And teach th' unhallow'd Libertine to find
The wond'rous value of the female mind.
Angelic soother of the mental storm,
What winds can ruffle, or what waves deform,
When woman smiles to bid the turmoil cease,
The halcyon of the soul announcing peace?
Why from that heav'nly destination range,
A fatal Siren, with pernicious change,
Resistless all, whose fraudful song prevails,
On life's rude ocean, as we spread the sails?—
The helm abandon'd, the frail barks are tost,
On rocks, where Fortitude and Fame are lost;
Where greedy monsters, lurking in the caves,
Devour the wretches that escape the waves.
Oh never shall my dear Miranda prove
False to the presage of parental love.
Oh never shall that sweet angelic face,
Her airy form, that beams celestial grace,
The cherub lips, where sweetest music flows,
Become the messengers of pain and woes:
The darling boon, that heav'n itself imparts,
Become the fiend of agonizing hearts.
In Thee the virtues take such lasting root,
That widely shall they spread, and fairly shoot,
And strong, with inborn hardihood, defy
The scowling thunders of Misfortune's sky.
Thine pity, for the wretched prone to grieve,.
Awake to see, and thoughtful to relieve;
Instinctive wisdom, and unstudied skill,
And purity untaught, that shrinks from ill;
And sportive fancy thine, and taste refin'd,
The flowers and ornaments of blooming mind.
Like vernal blossoms, changeful, bright, and gay,
Sudden and sweet, the young ideas play.