Page:The works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld volume 1.djvu/260

176 Fermenting swift, the fiery venom gains The milky innocence of infant veins; There swells the stubborn will, damps learning's fire, The whirlwind wakes of uncontrouled desire, Sears the young heart to images of woe, And blasts the buds of Virtue as they blow. Lo! where reclined, pale Beauty courts the breeze, Diffused on sofas of voluptuous ease; With anxious awe her menial train around Catch her faint whispers of half-uttered sound; See her, in monstrous fellowship, unite At once the Scythian and the Sybarite! Blending repugnant vices, misallied, Which frugal nature purposed to divide; See her, with indolence to fierceness joined, Of body delicate, infirm of mind, With languid tones imperious mandates urge; With arm recumbent wield the household scourge;