I saw him stand behind Ombrelia's chair,
And whisper with that soft deluding air,
And those feigned sighs which cheat the
listening fair.

CARDELIA.

Is this the cause of your romantic strains? A mightier grief my heavy heart sustains: As you by love, so I by fortune crossed; One, one bad deal, three septlevas have lost.

SMILINDA.

Is that the grief which you compare with mine? With ease the smiles of fortune I resign: Would all my gold in one bad deal were gone, Were lovely Sharper mine, and mine alone.

CARDELIA.

A lover lost, is but a common care;

And prudent nymphs against that change pre

pare:

The Knave of Clubs thrice lost; oh! who could

guess

This fatal stroke, this unforeseen distress ?

SMILINDA.

See Betty Lovet! very à propos,

She all the cares of love and play does know :
Dear Betty shall the important point decide;
Betty! who oft the pain of each has tried;
Impartial, she shall say who suffers most,
By cards' ill usage, or by lovers lost.

LOVET.

Tell, tell your griefs; attentive will I stay, Though time is precious, and I want some tea.

CARDELIA.

Behold this equipage, by Mathers wrought, With fifty guineas (a great pen'worth) bought. See, on the toothpick, Mars and Cupid strive, And both the struggling figures seem alive. Upon the bottom shines the Queen's bright face;

A myrtle foliage round the thimble-case.
Jove, Jove himself, does on the scissors shine :
The metal, and the workmanship, divine!

SMILINDA.

This snuff-box-once the pledge of Sharper's love,

When rival beauties for the present strove;
At Corticelli's he the raffle won;

Then first his passion was in public shown:
Hazardia blushed, and turned her head aside,
A rival's envy (all in vain) to hide.

This snuff-box-on the hinge see brilliants shine;

This snuff-box will I stake; the prize is mine.

CARDELIA.

Alas! far lesser losses than I bear,
Have made a soldier sigh, a lover swear.
And oh what makes the disappointment hard,
'Twas my own lord that drew the fatal card.
In complaisance I took the Queen he gave,
Though my own secret wish was for the
Knave:

The Knave won sonica, which I had chose,
And, the next pull, my septleva I lose.

SMILINDA.

But ah! what aggravates the killing smart, The cruel thought, that stabs me to the heart;

This cursed Ombrelia, this undoing fair,
By whose vile arts this heavy grief I bear;
She, at whose name I shed these spiteful tears,
She owes to me the very charms she wears.
An awkward thing, when first she came to

town;

Her shape unfashioned, and her face unknown: She was my friend; I taught her first to spread

Upon her sallow cheeks enlivening red;

I introduced her to the park and plays;
And, by my interest, Cozens made her stays.
Ungrateful wretch, with mimic airs grown
pert,

She dares to steal my favourite lover's heart.

CARDELIA.

Wretch that I was, how often have I swore, When Winnall tallied, I would punt no more! I know the bite, yet to my ruin run; And see the folly, which I cannot shun.

SMILINDA.

How many maids have Sharper's vows deceived?

How many cursed the moment they believed? Yet his known falsehoods could no warning

prove;

Ah! what is warning to a maid in love?

CARDELIA.

But of what marble must that breast be formed,

To gaze on Basset, and remain unwarmed? When Kings, Queens, Knaves, are set in decent rank;

Exposed in glorious heaps the tempting bank,

Guineas, half-guineas, all the shining train,
The winner's pleasure, and the loser's pain;
In bright confusion open rouleaux lie,

They strike the soul, and glitter in the eye.
Fired by the sight, all reason I disdain;
My passions rise, and will not bear the rein.
Look upon Basset, you who reason boast,
And see if reason must not there be lost.

SMILINDA.

What more than marble must that heart

compose,

Can hearken coldly to my Sharper's vows?
Then, when he trembles! when his blushes rise!
When awful Love seems melting in his eyes!
With eager beats his Mechlin cravat moves:
"He loves," I whisper to myself, "He loves!"
Such unfeigned passion in his looks appears,
I lose all memory of my former fears;
My panting heart confesses all his charms,
I yield at once, and sink into his arms;
Think of that moment, you who prudence
boast;

For such a moment, prudence well were lost.

CARDELIA.

At the Groom-Porter's, battered bullies play, Some dukes at Mary-bone bowl time away; But who the bowl or rattling dice compares To Basset's heavenly joys, and pleasing cares?

SMILINDA.

Soft Simplicetta dotes upon a beau; Prudina likes a man, and laughs at show. Their several graces in my Sharper meet; Strong as the footman, as the master sweet.

LOVET.

Cease your contention, which has been too long;

I grow impatient, and the tea's too strong.
Attend, and yield to what I now decide;
The equipage shall grace Smilinda's side;
The snuffbox to Cardelia I decree,

Now leave complaining, and begin your tea.

THE CHALLENGE.

A COURT BALLAD.

To the tune of "To all you Ladies now at Land," &c. [By Dorset.]

WRITTEN ANNO 1717.

I.

O one fair lady out of Court,

And two fair ladies in,

Who think the Turk1 and Pope2 a sport,

And wit and love no sin!

Come, these soft lines, with nothing stiff in,
To Bellenden, Lepell, and Griffin.3

With a fa, la, la.

II.

What passes in the dark third row,
And what behind the scene,

1 Ulric, the little Turk.-Curll.
2 The author.-Curll.

3 Ladies of the Court of Princess Caroline.-Curll. Mary Bellenden married Colonel Campbell (afterwards Duke of Argyll). Mary Lepell afterwards married Lord Hervey. Miss Griffin was sister to Lady Rich mentioned below (stanza vii.).