T

HE Baffet-Table spread, the Tallier come;
Why ftays SMILINDA in the Dreffing-

Room?

Rife, penfive Nymph, the Tallier waits for you:

SMILINDA.

Ah, Madam, fince my SHARPER is untrue,
I joyless make my once ador'd Alpeu.

I faw him ftand behind OMERELIA's Chair,
And whisper with that foft, deluding air,
And thofe feign'd fighs which cheat the list'ning
Fair.

NOTES.

The Baffet-Table.] Only this of all the Town Eclogues was Mr. Pepe's; and is here printed from a copy corrected by his own i and. The humour of it lies in this, that the one is in love with the Game, and the other with the Sharter.

CARDELIA.

Is this the cause of your Romantic strains?
A mightier grief my heavy heart fuftains.
As You by Love, fo I by Fortune cross't;
One, one bad Deal, Three Septleva's have loft.

SMILIND A.

ΙΟ

Is that the grief, which you compare with mine; With eafe, the finiles of Fortune I refign: Would all my gold in one bad Deal were gone; Were lovely SHARPER mine, and mine alone. 16

CARDELIA.

A Lover loft, is but a common care;

And prudent Nymphs against that change prepare: The KNAVE OF CLUBS thrice loft: Oh! who could guefs

This fatal ftroke, this unforeseen Distress? 20

SMILINDA.

See BETTY LOVET! very à propos,

She all the cares of Love and Play does know:
Dear BETTY fhall th' important point decide;
BETTY, who oft the pain of each has try'd;
Impartial, she shall say who fuffers most,
By Cards' Ill Ufage, or by Lovers loft.

25

LOVET.

Tell, tell your griefs; attentive will I stay, Tho' Time is precious, and I want fome Tea.

CARDELIA.

Behold this Equipage, by Mathers wrought, 29 With Fifty Guineas (a great Pen'worth) bought, See on the Tooth-pick, Mars and Cupid ftrive; And both the struggling figures feem alive. Upon the bottom shines the Queen's bright Face; A Myrtle Foliage round the Thimble-Cafe. Jove, Jove himself, does on the Scizars shine; 35 The Metal, and the Workmanship, divine!

SMILINDA.

This Snuff-Box,---once the pledge of SHARP-
ER's love,

When rival beauties for the Present strove;
At Corticelli's he the Raffle won;

Then first his Paffion was in public shown:

40

HAZARDIA blush'd, and turn'd her Head afide, A Rival's envy (all in vain) to hide.

This Snuff-Box,---on the Hinge fee Brilliants shine:

This Snuff-Box will I stake; the Prize is mine,

CARDELIA.

Alas! far leffer loffes than I bear,

Have made a Soldier figh, a Lover swear.

45

And Oh! what makes the disappointment hard,
"Twas my own Lord that drew the fatal Card,
In complaifance, I took the Queen he gave;
Tho' my own secret wish was for the Knave. 50
The Knave won Sonica, which I had chose;
And the next Pull, my Septleva I lose.

SMILINDA.

But ah! what aggravates the killing smart, The cruel thought, that stabs me to the heart; This curs'd OMBRELIA, this undoing Fair,

55

By whofe vile arts this heavy grief I bear;
She, at whose name I shed these spiteful tears,
She owes to me the very charms she wears.
An aukward Thing, when first she came to Town;
Her Shape unfashion'd, and her Face unknown:
She was my friend; I taught her first to spread 61
Upon her fallow cheeks enliv'ning red:

I introduc'd her to the Park and Plays;
And by my int'reft, Cozens made her Stays,

Ungrateful wretch, with mimic airs

grown pert,

She dares to steal my Fav'rite Lover's heart.

CARDELIA.

66

Wretch that I was, how often have I swore, When WINNALL tally'd, I would punt no more ? I know the Bite, yet to my Ruin run;

And fee the Folly, which I cannot fhun.

70

SMILINDA.

How

many

Maids have SHARPER'S VOWs de

ceiv'd?

How many curs'd the moment they believ'd?
Yet his known Falfhoods could no Warning prove:
Ah! what is warning to a Maid in Love?

CARDELIA.

But of what marble mut that breaft be form'd,

76

To gaze on Baffet, and remain unwarm'd?
When Kings, Queens, Knaves, are fet in decent

rank;

Expos'd in glorious heaps the tempting Bank, Guincas, Half-Guineas, all the fhining train; The Winner's pleasure, and the Lofer's pain: 8 In bright Confufion open Rouleaus lye,

They ftrike the Soul, and glitter in the Eye.