Penny Dreadfuls, 1812 · page 195 of 258
Psyche, and other poems — page 195: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a page of running verse poetry, numbered 177, printed on aged paper. The text is a moral exhortation addressed to someone named Mary, urging her to abandon worldly pleasures and the corrupting influence of society's "senseless crowd." The speaker invokes pastoral imagery—water nymphs, flocks beneath lime and beech trees—as a counterpoint to the hollow joys of flattery and pleasure-seeking. The poem warns that the satisfactions of youth and novelty cannot be recaptured in maturity, and counsels Mary to forsake vanity for innocence and peace. The language and themes are characteristic of Victorian didactic verse.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
177 ; The deepest foliage bending o’er thy wave Tastes thy pure kisses with embracing arms, While each charmed Dryad stoops her limbs to lave Thy smiling Naiad meets her sister charms. Beneath the fragrant lime, or spreading beech, The bleating flocks in panting crowds repose : Their voice alone my dark retreat can reach, While peace and silence all my soul compose. Here, Mary, rest! the dangerous path forsake Where folly lures thee, and where vice ensnares, Thine innocence and peace no longer stake, Nor barter solid good for brilliant cares. Shun the vain bustle of the senseless crowd, Where allis hollow that appears like joy ; _ Where, the soft claims of feeling disallowed, Fallacious hopes the baffled soul annoy. Hast thou not trod each vain and giddy maze, By Flattery led o’er Pleasure’s gayest field ? -Basked in the sunshine of her brightest blaze, And proved whate’er she can her votaries yield ? That full completion of each glowing hope, Which youth and novelty could scarce bestow, From the last dregs of Joy’s exhausted cup Canst thou expect thy years mature shall know ? hs connicloooks.comnn