Not so, when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main.
Hear how Timotheus' varied lays surprise,
And bid alternate passions fall and rise!
While, at each change, the son of Lybian Jove
Now burns with glory, and then melts with love;
Now his fierce eyes with sparkling fury glow,
Now sighs steal out, and tears begin to flow :
Persians and Greeks like turns of nature found,
And the world's victor stood subdued by sound!
Men must be taught as if you taught them not,
And things unknown proposed as things forgot.
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
Horace still charms with graceful negligence,
And without method talks us into sense.
Thee, bold Longinus! all the Nine inspire,
And bless their critic with a poet's fire.
An ardent judge, who, zealous in his trust,
With warmth gives sentence, yet is always just;
Whose own example strengthens all his laws,
And is himself that great Sublime he draws.
ON THE FEUDS BETWEEN HANDEL AND BONONCINI.
Strange! all this difference should be
'Twixt Tweedle-dum, and Tweedle-dee !
For one who would not be buried in Westminster Abbey.
Heroes and kings your distance keep,
In peace let one poor poet sleep,
Who never flattered folks like you ;
Let Horace blush, and Virgil too.
ON THE COLLAR OF A DOG
Pope gave to his Royal Highness.
I am His Highness's dog at Kew,
Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?
From EPISTLE TO JERVAS,
[The Painter.]
Alas! how little from the grave we claim,
Thou but preserv'st a face, and I a name.
TO LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGUE.
In beauty or wit,
No mortal as yet
To question your empire has dared,
But men of discerning
Have thought that, in learning,
To yield to a lady was hard.
What dire offence from amorous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things,
I sing this verse to Caryll, Muse! is due;
This ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view;
Slight is the subject, but not so the praise,
If she inspire, and he approve my lays.
Say what strange motive, goddess! could compel
A well-bred lord to assault a gentle belle?
O say what stranger cause, yet unexplored,
Could make a gentle belle reject a lord?
In tasks so bold, can little men engage?
And in soft bosoms dwells such mighty rage?
Sol through white curtains shot a timorous ray,
And ope'd those eyes that must eclipse the day;
Now lap-dogs give themselves the rousing shake,
And sleepless lovers, just at twelve, awake;
Thrice rung the bell, the slipper knocked the ground,
And the pressed watch returned a silver sound.
Belinda still her downy pillow prest,
Her guardian Sylph prolonged the balmy rest;
'Twas he had summoned to her silent bed
The morning dream that hovered o'er her head,
A youth more glittering than a birth-night beau
(That ev'n in slumber caused her cheek to glow)
Seemed to her ear his winning lips to lay,
And thus in whispers said, or seemed to say;
"Fairest of mortals, thou distinguished care
Of thousand bright inhabitants of air!
If e'er one vision touch thy infant thought,
Of all the nurse and all the priest have taught,
Of airy elves by moonlight shadows seen,
The silver token and the circled green,
Hear and believe! thy own importance know,
Nor bound thy narrow views to things below.
Some secret truths from learned pride concealed
To maids alone and children are revealed.
What though no credit doubting wits may give,
The fair and innocent shall still believe.
Know then, unnumbered spirits round thee fly,
The light militia of the lower sky;
These, though unseen, are ever on the wing,
Hang o'er the box, and hover round the ring.
Think what an equipage thou hast in air,
And view with scorn two pages and a chair.
Of these am I, who thy protection claim,
A watchful sprite, and Ariel is my name.
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 this morning sun descend;
But Heaven reveals not what, or how, or where :
Warned by the Sylph, oh pious maid beware!
This to disclose is all thy guardian can,
Beware of all, but most beware of man!"
He said; when Shock, who thought she slept too long,
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
But all the vision vanished from thy head.
And now unveiled, the toilet stands displayed,
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;
The inferior priestess 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.
This casket India's glowing gems unlocks,
And all Arabia breathes from yonder box.
The tortoise here and elephant unite,
Transformed to combs, the speckled and the white.
Here files of pins extend their shining rows,
Puffs, powders, patches, Bibles, billet-doux.
Now awful Beauty puts on all its arms;
The fair each moment rises in her charms,
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, and those divide the hair;
Some fold the sleeve, while others plait the gown;
And Betty's praised for labours not her own.
Not with more glories in the ethereal plain,
The Sun first rises o'er the purpled main,
Than, issuing forth, the rival of his beams,
Launched on the bosom of the silver Thames.
Fair nymphs and well-dressed youths around her shone,
But every eye was fixed on her alone.
On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore,
Which Jews might kiss and infidels adore.
Her lively looks a sprightly mind disclose
Quick as her eyes, and as unfixed as those:
Favours to none, to all she smiles extends;
Oft she rejects, but never once offends.
Bright as the Sun, her eyes the gazers strike,
And, like the Sun, they shine on all alike.
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