The Progress Of Error. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDDEFGGHHIIAAJJKL MMNNIIOOAAPPAAIIQQRR AASSIIAATTIIIIIIAAUU IIVVRRWWXSAAIIYYZZAA ASSIIIIA2A2IIIIB2C2I IKKD2D2E2E2IIAAF2F2A AG2G2H2H2IIMMAAAAE2E 2MMLVAAAAJJA2A2TTAAI 2I2IIJ2J2IIMMK2K2A2Q A2AAAAIIAAAAL2B2SXAA K2K2M2M2N2N2AAO2O2AA P2P2AAQ2Q2N2N2TTAAAA AAIIPPVVAAAAAAIIVVR2 OYYAAAAM2M2IIAALLAAI IYYAAAAAAS2S2T2ZU2TA AAAAAAAWWAV2SSW2W2II J2J2IIS2S2RRMMAAAAII N2R2IIVX2Y2Y2G2G2Z2A 3IIVVYYIIAAIIAAD2D2A AIIA2A2RRSXAAVVY2Y2A AG2G2MMJ2J2GGAAUUIIW N2IIAAAAIIIIG2G2BBAA B3IC3C3OOB2B2MME2E2A AIIVVN2N2QQAMIID3D3A AAAIIIIVVIITTIIB3B3V VOOIIB2B2IIN2N2IIAAA AE3E3AAAAMMAAAAAX2X2 MMSSF3F3IIMAAAG3G3SS AAIIIIH3H3IIAAAAAAAA AAI3R2AAAAAAL2L2N2WI IAAGGMMAAB3B3VVAAU2T BJ3IIIIAAIIIITTL2L2A AG2B3K3K3MMAAG2G2AAI 2I2AAB3B3IIKVAAIIIIA AL3L3AAIIIISXAAIIG2G 2AM3GGAAKLN3N3O3O3AA L2L2AAAATTIIIIL3L3AA OOM2M2IIAAP3P3IIF2F2 F2VVTTIISS

Si quid loquar audiendam Hor Lib iv Od	A
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Sing muse if such a theme so dark so long	B
May find a muse to grace it with a song	B
By what unseen and unsuspected arts	C
The serpent Error twines round human hearts	C
Tell where she lurks beneath what flowery shades	D
That not a glimpse of genuine light pervades	D
The poisonous black insinuating worm	E
Successfully conceals her loathsome form	F
Take if ye can ye careless and supine	G
Counsel and caution from a voice like mine	G
Truths that the theorist could never reach	H
And observation taught me I would teach	H
Not all whose eloquence the fancy fills	I
Musical as the chime of tinkling rills	I
Weak to perform though mighty to pretend	A
Can trace her mazy windings to their end	A
Discern the fraud beneath the specious lure	J
Prevent the danger or prescribe the cure	J
The clear harangue and cold as it is clear	K
Falls soporific on the listless ear	L
Like quicksilver the rhetoric they display	M
Shines as it runs but grasp'd at slips away	M
Placed for his trial on this bustling stage	N
From thoughtless youth to ruminating age	N
Free in his will to choose or to refuse	I
Man may improve the crisis or abuse	I
Else on the fatalist's unrighteous plan	O
Say to what bar amenable were man	O
With nought in charge he could betray no trust	A
And if he fell would fall because he must	A
If love reward him or if vengeance strike	P
His recompence in both unjust alike	P
Divine authority within his breast	A
Brings every thought word action to the test	A
Warns him or prompts approves him or restrains	I
As reason or as passion takes the reins	I
Heaven from above and conscience from within	Q
Cries in his startled ear Abstain from sin	Q
The world around solicits his desire	R
And kindles in his soul a treacherous fire	R
While all his purposes and steps to guard	A
Peace follows virtue as its sure reward	A
And pleasure brings as surely in her train	S
Remorse and sorrow and vindictive pain	S
Man thus endued with an elective voice	I
Must be supplied with objects of his choice	I
Where'er he turns enjoyment and delight	A
Or present or in prospect meet his sight	A
Those open on the spot their honey'd store	T
These call him loudly to pursuit of more	T
His unexhausted mine the sordid vice	I
Avarice shews and virtue is the price	I
Here various motives his ambition raise	I
Power pomp and splendour and the thirst of praise	I
There beauty woos him with expanded arms	I
E'en bacchanalian madness has its charms	I
Nor these alone whose pleasures less refined	A
Might well alarm the most unguarded mind	A
Seek to supplant his inexperienced youth	U
Or lead him devious from the path of truth	U
Hourly allurements on his passions press	I
Safe in themselves but dangerous in the excess	I
Hark how it floats upon the dewy air	V
O what a dying dying close was there	V
'Tis harmony from yon sequester'd bower	R
Sweet harmony that soothes the midnight hour	R
Long ere the charioteer of day had run	W
His morning course the enchantment was begun	W
And he shall gild yon mountain's height again	X
Ere yet the pleasing toil becomes a pain	S
