There lay three garters, half a pair of gloves, 40 And all the trophies of his former loves; With tender billets-doux he lights the pyre, And breathes three am'rous sighs to raise the fire. Then prostrate falls, and begs with ardent eyes Soon to obtain, and long possess the prize:

45 The pow'rs gave ear, and granted half his pray'r, The rest, the winds dispersed in empty air.

But now secure the painted vessel glides,
The sun-beams trembling on the floating tides:
While melting music steals upon the sky,
50 And softened sounds along the waters die;
Smooth flow the waves, the zephyrs gently play,
Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay.

All but the sylph — with careful thoughts oppressed,
Th' impending woe sat heavy on his breast.
55 He summons straight his denizens of air;
The lucid squadrons round the sails repair:
Soft o'er the shrouds aërial whispers breathe,
That seemed but zephyrs to the train beneath.
Some to the sun their insect-wings unfold,
60 Waft on the breeze, or sink in clouds of gold;
Transparent forms, too fine for mortal sight,
Their fluid bodies half dissolved in light,
Loose to the wind their airy garments flew,
Thin glitt'ring textures of the filmy dew,
65 Dipped in the richest tincture of the skies,
Where light disports in ever-mingling dyes;

While ev'ry beam new transient colours flings,
Colours that change whene'er they wave their wings.

Amid the circle, on the gilded mast,

Superior by the head, was Ariel placed;
His purple pinions opening to the sun,

He raised his azure wand, and thus begun.

"Ye sylphs and sylphids, to your chief give ear! Fays, fairies, genii, elves, and demons, hear!

70

Ye know the spheres, and various tasks assigned
By laws eternal to th' aërial kind.

75

Some in the fields of purest ether play,

And bask and whiten in the blaze of day.

Some guide the course of wand'ring orbs on high,
Or roll the planets through the boundless sky.
Some less refined, beneath the moon's pale light
Pursue the stars that shoot athwart the night,
Or suck the mists in grosser air below,

Or dip their pinions in the painted bow,

80

Or brew fierce tempests on the wintry main,

85

Or o'er the glebe distil the kindly rain.
Others on earth o'er human race preside,
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 less pleasing, though less glorious care;
To save the powder from too rude a gale,
Nor let th' imprisoned essences exhale;

90

95 To draw fresh colours from the vernal flow'rs;
To steal from rainbows ere they drop in show'rs
A brighter wash; to curl their waving hairs,
Assist their blushes, and inspire their airs;
Nay oft, in dreams, invention we bestow,
100 To change a flounce, or add a furbelow.

"This day, black omens threat the brightest fair That e'er deserved a watchful spirit's care;

Some dire disaster, or by force, or slight;

But what, or where, the fates have wrapped in night. 105 Whether the nymph shall break Diana's law,

Or some frail china jar receive a flaw;
Or stain her honour, or her new brocade;
Forget her pray'rs, or miss a masquerade;

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

110 Or whether heav'n has doomed that Shock must fall. Haste then, ye spirits! to your charge repair: The flutt'ring fan be Zephyretta's care; The drops to thee, Brillante, we consign; And, Momentilla, let the watch be thine; 115 Do thou, Crispissa, tend her fav'rite lock; Ariel himself shall be the guard of Shock.

"Whatever spirit, careless of his charge,

His post neglects, or leaves the fair at large, 125 Shall feel sharp vengeance soon o'ertake his sins, Be stopped in vials, or transfixed with pins;

Or plunged in lakes of bitter washes lie,

Or wedged, whole ages, in a bodkin's eye:
Gums and pomatums shall his flight restrain,
While clogged he beats his silken wings in vain;
Or alum styptics with contracting pow'r
Shrink his thin essence like a rivelled flow'r:
Or, as Ixion fixed, the wretch shall feel
The giddy motion of the whirling mill,
In fumes of burning chocolate shall glow,
And tremble at the sea that froths below!"

He spoke; the spirits from the sails 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 events they wait,
Anxious, and trembling for the birth of fate.

130

135

140

CANTO III

Close by those meads, for ever crowned with flow'rs,
Where Thames with pride surveys his rising tow'rs,
There stands a structure of majestic frame,
Which from the neighb'ring Hampton takes its name.
Here Britain's statesmen oft the fall foredoom

Of foreign tyrants, and of nymphs at home;
Here thou, great ANNA! whom three realms obey,
Dost sometimes counsel take and sometimes tea.

Hither the heroes and the nymphs resort,

To taste awhile the pleasures of a court;

5

ΙΟ

In various talk th' instructive hours they passed,
Who gave the ball, or paid the visit last;

One speaks the glory of the British Queen,
And one describes a charming Indian screen;
15 A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes;
At ev'ry word a reputation dies.

20

Snuff, or the fan, supply each pause of chat, With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that. Meanwhile, declining from the noon of day, The sun obliquely shoots his burning ray; The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, And wretches hang that jury-men may dine; The merchant from th' Exchange returns in peace, And the long labours of the toilet cease. 25 Belinda now, whom thirst of fame invites, Burns to encounter two advent 'rous knights, At ombre singly to decide their doom;

100

105

And swells her breast with conquests yet to come.

The nymph exulting fills with shouts the sky;

The walls, the woods, and long canals reply.

Oh thoughtless mortals! ever blind to fate,

Too soon dejected, and too soon elate.

Sudden these honours shall be snatched away,
And cursed for ever this victorious day,

For lo! the board with cups and spoons is crowned, The berries crackle, and the mill turns round;

On shining altars of japan they raise