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Young Arthur

Or, The Child of Mystery: A Metrical Romance, by C. Dibdin

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The phrase was coarse I freely own,
In such an age, an age so prone
To that refinement whose soft ray—
In which the tiny trifles play
At blindman's buff I would have said,
But that had grossièreté betray'd—
Whose soft ray can by shining charm,
But never has the force to warm;

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Which flimsy fancy can control,
But never can excite the soul.