the serious alarm of the fair _Maiden's Blush_.[60]
The day now arrived, and at nine of the night,
The glow-worm being hired the highways to light,
The guests 'gan to assemble, and each was announced
By the _Herald_,[61] who loudly their names all pronounced.
The _Ermine_,[62] a lady of noble degree,
Introduced a long train of her large family;
Some in _Muslin_,[63] some _Satin_,[64] were chastely arrayed,
While the _Emerald_,[65] the _Pearl_,[66] and the _Mocha_[67]
displayed
Their jewels so costly, that poor _Burnished Brass_[68]
Unnoticed was suffered the evening to pass.
From the banks of the Niger the _Blackamoor_[69] brought
A fat _Moor_,[70] who presented a _Tyger_[71] just caught;
An old _Gentlewoman_[72] had promised to bring
A musical Miss, who divinely could sing,
But whose fair head, no larger than that of a _Dot_,[73]
Was filled with the thought of a _True Lover's Knot_;[74]
So she hem'd and she ha'd, then unblushingly told,
How she caught as she came a most violent cold,
And felt such oppression and pain in her throat,
That she scarcely dared venture to utter a note;
And thus with most Misses of human creation,
How often their colds are but mere affectation.
The dancing began, and soft music was heard,
Provided, 'twas said, by the sweet _Humming Bird_.[75]
Old Colonel _Gold Spangle_,[76] his dancing days past,
Volunteered with good humour the dances to cast;
To the forward Miss _Portland_[77] Captain _Christian_[78] he brought,
Who, aided by Mars, the young lady had caught,
For moths, like their betters, as I have been told,
Are mightily taken with scarlet and gold.
The _Foresters_[79] danced, arrayed all in green,
With the _Clear Wings_,[80] whose beauty gave life to the scene;
The _Mouse_,[81] quite enamoured, entreated in vain
The hand of the lovely _Pease Blossom_[82] to gain,
And the _Satellite_,[83] though he till now had sat still,
Made up to the _Seraph_[84] to dance a quadrille.
The _Quakers_,[85] who ne'er had been seen at a ball,
With the _Coronets_[86] galloped around the great hall,
And the sad _Mourning Widow_,[87] her weeds put away,
To waltz with the lustrous _Japan_,[88] now quite gay;
While the _Magpie_[89] obtained universal applause,
By fluttering a hornpipe upon his hind claws.
The _Vapourer_[90] came not, but he was no loss,
For wherever he went he was stupid and cross;
And his w