Page:Elegiac Sonnets 1.pdf/96

---

---

No longer then, his woodland walks among,
The shepherd lad his genuine passion sung,
Or sought at early morn his soul's delight,
Or graved her name upon the bark at night;
To deck her flowing hair no more he wove
The simple wreath, or with ambitious love
Bound his own brow with myrtle or with bay,
But broke his pipe, or threw his crook away.
The nymphs forsaken other pleasures sought;
Then first for gold their venal hearts were bought,
And Nature's blush to sickly Art gave place,
And Affectation seized the seat of Grace:
No more Simplicity by Sense refined,
Or generous Sentiment, possess'd the mind:
No more they felt each other's joy and woe,
And Cupid fled, and hid his useless bow:
But with deep grief propitious Venus pined,
To see the ills which threaten'd womankind;
Ills that she knew her empire would disarm,
And rob her subjects of their sweetest charm;