fagacious girl laid open her fcheme fo much to the mother's fatis action, that the promised to act a part in it.

The day following, the gentleman paid a vifit to the daughter, whom he did not love, but whem, for her character, he efteemed. After a fhort filence, fhe, with a mien which could give him no great idea of her intellects, faid, that as fhe had no hopes of his love, fhe at leaft requir ed from him an exceflive proof of his efteem, which was, fhould he hereafter take a fancy to any other woman, to make her his confidante. This propofal he looked on in the light which he thought it deferved, and made anfwer, that as far as he knew himself, he was not the most propenfe to amours, but that fhould fuch a thing fall out, his reafon would help him to ftifle a paffion, and conceal it from him felf, fo far from imparting it to his wife. She infifted fhe would ftand in his heart, at leaft in the rank of a good friend. This produced a long conteft, managed with great indifference on his fide, and with a vapid fort of obftinacy on hers. He ftill would not promife fo extravagant a confidence, till, to be rid of her importunities, with a contemptuous laugh, he complied with what he had been foliciting. Another good quality of this gentleman was, that what he had promifed he kept to. He took his leave of her, telling her, in a earclefs manner, that he was going to the ball, and always put on a Spanish drefs, and very feldom miffed a night; to which fhe answered, that the could not endure a bali, dancing was a thing that he could never learn.

He was no fooner in the street than the fent for an Elpagnoletta habit, purpofing to follow him.-With the fineft fhape in the world, and an advantageous fta ure, fhe had all the graces of attitude, and danced inimitably; her neck, the contour of her face, and her eyes, were per fectly beautiful, fo that with a little mafk, and the apertures for the eyes very open, her appearance was quite enchanting. She foon attracted the eyes of the whole company, and her Spaniard was no lefs charmed; being taken out to dance, he herein increased the a miration of her perfon; the Spaniard, who flood forward to have the better fight of her, had the high pleasure of being chofen for her fecond partner.After dancing they fell into conversation. The Spaniard, enraptured with the brilliancy of her rapartees, and the turn and delicacy of her thoughts, Pittle imagined this engaging perion to

be her whom he had feen only in her negligee, which hid her fhape and disfi gured her air, and affected an indolence bordering on ftupidity; in a word, he began to love her beyond what he thought himfelf fufceptible of, and rej iced in the happiness only of being told by her, that fhe was to be at the ball on the following night, and in the fame habit.

On the afternoon of the next day, he waited on his future bride, whom he found in her ufual indolence, and more carele fly dreffed than before, but in her difcourfe a furprizing alteration; fuch judgement, fuch elevation of thought, and tenderness of fentiments, and delivered with fuch amiable fweetnefs, that he began to grow a little cafy, though the wanted the fparkling wit, and radiant charms of the Elpagnoletta; yet fome figns of extreme agitation efcaped him, and from time to time, to her great joy, he fell unto unusual diftractions; fhe now plainly faw that he was fmitten. They both kept their word to meet at the ball, and in a conversation ftill more animated than that of the laft night, fhe threw fresh fuel on his love, but his marriage obtru-. ding itfelf among his raptures, gave rife to fuch forcible reflections, that, by a very extraordinary effort of virtue, he was for fuddenly leaving the Efpagnoletta. How will you leave me? fays fhe, with an air fufficient to have enamoured him, if he had not been fo. On this, he funk down again in his chair, without speaking a word. I fee, fays fhe, that to detain you I ftand in need of all my charms; well then, I will unmask. No fuch thing, no fuch thing, cried he, labouring in the noble conflict. What will become of me? and, in effect, dreading the confequence of a longer ftay, he inftantly broke from her bably was the first time that a mistress has been pleafed at a lover's overcoming the paflion he had for her. The Elpagnoletta, on this flight of her Spaniard, was nolefs delighted with his virtue, than with his love.

This very pro

This gentleman, who had never been known to trefpafs againft fincerity, as he had given his word to his future bride, determined not to conceal from her a paffion fo very unexpected. He laid open to her the bottom of his heart, while he feigned as muck jealoufy as fufficed to let him know that the loved him; and afterwards expreffed fuch refignation and indulgence, and fo much confidence in his fidelity, that he could not but execrate himfeif for having been capable of harbouring

Harbouring any fentiment to her injury. She endeavoured to remove his concern by high commendations of his extraordinary prudence and refolution, in refufing to fee the Espagnoletta unmasked, at the fame time adviling him that he fhould endeavour to fee her fo; that, faid he, is the only way of curing you: to be fure fhe is another creature under the mafk than what your inflamed imagination repréfents her, and should fhe prove to want beauty, you would foon forget her wit. No, no, replied he, there is nothing like hunning her; and this very evening will I beg of my father to put off our marriage for a few days, while I go into the country, where I make no doubt but I fhall get the better of this freak; my esteem for you will not allow me to give myfelf to you in my prefent distracted state. No, no, fays fhe, I will put you in the fureft way to forget the charms of your Espagnoletta, for unqueftionably your paffion will be cured on feeing her without a mask; you may depens on it, for, to tell you the truth, it is no longer ago than yefter ay, that one, who knows her perfectly well, was talking of her, and faid, that except her eyes, he had not a fingle good feature in her face. Still the lover infifted on a fhort ruftication; but the father, who had got intelligence of all thefe tranfactions, laid his command on his fon to bring matters to an iffue the very next day.

