Page:The Pleasures of Imagination - Akenside (1744).djvu/88

74 Pour dauntless in and swell the boastful band.


 * Then comes the second order; all who seek

The debt of praise, where watchful unbelief Darts thro' the thin pretence her squinting eye On some retir'd appearance which belies The boasted virtue, or annulls th' applause That justice else would pay. Here side by side I see two leaders of the solemn train, Approaching: one a female, old and grey, With eyes demure and wrinkle-furrow'd brow, Pale as the cheeks of death; yet still she stuns The sickning audience with a nauseous tale; How many youths her myrtle chains have worn, How many virgins at her triumphs pin'd! Yet how resolv'd she guards her cautious heart; Such is her terror at the risques of love, And man's seducing tongue! The other seems A bearded sage, ungentle in his mien, And sordid all his habit; peevish want Grins at his heels, while down the gazing throng He stalks, resounding in magnific phrase The vanity of riches, the contempt Of