University of Virginia Library


314

SONNET XXXIV.

To Mr. Nathanael Mason.
Nephew, who soon design'st to pass the Sea,
To fix the basis of a useful trade;
With prosperous fortune be thy voyage made,
And safe return to home—if not to me;
Let these few precepts thy instructers be,
In distant climes thy friendless youth to aid;
Though interest, fashion, secresy persuade,
Yet keep thy morals pure, and conscience free:
In change of Countries God's all-seeing eye
Is every where the same, Virtue and Vice
Change not their nature; therefore be thou ware,
Shun follies haunts, and vicious company,
Least from true goodness they thy steps entice,
And Pleasure coil thee in her dangerous snare.