Poems on Several Occasions :: :: University of Virginia Library

Accurs'd Disease! that wilt not spare
The Gay, the Innocent, and Fair;
That can'st on Her thy force employ,
And Nature's Masterpiece destroy!
Hence, to the rash unthinking crowd,
The False, the Perjur'd and the Proud.
Go preach thy lesson to the Vain;
That Beauty must submit to Pain:
Shew the coquette unthinking Belle,
That to be good, is to excel:
'Tis needless here thy rage to spend,
Where nothing's left thee to amend.
Whate'er is gentle, good or sweet,
Together in my Chloe meet;
The gay Address of blooming age,
The graver Prudence of the sage.
Mark but that Angel-form, you see
All that her Sex desire to be:

Converse but with her, and you'll find
Whate'er they should be, in Her Mind.
If all these Charms must Fate obey,
If Death shall here exert his sway,
His conquests he may still pursue,
And Angels may be mortal too.