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. Warned by the sylph, O pious maid, beware! 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. 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, 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. 75 Haste, then, ye spirits! to your charge repair; The fluttering fan be Zephyretta's care; 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; Gums and pomatums shall his flight restrain, While clogged he beats his silken wings in vain; 130 Or alum stypties with contracting power Some, orb in orb, around the nymph extend; 16 A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes; The sun obliquely shoots his burning ray; 20 And the long labors of the toilet cease. come. |