The Morning-Dream that hover'd o'er her Head.Ī Youth more glitt'ring than a Birth-night Beau,
Her Guardian Sylph prolong'd the balmy Rest. Thrice rung the Bell, the Slipper knock'd the Ground,Īnd the press'd Watch return'd a silver Sound. Now Lapdogs give themselves the rowzing Shake,Īnd sleepless Lovers, just at Twelve, awake: Sol thro' white Curtains shot a tim'rous Ray,Īnd op'd those Eyes that must eclipse the Day
Oh say what stranger Cause, yet unexplor'd,Īnd in soft Bosoms dwells such Mighty Rage? Say what strange Motive, Goddess! cou'd compelĪ well-bred Lord t'assault a gentle Belle? Slight is the Subject, but not so the Praise, This, ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view: I sing - This Verse to Caryll, Muse! is due What mighty Contests rise from trivial Things, WHAT dire Offence from am'rous Causes springs, But let its Fortune be what it will, mine is happy enough, to have given me this Occasion of assuring You that I am, with the truest Esteem, 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 thro' the World half so Uncensured as You have done. For they say, any Mortals may enjoy the most intimate Familiarities with these gentle Spirits, upon a Condition very easie to all true Adepts, an inviolate Preservation of Chastity.Īs 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 Loss of your Hair, which I always mention 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. The Gnomes, or Daemons of Earth, delight in Mischief but the Sylphs, whose Habitation is in the Air, are the best-condition'd Creatures imaginable. According to these Gentlemen, the four Elements are inhabited by Spirits, which they call Sylphs, Gnomes, Nymphs, and Salamanders. 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. The Rosicrucians are a People I must bring You acquainted with. I know how disagreeable it is to make use of hard Words before a Lady but 'tis 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. These Machines I determin'd to raise on a very new and odd Foundation, the Rosicrucian Doctrine of Spirits. The Machinery, Madam, is a Term invented by the Criticks, to signify that Part which the Deities, Angels, or Daemons, 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 it self, they always make it appear of the utmost Importance. An imperfect copy having been offer'd to a Bookseller, 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. But as it was communicated with the Air of a Secret, it soon found its Way into the World. Yet 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. It will be in vain to deny that I have some Regard for this Piece, since I Dedicate it to You.
The Rape of the Lock: Text of the Poem The Rape of the Lock: An Heroi-Comical Poem in Five Cantos
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