THE SYLPH BY GEORGIANA DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE "Ye Sylphs and Sylphids, to your chief give ear, Fays, Fairies, Genii, Elves, and Demons, hear! Ye know the spheres, and various tasks assign'd By laws eternal to th'aërial kind: Some in the fields of purest æther play, And bask, and whiten, in the blaze of day; Some guide the course of wand'ring orbs on high, Or roll the planets thro' the boundless sky: Our humbler province is to tend the Fair, Not a less pleasing, _nor_ less glorious care." POPE's Rape of the Lock. Table of Contents VOLUME I VOLUME II LETTER I LETTER XXVII LETTER LIII LETTER II LETTER XXVIII LETTER LIV LETTER III LETTER XXIX LETTER LV LETTER IV LETTER XXX LETTER LVI LETTER V LETTER XXXI LETTER LVII LETTER VI LETTER XXXII LETTER LVIII LETTER VII LETTER XXXIII LETTER LIX LETTER VIII LETTER XXXIV LETTER LX LETTER IX LETTER XXXV LETTER LXI LETTER X LETTER XXXVI LETTER XI LETTER XXXVII LETTER XII LETTER XXXVIII LETTER XIII LETTER XXXIX LETTER XIV LETTER XL LETTER XV LETTER XLI LETTER XVI LETTER XLII LETTER XVII LETTER XLIII LETTER XVIII LETTER XLIV LETTER XIX LETTER XLV LETTER XX LETTER XLVI LETTER XX LETTER XLVII LETTER XXII LETTER XLVIII LETTER XXIII LETTER XLIX LETTER XXIV LETTER L LETTER XXV LETTER LI LETTER XXVI LETTER LII VOLUME I LETTER I. TO LORD BIDDULPH. It is a certain sign of a man's cause being bad, when he is obliged to quote precedents in the follies of others, to excuse his own. You see I give up my cause at once. I am convinced I have done a silly thing, and yet I can produce thousands who daily do the same with, perhaps, not so good a motive as myself. In short, not to puzzle you too much, which I know is extremely irksome to a man who loves to have every thing as clear as a proposition in Euclid; your friend (now don't laugh) is married. "Married!" Aye, why not? don't every body marry? those who have estates, to have heirs of their own; and those who have _nothing_, to get _something_; so, according to my system, every body marries. Then why that stare of astonishment? that look of unbelief? Yes, thou infidel, I am married, and to such a woman! though, notwithstanding her beauty and other accomplishments, I shall be half afraid to present her in the world, she's such a rustic! one of your sylvan deities. But I was mad for her. "So you have been for half the women in town." Very true, my Lord, so I have, till I either gained them, or saw others whose image obliterated theirs. You well know, love with me has ever been a laughing God, "Rosy lips and cherub smiles," none of its black despairing looks have I experienced.