Is this the rugged path the steep ascent	A
That virtue points to Can a life thus spent	A
Lead to the bliss she promises the wise	I
Detach the soul from earth and speed her to the skies	I
Ye devotees to your adored employ	Y
Enthusiasts drunk with an unreal joy	Y
Love makes the music of the blest above	Z
Heaven's harmony is universal love	Z
And earthly sounds though sweet and well combined	A
And lenient as soft opiates to the mind	A
Leave vice and folly unsubdued behind	A
Gray dawn appears the sportsman and his train	S
Speckle the bosom of the distant plain	S
'Tis he the Nimrod of the neighbouring lairs	I
Save that his scent is less acute than theirs	I
For persevering chase and headlong leaps	I
True beagle as the stanchest hound he keeps	I
Charged with the folly of his life's mad scene	A2
He takes offence and wonders what you mean	A2
The joy the danger and the toil o'erpays	I
'Tis exercise and health and length of days	I
Again impetuous to the field he flies	I
Leaps every fence but one there falls and dies	I
Like a slain deer the tumbrel brings him home	B2
Unmiss'd but by his dogs and by his groom	C2
Ye clergy while your orbit is your place	I
Lights of the world and stars of human race	I
But if eccentric ye forsake your sphere	K
Prodigies ominous and view'd with fear	K
The comet's baneful influence is a dream	D2
Yours real and pernicious in the extreme	D2
What then are appetites and lusts laid down	E2
With the same ease that man puts on his gown	E2
Will avarice and concupiscence give place	I
Charm'd by the sounds Your Reverence or your Grace	I
No But his own engagement binds him fast	A
Or if it does not brands him to the last	A
What atheists call him a designing knave	F2
A mere church juggler hypocrite and slave	F2
Oh laugh or mourn with me the rueful jest	A
A cassock'd huntsman and a fiddling priest	A
He from Italian songsters takes his cue	G2
Set Paul to music he shall quote him too	G2
He takes the field The master of the pack	H2
Cries Well done saint and claps him on the back	H2
Is this the path of sanctity Is this	I
To stand a waymark on the road to bliss	I
Himself a wanderer from the narrow way	M
His silly sheep what wonder if they stray	M
Go cast your orders at your bishop's feet	A
Send your dishonour'd gown to Monmouth street	A
The sacred function in your hands is made	A
Sad sacrilege no function but a trade	A
Occiduus is a pastor of renown	E2
When he has pray'd and preach'd the Sabbath down	E2
With wire and catgut he concludes the day	M
Quavering and semiquavering care away	M
The full concerto swells upon your ear	L
All elbows shake Look in and you would swear	V
The Babylonian tyrant with a nod	A
Had summon'd them to serve his golden god	A
So well that thought the employment seems to suit	A
Psaltery and sackbut dulcimer and flute	A
O fie 'tis evangelical and pure	J
Observe each face how sober and demure	J
Ecstasy sets her stamp on every mien	A2
Chins fallen and not an eyeball to be seen	A2
Still I insist though music heretofore	T
Has charm'd me much not e'en Occiduus more	T
Love joy and peace make harmony more meet	A
For Sabbath evenings and perhaps as sweet	A
Will not the sickliest sheep of every flock	I2
Resort to this example as a rock	I2
There stand and justify the foul abuse	I
Of Sabbath hours with plausible excuse	I
If apostolic gravity be free	J2
To play the fool on Sundays why not we	J2
If he the tinkling harpsichord regards	I
As inoffensive what offence in cards	I
Strike up the fiddles let us all be gay	M
Laymen have leave to dance if parsons play	M
O Italy Thy Sabbaths will be soon	K2
Our Sabbaths closed with mummery and buffoon	K2
Preaching and pranks will share the motley scene	A2
Ours parcelled out as thine have ever been	Q
God's worship and the mountebank between	A2
What says the prophet Let that day be blest	A
With holiness and consecrated rest	A
Pastime and business both it should exclude	A
And bar the door the moment they intrude	A
Nobly distinguish'd above all the six	I
By deeds in which the world must never mix	I
Hear him again He calls it a delight	A