The contract was figned, and after the folemnization, the fplendid company returned to the mother's houfe. Scarce was fupper over, when in came a troop of masks, preceded by fiddles; the bride, who had feigned a flight indifpofition at fupper, requested her husband to perform the honours of the mafquerade, while fhe withdrew to reft a-while. With fuck difpitch did the equip herself in her former habit, that he entered the dancing room with another group of masks, which followed foon after the firft; they both confifted of fome intimate friends who had been defired to form a mafquerade for facilitating the execution of the bride's artifice. The faithful bridegroom, at the fight of that dreaded object, was for haftening out of the room; but the mother, catching hold of him, informed him he had defignedly invited the Efpagnoletta, who was at a ball in the neighbourhood, to favour them with her company. My daughter, added fhe, cannot be easy until you fee her unmasked, as that will abfolutely cure you, for the

3

is faid to be even frightfully ugly. Ah! madam, replied he, all the faults of her face will never cure me of a deteftable paffion, which fo many other charms have kindled, I have already imagined her more hideous than it is well poffible for her to be, and am not a whit the eafi er. Ah! madam, no longer ftop me.

While he was fpeaking, the Espagnoletta, animated by this (cene, which gave her inconceivable delight, exerted the utmoft of her skill and vivacity in all the motions of the dance; he turned afide his looks from the irrefiftible temptations but he wantonly wept along clofe by hin, which at once expelled his reafon, and duty, and he forgot the presence of his mother-in-law. To complete his confufion, the Espagnoletta took him by the hand. This to overpowered his finfes, that his mother-in-law taking him under the arm, he fuffered himself to be drawn away to a clolet, without knowing whither he was going, and the mɔther fhut herself up with them. The Efpagnoletta then fet forth a dep figh, and no more than natural, for by unmafking horf if the feared that the fhould total y lofe the plea fure of feei g her hufbind fo very tond; he loved him as much as he loved the Epag • noletta, her languishing looks anfwered thofe of hert an ported lover; they looked at each other for fome time, without untering a word, whilft the anxious mother's fluent tongue was giving her fonin-law an idea of the inoft diftaftetul ugliness, that by this contrait, when her daughter fhould come to unmask, she might appear to lefs difadvantage. The fond bride availed herfelf as long as he could of her nusband's mistake, but as she could not prevail on herself to tering are this fcene, the mother at length took one mask from the daughter's face.

The powerful eff&t that this furprise produced in the nappy bridegroom, is one of thofe things the force of which is diminished by any defcription. Imagine the fituation of a man of honour, conflicting with love and beauty, infinitely efteeming one perfon, and paffionately in love with another, and who at length finds them both united in one complete object.

As to the bride, what must have been her ecftacy, that in fo little time fhe had transformed an indifferent lover into an enamoured husband, and brought the ftruggle between efteem and love to a favourable iffue; which eftablished her felicity, and did equal honour to both, B 2 POETRY.

304

To bless the green earth's inmost shore :
And bid the freshen'd waters glide,
For fern-crown'd-nymphs, of lake, or brook,
Thro' winding woods, and pastures wide,
And many a wild, romantic nook.
For this the nymphs, at fall of eve,
Oft dance upon the flow'ry banks,
And fing my name, and garlands weave,
To bear beneath the wave their thanks.

In coral bow'rs I love to lié,
And hear the furges roil above,
And thro' the waters view on high
The proud fhips fail, and gay clouds move.
And oft at midnight's ftilleft hour,
When fummer feas the veff lave,
I love to prove my charmful pow'r,
While floating on the moon light wave.
And when deep fleep the crew hath bound,
And the fad lover mufing leans
O'er the fhip's fide. I breathe around
Such ftrains as fpeak no mortal means!

ade;

O'er the dim waves his fearching eye
Sees but the veffel's lengthen'd
Above--the moon and azure sky,
Entranc'd he hears, and half afraid!
Sometimes a fingle note I fwell,
That foftly fweet, at diftince dies;
Then wake the magic of my fhell,
And choral voices round me rife!

