55

Her joy in gilded chariots, when alive,
And love of ombre,' after death survive.
For when the fair in all their pride expire,
To their first elements their souls retire:
The sprites of fiery termagants in flame
Mount up, and take a salamander's name. 60
Soft yielding minds to water glide away,
And sip, with nymphs, their elemental tea.
The graver prude sinks downward to a gnome,
In search of mischief still on earth to roam.
The light coquettes in sylphs aloft repair, 65
And sport and flutter in the fields of air.

"Know further yet: whoever fair and chaste Rejects mankind, is by some sylph embraced; For spirits, freed from mortal laws, with ease Assume what sexes and what shapes they please.

70

What guards the purity of melting maids,
In courtly balls, and midnight masquerades,
Safe from the treacherous friend, the daring
spark,2

The glance by day, the whisper in the dark, When kind occasion prompts their warm desires,

75 When music softens, and when dancing fires? 'Tis but their sylph, the wise celestials know, Though honour is the word with men below. Some nymphs there are, too conscious of their face,3

For life predestined to the gnomes' embrace. These swell their prospects and exalt their

Teach infant cheeks a bidden blush to know, And little hearts to flutter at a beau.

90

"Oft when the world imagine women stray, The sylphs through mystic mazes guide their way,

Through all the giddy circle they pursue,

And old impertinence expel by new.
What tender maid but must a victim fall 95
To one man's treat, but for another's ball?
When Florio speaks, what virgin could with-
stand,

If gentle Damon did not squeeze her hand?
With varying vanities, from every part,
They shift the moving toyshop of their heart;
Where wigs with wigs, with sword-knots
sword-knots strive,

ΙΟΙ

Beaux banish beaux, and coaches coaches drive.
This erring mortals levity may call;
Oh, blind to truth! the sylphs contrive it all.

"Of these am I, who thy protection claim,
A watchful sprite, and Ariel is my name. 106
Late, as I ranged the crystal wilds of air,
In the clear mirror of thy ruling star
I saw,.alas! some dread event impend,
Ere to the main 1 this morning sun descend,
But Heaven reveals not what, or how, or
where.
Warned by the sylph, O pious maid, beware!
This to disclose is all thy guardian can:
Beware of all, but most beware of man!"

III

He said; when Shock, who thought she slept too long,

115

Leaped up, and waked his mistress with his tongue.

'Twas then, Belinda, if report say true, Thy eyes first opened on a billet-doux; Wounds, charms, and ardours were no sooner

read,

But all the vision vanished from thy head. And now, unveiled, the toilet stands displayed,

121

125

Each silver vase in mystic order laid.
First, robed in white, the nymph intent adores,
With head uncovered, the cosmetic powers.
A heavenly image in the glass appears,
To that she bends, to that her eyes she rears;
Th' inferior priestess,2 at her altar's side,
Trembling begins the sacred rites of pride.
Unnumbered treasures ope at once, and here
The various offerings of the world appear;
From each she nicely culls with curious toil,
And decks the goddess with the glittering
spoil.
132

1 the ocean 2 her maid

'This casket India's glowing gems unlocks,
And all Arabia breathes from yonder box.
The tortoise here and elephant unite,
135
Transformed to combs, the speckled, and the
white.

Here files of pins extend their shining rows,
Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billets-doux
Now awful beauty puts on all its arms;
The fair each moment rises in her charms, 140
Repairs her smiles, awakens every grace,
And calls forth all the wonders of her face;
Sees by degrees a purer blush arise,
And keener lightnings quicken in her eyes.
The busy sylphs surround their darling care,
These set the head,1 and those divide the hair,
Some fold the sleeve, whilst others plait the
gown;

147

31

He saw, he wished, and to the prize aspired.
Resolved to win, he meditates the way,
By force to ravish, or by fraud betray;
For when success a lover's toil attends,
Few ask, if fraud or force attained his ends.

For this, ere Phoebus rose, he had implored
Propitious Heaven, and every power adored,
But chiefly Love; to Love an altar built,
Of twelve vast French romances, neatly gilt.
There lay three garters, half a pair of gloves,
And all the trophies of his former loves;
With tender billets-doux he lights the pyre,
And breathes three amorous sighs to raise the
fire.

