[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.