A day of luxury observed aright	A
When the glad soul is made Heaven's welcome guest	A
Sits banqueting and God provides the feast	A
But triflers are engaged and cannot come	L2
Their answer to the call is Not at home	B2
O the dear pleasures of the velvet plain	S
The painted tablets dealt and dealt again	X
Cards with what rapture and the polish'd die	A
The yawning chasm of indolence supply	A
Then to the dance and make the sober moon	K2
Witness of joys that shun the sight of noon	K2
Blame cynic if you can quadrille or ball	M2
The snug close party or the splendid hall	M2
Where Night down stooping from her ebon throne	N2
Views constellations brighter than her own	N2
'Tis innocent and harmless and refined	A
The balm of care Elysium of the mind	A
Innocent Oh if venerable Time	O2
Slain at the foot of Pleasure be no crime	O2
Then with his silver beard and magic wand	A
Let Comus rise archbishop of the land	A
Let him your rubric and your feasts prescribe	P2
Grand metropolitan of all the tribe	P2
Of manners rough and coarse athletic cast	A
The rank debauch suits Clodio's filthy taste	A
Rufillus exquisitely form'd by rule	Q2
Not of the moral but the dancing school	Q2
Wonders at Clodio's follies in a tone	N2
As tragical as others at his own	N2
He cannot drink five bottles bilk the score	T
Then kill a constable and drink five more	T
But he can draw a pattern make a tart	A
And has the ladies' etiquette by heart	A
Go fool and arm in arm with Clodio plead	A
Your cause before a bar you little dread	A
But know the law that bids the drunkard die	A
Is far too just to pass the trifler by	A
Both baby featured and of infant size	I
View'd from a distance and with heedless eyes	I
Folly and Innocence are so alike	P
The difference though essential fails to strike	P
Yet Folly ever has a vacant stare	V
A simpering countenance and a trifling air	V
But Innocence sedate serene erect	A
Delights us by engaging our respect	A
Man Nature's guest by invitation sweet	A
Receives from her both appetite and treat	A
But if he play the glutton and exceed	A
His benefactress blushes at the deed	A
For Nature nice as liberal to dispense	I
Made nothing but a brute the slave of sense	I
Daniel ate pulse by choice example rare	V
Heaven bless'd the youth and made him fresh and fair	V
Gorgonius sits abdominous and wan	R2
Like a fat squab upon a Chinese fan	O
He snuffs far off the anticipated joy	Y
Turtle and venison all his thoughts employ	Y
Prepares for meals as jockeys take a sweat	A
Oh nauseous an emetic for a whet	A
Will Providence o'erlook the wasted good	A
Temperance were no virtue if he could	A
That pleasures therefore or what such we call	M2
Are hurtful is a truth confess'd by all	M2
And some that seem to threaten virtue less	I
Still hurtful in the abuse or by the excess	I
Is man then only for his torment placed	A
The centre of delights he may not taste	A
Like fabled Tantalus condemn'd to hear	L
The precious stream still purling in his ear	L
Lip deep in what he longs for and yet curst	A
With prohibition and perpetual thirst	A
No wrangler destitute of shame and sense	I
The precept that enjoins him abstinence	I
Forbids him none but the licentious joy	Y
Whose fruit though fair tempts only to destroy	Y
Remorse the fatal egg by Pleasure laid	A
In every bosom where her nest is made	A
Hatch'd by the beams of truth denies him rest	A
And proves a raging scorpion in his breast	A
No pleasure Are domestic comforts dead	A
Are all the nameless sweets of friendship fled	A
Has time worn out or fashion put to shame	S2
Good sense good health good conscience and good fame	S2
All these belong to virtue and all prove	T2
That virtue has a title to your love	Z
Have you no touch of pity that the poor	U2
Stand starved at your inhospitable door	T
Or if yourself too scantily supplied	A
Need help let honest industry provide	A
Earn if you want if you abound impart	A
These both are pleasures to the feeling heart	A
No pleasure Has some sickly eastern waste	A
Sent us a wind to parch us at a blast	A
Can British Paradise no scenes afford	A
