Page:Vida's Art of Poetry.djvu/27

There stop, - - - -nor rashly seek to know the rest,
But drive the dire ambition from thy breast,
'Till riper years and judgment form thy thoughts
To mark their beauties, and avoid their faults.

Mean time, ye parents, with attention hear,
And thus advis'd exert your utmost care;
The blameless tutor from a thousand choose,
One from his soul devoted to the muse;
Who pleas'd the tender pupil to improve,
Regards, and loves him with a father's love.
Youth of it self, to num'rous ills betray'd,
Requires a prop, and wants a foreign aid;
Unless a master's rules his mind incline
To love and cultivate the sacred nine,
His thoughts a thousand objects will employ,
And from Parnassus lead the wand'ring boy.
So trusts the swain, the saplings to the earth;
So hopes in time to see the sprouting birth;
Against the winds defensive props he forms,
To shield the future forest from the storms.

That