[Page 112]At the gate the travellers neither met with a porter, nor waited 'till one should appear; every one thought his merits a sufficient passport, and pressed forward. In the hall we met with several phantoms, that rov'd amongst us, and rang'd the company according to their sentiments. There was decreasing HONOUR, that had nothing to shew in but an old coat of his ancestor's atchievements: there was OSTENTATION, that made himself his own constant subject, and GALLANTRY strutting upon his tip-toes. At the upper end of the hall stood a throne, whose canopy glitter'd with all the riches that gayety could contrive to lavish on it; and between the gilded arms sat VANITY deck'd in the Peacock's feathers, and acknowledged for another Venus by her votaries. The boy who stood beside her for a Cupid, and who made the world to bow before her, was called SELF-CONCEIT. His eyes had every now and then a cast inwards, to the neglect of all objects about him; and the arms which he made use of for conquest, were borrowed from those against whom he had a design. The arrow which he shot at the soldier, was fledg'd from his own plume of feathers; the dart he directed against the man of wit, was winged from the quills he writ with; and that which he sent against those who presumed upon their riches, was headed with gold out of their treasuries: he made nets for statesmen from their own contrivances; he took fire from the eyes of ladies, with which he melted their [Page 113]hearts; and lightning from the tongues of the eloquent, to enflame them with their own glories. At the foot of the throne sat three false Graces. FLATTERY with a shell of paint, AFFECTATION with a mirrour to practise at, and FASHION ever changing the posture of her cloaths. These applied themselves to secure the conquests which SELF-CONCEIT had gotten, and had each of them their particular polities. FLATTERY gave new colours and complexions to all things; AFFECTATION new airs and appearances, which, as she said, were not vulgar; and FASHION both concealed some home defects, and added some foreign external beauties.
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