To please her sated and indifferent lord	A
Are sweet philosophy's enjoyments run	W
Quite to the lees And has religion none	W
Brutes capable would tell you 'tis a lie	A
And judge you from the kennel and the stye	V2
Delights like these ye sensual and profane	S
Ye are bid begg'd besought to entertain	S
Call'd to these crystal streams do ye turn off	W2
Obscene to swill and swallow at a trough	W2
Envy the beast then on whom Heaven bestows	I
Your pleasures with no curses at the close	I
Pleasure admitted in undue degree	J2
Enslaves the will nor leaves the judgment free	J2
'Tis not alone the grape's enticing juice	I
Unnerves the moral powers and mars their use	I
Ambition avarice and the lust of fame	S2
And woman lovely woman does the same	S2
The heart surrender'd to the ruling power	R
Of some ungovern'd passion every hour	R
Finds by degrees the truths that once bore sway	M
And all their deep impressions wear away	M
So coin grows smooth in traffic current pass'd	A
Till Caesar's image is effaced at last	A
The breach though small at first soon opening wide	A
In rushes folly with a full moon tide	A
Then welcome errors of whatever size	I
To justify it by a thousand lies	I
As creeping ivy clings to wood or stone	N2
And hides the ruin that it feeds upon	R2
So sophistry cleaves close to and protects	I
Sin's rotten trunk concealing its defects	I
Mortals whose pleasures are their only care	V
First wish to be imposed on and then are	X2
And lest the fulsome artifice should fail	Y2
Themselves will hide its coarseness with a veil	Y2
Not more industrious are the just and true	G2
To give to Virtue what is Virtue's due	G2
The praise of wisdom comeliness and worth	Z2
And call her charms to public notice forth	A3
Than Vice's mean and disingenuous race	I
To hide the shocking features of her face	I
Her form with dress and lotion they repair	V
Then kiss their idol and pronounce her fair	V
The sacred implement I now employ	Y
Might prove a mischief or at best a toy	Y
A trifle if it move but to amuse	I
But if to wrong the judgment and abuse	I
Worse than a poniard in the basest hand	A
It stabs at once the morals of a land	A
Ye writers of what none with safety reads	I
Footing it in the dance that Fancy leads	I
Ye novelists who mar what ye would mend	A
Snivelling and drivelling folly without end	A
Whose corresponding misses fill the ream	D2
With sentimental frippery and dream	D2
Caught in a delicate soft silken net	A
By some lewd earl or rake hell baronet	A
Ye pimps who under virtue's fair pretence	I
Steal to the closet of young innocence	I
And teach her inexperienced yet and green	A2
To scribble as you scribbled at fifteen	A2
Who kindling a combustion of desire	R
With some cold moral think to quench the fire	R
Though all your engineering proves in vain	S
The dribbling stream ne'er puts it out again	X
O that a verse had power and could command	A
Far far away these flesh flies of the land	A
Who fasten without mercy on the fair	V
And suck and leave a craving maggot there	V
Howe'er disguised the inflammatory tale	Y2
And cover'd with a fine spun specious veil	Y2
Such writers and such readers owe the gust	A
And relish of their pleasure all to lust	A
But the muse eagle pinion'd has in view	G2
A quarry more important still than you	G2
Down down the wind she swims and sails away	M
Now stoops upon it and now grasps the prey	M
Petronius all the muses weep for thee	J2
But every tear shall scald thy memory	J2
The graces too while Virtue at their shrine	G
Lay bleeding under that soft hand of thine	G
Felt each a mortal stab in her own breast	A
Abhorr'd the sacrifice and cursed the priest	A
Thou polish'd and high finish'd foe to truth	U
Graybeard corrupter of our listening youth	U
To purge and skim away the filth of vice	I
That so refined it might the more entice	I
Then pour it on the morals of thy son	W
To taint his heart was worthy of thine own	N2
Now while the poison all high life pervades	I
Write if thou canst one letter from the shades	I
One and one only charged with deep regret	A
