Not thus her Sister COMEDY prevails, Who shoots at Folly, for her Arrow fails Folly, by Dulness arm’d, eludes the Wound, And harmless sees the feather’d Shafts rebound; Unhurt she stands, applauds the Archer’s Skill, Laughs at her Malice, and is Folly still. Yet well the Muse pourtrays in fancied Scenes, What Pride will stoop to, what Profession means; How formal Fools the Farce of State applaud, How Caution watches at the Lips of Fraud; The wordy Variance of Domestic Life, The tyrant Husband, the retorting Wife; The Snares for Innocence, the Lie of Trade, And the smooth Tongue’s habitual Masquerade. With her the Virtues too obtain a Place, Each gentle Passion, each becoming Grace; The social Joy in Life’s securer Road, Its easy Pleasure, its substantial Good; The happy Thought that conscious Virtue gives, And all that ought to live, and all that lives. But who are these? Methinks a noble Mien, And awful Grandeur in their Form are seen, Now in disgrace: what tho’ by Time is spread, Polluting Dust o’er every reverend Head; What though beneath yon gilded Tribe they lie, And dull Observers pass insulting by: Forbid it Shame, forbid it decent Awe, What seems so grave, should no Attention draw! Come, let us then with reverend step advance, And greet--the ancient Worthies of ROMANCE. Hence, ye profane! I feel a former dread, A thousand Visions float around my head: Hark! hollow Blasts through empty Courts resound, And shadowy Forms with staring Eyes stalk round; See! Moats and Bridges, Walls and Castles rise, Ghosts, Fairies, Dæmons, dance before our eyes; Lo! Magic Verse inscrib’d on golden Gate, And bloody Hand that beckons on to Fate;-- “And who art thou, thou little Page, unfold? “Say, Doth thy Lord my _Claribel_ with-hold; “Go tell him straight, Sir Knight, thou must resign “The captive Queen:--for, _Claribel_ is mine.” Away he flies; and now for bloody Deeds, Black Suits of Armour, Masks, and foaming Steeds; The Giant falls; his recreant Throat I seize, And from his Corslet take the massy Keys:-- Dukes, Lords, and Knights in long procession move, Releas’d from bondage with my virgin Love;-- She comes! she comes! in all the Charms of Youth, Unequall’d Love and unsuspected Truth! Ah! happy he who thus in magic Themes, O’er Worlds bewitch’d, in early rapture dreams, Where wild Enchantment waves her potent Wand, And Fancy’s Beauties fill her Fairy Land; Where doubtful Objects strange Desires excite, And Fear and Ignorance afford Delight. But lost, for ever lost, to me these Joys, Which Reason scatters and which Time destroys, Too dearly bought; maturer Judgment calls My busied Mind, from Tales and Madrigals; My doughty Giants all are slain or fled,