OF TEMPER.
129
It was their chance, ere judgment was mature,
When glittering toys the infant mind allure,
Following their parents' avaricious rule,
To wed, with hopes of bliss, a wealthy fool.
When time remov'd Delusion's veil by stealth,
And show'd the drear vacuity of wealth;
When sad experience proved the bitter fate
Of beauty coupled to a senseless mate:
These gentle wives still gloried to submit;
These, tho' invited by alluring wit,
Refus'd in paths of lawless joy to range,
Nor murmur'd at the lot they could not change;
But, with a lively sweetness, unopprest
By a dull husband's lamentable jest,
Their constant rays of gay good-humour spread
A guardian glory round their ideot's head.
The next in order are those lovely forms,
Whose patience weather'd all paternal storms;
By filial cares, the mind's unfailing test,
Well have they earn'd these seats of blissful rest:
When glittering toys the infant mind allure,
Following their parents' avaricious rule,
To wed, with hopes of bliss, a wealthy fool.
When time remov'd Delusion's veil by stealth,
And show'd the drear vacuity of wealth;
When sad experience proved the bitter fate
Of beauty coupled to a senseless mate:
These gentle wives still gloried to submit;
These, tho' invited by alluring wit,
Refus'd in paths of lawless joy to range,
Nor murmur'd at the lot they could not change;
But, with a lively sweetness, unopprest
By a dull husband's lamentable jest,
Their constant rays of gay good-humour spread
A guardian glory round their ideot's head.
The next in order are those lovely forms,
Whose patience weather'd all paternal storms;
By filial cares, the mind's unfailing test,
Well have they earn'd these seats of blissful rest:
