Classic Poem

" To Venus, Venus here retired,
My sober vows I pay:
Not her on Paphian plains admired,
The bold, the pert, the gay.

" Not her whose amorous leer prevail'd
To bribe the Phrygian boy;
Not her who, clad in armour, fail'd
To save disastrous Troy.

" Fresh rising from the foamy tide,
She every bosom warms;
While half withdrawn she seems to hide,
And half reveals, her charms.

" Learn hence, ye boastful sons of taste,
Who plan the rural shade;
Learn hence to shun the vicious waste
Of pomp, at large display'd.

" Let sweet concealment's magic art
Your mazy bounds invest;
And while the sight unveils a part,
Let fancy paint the rest.

" Let coy reserve with cost unite
To grace your wood or field;
No ray obtrusive pall the sight,
In aught you paint, or build.

" And far be driven the sumptuous glare
Of gold, from British groves;
And far the meretricious air
Of China's vain alcoves.

" 'Tis bashful beauty ever twines
The most coercive chain;
'Tis she that sovereign rule declines,
Who best deserves to reign. "