Their names, their beauty, and their honours lost;
Those altars bright with gold and sculpture grac'd,
By barb'rous zeal of savage foes defac'd:

Sophia alone her ancient name retains,
Tho' unbelieving vows her shrine profanes,
Where holy saints have died in sacred cells,
Where monarchs pray'd, the frantic Dervise dwells.
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 reside,
So splendid, to content a patriach's pride,
Convents where emperor's profess'd of old,
Their labour'd pillars that their triumphs told;
Vain monuments of them that once were great
Sunk undistinguish'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 obscurely lost;
Those eyes a second Homer might inspire,
Fix'd at the loom destroy their useless fire.
Griev'd at a view which struck upon my mind
The short liv'd vanity of human-kind,
In gaudy objects Lindulge my sight,

}

And turn where Eastern pomp gives gay delight.
See the vast train in various habits drest,
By the bright scymitar and sable vest,
The proud Vizier distinguish'd o'er the rest;
Six slaves in gay attire his bridle hold,
His bridle rich with gems, and stirrups gold;
His snowy steed adorn'd with costly pride,
Whole troops of soldiers mounted by his side,
These top the plumy crest Arabian coursers guide.
With artful duty all decline their eyes,

No bellowing shouts of noisy crouds arise;
Silence in solemn state the march attends,

Till at the dread Divan the slow procession ends.
Yet not these prospects all profusely gay,
The gilded navy that adorns the sea,
The rising city in confusion fair,
Magnificently form'd irregular;

Where woods and palaces at once surprize,
Gardens on gardens, domes on domes arise,
And endless beauties tire the wand'ring eyes ;
So sooth my wishes, or so charm my mind,
As this retreat secure from human-kind.

No knave's successful craft does spleen excite,
No coxcomb's taudry splendour shocks my sight,
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-sounding Flattery's delicious bane;

}

Censorious Folly, noisy party-rage,

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

VERSES

TO THE

Lady MARY WORTLEY MONTAGUE.
By Mr. POPE.

I.

IN beauty or wit,
No mortal as yet

Fo question your empire has dar'd;
But men of discerning,

Have thought that in learning,

To yield to a lady was hard.

I I.

Impertinent schools,

With musty dull rules,

Have reading to females deny'd;

So Papists refuse

The bible to use,

Lest flocks should be wise as their guide.

ΙΙΙ.

"Twas a woman at first,
(Indeed she was curst)

In knowledge that tasted delight;
And sages 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 sex does belong;
And let them receive,

From a second 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 tasting, have robb'd the whole tree!

A

SUMMARY of the CONTENTS

OF THE

Letters of My Lady MONTAGUE.

Letter I. from Rotterdam.

VOYAGE to Helvoetsluys

general view of Rotterdam
he female dresses there.

-

remarks on

Letter II. from the Hague. The pleasure
of travelling in Holland the Hague the
Voorhout there.

Letter III. from Nimeguen. Nimeguen
compared to Nottingham - the Belvidera
the bridge ludicrous service at the French
church.

Letter IV. from Cologn. Journey from
Nimeguen to Cologn
plate relicks

thousand virgins.

Letter V. from

-

the Jesuit's church
the sculls of the eleven

Nuremberg. Difference

between the free towns and those under

absolute princes

sumptuary laws

the good effects of
humorous remarks on
relicks, and the absurd representations in the
churches at Nuremberg.

Letter VI. from Ratisbon. Ridiculous
disputes concerning punctilios among the