In various talk th' inftructive hours they past;
Who gave the ball, or paid the vifit laft;
One speaks the glory of the British Queen,
And one defcribes a charming Indian fcreen;
A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes;
At ev'ry word a reputation. dies.

Snuff, or the fan, supply each pause of chat,
With finging, laughing, ogling, and all that.
Meanwhile, declining from the noon of day,
The fun obliquely shoots his burning ray;
The hungry judges foon the fentence fign,
And wretches hang, that jurymen may dine;
The merchant from th' Exchange returns in peace,
And the long labours of the toilet cease.
Belinda now, whom thirft of fame invites,
Burns to encounter two advent'rous knights
At Ombre singly, to decide their doom;

And fwells her breaft with conquefts yet to come.
Strait the three bands prepare in arms to join,
Each band the number of the facred nine.

Soon as she spreads her hand, th' aërial guard
Defcend, and fit on each important card:
First Ariel perch'd upon a matadore,
Then each according to the rank he bore;
For Sylphs, yet mindful of their ancient race;
Are, as when women, wond'rous fond of place.

Behold, four kings in majefty rever'd,
With hoary whiskers and a forky beard;
And four fair queens whofe hands fuftain a flow'r,
Th' expreffive emblem of their fofter pow'r;
Four knaves in garbs fuccinct, a trufty band;
Caps on their heads, and halberts in their hand;
And party-colour'd troops, a shining train,
Drawn forth to combat on the velvet plain.

The skilful nymph reviews her force with care: Let Spades be trumps! she faid, and trumps they were. Now move to war her fable matadores,

In show like leaders of the fwarthy Moors.
Spadillio firft, unconquerable lord!

Led off two captive trumps, and fwept the board,

As many more Manillio forc'd to yield,
And march'd a victor from the verdant field,
Him Bafto follow'd, but his fate more hard,
Gain'd but one trump, and one Plebeian card,
The hoary Majefty of Spades appears,
With his broad faber next, a chief in years,

Puts forth one manly leg, to fight reveal'd,

The reft, his many-colour'd robe conceal'd,

The rebel Knave, who dares his prince engage,
Proves the juft victim of his royal rage.
E'en mighty Pam, that Kings and Queens o'erthrew;
And mow'd down armies in the fights of Loo,

Sad chance of war! now deftitute of aid,
Falls undiftinguish'd by the victor Spade!

Thus far both armies to Belinda yield;
Now to the Baron fate inclines the field.
His warlike Amazon her host invades,
Th' imperial confort of the crown of Spades.
The Club's black tyrant first her victim dy'd,
Spite of his haughty mien, and barb'rous pride:
What boots the regal circle on his head,
His giant limbs, in state unwieldy spread;
That long behind he trails his pompous robe,
And, of all monarchs, only grafps the globe?
The Baron now his Di'monds pours apace;
Th' embroider'd King who shews but half his face,
And his refulgent Queen, with pow'rs combin'd,
Of broken troops an eafy conquest find.
Clubs, Di'monds, Hearts, in wild disorder feen,
With throngs promiscuous strew the level green.
Thus when difpers'd a routed army runs,
Of Afia's troops, and Afric's fable fons,
With like confusion diff'rent nations fly,
Of various habit, and of various dye,

The pierc'd battalions disunited fall,

In heaps on heaps; one fate o'erwhelms them all.
The Knave of Di'monds tries his wily arts,

And wins (oh shameful chance!) the Queen of Hearts.

At this, the blood the virgin's cheek forfook ;
A livid palenefs fpreads o'er all her look;
She fees, and trembles at th' approaching ill,
Juft in the jaws of ruin, and Codille.
And now (as oft in fome diftemper'd State)
On one nice trick depends the general fate,

An ace of hearts fteps forth, the King unfeen,
Lurk'd in her hand, and mourn'd his captive Queen:
He springs to vengeance with an eager pace,
And falls like thunder on the proftrate Ace.
The Nymph exulting, fills with shouts the sky;
The walls, the woods, and long canals reply.
O thoughtless mortals! ever blind to fate,
Too foon dejected, and too foon elate.
Sudden, thefe honours shall be fnatch'd away,
And curs'd for ever this victorious day.

For lo! the board with cups and spoons is crown'd

The berries crackle, and the mill turns round:

On shining altars of Japan they raise

The filver lamp; the fiery fpirits blaze:
From filver spouts the grateful liquors glide,
While China's earth receives the smoking tide:
At once they gratify their fcent and taste,
And frequent cups prolong the rich repast.
Strait hover round the Fair her airy band;
Some, as she fipp'd, the fuming liquor fann'd;

Some

Some o'er her lap their careful plumes difplay'd,
Trembling, and confcious of the rich brocade.
Coffee (which makes the politician wife,
And fee thro' all things with his half-shut eyes)
Sent up in vapours to the Baron's brain
New ftratagems, the radiant Lock to gain.
Ah cease, rash youth! defift ere 'tis too late,
Fear the just God's, and think of Scylla's fate!
Chang,d to a bird, and sent to flit in air,
She dearly pays for Nifus' injur'd hair!

But when to mifchief mortals bend their will,
How foon they find fit inftruments of ill?
Juft then, Clariffa drew, with tempting grace,
A two-edg'd weapon from her shining cafe:
So Ladies, in Romance, affist their Knight,
Present the spear, and arm him for the fight.
He takes the gift with rev'rence, and extends
The little engine on his fingers ends,

This juft behind Belinda's neck he spread,
As o'er the fragrant fteams she bends her head.
Swift to the Lock a thoufand Sprites repair,

A thousand wings, by turns, blow back the hair; And thrice they twitch'd the di'mond in her ear; Thrice she look'd back, and thrice the foe drew near. Juft in that inftant, anxious Ariel fought

The close receffes of the Virgin's thought;

T