LXXIX., p.332.

[Tea-Table Miscellany Contents]

YE virgin powers, defend my heart, 

From amorous looks and smiles; 

From saucy love, or nicer art, 

Which most our sex beguiles. 

– 

From sighs and vows, and awful fears, 

That do to pity move; 

From speaking silence, and from tears, 

Those springs that water love. 

– 

But if thro’ passion I grow blind, 

Let honour be my guide; 

And when frail nature seems inclin’d, 

There place a guard of pride. 

– 

An heart, whose flames are seen, tho’ pure, 

Needs every virtue’s aid; 

And she who thinks herself secure, 

The soonest is betray’d. 

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