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And as connubial, so parental love Obey'd unerring Nature's order here, For now no force of impious custom strove Against her law;—such as was wont to sear The unhappy heart with usages severe, Till harden'd mothers in the grave could lay Their living babes with no compunctious tear, So monstrous men become, when from the way Of primal light they turn thro' heathen paths astray.

Deliver'd from this yoke, in them henceforth The springs of natural love may freely flow: New joys, new virtues with that happy birth Are born, and with the growing infant grow. Source of our purest happiness below Is that benignant law which hath entwined Dearest delight with strongest duty so That in the healthy heart and righteous mind Ever they co-exist, inseparably combined.