The pow'rs gave ear, and granted half his pray'r, The reft, the winds difpers'd in empty air.

46

50

But now fecure the painted veffel glides, The fun-beams trembling on the floating tides : While melting music steals upon the sky, And foften'd founds along the waters die ; Smooth flow the waves, the Zephyrs gently play, Belinda fmil'd, and all the world was gay. All but the Sylph-with careful thoughts oppreft, Th' impending woe fat heavy on his breast. He fummons ftrait his Denizens of air; The lucid fquadrons round the fails repair; Soft o'er the fhrouds aërial whispers breathe, That seem'd but Zephyrs to the train beneath. Some to the fun their infect-wings unfold, Waft on the breeze, or fink in clouds of gold; Transparent forms, too fine for mortal fight, Their fluid bodies half diffolv'd in light. Loose to the wind their airy garments flew, Thin glitt'ring textures of the filmy dew, Dipt in the richest tincture of the skies, Where light difports in ever-mingling dyes, While ev'ry beam new tranfient colours flings, Colours that change whene'er they wave their wings. Amid the circle, on the gilded mast, Superior by the head, was Ariel plac'd ; ·

His purple pinions op'ning to the fun,

He rais'd his azure wand, and thus begun.

61

65

7༠

IMITATIONS.

VER. 45. The pow'rs gave ear,] Virg. Æn. xi.

5

Ye

Ye Sylphs and Sylphids, to your chief give ear, Fays, Fairies, Genii, Elves, and Dæmons hear! Ye know the fpheres and various tasks affign'd By laws eternal to th' aërial kind.

Some in the fields of purest Æther play,

And bask and whiten in the blaze of day.

75

Some guide the courfe of wand'ring orbs on high,
Or roll the planets thro' the boundless sky. 80
Some lefs refin'd, beneath the moon's pale light
Pursue the stars that shoot athwart the night,
Or fuck the mifts in groffer air below,
Or dip their pinions in the painted bow,

Or brew fierce tempefts on the wintry main,

85

Or o'er the glebe diftil the kindly rain.
Others on earth o'er human 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 ;

91

To draw fresh colours from the vernal flow'rs; 95
To fteal from rainbows e'er they drop in show'rs
A brighter wash; 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 Furbelow.

100

This day, black Omens threat the brightest Fair That e'er deferv'd a watchful fpirit's care; Some dire difafter, or by force, or flight;

But what, or where, the fates have wrapt in night.

Whether

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 miss a masquerade;
Or lose her heart, or necklace at a ball;

105

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.

715

121

To fifty chofen Sylphs, of special note, We trust th' important charge, the Petticoat: Oft have we known that seven-fold fence to fail, Tho' stiff with hoops, and arm'd with ribs of whale; Form a strong line about the filver bound, And guard the wide circumference around. Whatever spirit, carelefs of his charge, His poft neglects, or leaves the fair at large, Shall feel sharp vengeance foon o'ertake his fins, Be ftop'd in vials, or transfix'd with pins ; Or plung'd in lakes of bitter washes lie, Or wedg'd whole ages in a bodkin's eye:

VER. 119.

IMITATIONS.

126

Gums

clypei dominus feptemplicis Ajax. Ovid. VER. 121. about the filver bound] In allufion to the fhield of Achilles,

Thus the broad field complete the Artift crown'd,
With his laft band, and pour'd the Ocean round:
In living Silver feem'd the waves to roil,

And beat the Buckler's verge, and bound the whole.

Gums and Pomatums fhall his flight reftrain,
While clog'd he beats his filken wings in vain ;
Or Alum ftyptics with contracting pow'r
Shrink his thin effence like a rivel'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 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;
With beating hearts the dire event they wait,
Anxious, and trembling for the birth of Fate.

131

135

140

THE

THE

RAPE of the LOCK.

CANTO III.

LOSE by thofe meads, for ever crown'd with flow'rs,

CLOSE

Where Thames with pride furveys his rifing tow'rs,
There ftands a structure of majestic frame,
Which from the neighb'ring Hampton takes its

name..

5

ΤΟ

Here Britain's statesmen oft the fall foredoom
Of foreign Tyrants, and of Nymphs at home;
Here thou, great ANNA! whom three realms obey,
Doft fometimes counsel take-and fometimes Tea,
Hither the heroes and the nymphs refort,
To taste awhile the pleasures of a Court;
In various talk th' instructive hours they past,
Who gave the ball, or paid the vifit laft;
One speaks the glory of the British Queen,
And one describes a charming Indian screen;
A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes; 15
At ev'ry word a reputation dies.

VARIATIONS.

P.

VER. 1. Clofe by thofe meads,] The firft Edition continues from this line to v. 24. of this Canto. VER. 11, 12. Originally in the firft Edition,

In various talk the chearful hours they past,
Of, who was bit, or who capotted last.
L

VOL. I.

P.

Snuff,