CADENUS and VANESSA.

Written at Windfor in the Year 1713.

THE

HE Shepherds and the Nymphs were seen
Pleading before the Cyprian Queen,

The Council for the Fair began,

Accufing that falfe Creature Man :

The Brief with weighty Crimes was charg'd,
On which the Pleader much enlarg❜d :
That, Cupid now has loft his Art,
Or blunts the Point of ev'ry Dart:
His Altar now no longer smokes,
His Mother's Aid no Youth invokes:
This tempts Free-thinkers to refine,
And bring in doubt their Pow'r divine.
Now Love is dwindled to Intrigue,
And Marriage grown a Money-League.
Which Crimes aforefaid, (with her Leave)
Were (as he humbly did conceive)
Against our Sov❜reign Lady's Peace,
Against the Statute in that Cafe:
Against her Dignity and Crown.
Then pray'd an Answer, and fat down.

THE

THE Nymphs with Scorn beheld their Foes:
When the Defendant's Council rofe;

And, what no Lawyer ever lack'd,
With Impudence own'd all the Fact:
But, what the gentleft Heart would yex,
Laid all the Fault on t'other Sex.
That modern Love is no fuch Thing,
As what those antient Poets fing;
A Fire celeftial, chafte, refin'd,
Conceiv'd and kindled in the Mind;
Which, having found an equal Flame,
Unites, and both become the fame ;
In different Breasts together burn,
Together both to Ashes turn.

But Women now feel no fuch Fire 3
And only know the grofs Defire.
Their Paffions move in lower Spheres,
Where-e'er Caprice or Folly steers:
A Dog, a Parrot, or an Ape,
Or, fome worse Brute in human Shape,
Engrofs the Fancies of the Fair,
The few foft Moments they can fpare ;
From Vifits to receive and pay;
From Scandal, Politicks, and Play;
From Fans, and Flounces, and Brocades,
From Equipage and Park-Parades ;
From all the Thousand Female Toys;
From every Trifle that employs

The

The Out or In-side of their Heads,
Between their Toylets and their Beds.

In a dull Stream, which moving flow,
You hardly fee the Current flow;
If a fmall Breeze obftructs the Course,
It whirls about for want of Force;
And in its narrow Circle gathers

Nothing but Chaff, and Straws, and Feathers:
The Current of a Female Mind

Stops thus, and turns with ev'ry Wind;

Thus whirling round, together draws

Fools, Fops, and Rakes, for Chaff and Straws.
Hence we conclude, no Women's Hearts

Are won by Virtue, Wit, and Parts:
Nor are the Men of Senfe to blame,
For Breafts incapable of Flame;

The Fault muft on the Nymphs be plac'd,
Grown fo corrupted in their Taste.

THE Pleader having spoke his best,
Had Witness ready to attest

Who fairly could on Oath depofe,
When Questions on the Fact arose,
That ev'ry Article was true;
Nor further thofe Deponents knew
Therefore he humbly would insist,
The Bill might be with Costs dismist.

THE Caufe appear'd of fo much Weight, That Venas, from her Judgment-Seat,

Defir'd

Defir'd them not to talk fo loud,

Else she must interpofe a Cloud :

For, if the Heav'nly Folk fhould know
Thofe Pleadings in the Courts below,
That Mortals here difdain to love;
She ne'er could fhew her Face above:
For Gods, their Betters, are too wife
To value that which Men despise :
And then, faid fhe, my Son and I,
Muft ftrole in Air 'twixt Land and Sky;
Or elfe, fhut out from Heaven and Earth,
Fly to the Sea, my Place of Birth;
There live with daggl'd Mermaids pent,
And keep on Fish perpetual Lent.

BUT, since the Case appear'd so nice,
She thought it beft to take Advice.
The Muses, by their King's Permiffion,
Tho' Foes to Love, attend the Seffion;
And on the Right Hand took their Places
In Order; on the Left, the Graces:
To whom she might her Doubts propose
On all Emergencies that rofe.
The Muses oft were seen to frown;

The Graces, half afham'd, look'd down;
And 'twas obferv'd, there were but few,
Of either Sex, among the Crew,
Whom the or her Affeffors knew.
The Goddess foon began to fee
Things were not ripe for a Decree:

And

And faid, she must confult her Books,
The Lovers Fleta's, Bractons, Cokes.
First, to a dapper Clerk she beckon❜d,
To turn to Ovid, Book the Second:
She then referr'd them to a Place
In Virgil (vide Dido's Cafe :)
As for Tibullus's Reports,

They never pass'd for Law in Courts;
For Cowley's Briefs, and Pleas of Waller,
Still their Authority was smaller.

THERE was on both Sides much to say: She'd hear the Cause another Day;

And fo fhe did, and then a Third:

She heard it

there she kept her Word;

But with Rejoinders and Replies,

Long Bills, and Answers, stuff'd with Lies;
Demur, Imparlance, and Effoign,

The Parties ne'er could Iffue join:
For fixteen Years the Cause was spun,
And then stood where it first begun.

Now, gentle Clio, fing or fay,
What Venus meant by this Delay.
The Goddess much perplex'd in Mind,
To fee her Empire thus declin'd;
When first this grand Debate arose
Above her Wisdom to compofe,
Conceiv'd a Project in her Head,
To work her Ends; which if it fped,

Wou'd