high and low. But as they are made to be the firft mo- / vers and influencers of all that happens, it is plain they reprefent promiscuoufly the beads of parties; whom he makes to be the authors of all thofe changes in the ftate, which are generally imputed to the levity and inftability of the British nation.

This erring mortals levity may call:

Oh blind to truth! the Sylphs contrive it all.

But of this he has given us a plain demonftration; for fpeaking of these fpirits he fays in express terms,

-The chief the care of nations own,

And guard, with arms divine, the British throne.

AND here let it not feem odd, if in this myfterious way of writing we find the fame perfon, who has before been reprefented by the Baron, again defcribed in the chara&ter of Ariel; it being a common way with authors, in this fabulous manner, to take fuch a liberty. As for inftance, I have read in St Evremont, that all the different characters in Petronius are but Nero in fo many different appearances. And in the key to the curious romance of Barclay's Argenis, both Poliarchus and Archombrotus mean only the King of Navarre.

WE obferve in the very beginning of the poem, that Ariel is poffeffed of the ear of Belinda;, therefore it is abfolutely neceffary, that this perfon must be the minifter who was nearest the Queen. But whoever would be fur ther convinced, that he meant the treasurer, may know him by his enfigns in the following line:

He rais'd his azure wand.

His fitting on the maft of a vefiel fhews his prefiding over the South-fea trade. When Ariel affigns to his Sylphs all the posts about Belinda, what is more clearly defcribed than the treasurer's difpofing of all the places in the kingdom, and particularly about her Majesty? But let us hear the lines.

Ye

Ye fpirits, to your charge repair,
The flutt'ring fan be Zephyretta's care;
The drops to thee, Brillante, we confign,
And, Momentillo, let the watch be thine:
Do thou, Crifpiffa, tend her fav'rite lock.

He has here particularized the ladies and women of the bed-chamber, the keeper of the cabinet, and her Majefty's dreffer, and impudently given nick-names to each. To put this matter beyond all difpute, the Sylphs are faid to be wondrous fond of place, in the Canto following, where Arief is perched uppermof?, and all the rest take their places fubordinately under him.

HERE again I cannot but obferve the exceffive malignity of this author, who could not leave the character of Ariel without the fame invidious ftroke which he gave him in the character of the Baron before :

Amaz'd, confus'd, he faw his pow'r expir'd,
Refign'd to fate, and with a figh retir'd.

Being another prophecy that he should refign his place, which it is probable all minifters do, with a figh

Ar the head of the Gnomes he fets Umbriel, a dusky melancholy fprite, who makes it his bufinefs to give Belinda the spleen; a vile and malicious fuggeftion against fome grave and worthy minifter. The vapours, phantoms, vifions, and the like, are the jealoufies, fears, and cries of danger, that have so often affrighted and alarmed the nation. Those who are described in the house of spleen, under thofe several fantastical forms, are the fame whom their ill-willers have fo often called the whimsical.

THE two foregoing spirits being the only confiderable characters of the machinery, I fhall but just mention the Sylph, that is wounded with the fciffars at the lofs of the lock, by whom is undoubtedly understood my Lord Townfhend, who at that time received a wound in his character for making the barrier-treaty, and was cut out of his employment upon the diffolution of it: but that fpirit reunites, and receives no harm; to fignify that it came to nothing, and his Lordship had no real hurt by it.

BUT

BUT I must not conclude this head of the characters without obferving, that our author has run through every ftage of beings in fearch of topics for detraction. As he has characterized fome perfons under angels and men, fo he has others under animals and things inanimate : he has even represented an eminent clergyman as a dog, and a noted writer as a tool. Let us examine the former.

But Shock, who thought she slept too long,

Leapt up, and wak’d his mistress with his tongue.
'Twas then, Belinda, if report fay true,

Thy eyes firft open'd on a billet-doux.