40

[But now secure the painted vessel glides, The sunbeams trembling on the floating tides;

While melting music steals upon the sky,
And softened sounds along the waters die; 50
Smooth flow the waves, the zephyrs gently
play,

Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay.
All but the sylph—with careful thoughts
oppressed,

Th' impending woe sat heavy on his breast. He summons straight his denizens of air; 55 The lucid squadrons round the sails repair; Soft o'er the shrouds aërial whispers breathe, That seemed but zephyrs to the train beneath. Some to the sun their insect wings unfold, Waft on the breeze, or sink in clouds of gold; Transparent forms, too fine for mortal sight, Their fluid bodies half dissolved in light. Loose to the wind their airy garments flew, Thin glittering textures of the filmy dew, Dipt in the richest tincture of the skies, Where light disports in ever-mingling dyes, While every beam new transient colours flings,

65

Colours that change whene'er they wave their wings.

Amid the circle, on the gilded mast,

1 Lord Petre 2 Here begins the second addition to the original version.

Pursue the stars that shoot athwart the night,

86

Or suck the mists in grosser air below,
Or dip their pinions in the painted bow,
Or brew fierce tempests on the wintry main,
Or o'er the glebe distil the kindly rain;
Others on earth o'er human race preside,
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 less pleasing, though less glorious care; To save the powder from too rude a gale, Nor let th' imprisoned essences exhale; To draw fresh colours from the vernal flowers; To steal from rainbows, ere they drop in showers, 96 A brighter wash; to curl their waving hairs, Assist their blushes, and inspire their airs; Nay, oft in dreams, invention we bestow, To change a flounce, or add a furbelow. "This day, black omens threat the brightest fair

100

"Whatever spirit, careless of his charge, His post neglects, or leaves the fair at large, Shall feel sharp vengeance soon o'ertake his sins,

125

Be stopped in vials, or transfixed with pins;
Or plunged in lakes of bitter washes lie,
Or wedged whole ages in a bodkin's eye;
Gums and pomatums shall his flight restrain,
While clogged he beats his silken wings in
vain;
130

Or alum styptics with contracting power
Shrink his thin essence like a rivelled 2 flower;
Or, as Ixion fixed, the wretch shall feel
The giddy motion of the whirling mill,3
In fumes of burning chocolate shall glow, 135
And tremble at the sea that froths below!"

He spoke; the spirits from the sails descend;

Some, orb in orb, around the nymph extend; Some thrid the mazy ringlets of her hair;

Some hang upon the pendants of her ear; 140 With beating hearts the dire event they wait, Anxious, and trembling for the birth of fate.]*

Snuff, or the fan, supply each pause of chat, With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that.

Meanwhile, declining from the noon of day, The sun obliquely shoots his burning ray; 20 The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, 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, 25 Burns to encounter two adventurous knights, At ombre singly to decide their doom; And swells her breast with conquests yet to

come.

Straight the three bands prepare in arms to join,

Each band the number of the sacred nine.3 30
Soon as she spreads her hand, th' aërial guard
Descend, and sit on each important card:
First, Ariel perched 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.
Behold, four kings in majesty revered,
With hoary whiskers and a forky beard;
And four fair queens whose hands sustain a
flower,

The expressive emblem of their softer power;
Four knaves in garbs succinct, a trusty band,
Caps on their heads, and halberts in their
hand;

42

56

As many more Manillio1 forced to yield
And marched a victor from the verdant field.
Him Basto 2 followed, but his fate more hard
Gained but one trump and one plebeian card.
With his broad sabre next, a chief in years,
The hoary majesty of spades appears,
Puts forth one manly leg, to sight revealed,
The rest, his many-coloured robe concealed.
The rebel knave, who dares his prince engage,
Proves the just victim of his royal rage. 60
E'en mighty Pam,3 that kings and queens o'er-
threw,

And mowed down armies in the fights of Loo,
Sad chance of war! now destitute of aid,
Falls undistinguished by the victor spade!

