Or, quickly moving, meets a boift'rous wind,
Forcing it far in pointed ftreams behind,
Then closely preft, the am'rous mufcles fhew,
And Cupid's fpheres to perfect fulness grow.

Oh, what a fhape!--what fymmetry divine!
Jove! let my eyes the hidden glow define!
Olympus hook!-it lighten'd-thunder'd loud-
And o'er her burft an inundating cloud!
The texture closely to its treasure clung,
And in impervious folds no longer hung;
The graduated tints glow'd on my fight,
The carmine blufh, pale pink, and Alpine white;
She food and Fancy need not paint the reft)
A Venus Anadyomene confeft.

FAL DE RAL TIT.

MORE ON FEMALE FASHIONS.

"Induitur, formofa eft; exuitur, ipfa forma."

WHY

TO FLORA DREST.

HY art thou dreft, my lovely maid,
In gold and gems and rich brocade';
When gold and gems and rich brocade
Conceal thy charms, my lovely maid?
Why fpend'ft thou all this time and care,
To bind your fhape, to braid your hair?
Your fhape unbound, your flowing hair,
More beauteous are without your care.
Wouldst thou indeed be richly dreft,
Remove the robes which hide thy breast;
Thofe robes remov'd, and bare thy breast,
Thou art my charmer richly drest.
Remove thofe veftments far away,
Which like dark clouds obfcure the day;
Ah! let them not obfcure the day;
Remove them all, my fair, away.

ODE

ODE TO MODESTY,

[From a Calcutta Paper:]

"Pudor juveni decus."

THOU who fitt'ft by Merit's fide,
With feraph looks, unknown to Pride;
Meekeft of forms that tread th' enamell'd plain,
Whofe magic fheds a rofeate grace

O'er Beauty's ftill more beauteous face,
And giv'ft to gentleft forms a more aufpicious reign;
Not rob'd in flahy fplendours bright,

Which beam upon the aching fight,
But like night's regent, in a filv'ry gleam,

When verdant vales are gemm'd with pearly dews,
And the lone traveller his way purfues

O'er ducky moors and rocks, cheer'd by its penfive beam.
The fage (upon whofe honour'd head
Ennobling time its snows hath fhed)
Thy vot'ry kneels, and owns thy native grace;
True Valour in thy train is found,

His brows with vivid laurels bound;
To action born-yet not those acts to trace:
For when loud fame his prowefs fpeaks,

Thy orient blushes tinge his cheeks.

Whilft Cow'rdice high proclaims, with brazen pride

And Falfehood's tongue," the vain and fhadowy deed”--
What heroes brave HIS wrath compell'd to bleed!

Till time strikes off those plumes, and all the wretch deride,
O thou! whofe fpirit moft poffefs'd
The fair Lucretia's spotless breast,
When her great foul effus'd its crimson tide!
A purer ftream, O nymph divine!

Had ne'er imbru'd thy virgin fhrine!
See Roman freedom from its fountain glide !---
Sweet Modefty, thy accents low,

Like whifp'ring zephyrs, gently flow;
Dear to the bard, and foul-fubduing Nine.
Come with a field-flow'r in thy bofom's veil,
Inform each thought, and o'er each act prevail,
For in thy lovely mien the graceful virtues fhine.

PHILO-MODESTUS.

CONSTANCY

CONSTANCY:-TO CATHARINE.
[From the Morning Herald.]

FIX'D in my heart a jewel lies,

That caught its luftre from thy eyes,
When hid in Friendship's mine;
Soon Love the burning ruby found,
Dug it from out the covert ground,
And bade it brighter fhine!
'Tis Conftancy, my fair, that braves
Fortune's smooth fea, or troubled waves;
No cloud can dim its charms:

Let poverty or ills betide,

Let riches court, or courtly pride,

It still the lover warms!

