As he approves, as he dislikes,
Love or contempt her fancy ftrikes.
Self-love, in nature rooted fast,
Attends us firft, and leaves us laft:
Why fhe likes him, admire not at her;
She loves herself, and that 's the matter.
How was her tutor wont to praise
The geniufes of ancient days!
(Those authors he so oft' had nam'd,
For learning, wit, and wisdom, fam'd)
Was ftruck with love, efteem, and awe,
For perfons whom he never faw.
Suppofe Cadenus flourish'd then,
He must adore fuch God-like men.
If one short volume could comprise
All that was witty, learn'd, and wife,
How would it be efteem'd and read,
Although the writer long were dead !
If fuch an author were alive,
How all would for his friendship strive,
And come in crouds to fee his face!
And this fhe takes to be her cafe.
Cadenus anfwers every end,
The book, the author, and the friend;
The utmost her defires will reach,
Is but to learn what he can teach :
His converfe is a fyftem fit
Alone to fill up all her wit;
While every paffion of her mind
In him is center'd and confin'd.
Love can with speech inspire a mute,
And taught Vanessa to dispute.
This topick, never touch'd before,
Difplay'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 pafs
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 favourite fyftem to their mind,
In every point to make it fit,
Will force all nature to fubmit.
Cadenus, who could ne'er fufpect
His leffons would 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.
When Mifs delights in her spinnet,
A fiddler may a fortune get;
A blockhead, with melodious voice,
In boarding-schools may 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 shame,
Could fcarce oppose Vaneffa's flame;
And, though her arguments were strong,
At least could hardly with them wrong.
Howe'er it came, he could not tell,
But fure fhe never talk'd fo well.
His pride began to interpofe;
Preferr'd before a croud of beaux !
So bright a nymph to come unsought!
Such wonder by his merit wrought!
"Tis merit must with her prevail !
Yet now and then your men of wit
Will condefcend to take a bit.
So, when Cadenus could not hide,
He chofe to juftify, his pride;
Conftruing the paffion fhe had shown,
Much to her praise, more to his own.
Nature in him had merit plac'd,
In her a moft judicious taste.
Love, hitherto a tranfient guest,
Ne'er held poffeffion of 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?
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
Which gently warms, but cannot burn,
He gladly offers in return;
His want of paffion will redeem
With gratitude, respect, esteem;
With that devotion we bestow,
When goddeffes appear below.
While thus Cadenus entertains
Vaneffa in exalted strains,
The nymph in fober words intreats
A truce with all fublime conceits :
For why such raptures, flights, and fancies,
To her who durft not read romances?
In lofty style to make replies,
Which he had taught her to despise?
But when her tutor will affect
Devotion, duty, and refpect,
He fairly abdicates the throne;
The government is now her own;
He has a forfeiture incurr'd;
She vows to take him at his word,
And hopes he will not think it strange,
If both fhould now their stations 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 she designs to teach:
Wherein his genius was below
The skill of every common beau,
Who, though he cannot fpell, is wife
Enough to read a lady's eyes,
And will each accidental glance
Interpret for a kind advance.
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