Sermons I sought, and, with a mien severe,
Censured my neighbours, and said daily prayer.
Alas, how changed! with this same sermon-mien,
The filthy What-d'ye-call it-I have seen.
Ah, royal princess! for whose sake I lost
The reputation, which so dear had cost;
I, who avoided every public place,

When bloom and beauty bid me show my face,
Now near thee, constant, I each night abide,
With never-failing duty by my side;
Myself and daughters standing in a row,

To all the foreigners a goodly show.

Oft had your drawing-room been sadly thin,

And merchants' wives close by your side had been, Had I not amply fill'd the empty place,

And saved your highness from the dire disgrace : Yet Cockatilla's artifice prevails,

When all my duty and my merit fails:

That Cockatilla, whose deluding airs

Corrupts our virgins, and our youth ensnares;
So sunk her character, and lost her fame,
Scarce visited, before your highness came;
Yet for the bed-chamber 'tis she you choose,
Whilst zeal, and fame, and virtue you refuse.
Ah worthy choice; not one of all your train,
Which censures blast not, or dishonours stain.
I know the Court, with all its treacherous wiles,
The false caresses, and undoing smiles.
Ah, princess! learn'd in all the courtly arts,
To cheat our hopes, and yet to gain our hearts."

THE BASSET-TABLE.

AN ECLOGUE.

CARDELIA. SMILINDA.

CARDELIA.

The basset-table spread, the tallier come;
Why stays Smilinda in the dressing-room?
Rise, pensive nymph, the tallier waits for you!

SMILINDA.

Ah, madam, since my Sharper is untrue,
I joyless make my once adored Alpeu.

I saw him stand behind Ombrelia's chair,
And whisper, with that soft, deluding air,

And those feign'd sighs, which cheat the listening fair.

CARDELIA.

Is this the cause of your romantic strains?
A mightier grief my heavy heart sustains.
As you by love, so I by fortune cross'd:
One, one bad deal, three Septlevas have lost.

SMILINDA.

Is that the grief, which you compare with mine? With ease, the smiles of Fortune I resign:

Would all my gold in one bad deal were gone!
Were lovely Sharper mine, and mine alone.

CARDELIA.

A lover lost, is but a common care,

And prudent nymphs against that change prepare;
The Knave of Clubs thrice lost! Oh! who could guess
This fatal stroke, this unforeseen distress?

SMILINDA.

See Betty Lovet! very à-propos,

She all the cares of love and play does know:
Dear Betty shall the important point decide;
Betty, who oft the pain of each has tried;
Impartial, she shall say who suffers most,
By cards' ill usage, or by lovers lost.

LOVET.

Tell, tell your griefs; attentive will I stay, Though time is precious, and I want some tea.

CARDELIA.

Behold this equipage, by Mathers wrought,
With fifty guineas (a great pen'orth) bought.
See, on the tooth-pick, Mars and Cupid strive ;
And both the struggling figures seem alive.
Upon the bottom shines the Queen's bright face;
A myrtle foliage round the thimble-case.
Jove, Jove himself, does on the scissors shine;
The metal, and the workmanship, divine!

SMILINDA.

This snuff-box,-once the pledge of Sharper's love,
When rival beauties for the present strove;
At Corticelli's he the raffle won;

Then first his passion was in public shown:
Hazardia blush'd, and turn'd her head aside,
A rival's envy (all in vain) to hide.

This snuff-box-on the hinge see brilliants shine:
This snuff-box will I stake; the prize is mine.

CARDELIA.

Alas! far lesser losses than I bear,
Have made a soldier sigh, a lover swear.
And oh! what makes the disappointment hard,
'Twas my own lord that drew the fatal card.
In complaisance, I took the queen he gave;
Though my own secret wish was for the knave.
The knave won Sonica, which I had chose;
And the next pull, my Septleva I lose.

SMILINDA.

But ah! what aggravates the killing smart,
The cruel thought, that stabs me to the heart;
This cursed Ombrelia, this undoing fair,
By whose vile arts this heavy grief I bear;
She, at whose name I shed these spiteful tears,
She owes to me the very charms she wears.

An awkward thing, when first she came to town;
Her shape unfashion'd, and her face unknown:
She was my friend; I taught her first to spread
Upon her sallow cheeks enlivening red:

I introduced her to the park and plays;
And, by my interests, Cozens made her stays.
Ungrateful wretch! with mimic airs grown pert,
She dares to steal my favourite lover's heart.

CARDELIA.

Wretch that I was, how often have I swore,
When Winnall tallied, I would punt no more?
I knew the bite, yet to my ruin run;
And see the folly which I cannot shun.

SMILINDA.

How many maids have Sharper's vows deceived? How many cursed the moment they believed? Yet his known falsehoods could no warning prove: Ah! what is warning to a maid in love?

CARDELIA.

But of what marble must that breast be form'd, To gaze on Basset, and remain unwarm'd? When kings, queens, knaves, are set in decent rank; Exposed in glorious heaps the tempting bank, Guineas, half-guineas, all the shining train; The winner's pleasure, and the loser's pain: In bright confusion open rouleaus lie, They strike the soul, and glitter in the eye. Fired by the sight, all reason I disdain; My passions rise, and will not bear the rein. Look upon Basset, you who reason boast, And see if reason must not there be lost.

SMILINDA.

What more than marble must that heart compose, Can hearken coldly to my Sharper's vows?

Then, when he trembles! when his blushes rise!
When awful love seems melting in his eyes!
With eager beats his Mechlin cravat moves:
He loves, I whisper to myself,-He loves!
Such unfeign'd passion in his looks appears,
I lose all memory of my former fears;

My panting heart confesses all his charms,
I yield at once, and sink into his arms:
Think of that moment, you who prudence boast;
For such a moment, prudence well were lost.

CARDELIA.

At the Groom-Porter's batter'd bullies play,
Some dukes at Mary-bone bowl time away;
But who the bowl or rattling dice compares
To Basset's heavenly joys and pleasing cares?

SMILINDA.

Soft Simplicetta dotes upon a beau;
Prudina likes a man, and laughs at show.
Their several graces in my Sharper meet;
Strong as the footman, as the master sweet.

LOVET.

Cease your contention, which has been too long;
I grow impatient, and the tea's too strong.
Attend, and yield to what I now decide:
The equipage shall grace Smilinda's side;
The snuff-box to Cardelia I decree.

Now leave complaining, and begin your tea.

THE FOLLOWING LINES WERE SUNG BY DURASTANTI,1 WHEN SHE TOOK HER LEAVE OF

THE ENGLISH STAGE.

THE WORDS WERE IN HASTE PUT TOGETHER BY MR. POPE, AT THE REQUEST OF THE EARL OF PETERBOROUGH.

GENEROUS, gay, and gallant nation,

Bold in arms, and bright in arts;

Land secure from all invasion,

All but Cupid's gentle darts!

From your charms, oh who would run?

Who would leave you for the sun?

Happy soil, adieu, adieu!

1 [This lady was brought to England by Handel in 1719. Mr. Bowles states that she was so great a favourite at Court that the King stood godfather to one of her children.]