Most fallen, most prone, most earthy, most deb ased
Of all that sold Eternity for Time,

None bargained on so easy terms with Death.
Illustrious fool! nay, most inhuman wretch!
He sat among his bags, and with a look
Which hell might be ashamed of, drove the poor
Away unalmsed; and midst abundance died,
Sorest of evils! died of utter want.

Before this Shadow, in the vales of earth,

Fools saw another glide, which seemed of more Pleasure her name; good name,

Intrinsic worth.

Though ill applied. A thousand forms she took,
A thousand garbs she wore; in every age

And clime, changing, as in her votaries changed
Desire; but, inwardly, the same in all.
Her most essential lineaments we trace;
Her general features everywhere alike.

Of comely form she was, and fair of face;
And underneath her eyelids sat a kind
Of witching sorcery that nearer drew
Whoever, with unguarded look, beheld;
A dress of gaudy hue loosely attired
Her loveliness; her air and manner frank,

And seeming free of all disguise; her song
Enchanting; and her words, which sweetly dropped
As honey from the comb, most large of promise,
Still prophesying days of new delight,

And rapturous nights of undecaying joy ;
And in her hand, where'er she went, she held
A radiant cup that seemed of nectar full;
And by her side danced fair delusive Hope.
The fool pursued, enamoured; and the wise,
Experienced man, who reasoned much, and thought,
Was sometimes seen laying his wisdom down,
And vying with the stripling in the chase.

Nor wonder thou, for she was really fair, Decked to the very taste of flesh and blood, And many thought her sound within, and gay And healthy at the heart; but thought amiss. For she was full of all disease: her bones

Were rotten; Consumption licked her blood, and drank

Her marrow up; her breath smelled mortally ;
And in her bowels plague and fever lurked;
And in her very heart, and reins, and life,
Corruption's worm gnawed greedily unseen.

Many her haunts.

now

Thou mightst have seen her

With Indolence, lolling on the mid-day couch,

And whispering drowsy words; and now at dawn,
Loudly and rough, joining the sylvan horn;
Or sauntering in the park, and to the tale
Of slander giving ear; or sitting fierce,
Rude, blasphemous, malicious, raving, mad,
Where fortune to the fickle die was bound.

But chief she loved the scene of deep debauch, Where revelry, and dance, and frantic song, Disturbed the sleep of honest men; and where The drunkard sat, she entered in, well pleased, With eye brimful of wanton mirthfulness, And urged him still to fill another cup.

And at the shadowy twilight, in the dark And gloomy night, I looked, and saw her come Abroad, arrayed in harlot's soft attire;

And walk without in every street, and lie

In wait at every corner, full of guile :
And as the unwary youth of simple heart,
And void of understanding, passed, she caught
And kissed him, and with lips of lying said,

I have peace-offerings with me; I have paid
My vows this day; and therefore came I forth
To meet thee, and to seek thee diligently,

To seek thy face, and I have found thee here.
My bed is decked with robes of tapestry,
With carved work and sheets of linen fine;
Perfumed with aloes, myrrh, and cinnamon.
Sweet are stolen waters! pleasant is the bread
In secret eaten! the goodman is from home.
Come, let us take our fill of love till morn
Awake; let us delight ourselves with loves.
With much fair speech, she caused the youth to yield;
And forced him with the flattering of her tongue.
I looked and saw him follow to her house,

As

goes the ox to slaughter; as the fool
To the correction of the stocks; or bird
That hastes into the subtle fowler's snare,
And knows not, simple thing, 'tis for its life.
I saw him enter in, and heard the door
Behind them shut; and in the dark, still night,
When God's unsleeping eye alone can see,
He went to her adulterous bed. At morn
I looked, and saw him not among the youths.
I heard his father mourn,
his mother weep;

For none returned that went with her. The dead

Were in her house, her guests in depths of hell. She wove the winding-sheet of souls, and laid Them in the urn of everlasting death.

Such was the Shadow fools pursued on earth, Under the name of Pleasure; fair outside, Within corrupted, and corrupting still. Ruined and ruinous, her sure reward, Her total recompense, was still, as he, The bard, recorder of Earth's Seasons, sung, "Vexation, disappointment, and remorse." Yet at her door the young and old, and some Who held high character among the wise, Together stood, and strove among themselves Who first should enter, and be ruined first.

Strange competition of immortal souls! To sweat for death! to strive for misery! But think not Pleasure told her end was death. Even human folly then had paused at least, And given some signs of hesitation; nor Arrived so hot, and out of breath, at wo. Though contradicted every day by facts That sophistry itself would stumble o'er, And to the very teeth a liar proved,