That ardent passions in their growth assume, 170 That pure enjoyment of the soul—O! weak Are words such loves and glowing thoughts to speak! I sought to praise thee, and I felt disdain Of my own effort; all attempts were vain. Nor they alone were charming; by that light All loved of thee grew lovely in my sight; Sweet influence not its own in every place Was found, and there was found in all things grace; Thy shrubs and plants were seen new bloom to bear; } Not the Arabian sweets so fragrant were, 180} Nor Eden’s self, if aught with Eden might compare. } You went the church-way walk, you reach’d the farm, And gave the grass and babbling springs a charm; Crop, whom you rode—sad rider though you be— Thenceforth was more than Pegasus to me. Have I not woo’d your snarling cur to bend To me the paw and greeting of a friend? And all his surly ugliness forgave, Because, like me, he was my Emma’s slave? Think you, thus charm’d, I would the spell revoke? 190 Alas! my love, we married, and it broke! Yet no deceit or falsehood stain’d my breast, } What I asserted might a saint attest; } Fair, dear, and good thou wert, nay, fairest, dearest, best. } Nor shame, nor guilt, nor falsehood I avow, But ’tis by heaven’s own light I see thee now; And if that light will all those glories chase, ’Tis not my wish that will the good replace. _E._ O! sir, this boyish tale is mighty well, But ’twas your falsehood that destroy’d the spell. 200 Speak not of nature; ’tis an evil mind } That makes you to accustom’d beauties blind; } You seek the faults yourself, and then complain you find. } _H._ I sought them not; but, madam, ’tis in vain The course of love and nature to restrain; Lo! when the buds expand the leaves are green, Then the first opening of the flower is seen; Then comes the honied breath and rosy smile, That with their sweets the willing sense beguile; But, as we look, and love, and taste, and praise, 210 And the fruit grows, the charming flower decays; Till all is gather’d, and the wintry blast Moans o’er the place of love and pleasure past. So ’tis with beauty—such the opening grace And dawn of glory in the youthful face; Then are the charms unfolded to the sight, Then all is loveliness and all delight; The nuptial tie succeeds, the genial hour, And, lo! the falling off of beauty’s flower; So, through all nature is the progress made— 220 The bud, the bloom, the fruit—and then we fade. Then sigh no more—we might as well retain The year’s gay prime as bid that love remain: That fond, delusive, happy, transient spell, That hides us from a world wherein we dwell, And forms and fits us for that fairy ground, Where charming dreams and gay conceits abound; Till comes at length th’ awakening strife and care, That we, as tried and toiling men, must share.