8
THE TRIUMPHS
When, pleas'd at length her quivering wings to close,
Fondly she settles on the fragrant rose.
Now in soft notes, more musically clear
Than ever Fairy breath'd in mortal ear,
These words the visionary voice convey'd
To the charm'd spirit of the sleeping maid:
"Thou darling of my care! whose ripen'd worth
Shall spread my empire o'er the smiling earth;
Whom Nature blest, forbidding modish Art,
To cramp thy spirit, or contract thy heart;
Screen'd from thy thought, nor in thy visions felt,
Long on thy opening mind I've fondly dwelt;
In childhood's sorrows brought thee quick relief,
And dry'd thy April-showers of infant grief;
Taught thee to laugh at the malicious boy,
Who broke thy playthings with a barbarous joy,
To bear what ills the little female haunt,
The testy nurse, th'imperious gouvernante,
And that tyrannic pest, the prying maiden aunt.
Fondly she settles on the fragrant rose.
Now in soft notes, more musically clear
Than ever Fairy breath'd in mortal ear,
These words the visionary voice convey'd
To the charm'd spirit of the sleeping maid:
"Thou darling of my care! whose ripen'd worth
Shall spread my empire o'er the smiling earth;
Whom Nature blest, forbidding modish Art,
To cramp thy spirit, or contract thy heart;
Screen'd from thy thought, nor in thy visions felt,
Long on thy opening mind I've fondly dwelt;
In childhood's sorrows brought thee quick relief,
And dry'd thy April-showers of infant grief;
Taught thee to laugh at the malicious boy,
Who broke thy playthings with a barbarous joy,
To bear what ills the little female haunt,
The testy nurse, th'imperious gouvernante,
And that tyrannic pest, the prying maiden aunt.
