Sermons I sought, and, with a mien severe, When bloom and beauty bid me show my face, 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; THE BASSET-TABLE. AN ECLOGUE. CARDELIA. SMILINDA. CARDELIA. The basset-table spread, the tallier come; SMILINDA. Ah, madam, since my Sharper is untrue, I saw him stand behind Ombrelia's chair, And those feign'd sighs, which cheat the listening fair. CARDELIA. Is this the cause of your romantic strains? 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! CARDELIA. A lover lost, is but a common care, And prudent nymphs against that change prepare; SMILINDA. See Betty Lovet! very à-propos, She all the cares of love and play does know: 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, SMILINDA. This snuff-box,-once the pledge of Sharper's love, Then first his passion was in public shown: This snuff-box-on the hinge see brilliants shine: CARDELIA. Alas! far lesser losses than I bear, SMILINDA. But ah! what aggravates the killing smart, An awkward thing, when first she came to town; I introduced her to the park and plays; CARDELIA. Wretch that I was, how often have I swore, 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! My panting heart confesses all his charms, CARDELIA. At the Groom-Porter's batter'd bullies play, SMILINDA. Soft Simplicetta dotes upon a beau; LOVET. Cease your contention, which has been too long; 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.] |