154
THE TRIUMPHS
The sounds, tho' faint, her recollection caught,
Drew her quick eye, and fixt her wondering thought.
Lost in this sweet surprise, she could not hear
A single accent of the amorous peer.
Spleen saw the moment that she sought to gain,
And perch'd triumphant on the noble's brain.
With jealous envy stung, and baffled pride,
"Contemptuous girl!" with sudden rage, he cried,
"If here to happier youths thy views incline,
I want not fairer nymphs who challenge mine.
Thy breast in vain with penitence may burn;
But, once neglected, I no more return."
Thus loudly speaking, with distemper'd heat,
Rudely he turn'd, with rancorous scorn replete.
Serena, startled at th' injurious sound,
Survey'd th' insulting peer, who sternly frown'd;
Shame and resentment thro' her bosom rush,
Swell every vein, and raise the burning blush.
Love, new-born love, but in its birth conceal'd,
Nor to the nymph herfelf as yet reveal'd,
Drew her quick eye, and fixt her wondering thought.
Lost in this sweet surprise, she could not hear
A single accent of the amorous peer.
Spleen saw the moment that she sought to gain,
And perch'd triumphant on the noble's brain.
With jealous envy stung, and baffled pride,
"Contemptuous girl!" with sudden rage, he cried,
"If here to happier youths thy views incline,
I want not fairer nymphs who challenge mine.
Thy breast in vain with penitence may burn;
But, once neglected, I no more return."
Thus loudly speaking, with distemper'd heat,
Rudely he turn'd, with rancorous scorn replete.
Serena, startled at th' injurious sound,
Survey'd th' insulting peer, who sternly frown'd;
Shame and resentment thro' her bosom rush,
Swell every vein, and raise the burning blush.
Love, new-born love, but in its birth conceal'd,
Nor to the nymph herfelf as yet reveal'd,