That thy worst part thy principles live yet	A
One sad epistle thence may cure mankind	A
Of the plague spread by bundles left behind	A
'Tis granted and no plainer truth appears	I
Our most important are our earliest years	I
The mind impressible and soft with ease	I
Imbibes and copies what she hears and sees	I
And through life's labyrinth holds fast the clue	G2
That Education gives her false or true	G2
Plants raised with tenderness are seldom strong	B
Man's coltish disposition asks the thong	B
And without discipline the favourite child	A
Like a neglected forester runs wild	A
But we as if good qualities would grow	B3
Spontaneous take but little pains to sow	I
We give some Latin and a smatch of Greek	C3
Teach him to fence and figure twice a week	C3
And having done we think the best we can	O
Praise his proficiency and dub him man	O
From school to Cam or Isis and thence home	B2
And thence with all convenient speed to Rome	B2
With reverend tutor clad in habit lay	M
To tease for cash and quarrel with all day	M
With memorandum book for every town	E2
And every post and where the chaise broke down	E2
His stock a few French phrases got by heart	A
With much to learn but nothing to impart	A
The youth obedient to his sire's commands	I
Sets off a wanderer into foreign lands	I
Surprised at all they meet the gosling pair	V
With awkward gait stretch'd neck and silly stare	V
Discover huge cathedrals built with stone	N2
And steeples towering high much like our own	N2
But shew peculiar light by many a grin	Q
At Popish practices observed within	Q
Ere long some bowing smirking smart abb	A
Remarks two loiterers that have lost their way	M
And being always primed with politesse	I
For men of their appearance and address	I
With much compassion undertakes the task	D3
To tell them more than they have wit to ask	D3
Points to inscriptions wheresoe'er they tread	A
Such as when legible were never read	A
But being canker'd now and half worn out	A
Craze antiquarian brains with endless doubt	A
Some headless hero or some Caesar shews	I
Defective only in his Roman nose	I
Exhibits elevations drawings plans	I
Models of Herculaneum pots and pans	I
And sells them medals which if neither rare	V
Nor ancient will be so preserved with care	V
Strange the recital from whatever cause	I
His great improvement and new lights he draws	I
The squire once bashful is shamefaced no more	T
But teems with powers he never felt before	T
Whether increased momentum and the force	I
With which from clime to clime he sped his course	I
As axles sometimes kindle as they go	B3
Chafed him and brought dull nature to a glow	B3
Or whether clearer skies and softer air	V
That make Italian flowers so sweet and fair	V
Freshening his lazy spirits as he ran	O
Unfolded genially and spread the man	O
Returning he proclaims by many a grace	I
By shrugs and strange contortions of his face	I
How much a dunce that has been sent to roam	B2
Excels a dunce that has been kept at home	B2
Accomplishments have taken virtue's place	I
And wisdom falls before exterior grace	I
We slight the precious kernel of the stone	N2
And toil to polish its rough coat alone	N2
A just deportment manners graced with ease	I
Elegant phrase and figure form'd to please	I
Are qualities that seem to comprehend	A
Whatever parents guardians schools intend	A
Hence an unfurnish'd and a listless mind	A
Though busy trifling empty though refined	A
Hence all that interferes and dares to clash	E3
With indolence and luxury is trash	E3
While learning once the man's exclusive pride	A
Seems verging fast towards the female side	A
Learning itself received into a mind	A
By nature weak or viciously inclined	A
Serves but to lead philosophers astray	M
Where children would with ease discern the way	M
And of all arts sagacious dupes invent	A
To cheat themselves and gain the world's assent	A
The worst is Scripture warp'd from its intent	A
The carriage bowls along and all are pleased	A
If Tom be sober and the wheels well greased	A
But if the rogue be gone a cup too far	X2
Left out his linchpin or forgot his tar	X2
