Belinda now, whom Thirft of Fame invites, And fwells her Breaft with Conquefts yet to come. Then each, according to the Rank they bore; The skilful Nymph reviews her Force with Care; Let Spades be Trumps, fhe faid, andTrumps they were. Now move to War her fable Matadores, In Show like Leaders of the fwarthy Moors. Led off two captive Troops, and swept the Board. And march'd a Victor from the verdant Field. Puts forth one manly Leg, to Sight reveal'd; Ev'n mighty Pam that Kings and Queens o'erthrew, The Baron now his Diamonds pours apace; In various Habits, and of various Dye; The pierc'd Battalions dif-united fall, In Heaps on Heaps; one Fate o'erwhelms them all. He He fprings to Vengeance with an eager Pace, The two Lines, where Belinda bewails the Lofs of her Hair: Oh! had'ft thou, Cruel, been content to seize Hairs lefs in Sight, or any Hairs but these. It is faid, that to fome very nice Ears of the Fair Sex they have given Offence, by Reafon of the Double-Intendre they admit of; but as there is a Poffibility to take them in a Sense, wholly innocent and chafte, it is hoped they will conftrue them fo. Let them fuppofe that Belinda fays, fhe would rather have loft all the Hair that lay conceal'd under her Head-dress, than that small fingle Lock, which hung in Sight, and was ornamental. A Gentleman has appear❜d to their Defence, understanding them in their most ludicrous Sense: Who cenfure moft, more precious Hairs would To have the Rape recorded by his Mufe. [lofe, Upon the whole, this Poem has more Humour and good-natur'd Mirth in it, than any other of our Author's; and is his only Attempt in this Way. At the Time of the writing of this Poem he was about twenty-four Years old: It was firft printed without the Author's Name; but after the Addition of the Machinery, (which was wanting before) Mr. Pope publifh'd it, and prefix'd the Dedication. So cautious he was of making his Fame fecure, not to trust his Name to fo small a Work, 'till he was fure of Applaufe; which fully proves the Prudence of his Conduct, and that he refolv'd, either to to have proper Fame, or die in Oblivion; and this was often his Practice afterwards. Some Pieces ftaid in their State of Probation seven Years, and he was late to confefs to what many would not have loft the Pleasure of immediately owning, on any Confideration whatever. But he, tho' not fo eager and greedy, was yet defirous of, and laying continual Claim to the Reputation of the best Poet living; and he was that. There always is a Drawback upon Fame; Mr. Pope drew upon him the Envy of many of his. contemporary Poets; and in particular, that of Mr. (*) Dennis, who, though a very good Critick and (*) Mr. Dennis was born in the Year 1657, and Son of an eminent Citizen of London. He had his firft Education at Harrow on the Hill, under the pious and learned Mr. William Horn; having with him as School-Fellows, the late Lord Francis Seymour, afterwards Duke of Somerset, the prefent Duke of Somerfet his Brother, and feveral others, who have fince made no inconfiderable Figure in the World. He remov'd from Harrow to CaiusCollege in Cambridge, where he took the Degrees of Batchelor and Mafter of Arts; and afterwards, defiring ra ther to improve his Mind than his Fortune, he faw France and Italy. In his Youth he was very familiarly converfant with feveral Gentlemen about Town remarkable for their Wit and Gallantry; and the Affection he always had for Poetry, and which began in his very Infancy, brought him acquainted with fome of the most celebrated Dramatick Writers of the Age, viz. Mr. Dryden, Mr. Wycherley, Mr. Congreve, and Mr. Southern. Mr. Dennis is excellent at Pindarick Writings, perfectly regular in all his Performances, and a Person of found Learning: And that he is Mafter of a great Deal of Penetration and Judgment, his Criticisms, particularly on Sir Richard Blackmore's Prince Arthur, fufficiently demon and Poet, was mistaken in regard to Mr. Pope; and being grown old, in Ill-nature very unfairly, ungenerously, and weakly, attacks Mr. Pope. In a Pamphlet called, Remarks on Mr. Pope's Rape of the Lock, in feveral Letters to a Friend: In his Preface he fays, he was provok'd to it by the Folly, the Pride, demonstrate. He has obliged the World with the following Plays: I. A Plot and no Plot; a Comedy, acted at the Theatre Royal, 1697. Dedicated to the Right Hon. the Earl of Sunderland. This Play, I am informed, Mr. Dennis intended as a Satire upon the Credulity of the Jacobite Party at that Time; and, as a certain Author has obferved, is exactly regular, and discovers itself to be written by a Mafter of the Art of the Stage, as well as by a Man of Wit. II. Rinaldo and Armida; a Tragedy, acted at the Theatre in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, 1699. Dedicated to the Duke of Ormond. III. Iphigenia; a Tragedy, acted at the Theatre in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, 1700. IV. Liberty Afferted; a Tragedy, acted at the Theatre in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, by her Majefty's Servants, 1704. This Play is dedicated to Anthony Henley, Efq; and was acted with very great Applause. V. Appius and Virginia, a Tragedy, acted at the Theatre Royal; Dedicated to Sidney Earl of Godolphin. VI. The Comical Gallant; with the Humours of Sir John Falftaff; a Comedy. Being an Alteration of ShakeSpear's Merry Wives of Windfor. VII. Gibraltar, or the Spanish Adventure; acted at the Theatre Royal in Drury-Lane. This Gentleman, in his Comedy, hath fhewn a great Deal of Juftnefs and Delicacy of Reflection; a Pleasantnefs of Humour, a Novelty and Diftinction of Characters, and admirable Conduct and Defign, and a ufeful Moral. When he first began to write Tragedy, he faw, with Concern, that Love had got the entire Poffef |