Page:The poetical works of William Cowper (IA poeticalworksof00cowp).pdf/155

One sad epistle thence, may cure mankind,
 Of the plague spread by bundles left behind.
'Tis granted, and no plainer truth appears,
 Our most important are our earliest years,
 The mind impressible and soft, with ease
 Imbibes and copies what she hears and sees,
 And through life's labyrinth holds fast the clue
 That education gives her, false or true.
Plants raised with tenderness are seldom strong,
 Man's coltish disposition asks the thong,
 And without discipline the fav'rite child,
 Like a neglected forrester runs wild.
But we, as if good qualities would grow
 Spontaneous, take but little pains to sow,
 We give some latin and a smatch of greek,
 Teach him to fence and figure twice a week,
 And having done we think, the best we can,
 Praise his proficiency and dub him man.
From school to Cam or Isis, and thence home,
 And thence with all convenient speed to Rome,
 With rev'rend tutor clad in habit lay,
 To teaze for cash and quarrel with all day,
 With memorandum-book for ev'ry town,
 Aud ev'ry post, and where the chaise broke down:
 His stock, a few French phrases got by heart,
 With much to learn, but nothing to impart,
 The youth obedient to his sire's commands,
 Sets off a wand'rer into foreign lands:
 Surprized at all they meet, the goslin pair
 With aukward gait, stretched neck, and silly stare,
 Discover huge cathedrals built with stone,
 And steeples tow'ring high much like our own,
 But show peculiar light by many a grin
 At Popish practices observed within.
E'er long some bowing, smirking, smart Abbé
 Remarks two loit'rers that have lost their way,
 And being always primed with politesse
 For men of their appearance and andress,
 With much compassion undertakes the task,
 To tell them more than they have wit to ask.
Points to inscriptions wheresoe'er they tread,
 Such as when legible were never read,
 But being cankered now, and half worn out,
 Craze antiquarian brains with endless doubt:
 Some headless hero or some Caesar shows,
 Defective only in his Roman nose;
 Exhibits elevations, drawings, plans,
 Models of Herculanean pots and pans,
 And sells them medals, which if neither rare
 Nor antient, will be so, preserved with care.
Strange the recital! from whatever cause
 His great improvement and new lights he draws,