It suffers interruption and delay	M
And meets with hindrance in the smoothest way	M
When some hypothesis absurd and vain	S
Has fill'd with all its fumes a critic's brain	S
The text that sorts not with his darling whim	F3
Though plain to others is obscure to him	F3
The will made subject to a lawless force	I
All is irregular and out of course	I
And Judgment drunk and bribed to lose his way	M
Winks hard and talks of darkness at noonday	A
A critic on the sacred book should be	A
Candid and learn'd dispassionate and free	A
Free from the wayward bias bigots feel	G3
From fancy's influence and intemperate zeal	G3
But above all or let the wretch refrain	S
Nor touch the page he cannot but profane	S
Free from the domineering power of lust	A
A lewd interpreter is never just	A
How shall I speak thee or thy power address	I
Thou god of our idolatry the Press	I
By thee religion liberty and laws	I
Exert their influence and advance their cause	I
By thee worse plagues than Pharaoh's land befell	H3
Diffused make Earth the vestibule of Hell	H3
Thou fountain at which drink the good and wise	I
Thou ever bubbling spring of endless lies	I
Like Eden's dread probationary tree	A
Knowledge of good and evil is from thee	A
No wild enthusiast ever yet could rest	A
Till half mankind were like himself possess'd	A
Philosophers who darken and put out	A
Eternal truth by everlasting doubt	A
Church quacks with passions under no command	A
Who fill the world with doctrines contraband	A
Discoverers of they know not what confined	A
Within no bounds the blind that lead the blind	A
To streams of popular opinion drawn	I3
Deposit in those shallows all their spawn	R2
The wriggling fry soon fill the creeks around	A
Poisoning the waters where their swarms abound	A
Scorn'd by the nobler tenants of the flood	A
Minnows and gudgeons gorge the unwholesome food	A
The propagated myriads spread so fast	A
E'en Leuwenhoeck himself would stand aghast	A
Employ'd to calculate the enormous sum	L2
And own his crab computing powers o'ercome	L2
Is this hyperbole The world well known	N2
Your sober thoughts will hardly find it one	W
Fresh confidence the speculatist takes	I
From every hair brain'd proselyte he makes	I
And therefore prints himself but half deceived	A
Till others have the soothing tale believed	A
Hence comment after comment spun as fine	G
As bloated spiders draw the flimsy line	G
Hence the same word that bids our lusts obey	M
Is misapplied to sanctify their sway	M
If stubborn Greek refuse to be his friend	A
Hebrew or Syriac shall be forced to bend	A
If languages and copies all cry No	B3
Somebody proved it centuries ago	B3
Like trout pursued the critic in despair	V
Darts to the mud and finds his safety there	V
Women whom custom has forbid to fly	A
The scholar's pitch the scholar best knows why	A
With all the simple and unletter'd poor	U2
Admire his learning and almost adore	T
Whoever errs the priest can ne'er be wrong	B
With such fine words familiar to his tongue	J3
Ye ladies for indifferent in your cause	I
I should deserve to forfeit all applause	I
Whatever shocks or gives the least offence	I
To virtue delicacy truth or sense	I
Try the criterion 'tis a faithful guide	A
Nor has nor can have Scripture on its side	A
None but an author knows an author's cares	I
Or Fancy's fondness for the child she bears	I
Committed once into the public arms	I
The baby seems to smile with added charms	I
Like something precious ventured far from shore	T
'Tis valued for the danger's sake the more	T
He views it with complacency supreme	L2
Solicits kind attention to his dream	L2
And daily more enamour'd of the cheat	A
Kneels and asks Heaven to bless the dear deceit	A
So one whose story serves at least to shew	G2
Men loved their own productions long ago	B3
Woo'd an unfeeling statue for his wife	K3
Nor rested till the gods had given it life	K3
If some mere driveller suck the sugar'd fib	M
One that still needs his leading string and bib	M
And praise his genius he is soon repaid	A
In praise applied to the same part his head	A
