Poems . d thee glitter, banish vain. And glorious thoughts unfold. 145 LINES TO A BEAUTIFUL, BUT VAIN YOUXG LAI>T. Your request, my dear girl, is a delicate task :Pray what would you wish me to say ? let me I tell you your eyes are of heavenly blue VThat your face and your features are beautiful, too ?Must I tell you all this ? Nay, more, must I sayThese serve but your sweetness and sense to dis-play ?No ! a flatterer might tell you all this, but a friend,Believe me, will neer to such meanness descend. A beautiful person, we constantly find, Is not always adorned by a beautiful min
Poems . d thee glitter, banish vain. And glorious thoughts unfold. 145 LINES TO A BEAUTIFUL, BUT VAIN YOUXG LAI>T. Your request, my dear girl, is a delicate task :Pray what would you wish me to say ? let me I tell you your eyes are of heavenly blue VThat your face and your features are beautiful, too ?Must I tell you all this ? Nay, more, must I sayThese serve but your sweetness and sense to dis-play ?No ! a flatterer might tell you all this, but a friend,Believe me, will neer to such meanness descend. A beautiful person, we constantly find, Is not always adorned by a beautiful mind ; And though a fair face admiration excite, The effect it produces is transient and slight;10 146 LINES TO . Disappointed, we turn with contempt and disdainFrom a form, though angelic, if heartless and vain ;But if mind and if heart correspond with the face,To love and esteem admiration gives place ;T is the mind which alone can illumine the whole ;Beauty attracts the sight, but sweetness wins 147 LIFE. 0 CHECKERED life ! though numerous ills Traverse thy varied scene,Still virtues bright, exhaustless store Casts her fair hues between. The high resolve, the noble glow, Of energetic generous heart, the open brow, Of unsuspecting truth, — What though if disappointment chillAnd check that generous glow, If falsehood and deceit too soonOft cloud the open brow ? Still, though experience sees dismayedThe frightful hues of vice. 148 LIFE. Tried steadfast virtue to beholdIs surely worth the price. Virtue presents an angels garb she wears, — In prince or peasant, court or cot,Joj, sorrow, smiles, or tears. In youth t is lovely, lovelier stillWhen sorrow dims the page ; Reverence and love at once it claimsWhen dignified by age. To feel, to suffer, yet adverse shafts of fate, And gratefully enjoy the goodWe find in every state,— Virtue like this gives life true evil powerless by. Brings joy and peace to every breast,And prov
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