Page:Elegiac Sonnets and Other Essays The Second Edition.pdf/30

[  16    ] Or sought at early morn his foul's delight, Or grav'd her name upon the bark at night; To deck her flowing hair no more he wove The simple wreath, or with ambitious loveBound his own brow with myrtle or with bay, But broke his oaten pipe, and threw his crook away. The nymphs forsaken, other pleasures sought; Then first for gold their venal hearts were bought, And nature's blush to sickly art gave place,And affectation seiz'd the feat of grace: No more simplicity, by sense refin'd, Or generous sentiment, possess'd the mind; No more they felt each other's joy and woe, And sighing fled, and hid his useless bow.But with deep grief propitious pin'd, To fee the ills which threaten'd womankind; Ills that she knew her empire would disarm, And rob her subjects of their sweetest charm; Too surely feeling that the blasts of careWould blight each blooming face, and plough deep wrinkles there, Sore