift to the Lock a thousand sprites repair,

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A thoufand wings, by turns, blow back the hair;
And thrice they twitch'd the diamond in her ear;
Thrice fhe look'd back, and thrice the foe drew near.
Juft in that inftant, anxious Ariel sought
The clofe recefles of the Virgin's thought:
As on the nofegay in her breaft reclin'd,
He watch'd th' ideas rifing in her mind,
Sudden he view'd, in spite of all her art,
An earthly lover lurking at her heart.

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Amaz'd, confuf'd, he found his pow'r expir'd! 145
Refign'd to fate, and with a figh`retir'd.

The Peer now spreads the glitt'ring forfex wide,
T'inclose the Lock; now joins it to divide.
Ev'n then, before the fatal engine clos'd,
A wretched fylph too fondly interpos'd;
Fate urg'd the sheers, and cut the fylph in twain,
(But airy substance foon unites again;)
The meeting points the facred hair diffever
From the fair head, for ever, and for ever!

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Then flash'd the living lightning from her eyes,
And fcreams of horror rend th' affrighted skies.
Not louder fhrieks to pitying Heav'n are cast,
When husbands, or when lap-dogs, breathe their last;
Or when rich China veffels, fall'n from high,
In glitt'ring duft, and painted fragments lie!

Let wreaths of triumph now my temples twine,
(The victor cry'd) the glorious prize is mine!
While fish in streams, or birds delight in air,
Or in a coach and fix the British fair,
As long as Atalantis fhall be read,
Or the fmall pillow grace a lady's bed,
While vifits fhall be paid on folemn days,

When num'rous wax-lights in bright order blaze,
While nymphs take treats, or affignations give,
So long my honour, name, and praise fhall live!
What time would fpare, from fteel receives it date,
And monuments, like men, fubmit to Fate!
Steel could the labour of the gods destroy,
And ftrike to duft th' imperial tow'rs of Trey ;

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Steel

Steel could the works of mortal pride confound,

And hew triumphal arches to the ground.

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What wonder then, fair Nymph! thy hair fhould feel` The conqu'ring force of unrefifted steel?

CANTO IV.

BUT anxious cares the penfive nymph oppreft,
And fecret paffions labour'd in her breast.
Not youthful kings in battie feiz'd alive,
Not fcornful virgins who their charms furvive,
'Not ardent lovers robb'd of all their blifs,
Not ancient ladies when refus'd a kifs,
Not tyrants fierce that unrepenting die,

Not Cynthia when her mantua's pinn'd awry,
E'er felt fuch rage, refentment and despair,
As thou, fad virgin! for thy ravish'd hair.

For, that fad moment, when the fylphs withdrew, And Ariel weeping from Belinda flew, Umbriel, a duiky, melancholy fprite, As ever fully'd the fair face of light, Down to the central earth, his proper fcene, Repair'd to fearch the gloomy cave of Spleen. Swift on his footy pinions fits the gnome, And in a vapour reach'd the difmal dome. No cheerful breeze this fullen region knows, The dreaded Eaft is all the wind that blows. Here in a grotto, fhelter'd clofe from air, And fcreen'd in fhades from day's detefted glare, She fighs for ever on her penfive bed,

Pain at her fide, and Megrim at her head.

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Two handmaids wait the throne; alike in place,

But diff'ring far in figure and in face.

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Here food Ill-nature, like an ancient maid,

Her wrinkled form in black and white array'd!

With ftore of pray'rs for mornings, nights, and noons,

Her hand is fill'd; her bofom with lampoons.
There Affectation, with a fickly mien,
Shows in her cheek the rofes of eighteen,
Practis'd to lifp, and hang the head afide,
Faints into airs, and languifhes with pride,

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On