The Lemnian Pow’rLemnian Power: Vulcan, who was said to be an inhabitant of the volcanic isle of Lemnos in the Aegean Sea.
forsakes the Realms above,
His Bosom glowing with terrestrial Love:
Far in the Lane, a
lonely Hut he found,
No Tenant
ventur’d on th’ unwholesome Ground.
Here smoaks his Forge, he bares his sinewy Arm,
And early Strokes the sounding Anvil warm;
Around his Shop the steely Sparkles flew,
As for the Steed he shap’d the bending Shoe.
When blue-ey’d
Patty near
his Window came,
His Anvil rests, his Forge forgets to flame.
To hear his soothing Tales, she feigns Delays;
What Woman can resist the Force of Praise? ’
At first she coyly ev’ry Kiss withstood,
And all her Cheek was flush’d with modest Blood:
C
With
With headless Nails he now surrounds her Shoes,
To save her Steps from Rains and piercing Dews;
She lik’d his soothing Tales, his Presents wore,
And granted Kisses, but would grant no more.
Yet Winter chill’d her Feet, with Cold she pines,
And on her Cheek the fading Rose declines;
No more her humid Eyes their Lustre boast,
And in hoarse Sounds her melting Voice is lost.
This
Vulcan saw,
and in his heav’nly Thought,
A new MachineMachine: complicated construct or scheme. Mechanick FancyMechanick Fancy: mechanical genius/skill. wrought,
Above the MireMire: wet mud or dirt. her shelter’d Steps to
raise,
And bear her safely through the Wintry Ways.
StraitStrait: immediately, straight away.
the new EngineEngine: an instrument or tool; there is probably some irony in Gay’s use of the term, given other meanings: for example, “a mechanical complication, in which various movements and parts concur to one effect or any instrument” (Johnson), or “an instance or a product of ingenuity; a contrivance or means. With pejorative connotation: a plot, a snare, a wile” (OED).
on his Anvil glows,
And the pale Virgin on the Patten rose.
No more her Lungs are shook with dropping Rheums,Rheums: “thin watery matter oozing through the glands, chiefly about the mouth” (Johnson). Earlier, a flow or flux of humours, a cold in the head. The medical understanding of the term evolved through the century: in 1702 John Kersey defined a rheum as a “defluxion of humours.”
And on her Cheek reviving Beauty blooms.
The