And taught the polish'd rocks to shine
With airs and lineaments divine;
Till Greece, amaz'd, and half afraid,
Th' assembled deities survey'd.

Great Pan, who wont to chase the fair,
And lov'd the spreading oak, was there;
Old Saturn too, with up-cast eyes;
Beheld his abdicated skies;

And mighty Mars, for war renown'd,
In adamantine armour frown'd;
By him the childless goddess rose,
Minerva, studious to compose

Her twisted threads; the web she strung,
And o'er a loom of marble hung:

Thetis, the troubled ocean's queen,

Match'd with a mortal, next was seen,
Reclining on a funeral urn,

Her short-liv'd darling son to mourn.
The last was he, whose thunder slew
The Titan race, a rebel crew,
That from a hundred hills ally'd
In impious leagues their king defy'd.
This wonder of the sculptor's hand
Produced, his art was at a stand:
For who would hope new fame to raise,
Or risk his well-establish'd praise,

That, his high genius to approve,

Had drawn a GEORGE, or carv'd a Jove!

THE COUNTESS OF MANCHESTER,

AT PARIS.1

WHILE haughty Gallia's dames that spread
O'er their pale cheeks an artful red,
Beheld this beauteous stranger there,
In native charms divinely fair;
Confusion in their looks they show'd,
And with unborrowed blushes glow'd.

SONG.2

My love was fickle once and changing,
Nor e'er would settle in my heart;
From beauty still to beauty ranging,
In ev'ry face I found a dart.

'Twas first a charming shape enslav'd me,

An eye then gave the fatal stroke; "Till by her wit Corinna sav'd me,

And all my former fetters broke.

'These lines were written by Addison, on his admission to the Kit Cat Club-where it was required that every new member should name his "toast," and write something in her honor, to be engraved on a drinking glass. A. had met this lady in Paris.-G.

2

Originally published in the Spectator, with an amusing commentary.-G.

IV.

Oh how fine our evening walk!
Charming fine our evening walk!
When the nighting-gale delighting
With her song, suspends our talk-
With her, &c.

V.

Oh how sweet at night to dream !
Charming sweet at night to dream!
On mossy pillows, by the trilloes
Of a gentle purling stream-
Of a, &c.

VI.

Oh how kind the country lass!
Charming kind the country lass!
Who, her cow bilking, leaves her milking
For a green gown upon the grass-
For a, &c.

VII.

Oh how sweet it is to spy!

Charming sweet it is to spy!

At the conclusion her confusion,

Blushing cheeks and down-cast eye-
Blushing, &c.

VIII.

Oh the cooling curds and cream!
Charming cooling curds and cream!

When all is over, she gives her lover,

Who on her skimming dish carves her name— Who on, &c.

PROLOGUE TO THE TENDER HUSBAND.a

SPOKEN BY MR. WILKS.

In the first rise and infancy of Farce,

When fools were many, and when plays were scarce,
The raw unpractis'd authors could, with ease,

A young and unexperienc'd audience please:
No single character had e'er been shown,
But the whole herd of fops was all their own;
Rich in originals, they set to view,

In every piece a coxcomb that was new.

But now our British theatre can boast

Drolls of all kinds, a vast unthinking host!

Fruitful of folly and of vice, it shows

Cuckolds, and cits, and bawds, and pimps, and beaux; Rough country knights are found of every shire

Of every fashion gentle fops appear;

And punks of different characters we meet,
As frequent on the stage as in the pit.
Our modern wits are forc'd to pick and cull,
And here and there by chance glean up a fool :
Long ere they find the necessary spark,
They search the town and beat about the Park:
To all his most frequented haunts resort,
Oft dog him to the ring, and oft to court;
As love of pleasure, or of place invites:
And sometimes catch him taking snuff at White's.
Howe'er, to do you right, the present age
Breeds very hopeful monsters for the stage;

a A comedy written by Sir Richard Steele. VOL. I.-10