OF TEMPER.
141
His billet seal'd, the glad good-humour'd knight
Launch'd forth, like Nestor, on his youthful might;
"Oh could I now, in spite of age, retain
That active vigour, and that sprightly vein,
Which led me once the lively laugh to raise
Among the merrier wits of former days,
When rival beauties would around me throng,
And gay ridottos listen to my song!
Such were I now, as on the festive night,
When Ch———h's charms amaz'd the public sight;
When the kind fair-one, in a veil so thin
That the clear gauze was but a lighter skin,
Mask'd like a virgin just prepar'd to die,
Gave her plump beauties to each greedy eye!
On that fam'd night (for then with frolic fire
Youth fill'd my heart, and humour strung my lyre),
Pleas'd in the sun-shine of her smile to bask,
I danc'd around her in a devil's mask;
And idly chanted an infernal ode,
In praise of all this female tempter show'd.
Launch'd forth, like Nestor, on his youthful might;
"Oh could I now, in spite of age, retain
That active vigour, and that sprightly vein,
Which led me once the lively laugh to raise
Among the merrier wits of former days,
When rival beauties would around me throng,
And gay ridottos listen to my song!
Such were I now, as on the festive night,
When Ch———h's charms amaz'd the public sight;
When the kind fair-one, in a veil so thin
That the clear gauze was but a lighter skin,
Mask'd like a virgin just prepar'd to die,
Gave her plump beauties to each greedy eye!
On that fam'd night (for then with frolic fire
Youth fill'd my heart, and humour strung my lyre),
Pleas'd in the sun-shine of her smile to bask,
I danc'd around her in a devil's mask;
And idly chanted an infernal ode,
In praise of all this female tempter show'd.
