Page:Elegiac Sonnets and Other Essays The Second Edition.pdf/33

[  19    ] And call'd it Flattery: -- balm of female life, It charms alike the widow, maid, and wife; Clears the sad brow of virgins in despair, And smooths the cruel traces left by care; Bids palsy'd age with youthful spirit glow,And hangs May's garlands on December's snow. Delicious essence! howsoe'er apply'd, By what rude nature is thy charm deny'd? Some form seducing· still thy whisper wears, Stern Wisdom turns to thee her willing ears,And Prudery listens, and forgets her fears. The rustic nymph, whom rigid aunts restrain, Condemn'd to dress, and practise airs in vain, At thy first summons finds her bosom swell, And bids her crabbed gouvernantes farewel;While, fir'd by thee with spirit not her own, She governs fashion, and becomes the ton. By thee dim-sighted dowagers behold The record where their conquests are enroll'd; They fee the shades of ancient beaux arise,Who swear their eyes exceeded modern eyes, And