Others on earth o'er humane race prefide,
Watch all their ways, and all their actions guide:
Of these the chief the care of nations own,
And guard with arms divine the British throne..
Our humbler province is to tend the fair;
Not a lefs pleafing, tho' lefs glorious care.
To fave the powder from too rude a gale,
Nor let th' imprison'd effences exhale,
To draw fresh colours from the vernal flow'rs,"
Tofteal from rainbows e'er they drop in fhow'rs
A brighter wafh; to curl their waving hairs,
Affift their blushes, and infpire their airs;...
Nay oft', in dreams invention we bestow,
To change a flounce, or add a furbelo.
This day, black omens threat the brightest fair
That e'er defervid a watchful fpirit's care;
Some dire difafter, or by force, or flight;
But what, or where, the fates have wrapt in night.
Whether the nymph fhall break Diana's law,
Or fome frail China jar receive a flaw,
Or ftain her honour, or her new brocade,
Forget her pray'rs, or mifs a mafquerade,
Or lofe her heart, or necklace, at a ball; t
Or whether heav'n has doom'd that shock muft fall.
Hafte then ye fpirits! to your charge repair;
The flutt'ring fan be Zephyretta's care;
The drops to thee, Brillante, we confign;
And Momentilla, let the watch be thine;
Do thou, Crifpiffa, tend her fav'rite lock;:
Ariel himself fhall be the guard of Shock.
To fifty chofen Sylphs, of special note,
We trust th' important charge, the petticoat:
Oft' have we known that fev'nfold fence to fail.
Tho ftiff with hoops, and arm'd with ribs of whale. -
Form a ftrong line about the filver bound,
And guard the wide circumference around.
Whatever fpirit, careless of his charge,
His poft neglects, or leaves the fair at large,
Shall feel fharp vengeance foon o'ertake his fins,
Be ftopt in vials, or transfixt with pins;
Or plung'd in lakes of bitter washes lie,
Or wedg'd whole ages in a bodkin's eye:
Gums and Pomatums fhall his flight reftrain,
While clog'd he beats his filken wings in vain;
Or alom-ftypticks with contracting pow'r
Shrink his thin effence like a rivell'd flow'r:
Or as Ixion fix'd, the wretch fhall feel
The giddy motion of the whirling mill,
In fumes of burning chocolate fhall glow, -
And tremble at the fea that froths below!
He spoke; the fpirits from the fails defcend;
Some, orb in orb, around the nymph extend,
Some thrid the mazy ringlets of her hair,
Some hang upon the pendants of her ear;
With beating hearts the dire event they wait,
Anxious, and trembling for the birth of fate.
Lofe by thofe meads, for ever crown'd with flow'rs,
Where Thames with pride furveys his rifing tow'rs, There ftands a ftructure of majestic frame,
Which from the neighb'ring Hampton takes its name.
Here Britain's ftatesmen oft' the fall foredoom.
Of foreign tyrants, and of nymphs at home;
Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey,
Doft fometimes counfel take-and fometimes tea..
Hither the heroes and the nymphs refort,
To taste a while the pleasures of a court;
In various talk th' inftructive hours they past,
Who gave the ball,, or paid the vifit last:.
One speaks the glory of the British queen,
And one describes a charming Indian screen;
A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes;
At ev'ry word à reputation dies.
Snuff, or the fan fupplies each paufe of chat,
With finging, laughing, ogling, and all that.
Mean while declining from the noon of day,
The fun obliquely fhoots his burning ray
The hungry judges foon the fentence fign,
And wretches hang that jury-men 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: Strait the three bands prepare in arms to join,
Each band the number of the facred nine.
Soon as the spreads her hand, th' aerial guard
Défcend, and fit on each important card:
First Ariel perch'd upon a matadore,
Then each, according to the rank they bore;
For Sylphs, yet mindful of their ancient race,
Are, as when women, wondrous fond of place.
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