It cafts around no glow-worm's light,
The luring phantom of the night,
To mock us when forlorn;

No flattering gleam deludes our way,
But, like the fun, with welcome ray,
Gives to our hopes a morn!

That fun, with dewy, dazzling tear,
Still wooes each season, month, or year,

To each new form a flave.

But the bright fun within my breaft
In thy dear fmile alone is bleft,
Reflecting what it gave!

Banks of the Thames, Sept. 19.

FEMALE

J. H.

SWINDLERS.

MR. EDITOR,

[From the Morning Chronicle.]

THE many trials you have lately recorded of female Sharps and harpers have impreffed my mind with a confiderable degree of melancholy. I like not this ambition of the fair fex to equal us in all our follies and crimes; and it fhocks me that the time is come, that one may fay with propriety to any thing in the

fhape

fhape of a lady, "Thou fhalt not feal." I thought they would have been content with a very lax interpretation of the Seventh Commandment, and with full permiflion to kill with all the charms Nature has given them; but fince they have paffed from killing to ftealing, and are more anxious to secure our purfes than our hearts, I fear a great degeneracy is not far off.

What is become, Sir, of the ancient delicacy and high spirit of our females, when, instead of captivating our affections, they trick us out of tables and chairs, and are more defirous to feal a bed, than to make use of it? Why are thofe bright eyes that used to enchant us with a fingle glance, now wandering o'er our fhops in queft of what may be pocketed? And why are the tender affections, the gentle hopes, the delicate fears of love wafted upon a piece of lace, or the furniture of a fideboard? Why do they look fo intenfely at a pier glafs, not to contemplate their charms, but to convey it away? and why do they, who were once captivated with the youth excelling in grace and mien, now fix their affections, O ominous paffion! upon a fet of bangings?

Surely, Sir, here is fome fatal perverfion of tafte fprung up among us, and threatening to overturn the whole fyftem of focial love and harmony. The time was when we young men were cautioned by our experienced tutors and guardians againft fparkling eyes, cherry cheeks, dimpled chins, polished foreheads, and ruby lips; when the fwelling bofom threatened a tempeft in our hearts, and the winning fmile was irrefiftible feduction; when we alternately experienced the pleafures of hope and the torments of defpair, and had no enemies to encounter but flames and darts. Ah! how fad the reverfe, when all the precepts of parental wifdom and of fage experience are compreffed into thofe few and vulgar words" Take care of your pockets!"

Tell

Tell thefe infatuated females, Mr. Editor, that they have widely erred in this new calculation of female policy, this new expedient to attract our attention. Tell them that men and household furniture are not to be caught in the fame trap; that barristers are very deficient in their respect for beautiful felony and accomplished fraud; that a court of juftice is not the circle in which the charms of the fex fhine with the brightest luftre; that juries and judges are not to be taken in with well-written letters, or fentimental faintings; and that the ruggedeft road to the Temple of Hymen is that which leads through the Old Bailey."

Dear enchanting creatures! be no longer the flaves of French clocks, porcelaine, and candelabra, of pier tables, fecretaries, and girandoles: be no longer captivated with damafk curtains and Turkey carpets, with Pembroke tables, with or-moulu and Wedgwood medallions; and if we must be compelled to make honef women of you-oh! by all the loves and graces! let it be in the old

way.

MR. EDITOR,

RETALIATION.
[From the fame.]"

DAMON.

HAVE juft read with rapture the letter of DAMON. There is ftill upon the earth one man whofe tafte is not corrupted. Could I but fee him, I fhould be recompenfed for the misfortunes of my paft life. How congenial are our feelings! My heart throbs in unifon with his ! "A fatal perverfion of tafte has fprung up among us, and threatens to overturn the whole fyftem of focial love and harmony." Better were "feudal inftitutions" reftored in their full vigour. Science would be extinguished, but gallantry might revive. But Damon certainly miftakes the cause of this fatal degeneracy. The women are dead to all the

VOL. VI,

fofter