To copy her few nymphs aspir'd;
Her virtues fewer fwains admir'd:
So ftars beyond a certain height
Give mortals neither heat nor light.
Yet fome of either fex, endow'd
With gifts fuperior to the crowd,
With virtue, knowledge, taste and wit,
She condefcended to admit.
With pleafing arts fhe cou'd reduce
Men's talents to their proper use;
And with address each genius held
To that, wherein it most excell'd;
Thus making others wisdom known,
Cou'd please them, and improve her own.
A modeft youth faid fomething new ;
She plac'd it in the ftrongest view.
All humble worth the ftrove to raife;
Wou'd not be prais'd, yet lov'd to praife.
The learned met with free approach,
Although they came not in a coach:
Some clergy too fhe wou'd allow,
Nor quarrel'd at their aukward bow.
But this was for Cadenus' fake,
A gown-man of a diff'rent make;
Whom Pallas, once Vanessa's tutor,
Had fix'd on for her coadjutor.
But Cupid, full of mischief, longs
To vindicate his mother's wrongs.
On Pallas all attempts are vain:
One way he knows to give her pain;
Vows, on Vanessa's heart to take
Due vengeance for her patron's fake.
Those early feeds by Venus fown,
In fpite of Pallas, now were grown;
And Cupid hop'd, they wou'd improve
By time, and ripen into love.
The boy made use of all his craft,
In vain discharging many a fhaft,
Pointed at col❜nels, lords, and beaux:
Cadenus warded off the blows;
For, placing ftill fome book betwixt,
The darts were in the cover fix'd,
Or, often blunted and recoil'd,
On Plutarch's morals ftruck, were fpoil'd.
The queen of wisdom could forefee,
But not prevent, the fates decree:
And human caution tries in vain
To break that adamantine chain.:
Vanessa, though by Pallas taught,
By Love invulnerable thought,
Searching in books for wifdom's aid,
Was, in the very fearch, betray'd.
Cupid, though all his darts were loft,
Yet ftill refolv'd to fpare no coft:
He could not answer to his fame.
The triumphs of that stubborn dame,
A nymph fo hard to be fubdu'd,
Who neither was coquette nor prude.
I find, faid he, fhe wants a doctor
Both to adore her, and inftruct her:
I'll give her what fhe most admires
Among those venerable fires,
Cadenus is a fubject fit,
Grown old in politicks and wit,
Carefs'd by minifters of ftate,
Of half mankind the dread and hate :
Whate'er vexations love attend,
She need no rivals apprehend.
Her fex, with univerfal voice,
Must laugh at her capricious choice.
Cadenus many things had writ:
Vanessa much efteem'd his wit,
And call'd for his poetic works:
Mean time the boy in fecret lurks,
And, while the book was in her hand,
The urchin from his private stand
Took aim, and fhot with all his ftrength
A dart of fuch prodigious length,
It pierc'd the feeble volume through,
And deep transfix'd her bosom too.
Some lines, more moving than the reft,
Stuck to the point that pierc'd her breast,
And, borne directly to the heart,
With pains unknown, increas'd her smart.
Vanella,
Vanessa * not in years a fcore, to Dreams of a gown of forty-four; Imaginary charms can find
In eyes with reading almost blind)
Cadenus now no more appears
Declin'd in health, advanc'd in years.
She fancies mufick in his tongue,
Nor farther looks, but thinks him young.
What mariner is not afraid
To venture in a ship decay'd?
What planter will attempt to yoke
A fapling with a falling oak?
As years increase, fhe brighter fhines;
Cadenus with each day declines;
And he must fall a prey to time,
While the continues in her prime.
Cadenus, common forms apart,
In ev'ry scene had kept his heart;
Had figh'd and languifh'd, vow'd, and writ For paftime, or to fhew his wit.
But time, and books, and state-affairs,
Had fpoil'd his fashionable airs:
He now cou'd praife, efteem, approve,
But understood not what was love.
*The poet having before fhewed the cause of Vanela's disappointment, here reprefents Vanela, who was intended to animate every woman to
imitation and infpire every man with love, as compelled to make advances to one, who had fcarce fenfibility enough to understand them.
His conduct might have made him stil'd
A father, and the nymph his child.
That innocent delight he took
To fee the virgin mind her book,
Was but the master's fecret joy
In school to hear the fineft boy.
Her knowledge with her fancy grew ;
She hourly prefs'd for fomething new;
Ideas came into her mind
So fast, his leffons lagg'd behind;
She reason'd without plodding long,
Nor ever gave her judgment wrong.
But now a fudden change was wrought;
She minds no longer what he taught.
Cadenus was amaz'd to find
Such marks of a diftracted mind:
For, though fhe feem'd to liften more
To all he spoke, than e'er before,
He found her thoughts would absent range, Yet guess'd not whence could spring the change.fm
And first he modeftly conjectures
His pupil might be tir'd with lectures;
Which help'd to mortify his pride,
Yet gave him not the heart to chide:
But, in a mild dejected strain,
At laft he ventur'd to complain;
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