To them the Hind and Panther are the same. The Panther, sure the noblest next the Hind

And fairest creature of the spotted kind; Oh, could her inborn stains be washed away She were too good to be a beast of prey! 100 How can I praise or blame, and not offend, Or how divide the frailty from the friend? Her faults and virtues lie so mixed, that she Nor wholly stands condemned nor wholly free.

Then, like her injured Lion, let me speak; 105 He cannot bend her and he would not break.

Unkind already, and estranged in part, The Wolf begins to share her wandering heart.

Though unpolluted yet with actual ill,

She half commits who sins but in her will. 110

If, as our dreaming Platonists report, There could be spirits of a middle sort, Too black for heaven and yet too white for

Where wigs with wigs, with sword-knots sword-knots strive,

Beaux banish beaux, and coaches coaches drive.

This erring mortals levity may call;

Oh, blind to truth! the sylphs contrive it all.
"Of these am I, who thy protection claim,
A watchful sprite, and Ariel is my name. 106
Late, as I ranged the crystal wilds of air,
In the clear mirror of thy ruling star
I saw, alas! some dread event impend,
Ere to the main this morning sun descend,110
But Heaven reveals not what, or how, or
where.

Warned by the sylph, O pious maid, beware!
This to disclose is all thy guardian can:
Beware of all, but most beware of man!"

He said; when Shock, who thought she slept too long,

115

Leaped up, and waked his mistress ith his tongue.

'Twas then, Belinda, if report say true,

Thy eyes first opened on a billet-doux; Wounds, charms, and ardors were no sooner read,

But all the vision vanished from thy head. 120 And now, unveiled, the toilet stands displayed,

Each silver vase in mystic order laid. First, robed in white, the nymph intent adores,

125

With head uncovered, the cosmetic powers.
A heavenly image in the glass appears,
To that she bends, to that her eyes she rears;
Th' inferior priestess, at her altar's side,
Trembling begins the sacred rites of pride.
Unnumbered treasures ope at once, and here
The various offerings of the world appear;
From each she nicely culls with curious toil,
And decks the goddess with the glittering
spoil.

132

This casket India's glowing gems unlocks, And all Arabia breathes from yonder box. The tortoise here and elephant unite, Transformed to combs, the speckled, and the

white.

135

Here files of pins extend their shining rows,
Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billets-doux.
Now awful beauty puts on all its arms;
The fair each moment rises in her charms, 140
Repairs her smiles, awakens every grace,
And calls forth all the wonders of her face;
Sees by degrees a purer blush arise,
And keener lightnings quicken in her eyes.
The busy sylphs surround their darling care,
These set the head, and those divide the hair,

But now secure the painted vessel glides, The sunbeams trembling on the floating tides;

While melting music steals upon the sky, And softened sounds along the waters die; 50 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. He summons straight his denizens of air; 55 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, Waft on the breeze, or sink in clouds of gold;

60

Transparent forms, too fine for mortal sight, Their fluid bodies half dissolved in light. Loose to the wind their airy garments flew, Thin glittering textures of the filmy dew, Dipt in the richest tincture of the skies, 65 Where light disports in ever-mingling dyes, While every beam new transient colors flings,

Colors that change whene'er they wave their wings.

Amid the circle, on the gilded mast,

Superior by the head, was Ariel placed; 70 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! Ye know the spheres, and various tasks assigned

By laws eternal to th' aërial kind.
Some in the fields of purest ether play,

75

Haste, then, ye spirits! to your charge repair;

The fluttering fan be Zephyretta's care;
The drops to thee, Brillante, we consign;
And, Momentilla, let the watch be thine;
Do thou, Crispissa, tend her favorite lock;
Ariel himself shall be the guard of Shock. 116
To fifty chosen sylphs, of special note,
We trust th' important charge, the petticoat:
Oft have we known that seven-fold fence to
fail,

Though stiff with hoops, and armed with ribs of whale;

120

Form a strong line about the silver bound, And guard the wide circumference around.

"Whatever spirit, careless of his charge, His post neglects, or leaves the fair at large, Shall feel sharp vengeance soon o'ertake his sins,

125

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;

130

Or alum stypties with contracting power
Shrink his thin essence like a riveled flower;
Or, as Ixion fixed, the wretch shall feel
The giddy motion of the whirling mill,
In fumes of burning chocolate shall glow, 135
And tremble at the sea that froths below!"
He spoke; the spirits from the sails de-
scend;

Some, orb in orb, around the nymph extend;
Some thrid the mazy ringlets of her hair;
Some hang upon the pendants of her ear; 140
With beating hearts the dire event they wait,
Anxious, and trembling for the birth of fate.

16

A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes;
At every word a reputation dies.
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; 20
The hungry judges soon the sentence sign,
And wretches hang that jurymen may dine;
The merchant from th' Exchange returns in
peace,

And the long labors of the toilet cease.
Belinda now, whom thirst of fame invites, 25
Burns to encounter two adventurous knights,
At omber singly to decide their doom;
And swells her breast with conquests yet to

come.