ABSTRACT
The woes of suffering Virtue to relate; To speak the dire effects of adverse Fate; To raise soft pity in each gen’rous breast For hapless innocence by vice oppress’d ; To paint the mis’ries which that vice persue 5 To prove its joys how poor, how frail, how few; The blessings far superior to shew That follow Goodness, tho’ they follow slow; In Youth a noble ardour to create The virtuous Deeds they hear and emulate; 10 Be such the aim of all who dare aspire To catch the smallest spark of wild poetic fire.