Thus far both armies to Belinda yield; 65 Now to the baron fate inclines the field. His warlike Amazon her host invades, The imperial consort of the crown of spades; The club's black tyrant first her victim died, Spite of his haughty mien, and barbarous pride.

70

What boots the regal circle on his head,
His giant limbs, in state unwieldy spread;
That long behind he trails his pompous robe,
And, of all monarchs, only grasps the globe?

The baron now his diamonds pours apace; Th' embroidered king who shows but half his face, 76 And his refulgent queen, with powers combined,

Of broken troops an easy conquest find.
Clubs, diamonds, hearts, in wild disorder seen,
With throngs promiscuous strew the level
green."

80

Thus when dispersed a routed army runs,
Of Asia's troops, and Afric's sable sons,
With like confusion different nations fly,
Of various habit, and of various dye,
The pierced battalions disunited fall,
In heaps on heaps; one fate o'erwhelms them
all.

85

The knave of diamonds tries his wily arts, And wins (oh shameful chance!) the queen of hearts.

At this the blood the virgin's cheek forsook, A livid paleness spreads o'er all her look; 99 She sees, and trembles at th' approaching ill, Just in the jaws of ruin, and codille."

1 deuce of spades, the next highest 2ace of clubs, third trump. These three are called "matadores." 3 knave of clubs another game, in which Pam is the highest card the card table a term signifying the defeat of the single player

105

For lo! the board with cups and spoons is crowned, The berries2 crackle, and the mill turns round; On shining altars of Japan 3 they raise The silver lamp; the fiery spirits blaze: From silver spouts the grateful liquors glide, While China's earth receives the smoking tide: At once they gratify their scent and taste, III And frequent cups prolong the rich repast. Straight hover round the fair her airy band; Some, as she sipped, the fuming liquor fanned, Some o'er her lap their careful plumes displayed,

115

Trembling, and conscious of the rich brocade.
Coffee (which makes the politician wise,
And see through all things with his half-shut
eyes)

Sent up in vapours to the baron's brain

5

New stratagems the radiant lock to gain. 120
Ah, cease, rash youth! desist ere 'tis too late,
Fear the just gods, and think of Scylla's fate!
Changed to a bird, and sent to flit in air,
She dearly pays for Nisus' injured hair!
But when to mischief mortals bend their
will,
125
How soon they find fit instruments of ill!
Just then Clarissa drew with tempting grace
A two-edged weapon from her shining case:
So ladies in romance assist their knight, 129
Present the spear, and arm him for the fight.
He takes the gift with reverence, and extends
The little engine on his fingers' ends;
This just behind Belinda's neck he spread,
As o'er the fragrant steams she bends her
head.

[Swift to the lock a thousand sprites repair, A thousand wings, by turns, blow back the hair;

3

135

1 Here ends the third addition. 2 coffee-berries japanned tables porcelain 5 Cf. Gayley, p. 6 Here begins the fourth addition.

219.

And thrice they twitched the diamond in her ear;

Thrice she looked back, and thrice the foe drew near.

Just in that instant, anxious Ariel sought
The close recesses of the virgin's thought; 140
As on the nosegay in her breast reclined,
He watched th' ideas rising in her mind,
Sudden he viewed, in spite of all her art,
An earthly lover lurking at her heart.
Amazed, confused, he found his power ex-
pired,
145
Resigned to fate, and with a sigh retired.]1
The peer now spreads the glittering forfex2
wide,

T' inclose the lock; now joins it, to divide.
3 [E'en then, before the fatal engine closed,
A wretched sylph too fondly interposed; 150
Fate urged the shears, and cut the sylph in
twain,

(But airy substance soon unites again).]1 The meeting points the sacred hair dissever From the fair head, forever, and forever!

Then flashed the living lightning from her eyes, 155 And screams of horror rend th' affrighted skies.

Not louder shricks to pitying Heaven are cast, When husbands, or when lap-dogs breathe their last;

Or when rich China vessels, fallen from high, In glittering dust and painted fragments lie! "Let wreaths of triumph now my temples