How art thou fall'n, imperial city, low!
Where are thy hopes of Roman glory now?
Where are thy palaces by prelates rais'd,
Where Grecian artists all their skill display'd,
Before the happy sciences decay'd

So vast, that youthful kings might here refide,
So fplendid, to content a patriarch's pride,
Convents where emperor's profefs'd of old,
Their labour'd pillars that their triumphs told;
Vain monuments of them that once were great
Sunk undiftinguish'd by one common fate;
One little spot, the tenure small contains
Of Greek nobility, the poor remains.

Where other Helens, with like powerful charms,
Have once engag'd the warring world in arms;
Those names which royal ancestors can boast,
In mean mechanick arts obfcurely loft;
Thofe eyes a fecond Homer might inspire,
Fix'd at the loom destroy their useless fire.
Griev'd at a view which ftruck upon my mind
The short-liv'd vanity of human-kind,
In gaudy objects I indulge my fight,

And turn where Eastern pomp gives gay delight.
See the vast train in various habits drest,
By the bright fcymitar and fable velt,
The proud Vizier distinguish'd o'er the reft;
Six flaves in gay attire his bridle hold,
His bridle rich with gems, and stirrups gold;
His fnowy steed adorn'd with costly pride,
Whole troops of foldiers mounted by his fide,

These top the plumy crest Arabian courfers guide.

}

With artful duty all decline their eyes,
No bellowing shouts of noify crouds arife;
Silence in folemn ftate the march attends,
Till at the dread Divan the flow proceffion ends.
Yet not thefe prospects all profufely gay,
The gilded navy that adorns the sea,
The rifing city in confusion fair,
Magnificently form'd irregular;

Where woods and palaces at once furprize,
Gardens on gardens, domes on domes arife,
And endless beauties tire the wand'ring eyes;
So footh my wishes, or fo charm my mind,
As this retreat fecure from human-kind.
No knave's fuccefsful craft does fleen excite.
No coxcomb's taudry splendour shocks my fight,
No mob alarm awakes my female fear,

No praise my mind, nor envy hurts my ear,
Ev'n fame itself can hardly reach me here:
Impertinence with all her tattling train,
Fair-founding Flattery's delicious bane;
Cenforious Folly, noisy party-rage,

The thousand tongues with which she muft engage
Who dares have virtue in a vicious age.

VERSES

то THE

Lady MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU E.

By Mr. POPE.

I.

IN beauty or wit,

No mortal as yet

To queftion your empire has dar'd;
But men of difcerning,

Have thought that in learning,

To yield to a lady was hard.

And fages agree,

The laws should decree

To the first possessor the right.

I V..

Then bravely, fair dame,
Renew the old claim,

Which to your whole fex does belong,
And let them receive,

From a fecond bright Eve,

The knowledge of right and of wrong.

But if the first Eve

Hard doom did receive,

When only one apple had she,

What a punishment new

Shall be found out for you,

Who tafting, have robb'd the whole tree!

SUMMARY of the CONTENTS

OF THE

Letters of My Lady MONTAGUE.
Letter I. from Rotterdam.

VOYAGE to Helvoetflnys-
general view of Rotterdam remarks on the
female dreffes there.

-

Letter II. from the Hague. The pleasure of
travelling in Holland - the Hague — the Voor-
hout there.

Letter III. from Nimeguen. Nimeguen com-
pared to Nottingham - the Belvidera - the
bridge ludicrous fervice at the French church.

Letter IV. from Cologn. Journey from Ni-
meguen to Cologn-the Jefuits church-plate
relicks the fculls of the eleven thousand
virgins.

-

Letter V. from Nuremberg. Difference be-
tween the free towns and thofe under abfolute
princes-the good effects of fumptuary laws-
humorous remarks on relicks, and the abfurd
representations in the churches at Nuremberg.

Letter VI. from Ratisbon. Ridiculous disputes
concerning punctilios among the envoys at the
diet-the churches and relicks-filver image of
the Trinity.

Letter VII. from Vienna. Voyage from Ra-
tisbon down the Danube general description