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Book. Ver.

Snow-balls, coachmen pelted with them
Schoolboys, mischievous in frosty weather

ii, 329

ii, 331

Sempstress, the description of her in a

frosty morning

ii, 337

Saturday, by what observations to know it ii, 422

Spring, the cries then in use

ii, 428

Streets formerly noblemen's houses

ii, 491

Sempstress, advice to her

ii, 341

Swords, silver, lure thieves

iii, 53

Street, how to cross it.

iii, 165

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Trivia, the goddess of streets and high-ways,

invoked

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Tea-drinkers, a necessary caution to them ii, 296

Thames, coaches driven over it

ii, 365

Thaw, the description of one

ii, 400

Thursday, by what observations to

know it

ii, 408

Titian

ii, 486

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i, 125

Waterman, judicious in the weather
Winds whistling, what they foretel
Wall, to whom to be given

i, 163

i, 169

ii, 45

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Yeoman, a dreadful story of one

iii, 285

THE FAN.

A POEM.

IN THREE BOOKS,

ενθα δε θελκληρια παντα τελυκλο
Ενθα εν μεν φιλοτης, εν δ' ίμερος, εν δ' οαρισυς,
Παρφασις ήτ' εκλεψε νοον πυκα περ φρονεοντων·
Τον ῥα οι εμβαλε χερσιν.

HOM. IL. 14.

BOOK I.

I SING that graceful toy, whose waving play
With gentle gales relieves the sultry day:
Not the wide Fan by Persian dames display'd,
Which o'er their beauty casts a grateful shade,
Nor that long known in China's artful land,
Which, while it cools the face, fatigues the hand:
Nor shall the Muse in Asian climates rove,
To seek in Indostan some spicy grove,
Where stretch'd at ease the panting lady lies,
To shun the fervour of meridian skies,
While sweating slaves catch every breeze of air,
And with wide-spreading Fans refresh the fair;
No busy gnats her pleasing dreams molest,
Inflame her cheek, or ravage o'er her breast,
But artificial zephyrs round her fly,
And mitigate the fever of the sky.

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Nor shall Bermudas long the Muse detain, (Whose fragrant forests bloom in Waller's strain,) Where breathing sweets from every field ascend, And the wild woods with golden apples bend; 20

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Yet let me in some odorous shade repose,
Whilst in my verse the fair palmetto grows;
Like the tall pine it shoots its stately head,
From the broad top depending branches spread;
No knotty limbs the taper body bears,
Hung on each bough a single leaf appears,
Which shrivell'd in its infancy remains,

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Like a clos'd Fan, nor stretches wide its veins;

But as the seasons in their circle run,
Opes its rib'd surface to the nearer sun :
Beneath this shade the weary peasant lies,
Plucks the broad leaf, and bids the breezes rise.

30

Stay, wandering Muse! nor rove in foreign climes; To thy own native shore confine thy rhymes. Assist, ye Nine! your loftiest notes employ, Say what celestial skill contriv'd the toy; Say how this instrument of love began, And in immortal strains display the Fan.

35

Strephon had long confess'd his amorous pain, Which gay Corinna rallied with disdain : Sometimes in broken words he sigh'd his care, Look'd pale, and trembled, when he view'd the fair : With bolder freedoms now the youth advanc'd, He dress'd, he laugh'd, he sung, he rhym'd, he danc'd: Now call'd more powerful presents to his aid, And, to seduce the mistress, brib'd the maid : Smooth flattery in her softer hours applied, The surest charm to bend the force of pride; But still unmov'd remains the scornful dame, Insults her captive, and derides his flame. When Strephon saw his vows dispers'd in air, He sought in solitude to lose his care;

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Relief in solitude he sought in vain,

It serv'd, like music, but to feed his pains

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