I view the full assurance of thy mien,
That boldly challenges the answ'ring gaze, And wonder where's the averted sweetness flown,
Entangling as it shunn'd man's curious eye:
Then will my fancy follow thee awhile,
And o'er thy cheerless habitation stray; See thee retire in cold unenvied state,
See o'er thy starting limbs disease preside, And squallid sin thy broken slumbers watch.- Pass not these wretches-such and so they are! Ye squeamish prudes, ye proud unfeeling train, Ye titled dames, ye yet unfallen fair, With aught but tender'st pity for their fate; Let no deriding taunt your lips escape, Nor one indignant meaning arm your eye;- Have you at home, a sister, daughter dear, Pure as the unkiss'd snow by Phœbus' beam? And are ye sure their spotless ermine now, Their clear white vests of innocence and worth, Shall touch upon the world, the soiling world, And thro' it sweep without a rent or stain? Nay, can ye say, had you yourselves been form'd With passions similar, and prudence weak As this lost common child of shame and sin, Blest with such charms and equally assail'd, Your untried virtue had not been ensnar'd, And by debasement gradual, sunk as low Or what divine assurance can ye boast To say ye may not yet unguarded fall?
None-none I fear-temptations has the world Many and great-and ye alas, are frail- All-beauteous woman!-frail perhaps as fair! Then can ye execrate this hapless child? Oh, no! your alter'd strains let Heav'n receive, Implore its kind protection of your race, And thank your God, ye yet have been his care; Nay, pray devoutly he'll extend it still- Vaunt not your worth, nor oh, depreciate her's- Lest that the diff'rence may not be so great, 'Twixt your exalted, her degraded claims, But in some feeling moment, wounded pride, May bid her say, and say with conscious truth, • Restore one treasure which I once possess'd, • Lost to a wretch who priz'd it unattain'd, • But most unkindly spurn'd it when enjoy'd, • And all the rest may more than equal yours!' No, poor forsaken nymph, by man betray'd, I'll not offend thy feelings with a thought, That in thy breast all virtue is extinct, And that exclusive infamy is thine.- Oh, may that soul thy sense of anguish know, Who in it harbours sentiments so base! Tho' modesty, thy sex's brightest boast, Long since depriv'd of, be for ever flown, I know within thy wretched injur'd heart Some gen'rous guest, some taintless tenants dwell; Nor has thy once fair mind been so debas'd
But in that volume many a page is pure.
Oh, I have heard thee rue the fatal hour,
When arch deceivers woo'd with seeming truth ! When thou, poor girl! all guileless as the morn, Thought'st it no crime to credit and comply. Have heard thee give imaginary worlds, But to regain thy milk-white honours lost; To raise from death's cold cell thy parents dear, Heart-broken hurried to the timeless grave, And bid them view again their spotless child; Meet with meek confidence their doating eyes, Sink on their necks and hang with rapture there : To mingle with the partners of thy youth, Share their lov'd talk, and join the jocund dance: I've seen thee give, with an unsparing hand, Where greater objects made their crying claims, The scanty wages of a course of sin;
And when thy pocket fail'd thy feeling heart, Supplied the intended tribute with a tear ;- Have seen thee fire at insult's rude attack, Trac'd thy nice feelings in thy quiv'ring face, That in expressive silence seem'd to say,
• Fall'n as I am, I do not this deserve;
* And thơ' my wants command me to accept,
My pride, tho' starving, at thy offer spurns
'For know, unmanly wounder of my shame,
• I ne'er will humble to a brute's embrace;
Nay tho' despis'd myself, can pity thee.'
Such are the scenes that mark the path of guilt
SEDUCER! Such the wretches thou hast made;
Who doom'd to live in most unpitied sin, May in that misery expiate those crimes, By thee first taught, and still by thee pursued.- While others in the tender-budding hour Of life, too vent'rous with their opening sweets, Blighted and nipt, by treachery like thine, Shrink from all further intercourse with man, Hide from a taunting world their injur'd blooms, And find in anguish, an untimely grave.
Thus is, oh NIGHT! to man's licentious views, Thy star-gemm'd robe, a most convenient veil, By vice and folly evermore put on; Who know its influence, but pervert its use,To spread for virtue an ingenious toil, Entrap integrity, and truth ensnare: Poor guileless Virgins! ye, among the rest, May hourly dread the dæmons of the dark, For many a one have rued the silent sceneBeneath thy shades in unsuspecting thought, The flatterer's tale may charm thy guardian sylph, To hush'd repose, and thee to ruin sure: And what days utmost magic cou'd not shake, Shall to thy witch'ries, scarce resisting, yield; Nor dream the morn shall once the deed disclose, The searching sun beam settle on thy shame, Nor yet reflection's retrospective glance, Call up one blush into thy conscious cheekOh moments! big with most disastrous births,
With teeming mischiefs and abuses foul
See where they rise; their crooked courses mark.
Thine are the DRUNKARDS most delightful hours! If drunkards any happy hours enjoy; And sure they shou'd when thousands hourly meet, To drain large draughts of liquid poison down, Exulting in inebriation!
Bewilder'd state, besotted, and unblest! Returning morn brings not returning sense; The mind seduc'd yields to the liquid bane, And the parch'd lips implore a fresh supply : Which if the feverish call can stay the time, And pocket serve, or credit can be found, At the first faint sight of thy shadowy face Their longing is appeas'd; and thus they drink, Their small contracted term of being away; Fast short'ning that, too much confin'd before- Without one effort to denote the man, Or one design that wou'd not shame the brute:- Strange! that mankind shou'd thus their bane pursue, Nay feel a pleasure in this beastly act; Degraded nature's domineering vice! For driving care not evermore impels, The hapless victim to the mad'ning bowl, Nor from affliction always does he fly, To lose it in th' unqualified carouse.- Deluded mortals! all of you who think, Immod'rate draughts can quench immod'rate care;
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