Conftr'ing the paffion fhe had shown,
Much to her praise, more to his own.
Nature in him had merit plac'd,
In her a moft judicious taste.
Love, hitherto a transient guest,
Ne'er held poffeffion in his breast;
So long attending at the gate,
Difdain'd to enter in fo late.
Love why do we one paffion call,
When 'tis a compound of them all?
He has a forfeiture incurr'd;
She vows to take him at his word,
And hopes he will not think it strange,
If both fhou'd now their stations change.
The nymph will have her turn to be
The tutor; and the pupil, he:
Though fhe already can difcern,
Her scholar is not apt to learn;
Or wants capacity to reach
The science the defigns to teach;
Wherein his genius was below
The skill of every common beau ;
Who, though he cannot fpell, is wife
Enough to read a lady's eyes,
And will each accidental glance
Interpret for a kind advance.
But what fuccefs Vanessa met,
Is to the world a secret yet.
Whether the nymph, to please her swain,
Talks in a high romantick ftrain;
Or whether he at last descends
To like with less feraphick ends;
Or, to compound the bus'nefs, whether
They temper love and books together;
Muft never to mankind be told,
Nor fhall the conscious muse unfold.
Mean time the mournful queen of love
Led but a weary life above.
She ventures now to leave the skies,
Grown by Vaneffa's conduct wife :
For, though by one perverse event
Pallas had crofs'd her firft intent,
Though her defign was not obtain'd,
Yet had the much experience gain'd.
And by the project vainly try'd
Could better now the caufe decide.
She gave due notice, that both parties
Coram regina prox' die Martis
Shou'd at their peril without fail
Come and appear, and fave their bail.
The event of Vaneja's fuit is judiciously omitted, as fo
reign to the plan and defign of the poem.
All met; and, filence thrice proclaim'd,
One lawyer to each fide was nam'd.
The judge difcover'd in her face
Refentments for her late difgrace;
And, full of anger, fhame, and grief,
Directed them to mind their brief;
Norfpend their time to fhew their reading;
She'd have a fummary proceeding.
She gather'd under ev'ry head
The fum of what each lawyer faid,
Gave her own reafons laft, and then
Decreed the cause against the men.
But, in a weighty cafe like this
To fhew she did not judge amifs,
Which evil tongues might elfe report,
She made a speech in open court;
Wherein the grievously complains,
"How she was cheated by the fwains ;"
On whose petition, (humbly fhewing
That women were not worth the wooing,
And that, unless the sex would mend,
The race of lovers foon must end) ·
"She was at lord knows what expence
"To form a nymph of wit and sense,
“A model for her fex defign'd,
"Who never could one lover find.
"She faw, her favour was misplac'd;
"The fellows had a wretched tafte;
She needs muft tell them to their face, "They were a senseless, stupid race "And, were the to begin agen, "She'd study to reform the men "Or add fome grains of folly more To women, than they had before, "To put them on an equal foot; "And this, or nothing elfe, wou'd do't; "This might their mutual fancy ftrike; "Since ev'ry being loves its like.
"But now, repenting what was done, "She left all bus'nefs to her fon; "She puts the world in his poffeffion, "And let him ufe it at difcretion." The cry'r was order'd to difmifs The court, fo made his laft O yes! The Goddefs wou'd no longer wait; But rifing from her chair of state, Left all below at fix and fev'n, Harness'd her doves, and flew to heav'n.
As the women in their than the confequences of the manners and drefs imitate falfe taffe of their admirers, what the men approve, and who cannot furely be urged by faultsand follies are little more a ftronger motive to correct it.
IN ancient times, as story tells,
The faints wou'd often leave their cells,
And ftrole about, but hide their quality,
To try good people's hofpitality.
It happen'd on a winter night,
As authors of the legend write,
Two brother hermits, faints by trade,
Taking their tour in masquerade,
Difguis'd in tatter'd habits, went
To a small village down in Kent;
Where, in the ftroller's canting ftrain,
They begg'd from door to door in vain,
Try'd ev'ry tone might pity win;
But not a foul would let them in.
Our wand'ring faints in woful ftate,
Treated at this ungodly rate,
Having through all the village pafs'd,
To a fmall cottage came at laft;
Where dwelt a good old honeft ye'man,
Call'd in the neighbourhood Philemon
Who kindly did these faints invite
In his poor hut to pass the night;
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