By this Shock it is manifest he has most audaciously and profanely reflected on Dr. Sacheverel, who leapt up, that is, into the pulpit, and awakened Great Britain with his tongue, that is, with his fermon, which made fo much -noife, and for which he has been frequently termed by others of his enemies, as well as by this author, a dog. Or perhaps, by his tongue may be more literally meant his Speech at his trial, fince immediately thereupon, our author fays, her eyes opened on a billet-doux. Billetdoux being addreffes to ladies from lovers, may be aptly interpreted thofe addreffes of loving fubjects to her Majefty, which enfued that trial.

The other inftance is at the end of the third Canto.

Steel did the labours of the gods destroy,

And strike to duft th'imperial tow'rs of Troy.
Steel could the works of mortal pride confound,
And hew triumphal arches to the ground.

Here he moft impudently attributes the demolition of Dunkirk, not to the pleasure of her Majefty, or of her miniftry, but to the frequent inftigations of his friend Mr Steel. A very artful pun to conceal his wicked lampoonry !

HAVING now confidered the general intent and scope of the poem, and opened the characters, I fhall next difcover the malice which is covered under the episodes,' and particular paffages of it.

THE game at ombre is a myftical representation of the

late

late war, which is hinted by his making Spades the trump; Spade in Spanish fignifying a word, and being yet fo painted in the cards of that nation, to which it is well known we owe the original of our cards. In this one place indeed he has unawarespaid a compliment to the Queen and her fuccefs in the war; for Belinda gets the better of the two that play against her, viz. the kings of France and Spain.

I do not queftion but every particular card has its perfon and character affigned, which, no doubt, the author has told his friends in private; but I fhall only inftance in the description of the difgrace under which the Duke of Marlborough then fuffered, which is fo apparent in thefe verfes :

3

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 destitute of aid,

Falls undiftinguifh'd·

AND that the author here had an eye to our modern tranfactions, is very plain, from an unguarded ftroke towards the end of this game:

And now, as oft in some distemper'd state,
On one nice trick depends the gen'ral fate.

AFTER the conclufion of the war, the public rejoicings and thanksgivings are ridiculed in the two following lines:

The nymph, exulting, fills with fhouts the sky,
The walls, the woods, and long canals reply.

Immediately upon which there follows a malicious infinuation in the manner of a prophecy (which we have formerly obferved this feditious writer delights in) that the peace fhould continue but a fhort time, and that the day should afterward be curfed, which was then celebrated with fo much joy

Sudden these honours fhall be fnatch'd away,
And curs'd for ever this victorious day.

As

As the game at ombre is a fatirical representation of the late war, fo is the tea-table that enfues, of the council-table, and its confultations after the peace. By this he would hint, that all the advantages we have gained by our late extended commerce, are only coffee and tea, or things of no greater value. That he thought of the trade in this place, appears by the paffage, which represents the Sylphs particularly careful of the rich brocade; it having been a frequent complaint of our mercers, that French brocades were imported in great quantities. I will not fay he means thofe prefents of rich gold-ftuff fuits, which were faid to be made her Majefty by the King of France, though I cannot but fufpect that he glances at it.

Here this author (as well as the fcandalous John Dunton) represents the miniftry in plain terms taking frequent cups,

And frequent cups prolong the rich repast;

for it is manifeft he meant fomething more than common coffee, by his calling it

Coffee, that makes the politician wife;

and by telling us, it was this coffee, that

Sent up in vapours to the Baron's brain

New Stratagems

I fhall only further obferve, that it was at this table the lock was cut off; for where, but at the councilboard, fhould the barrier treaty be diffolved?

The enfuing contentions of the parties, upon the lofs of that treaty, are defcribed in the fquabbles following the Rape of the Lock; and this he rafhly expreffes with out any difguife,

All fide in parties

and here you have a Gentleman who finks befide the chair; a plain allufion to a noble Lord, who loft his chair of prefident of the council.

I come next to the bodkin, fo dreadful in the hand of Belinda; by which he intimates the British fceptre, fo revered in the hand of our late auguft Princess. His own

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