Pour dauntless in and swell the boastful band.120
Then comes the second order;[1] all who seek
The debt of praise, where watchful unbelief
Darts thro' the thin pretence her squinting eye
On some retir'd appearance which belies
The boasted virtue, or annulls th' applause125
That justice else would pay. Here side by side
I see two leaders of the solemn train,
Approaching: one a female, old and grey,
With eyes demure and wrinkle-furrow'd brow,
Pale as the cheeks of death; yet still she stuns130
The sickning audience with a nauseous tale;
How many youths her myrtle chains have worn,
How many virgins at her triumphs pin'd!
Yet how resolv'd she guards her cautious heart;
Such is her terror at the risques of love,135
And man's seducing tongue! The other seems
A bearded sage, ungentle in his mien,
And sordid all his habit; peevish want
Grins at his heels, while down the gazing throng
He stalks, resounding in magnific phrase140
The vanity of riches, the contempt
- ↑ Then comes the second order, &c.] Ridicule from the same vanity, where tho' the possession be real, yet no merit can arise from it, because of some particular circumstances, which, tho' obvious to the spectator, are yet over look'd by the ridiculous character.
