Now fainting, finking, pale, the Nymph appears;
Now close behind his founding Steps the hears;
And now his Shadow reach'd her as she run,
(His Shadow lengthen'd by the fetting Sun)
And now his shorter Breath with fultry Air
Pants on her Neck, and fans her parting Hair.
In vain on Father Thames she calls for Aid,
Nor could Diana help her injur'd Maid.
[vain;
Faint, breathless, thus she pray'd, nor pray'd in
"Ah Cynthia! ah-tho' banish'd from thy Train,
"Let me, O let me, to the Shades repair,
"My Native Shades-there weep, and murmur
She said, and melting as in Tears she lay, [there.
In a foft filver Stream diffolv'd away.
The filver Stream her Virgin Coldness keeps,
For ever murmurs, and for ever weeps ;
Still bears the * Name the hapless Virgin bore,
And bathes the Forest where she rang'd before:
In her chaste Current oft the Goddess laves,
And with Celestial Tears augments the Waves.
Oft in her Glass the mufing Shepherd spies
The headlong Mountains and the downward Skies,
The watry Landskip of the pendant Woods,
And absent Trees that tremble in the Floods:
In the clear azure Gleam the Flocks are seen,
And floating Forests paint the Waves with green.
Thro' the fair Scene rowl flow the lingringStreams,
Then foamingpour along, and rush into the Thames.

The Rape of the Lock, a Poem in Five Canto's, has a great deal of Fancy and fine Humour: It was wrote to expose the little unguarded Follies of the Fair Sex; the Passages are fabulous, and the Machines rais'd on the Foundation of the

Roficrucian

-* The River Loddon.

Roficrucian Doctrine of Spirits, according to which the Four Elements are suppos'd to be inhabited, the Air by Sylphs, the Earth by Gnomes, the Water by Nymphs, and the Fire by Salamanders. It is dedicated to Mrs. Arabella Fermor.

I

Madam,

Yet

T will be in vain to deny that I have fome Value for this Piece, since I dedicate it to You. you may bear me Witness, it was intended only to divert a few young Ladies, who have good Sense and good Humour enough, to laugh not only at their Sex's little unguarded Follies, but at their own. But as it was communicated with the Air of a Secret, it soon found its Way into the World. An imperfect Copy having been offer'd to a Bookfeller, You had the Good-nature, for my Sake, to consent to the Publication of one more correct: This I was forc'd to before I had executed half my Design, for the Machinery was entirely wanting to compleat it.

The Machinery, Madam, is a Term invented by the Criticks, to signify that Part which the Deities, Angels, or Dæmons, are made to act in a Poem : For the ancient Poets are in one Respect like many modern Ladies; let an Action be never so trivial in itself, they always make it appear of the utmost Importance. These Machines I determin'd to raise on a very new and odd Foundation, the Rosicrucian Doctrine of Spirits.

I know how disagreeable it is to make use of hard Words before a Lady; but it is so much the Concern of a Poet to have his Works understood, and • particularly by your Sex, that you must give me leave to explain two or three difficult Terms.

The

MARABELLA FERMER

• Parr Sculp

The Roficrucians are a People I must bring you acquainted with. The best Account I know of them is in a French Book call'd, Le Comte de Gabalis, which both in its Title and Size is so like a Novel, that many of the Fair Sex have read it for one by Mistake. According to these Gentlemen, the four Elements are inhabited by Spirits, which they call Sylphs, Gnomes, Nymphs, and Salamanders. The Gnomes, or Dæmons of Earth, delight in Mifchief; but the Sylphs, whose Habitation is Air, are the best condition'd Creatures imaginable. For they say, any Mortals may enjoy the most intimate Familiarities with these gentle Spirits, upon a Condition very easy to all true Adepts, an inviolate Preservation of Chastity.

As to the following Canto's, all the Passages of them are as fabulous, as the Vision at the Beginning, or the Transformation at the End; (except the Lofs of your Hair, which I always name with Reverence.] The human Persons are as fictitious as the airy ones; and the Character of Belinda, as it is now manag'd, resembles you in nothing but in Beauty.

If this Poem had as many Graces as there are in your Person, or in your Mind, yet I could never hope it should pass through the World half so uncensured as you have done. But let its Fortune be what it will, mine is happy enough, to have given me this Occafion of afsuring you that I am, with the trueft Esteem,

Madam, Your most obedient humble Servant,
A. POPE.

The Game at Ombre is defcrib'd with so much Wit, Humour and Delicacy I venture to affirm, it can but give Pleasure even to those who may have read it many times over.

Belinda