The trembling youth, charm'd by my strain,
Calls up the crew, who, filent, bend
O'er the high deck, but lift in vain
My fong is hufh'd, my wonders end!
'Within the mountain's woody bay,
Where the tall bark at anc or rides,
At twilight hour with tritons gay,
I dance upon the lapfing tides:
And with my fifter-nymphs I fport
Till the broad fun looks o'er the floods;
Then fwift we feek our cryftal court,
Deep in the wave, mid Neptune's woods.
In cool arcades and glaffy halls
We pafs the fultry hours of noon,

s;

Beyond wherever fun-beam falls,
Weaving fea-flowers in gay feftoon.
The while we chaunt our ditties fweet
To fome foft fhell that warbles near;
Join'd by the murmuring currents, fleet,
That glide along our halls fo clear.

There, the pale pearl, and fapphire blue,
And ruby red, and em'rald green,
Dart from the domes a changing hue,
And fparry columns deck the fcene.

When the dark ftorm fcowls o'er the
And long, long peals of thunder found,
deep
On fome high cliff my watch I keep
O'er all the reftiefs feas around:

Till on the ridgy wave afar
Comes the lone veffel, labouring flow,
Spreading the white foam in the air,
With fail and top-maft bending low.
Then plunge I mid the ocean's roar,
My way by quiv'ring lightnings fhown,
To guide the bark to peaceful fhore,
And hufh the failor's fearful groan.

And if too late I reach its fide
To fave it from the whelming furge,
I call my dolphins o'er the tide
To bear the crew where ifles emerge.

Their mournful fpirits foon I cheer,
While round the defert coaft I go,
With warbling fongs they faintly hear;
Oft as the ftormy guft finks low._

My mufic leads to lofty groves,
Ta wild upon the fea bank wave;
Where fweet fruits bloom, and resh spring

roves,

And clofing boughs the tempeft brave.

Then, from the air fpirits obey
My potent voice they love fo well,
And, on the clouds, paint vions gay,
While ftrains more fweet at diftance Twell.

And thus the lonely hours I cheat,
Soothing the fhip-wreck'd failor's heart,
Till from the waves the ftorms retreat,
And o'er the east the day-beam dart.

Neptune for this oft binds me faft,
To rocks below, with coral chain,
Till all the tempeft's overpaft,
And drowning feamen cry in vain.

Whoe'er ye are that love my lay,
Come when red fun-fet tints the wave,
To the ftill fands where fairies play;
There in cool feas I love to lave.

'They vow all her fecret haunts from mortals to defend.

When down among the mountain finks the ev'ning ftar,

And the changing moon forfakes this fhadowy fphere,

ries are,

cing in a ring,

With the merry pipe, the tabor and the horn, And the timbrel fo clear, and the lute with dulcet ftring;

Then round about the oak they go till peeping of the morn.

Down yonder glade two lovers steal, to fhun the fairy-queen,

Who frowns up on their plighted vows, and jealous is of me,

That yefter-eve I lighted them, along the dewy green,

To feck the purple flow'r whofe juice from all her fpells can free.

And now, to punish me, the keeps afar her jocund band,

With the merry, merry pipe, the tabor, and the lute;

If I creep near yonder oak, fhe will wave her fairy wand,

And to me the dance will ceafe, and the

mufic all be mute.

O! had I but that purple flow'r whofe leaves her charms can foil,

And ki ew like fays to draw the juice, and throw it on the wind,

1

Where winds the road along the fecret hay;

By rills that tumble down the woody steeps, and run in tranfport to the dimpling deeps; Along the "wild meand'ring fhore" to view,

Obfequious Grace the winding fwan pursue. He fwells his lifted cheft, and backward flings His bridling neck between his tow'ring

wings;

Stately, and burning in his pride, divides
And glorying looks around, the filett tides:
On as he floats, the filver'd waters glow,
Proud of the varying arch and movelefs
form of fnow.

While tender Cares and mild domeftic Loves,
With furtive watch purfue her as the moves;
The female with a meeker charm fucceeds,
And her brown little ones around her leads,
Nibbling the water lilies as they pass,
Or playing wanton with the floating grafs:
She in a mother's care, her beauty's pride
Forgets, unweary'd watching every fide;
She calls them near, and with affection
Tweet

Alternately relieves their weary feet;

*

Alternately they mount her back, and reft Clofe by her mantling wings'embraces preft.

Yon tuft conceals your home, your cot tage bow'r,

Fresh water rushes ftrew the verdant floor; Long grafs and willows from the woven wall,

And fwings above the roof the pop'lar tall. Thence affuing oft, unwieldy as ye stalk, Ye crush with broad black feet your flow'ry

walk;

Safe from your door ye hear at breezy morn, The hound, the horfe's tread, and mellow

horn;