Chang'd to a bird, and fent to flit in air,
She dearly pays for Nifus' injur'd hair!
124
But when to mischief mortals bend their will,
How foon they find fit inftruments of ill?
Juft then, Clariffa drew with tempting grace
A two-edg'd weapon from her fhining cafe:
So Ladies in Romance affift their Knight,
Prefent the fpear, and arm him for the fight.
He takes the gift with rev'rence, and extends
The little engine on his finger's ends;
This juft behind Belinda's neck he spread,
As o'er the fragrant fteams fhe bends her head.
Swift to the Lock a thousand Sprites repair,
A thousand wings, by turns, blow back the hair;
And thrice they twitch'd the diamond in her ear;
Thrice fhe look'd back, and thrice the foe drew
Juft in that inftant, anxious Ariel fought
The clofe receffes of the Virgin's thought;
As on the nofegay in her breaft reclin'd,
He watch'd th' Ideas rifing in her mind,
Sudden he view'd, in fpite of all her art,
An earthly Lover lurking at her heart.
Amaz'd, confus'd, he found his pow'r expir'd,
Refign'd to fate, and with a sigh retir❜d.
VER. 134. In the firft Edition it was thus,
As o'er the fragrant fteam fhe bends her head.
First he expands the glitt'ring forfex wide
T' inclofe the Lock; then joins it to divide :
The meeting points the facred hair diffever,
From the fair head, for ever and for ever.
All that is between was added afterwards.
The Peer now spreads the glitt'ring Forfex wide, 'T" inclose the Lock; now joins it, to divide. Ev'n then, before the fatal engine clos'd, A wretched Sylph too fondly interpos'd;
Fate urg'd the sheers, and cut the Sylph in twain, (But airy fubftance foon unites again)
The meeting points the facred hair diffever
From the fair head, for ever, and for ever!
Then flash'd the living lightning from her eyes,
And screams of horror rend th' affrighted skies.
Not louder fhrieks to pitying heav'n are cast,
When husbands, or when lapdogs breathe their last;
Or when rich China veffels fall'n from high,
In glitt'ring duft, and painted fragments lie! 160
Let wreaths of triumph now my temples twine,
(The Victor cry'd) the glorious Prize is mine!
While fish in ftreams, or birds delight in air,
Or in a coach and fix the British Fair,
As long as Atalantis fhall be read,
Or the small pillow grace a Lady's bed,
While vifits shall be paid on folemn days,
When num'rous wax-lights in bright order blaze, While nymphs take treats, or affignations give, 169 So long my honour, name, and praise fhall live!
What VER. 152. But airy fubftance] See Milton, lib. vi. of Satan cut afunder by the Angel Michael.
VER. 165. Atalantis] A famous book written about that time by a woman: full of Court, and Party-scandal ; and in a loose effeminacy of ftyle and fentiment, which well fuited the debauched taste of the better Vulgar.
Dum juga montis aper, fluvios dum piscis amabit,
Semper honos, nomenque tuum laudefque manebunt.
What Time would fpare, from Steel receives its
And monuments, like men, fubmit to fate!
Steel could the labour of the Gods destroy,
And strike to duft th' imperial tow'rs of Troy;
Steel could the works of mortal pride confound,
And hew triumphal arches to the ground.
176 What wonder then, fair nymph! thy hairs fhould feel,
The conqu❜ring force of unrefifted steel?
Ille quoque everfus mons eft, etc.
Quid faciant crines, cum ferro talia cedant ?
Catull. de com. Berenices.
UT anxious cares the penfive nymph opprefs'd,
And secret paffions labour'd in her breast,
Not youthful kings in battle feiz'd alive,
Not fcornful virgins who their charms survive,
Not ardent lovers robb'd of all their blifs,
Not ancient ladies when refus'd a kifs,
Not tyrants fierce that unrepenting die,
Not Cynthia when her manteau's pinn'd awry,
E'er felt fuch rage, refentment, and despair,
As thou, fad Virgin! for thy ravish'd Hair.
For, that fad moment, when the Sylphs withdrew,
And Ariel weeping from Belinda flew,
VER. 11. Fer that fad moment, etc.] All the lines from hence to the 94th verfe that defcribe the house of Spleen are not in the first Edition; inftead of them followed only thefe,
While her rack'd Soul repofe and peace requires, The fierce Thaleftris fans the rifing fires. And continued at the 94th Verse of this Canto.
VER. 1. Virg. Æn. iv. At regina gravi, etc.
Umbriel, a dusky, melancholy sprite,
As ever fully'd the fair face of light,
Down to the central earth, his proper fcene,
Repair'd to search the gloomy Cave of Spleen.
Swift on his footy pinions flits the Gnome,
And in a vapour reach'd the dismal dome.
No chearful breeze this fullen region knows,
The dreaded Eaft is all the wind that blows.
Here in a grotto, fhelter'd clofe from air,
And screen'd in fhades from day's detefted glare,
She fighs for ever on her penfive bed,
Pain at her fide, and Megrim at her head.
Two handmaids wait the throne: alike in place, But diff'ring far in figure and in face.
Here ftood Ill-nature like an ancient maid,
Her wrinkled form in black and white array'd;
With ftore of pray'rs, for mornings, nights, and
Her hand is fill'd; her bofom with lampoons. 30
There Affectation, with a fickly mien,
Shows in her cheek the roses of eighteen,
Practis'd to lifp, and hang the head afide,
Faints into airs, and languishes with pride,
On the rich quilt finks with becoming woe,
Wrapt in a gown, for fickness, and for show.
The fair-ones feel fuch maladies as thefe,
When each new night-drefs gives a new disease.
A conftant Vapour o'er the palace flies;
Strange phantoms rifing as the mifts arise;
Dreadful, as hermit's dreams in haunted fhades,
Or bright, as vifions of expiring maids,
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