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His converse is a system fit
Alone to fill up all her wit;
While ev'ry paffion of her mind
In him is center'd and confin'd.
Love can with speech infpire a mute,
And taught Vanessa to difpute.
This topick, never touch'd before,
Display'd her eloquence the more:
Her knowledge, with fuch pains acquir'd,
By this new paffion grew infpir'd:
Through this fhe made all objects pass,
Which gave a tincture o'er the mass :
As rivers, though they bend and twine,
Still to the fea their courfe incline;
Or, as philofophers, who find
Some fav rite fyftem to their mind,
In ev'ry point to make it fit,
Will force all nature to fubmit.
Cadenus, who cou'd ne'er fufpect
His leffons, wou'd have fuch effect,
Or be fo artfully apply'd,
Infenfibly came on her fide.

It was an unforeseen event;

Things took a turn he never meant.
Whoe'er excels in what we prize
Appears a hero in our eyes:

Each girl, when pleas'd with what is taught,
Will have the teacher in her thought.

The nymph in fober words intreats
A truce with all fublime conceits:
For why fuch raptures, flights, and fancies,'
To her who durft not read romances?
In lofty ftyle to make replies,
Which he had taught her to despise?
But when her tutor will affect
Devotion, duty, and refpect,
He fairly abdicates his throne;
The government is now her own:
But, though her arguments were strong,
At least cou'd hardly wish them wrong.
Howe'er it came, he cou'd not tell,
But fure she never talk'd fo well.
His pride began to interpofe;
Preferr'd before a crowd of beaux!
So bright a nymph to come unfought!
Such wonder by his merit wrought!
'Tis merit must with her prevail:
He never knew her judgment fail.
She noted all she ever read,
And had a moft difcerning head.
'Tis an old maxim in the schools,
That vanity's the food of fools:
Yet now and then your men of wit
Will condefcend to take a bit.

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So, when Cadenus cou'd not hide, He chofe to justify, his pride;

When

When mifs delights in her spinnet,
A fiddler may a fortune get;

A blockhead, with melodious voice,
In boarding-schools can have his choice:
And oft' the dancing-master's art
Climbs from the toe to touch the heart.
In learning let a nymph delight,
The pedant gets a mistress by't..
Cadenus, to his grief and fhame,
Cou'd scarce oppofe Vaneffa's flame;
Where hot and cold, where fharp and sweet -
In all their equipages meet;

Where pleasures mix'd with pains appear,
Sorrow with joy, and hope with fear;
Wherein his dignity and

age

Forbid Cadenus to engage.

But friendship, in its greatest height,
A conftant, rational delight,
On virtue's bafis fix'd to laft,

When love's allurements long are past,
Which gently warms, but cannot burn,
He gladly offers in return;
His want of paffion will redeem
With gratitude, refpect, efteem;
With that devotion we bestow,
When Goddeffes appear below.
While thus Cadenus entertains
Vanessa in exalted strains,

Con

Conftr'ing the paffion fhe had fhown,
Much to her praife, more to his own.
Nature in him had merit plac'd,
In her a moft judicious taffe.
Love, hitherto a tranfient gueft,
Ne'er held poffeffion in his breaft;
So long attending at the gate,
Difdain'd to enter in fo late.
Love why do we one paffion call,
When 'tis a compound of them all?
He has a forfeiture incurr'd;

She vows to take him at his word,
And hopes he will not think it strange,
If both fhou'd now their ftations change.
The nymph will have her turn to be
The tutor; and the pupil, he:
Though the already can difcern,
Her scholar is not apt to learn;
Or wants capacity to reach
The science the defigns to teach;
Wherein his genius was below
The fkill of ev'ry common beau;
Who, though he cannot fpell, is wise
Enough to read a lady's eyes,
And will each accidental glance
Interpret for a kind advance.

But

But what fuccefs Vanessa met,
Is to the world * a fecret yet.
Whether the nymph, to please her swain,
Talks in a high romantick strain;
Or whether he at last descends
To like with lefs feraphick ends;
Or, to compound the bus'nefs, whether
They temper love and books together;
Muft never to mankind be told,
Nor fhall the confcious mufe unfold.
Mean time the mournful queen of love
Led but a weary life above.

She ventures now to leave the fkies,
Grown by Vanessa's conduct wife:
For, though by one perverse event
Pallas had crofs'd her firft intent,
Though her design was not obtain'd,
Yet had the much experience gain'd,
And by the project vainly try'd
Could better now the caufe decide.
She gave due notice, that both parties
Coram regina prox' die Martis
Shou'd at their peril without fail
Come and appear, and fave their bail.

*The event of Vanessa's fuit is judiciously omitted, as

D

foreign to the plan and defign of the poem.

All

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