RESPONSES OF THE PRIESTESS OF APOLLO, AT THE FANCY-BALL.
I.
Idly curious, would you know
What To-morrow shall bestow?
Hark! the Delphic Shrine replies,
'Tis now the Minute to be wise:
To Heaven's disposing Care resign'd,
'Grave this Lesson on thy Mind:
Employ aright the present Hour;
To-morrow is beyond thy Power.
II.
While
Pleasure's gay delusive Train
Attends thy Life's unfolding Spring,
While Flattery pours the welcome Strain,
And Love displays his gilded Wing;
‘What Youth’ (you ask the Pythia's Art)
‘Shall next the soothing Tale supply?
‘What slighted Maid, with grief-swoln Heart,
‘Shall curse the Triumphs of your Eye?’
Enquire no more—To other Cares
Attend—From Earth thy Thoughts sublime:
Winter steals on; nor Beauty's Prayers
Avail to stay the Spoiler Time.
Forsaken, then, by Pleasure's Train,
The yellow Leaf shall cloud thy Spring:
Truth then shall pour th'unwelcome Strain,
And Love for Flight expand his Wing.
If, led by Vanity, or Pride,
In Folly's Maze you wildly stray,
What Hand thy parting Steps shall guide?
What Joy shall gild thy closing Day?
Then think betimes—Obey the God—
To Virtue turn thy adoring Eyes;
She points through Life the unerring Road,
And marks thy Passage to the Skies.
III.
The general Question of the Day,
Shall the Commons meet in May?
Broghill, who peeps behind the Curtain,
Smiles, and tells ye, “Yes, for certain.”
Syndercombe, at least as wise,
Frowns, and swears, “The Rascal lies.”—
The Delphic God (but not on Oath)
Agrees with neither, yet with both;
And, like King Phyz in Sheffield's Play,
At once pronounces, Ay, and Nay.—
Mortals, revere the mystic Rhyme,
Nor think Apollo deals in Fiction:—
Events yet in the Womb of Time
Must solve the present Contradiction.
Further seek not to explore;
Townshend's self can tell no more.