For 'tis a rule that holds for ever true	G2
Grant me discernment and I grant it you	G2
Patient of contradiction as a child	A
Affable humble diffident and mild	A
Such was Sir Isaac and such Boyle and Locke	I2
Your blunderer is as sturdy as a rock	I2
The creature is so sure to kick and bite	A
A muleteer's the man to set him right	A
First Appetite enlists him Truth's sworn foe	B3
Then obstinate Self will confirms him so	B3
Tell him he wanders that his error leads	I
To fatal ills that though the path he treads	I
Be flowery and he see no cause of fear	K
Death and the pains of hell attend him there	V
In vain the slave of arrogance and pride	A
He has no hearing on the prudent side	A
His still refuted quirks he still repeats	I
New raised objections with new quibbles meets	I
Till sinking in the quicksand he defends	I
He dies disputing and the contest ends	I
But not the mischiefs they still left behind	A
Like thistle seeds are sown by every wind	A
Thus men go wrong with an ingenious skill	L3
Bend the straight rule to their own crooked will	L3
And with a clear and shining lamp supplied	A
First put it out then take it for a guide	A
Halting on crutches of unequal size	I
One leg by truth supported one by lies	I
They sidle to the goal with awkward pace	I
Secure of nothing but to lose the race	I
Faults in the life breed errors in the brain	S
And these reciprocally those again	X
The mind and conduct mutually imprint	A
And stamp their image in each other's mint	A
Each sire and dam of an infernal race	I
Begetting and conceiving all that's base	I
None sends his arrow to the mark in view	G2
Whose hand is feeble or his aim untrue	G2
For though ere yet the shaft is on the wind	A
Or when it first forsakes the elastic string	M3
It err but little from the intended line	G
It falls at last far wide of his design	G
So he who seeks a mansion in the sky	A
Must watch his purpose with a steadfast eye	A
That prize belongs to none but the sincere	K
The least obliquity is fatal here	L
With caution taste the sweet Circean cup	N3
He that sips often at last drinks it up	N3
Habits are soon assumed but when we strive	O3
To strip them off 'tis being flay'd alive	O3
Call'd to the temple of impure delight	A
He that abstains and he alone does right	A
If a wish wander that way call it home	L2
He cannot long be safe whose wishes roam	L2
But if you pass the threshold you are caught	A
Die then if power Almighty save you not	A
There hardening by degrees till double steel'd	A
Take leave of nature's God and God reveal'd	A
Then laugh at all you trembled at before	T
And joining the freethinkers' brutal roar	T
Swallow the two grand nostrums they dispense	I
That Scripture lies and blasphemy is sense	I
If clemency revolted by abuse	I
Be damnable then damn'd without excuse	I
Some dream that they can silence when they will	L3
The storm of passion and say Peace be still	L3
But Thus far and no farther when address'd	A
To the wild wave or wilder human breast	A
Implies authority that never can	O
That never ought to be the lot of man	O
But muse forbear long flights forebode a fall	M2
Strike on the deep toned chord the sum of all	M2
Hear the just law the judgment of the skies	I
He that hates truth shall be the dupe of lies	I
And he that will be cheated to the last	A
Delusions strong as hell shall bind him fast	A
But if the wanderer his mistake discern	P3
Judge his own ways and sigh for a return	P3
Bewilder'd once must he bewail his loss	I
For ever and for ever No the cross	I
There and there only though the deist rave	F2
And atheist if Earth bear so base a slave	F2
There and there only is the power to save	F2
There no delusive hope invites despair	V
No mockery meets you no deception there	V
The spells and charms that blinded you before	T
All vanish there and fascinate no more	T
I am no preacher let this hint suffice	I
The cross once seen is death to every vice	I
Else He that hung there suffer'd all his pain	S
Bled groan'd and agonised and died in vain	S

William Cowper

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