D

He first the snuff-box opened, then the case, 126 And then broke out "My Lord, why, what the devil!

Z-ds! damn the lock! 'fore Gad, you must be
civil!

Plague on't! 'tis past a jest-nay prithee, pox!
Give her the hair"-he spoke, and rapped his

• box.

130

"It grieves me much (replied the peer again)
Who speaks so well should ever speak in vain,
But by this lock, this sacred lock, I swear,1
(Which never more shall join its parted hair;
Which never more its honours shall renew, 135
Clipped from the lovely head where late it
grew)

That while my nostrils draw the vital air,
This hand, which won it, shall for ever wear.
He spoke, and speaking, in proud triumph spread
The long-contended honours of her head.
But Umbriel, hateful Gnome! forbears not
so; 2

140

He breaks the vial whence the sorrows flow.
Then see! the nymph in beauteous grief appears,
Her eyes half languishing, half drowned in
tears;

On her heaved bosom hung her drooping head,
Which, with a sigh, she raised; and thus she

146

said: "For ever cursed be this detested day, Which snatched my best, my favourite curl away!

1 In allusion to Achilles' oath in Homer, Il. i.-P. 2 These two lines are additional; and assign the cause of the different operation on the passions of the two ladies. The poem went on before without that distinction, as without any machinery, to the end of the Canto.-P.

Happy! ah ten times happy had I been,
If Hampton-Court these eyes had never seen!
Yet am not I the first mistaken maid,

By love of courts to numerous ills betrayed.
Oh had I rather unadmired remained

151

In some lone isle, or distant northern land; Where the gilt chariot never marks the way, 155 Where none learn ombre, none e'er taste bohea! There kept my charms concealed from mortal

eye,

Like roses that in deserts bloom and die. What moved my mind with youthful lords to roam ?

Oh had I stayed, and said my prayers at

home!

160

'Twas this the morning omens seemed to tell : Thrice from my trembling hand the patch-box fell;

The tottering china shook without a wind,
Nay, Poll sat mute, and Shock was most un-

kind!

166

A Sylph too warned me of the threats of Fate,
In mystic visions, now believed too late!
See the poor remnants of these slighted hairs!
My hands shall rend what ev'n thy rapine spares:
These in two sable ringlets taught to break,
Once gave new beauties to the snowy neck; 170
The sister-lock now sits uncouth, alone,
And in its fellow's fate foresees its own;
Uncurled it hangs, the fatal shears demands,
And tempts, once more, thy sacrilegious hands.
Oh hadst thou, cruel! been content to seize 175
Hairs less in sight, or any hairs but these!"

CANTO V.

SHE said: the pitying audience melt in tears;
But Fate and Jove had stopped the Baron's ears.
In vain Thalestris with reproach assails,
For who can move when fair Belinda fails?
Not half so fixed the Trojan could remain,
While Anna begged and Dido raged in vain.
Then grave Clarissa graceful waved her fan;1
Silence ensued, and thus the nymph began:

5

"Say, why are Beauties praised and honoured most,

The wise man's passion, and the vain man's toast?

10

Why decked with all that land and sea afford,
Why angels called, and angel-like adored?
Why round our coaches crowd the white-gloved
beaux ?

Why bows the side-box from its inmost rows?
How vain are all these glories, all our pains, 15.
Unless good sense preserve what beauty gains;
That men may say, when we the front-box grace,
'Behold the first in virtue as in face!?
Oh! if to dance all night, and dress all day,
Charmed the small-pox, or chased old age

away;

20

Who would not scorn what housewife's cares produce,

Or who would learn one earthly thing of use ?
To patch, nay ogle, might become a saint,
Nor could it sure be such a sin to paint.

A new character introduced in the subsequent editions, to open more clearly the moral of the poem, in a parody of the speech of Sarpedon to Glaucus in Homer.-P. The lines from verse 7 to 36 were added in the 1717 edition of the Works.

S

But since, alas! frail beauty must decay, 25 Curled or uncurled, since locks will turn to

grey;

Since painted, or not painted, all shall fade, And she who scorns a man, must die a maid; What then remains, but well our power to use, And keep good-humour still, whate'er we lose? And trust me, dear! good-humour can prevail, 31 When airs, and flights, and screams, and scolding fail.

Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll; Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul."

So spoke the dame, but no applause ensued ;1 Belinda frowned, Thalestris called her prude. 36 "To arms, to arms!" the fierce virago cries, And swift as lightning to the combat flies.2 All side in parties, and begin the attack: Fans clap, silks rustle, and tough whalebones crack;

1

40:

Heroes' and heroines' shouts confusedly rise,
And bass and treble voices strike the skies.
No common weapons in their hands are found,
Like gods they fight, nor dread a mortal wound.
So when bold Homer makes the gods en-
gage,3
And heavenly breasts with human passions rage;
'Gainst Pallas, Mars; Latona, Hermes arms;
And all Olympus rings with loud alarms:

45

1 It is a verse frequently repeated in Homer after any speech:

"-So spoke and all the heroes applauded.”—P. 2 From hence the first edition goes on to the conclusion, except a very few short insertions added to keep the machinery in view to the end of the poem. -P.

3 Homer, Il. xx.—P.

Jove's thunder roars, heaven trembles all around,

Blue Neptune storms, the bellowing deeps re

sound:

50

Earth shakes her nodding towers, the ground

gives way,

1

And the pale ghosts start at the flash of day! Triumphant Umbriel on a sconce's height Clapped his glad wings, and sate to view the

eyes,

60

And scatters death around from both her A beau and witling perished in the throng, One died in metaphor, and one in song. "O cruel nymph! a living death I bear,' Cried Dapperwit, and sunk beside his chair. A mournful glance Sir Fopling upwards cast, "Those eyes are made so killing " -was his last.2 Thus on Mæander's flowery margin lies 3 The expiring swan, and as he sings he dies. When bold Sir Plume had drawn Clarissa

down,

65

Chloe stepped in, and killed him with a frown;

1 These four lines added, for the reason before mentioned. Minerva, in like manner, during the battle of Ulysses with the suitors in the Odyssey, perches on a beam of the roof to behold it.-P.

2 The words of a song in the Opera of "Camilla." -P.

3 "Sic ubi fata vocant, udis abjectus in herbis, Ad vada Mæandri concinit albus olor." Ov. Ep.-P.