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And faw thofe very eyes impart,
A foul that sharpens ev'ry dart ;
With ev'ry rich endowment fraught,
The tender care, the gen'rous thought;
The sense of each exalted duty,
That mingled worth with ev'ry beauty;
And a prevailing with imprefs'd,
To make all happy, and one bless'd;
Her heart thro' ev'ry feature spoke,
There was a virtue in each look;
The whole was gentlenefs and love,
Her arrows feather'd with the dove;
And ev'ry glance that charm'd the fight,
Was as benevolent as bright;
Finding no poffible retreat,
I yield contented to my fate;
I unreluctant drag the chain,
And in the paffion lose the pain;
For her sweet bondage is fo light,
And all her fetters are fo bright,
That vain and vanquish'd, I muft own,
I cannot wish to lay them down;
Nor idly struggle to be free,
Nor change my lot for liberty,

T

TO THE HON. MR. PRATT, ON HIS MARRIAG WITH MISS MOLESWORTH.

DEAR Pratt! to that incurious age

Let me your thoughts recall, When, poring o'er the poet's page, You thought it fiction all.

Then mortals' and immortals' charms

Appear'd alike ideal,

Your bofom felt no foft alarms,

Nor feem'd their raptures real.

Fair Venus, by the graces dreft,
And by the loves attended,
All vanish'd; nor disturb'd your reft
When once your task was ended,

To range the words in order dãe
Was then your studious toil;
'Twas mine, with critic care, to fhew
The beauties of their style.

But what can formal pedants teach ?
How vain are all their rules!
Subjects there are, beyond the reach

Of fchoolmen, and of fchools.

What

What Venus and her Cestus mean,
What Hebe's dimpled cheek,
In Molesworth's form can best be seen,
Her manners best can speak.

What feem'd wild dreams of poets' brains,
You now as truth admire ;
Love's comment always best explains
What love did first inspire.

MARRIAGE.

A WARNING PIECE.

ADDRESSED TO THOSE IN HUMBLE LIFE.

BY E. F.

MARRIAGE! forbear, thou rash unguarded youth!
Attend the friendly precepts of the mufe:

She dares unfold the harsh unwelcome truth,
To curb thy fires, and check thy ardent views;
Diffolves the magic charm that lures thine eye,
Where pangs and fharp remorfe in treach'rous ama
bush lie.

If Beauty's beam have fir'd thy captive mind,
(Unconscious fhot from eye of humble maid)
Shun the sweet fnare, where Mis'ry lurks behind,
Nor court the gloom of Poverty's fad fhade.
Let wealth and title fhare the tender blifs,
Let these alone partake the chafte connubial kifs.

of

Of mystic rapture, tho' thy favour'd eye
Have drunk deep draughts at many a tranfient view
These vifionary charms too foon will die,

No longer pleafing, when no longer new.

O! vain to hope these fleeting joys shall last, When novel days, and weeks, and honey-moon are past!

And tho' with skill she drive the pointed steel,
And many a felvedge runs with busy speed :
Can felvedges divert the pangs you feel,

When clouded comes the dismal hour of need?
When dear earn'd fhillings fly ten thousand ways,
In shape of caps, and cloaks, and ftockings, fhoes,
and stays?

And if in fong she charm thy ravish'd ear,
And trip it graceful in the mazy dance;

What strain, what step, may footh thy fate fevere,
When dreary winter's fhiv'ring months advance ?
Joyous no more to fhare in flowing bowls,

Now doom'd to curfe the cost of candles, and of coals!

How beats thine heart, when fashion's changeful

laws

Enjoin new modes, and each frail female fhines, With tow'ring head-dress rich in flowing gauze ?To join the giddy throng thy partner pines;

With eager zeal to fhew an early taste,

In Folly's num'rous train fhe grieves to lift the last.

When Summer-fabbath crowns the lagging week,
And ruddy Phœbus gilds the landscape round,
Then spruce acquaintance shall thy table seek,
And goffip neighbours at thy board be found:
Succeeds a lengthful train, unknown before,
Aunts, cousins, fifters, nieces, drain thy congou
store.

But O! what pen may paint the pure delight,
When wealth, when virtue, lasting bliss infures;
When youthful beauty waits the hallow'd rite,
And parents' willing voice the boon fecures.
Not here the mufe pours forth her forrowing fung,
To this aufpicious theme her gayest notes belong!

To

HINTS TO PROFESSORS.

PROFSSORS OF POETRY.-Take a strong decoction of Ariftotle's Poetics, and Bolu's Treatise on Epic Poetry, every morning before breakfast, for a bout a fortnight, (you may get tranflations of each of them.)

Remember that

Nulla placere diu, nec vivere carmina possunt,

Quæ fcribuntur aqua potoribus

Drink liberally therefore of ale.

VOL. II.

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