Beauty can little execution do,

Unless she borrows half her arms from you;
Few, like PYGMALION, doat on lifeless charms,
Or care to clasp a statue in their arms;

But breafts of flint muft melt with fierce defire,
When art and motion wake the fleeping fire:
A VENUS drawn by great Apelles' hand,
May for a while our wond'ring eyes command,
But ftill, tho' form'd with all the pow'rs of art,
The lifeless piece can never warm the heart;
So a fair nymph, perhaps, may please the eye,
Whilft all her beauteous limbs unactive lie,
But when her charms are in the dance difplay'd,
Then ev'ry heart adores the lovely maid:
This fets her beauty in the fairest light,
And fhews each grace in full perfection bright;
Then, as fhe turns around, from ev'ry part,
Like porcupines, fhe fends a piercing dart;
In vain, alas! the fond spectator tries
To fhun the pleafing dangers of her eyes,
For, PARTHIAN like, fhe wounds as fure behind,
With flowing curls, and ivory neck reclin'd:
Whether her steps the Minuet's mazes trace,
Or the flow Louvre's more majestic pace,
Whether the Rigadoon employs her care,
Or fprightly Jigg difplays the nimble fair,
At every step new beauties we explore,
And worship now, what we admir'd before;
So when ENEAS in the TYRIAN grove,
Fair VENUS met, the charming queen of Love,

The

The beauteous Goddess, whilst unmov'd she stood,
Seem'd fome fair nymph, the guardian of the wood,
But when the mov'd, at once her heav'nly mien,
And graceful step confefs bright Beauty's queen,
New glories o'er her form each moment rife,
And all the Goddess opens to his eyes.

Now hafte, my Muse, pursue thy destin'd way,
What dreffes beft become the dancer, fay,
The rules of drefs forget not to impart,
A leffon previous to the dancing art.

The foldier's fcarlet glowing from afar,
Shews that his bloody occupation's war;
Whilft the lawn band, beneath a double chin,
As plainly speaks divinity within;

The milk-maid fafe thro' driving rains and fnows,
Wrapp'd in her cloak, and prop'd on pattens goes;
While the foft Belle immur'd in velvet chair,
Needs but the filken fhoe, and trufts her bofom bare:
The woolly drab, and English broad-cloth warm,
Guard well the horfeman from the beating ftorm,
But load the dancer with too great a weight,
And call from ev'ry pore the dewy fweat;
Rather let him his active limbs display
In camblet thin, or gloffy paduafoy,
Let no unweildy pride his shoulders prefs,
But airy, light, and easy be his dress
Thin be his yielding sole, and low his heel,
So fhall he nimbly bound, and fafely wheel.
B 3

But

But fet not precepts known my verse prolong, Precepts which ufe will better teach than fongs For why fhould I the gallant spark command, With clean white gloves to fit his ready hand? Or in his fobb enlivening fpirits wear, 1 And pungent falts to raise the fainting fair? Or hint, the fword that dangles at his fide, Should from its filken bondage be unty'd? Why should my lays the youthful tribe advise, Left fnowy clouds from out their wigs arife: So fhall their partners mourn their laces fpoil'd, And fhining filks with greafy powder foil'd? Nor need 1, fure, bid prudent youths beware, Left with erected tongues their buckles stare, The pointed fteel fhall oft their ftockings rend, And oft th' approaching petticoat offend.

And now, ye youthful fair, I fing to you,
With pleafing fmiles my useful labours view;
For you the filk-worms fine-wrought webs difplay,
And lab'ring fpin their little lives away,

For you bright gems with radiant colours glow,
Fair as the dies that paint the heav'nly bow,
For you the sea refigns it's pearly store,
And earth unlocks her mines of treafur'd ore;
In vain yet nature thus her gifts bestows,
Unless yourselves with art thofe gifts difpofe.

Yet think not, Nymphs, that in the glitt'ring ball, One form of dress prescrib'd can fuit with all;

One

One brightest shines when wealth and art combine
To make the finish'd piece compleatly fine;
When leaft adorn'd, another steals our hearts, 101
And rich in native beauties, wants not arts
In fome are fuch refiftless graces found,
That in all dreffes they are fure to wound
Their perfect forms all foreign aids defpife,
And gems but borrow luftre from their eyes

a

Let the fair nymph in whofe plump cheeks is feen. A conftant blush, be clad in chearful green In fuch a dress the sportive fea-nymphs go, So in their graffy bed fresh roses blow: The lafs whofe fkin is like the hazel brown, With brighter yellow fhould o'ercome her own; While maids grown pale with sickness or despair, The fable's mournful dye should chuse to wear; So the pale moon ftill fhines with pureft light, Cloath'd in the dusky mantle of the night.

But far from you be all those treach'rous arts,
That wound with painted charms unwary hearts;
Dancing's a touchstone that true beauty tries,
Nor fuffers charms that nature's hand denies :
Tho' for a while we may with wonder view
The rofy blush, and skin of lovely hue,

Yet foon the dance will caufe the cheeks to glow,
And melt the waxen lips, and neck of fnow:
So fhine the fields in icy fetters bound,
Whilft frozen gems befpangle all the ground;

Thro' the clear cryftal of the glitt'ring fnow,
With scarlet dye the blushing hawthorns glow;
O'er all the plains unnumber'à glories rife,
And a new bright creation charms our eyes;
Till ZEPHYR breathes, then all at once decay
The fplendid scenes, their glories fade away,
The fields refign the beauties not their own,
And all their fnowy charms run trickling down.

Dare I in fuch momentous points advise,
I fhould condemn the hoop's enormous fize:
Of ills I speak by long experience found,
Oft have I trod th' immeafurable round,
And mourn'd my fhins bruis'd black with many a
wound.

Nor fhould the tighten'd stays, too straitly lac'd,
In whale-bone bondage gall the flender waift;
Nor waving lappets fhou'd the dancing fair,
Nor ruffles edg'd with dangling fringes wear;
Oft will the cobweb ornaments catch hold
On the approaching button rough with gold,
Nor force, nor art can then the bonds divide,
When once th' intangled Gordian knot is ty'd.
So the unhappy pair, by HYMEN's power,
Together join'd in fome ill-fated hour,
The more they strive their freedom to regain,
The fafter binds th' indiffoluble chain.

Let each fair maid, who fears to be disgrac❜d, Ever be fure to tye her garters fast,

Left