'This day, black omens threat the brightest fair That e'er deserved a watchful spirit's care; Some dire disaster, or by force, or flight; But what, or where, the Fates have wrapt in night. Whether the nymph shall break Diana's law, Or some frail China jar receive a flaw; Or stain her honour, or her new brocade; Forget her prayers, or miss a masquerade; Or lose her heart, or necklace, at a ball; Or whether Heaven has doom'd that Shock must fall, 110 Haste then, ye spirits! to your charge repair: The fluttering fan be Zephyretta's care; The drops to thee, Brillante, we consign; And, Momentilla, let the watch be thine; Do thou, Crispissa, tend her favourite lock; Ariel himself shall be the guard of Shock. 'To fifty chosen Sylphs, of special note, We trust the important charge, the petticoat: Oft have we known that sevenfold fence to fail, Though stiff with hoops, and arm'd 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, Be stopp'd in vials, or transfix'd with pins; Or plunged in lakes of bitter washes lie, Or wedged whole ages in a bodkin's eye: Gums and pomatums shall his flight restrain, While, clogg'd, he beats his silken wings in vain; 130 Or alum styptics with contracting power Shrink his thin essence like a rivell'd flower: Or, as Ixion fix'd, the wretch shall feel The giddy motion of the whirling mill, In fumes of burning chocolate shall glow, And tremble at the sea that froths below!' He spoke; the spirits from the sails descend; Some, orb in orb, around the nymph extend; Some thread the mazy ringlets of her hair; Some hang upon the pendants of her ear; 140 With beating hearts the dire event they wait, Anxious, and trembling for the birth of Fate. * * * * * VARIATION. VER. 4. From hence the poem continues, in the first edition, to ver. 46:-- The rest the winds dispersed in empty air; all after, to the end of this canto, being additional. CANTO III. Close by those meads, for ever crown'd with flowers, Where Thames with pride surveys his rising towers, There stands a structure of majestic frame, Which from the neighb'ring Hampton takes its name. Here Britain's statesmen oft the fall foredoom Of foreign tyrants, and of nymphs at home; Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey, Dost sometimes counsel take--and sometimes tea. Hither the heroes and the nymphs resort, To taste awhile the pleasures of a court; 10 In various talk the instructive hours they pass'd, Who gave the ball, or paid the visit last; One speaks the glory of the British Queen, And one describes a charming Indian screen; A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes; At every word a reputation dies. Snuff, or the fan, supply each pause of chat, With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that.