thee,
At once the rising thought to dash,
To quench at once the bursting flash!
The shining mischief to subdue,
And lose the praise and pleasure too!
Though Venus' self could you detect her
Imbuing with her richest nectar
The thought unchaste, to check that thought,
To spurn a fame so dearly bought,--
This is high principle's control,
This is true continence of soul.
Blush, heroes, at your cheap renown,
A vanquished realm, a plundered town
Your conquests were to gain a name--
This conquest triumphs over fame."

"Florio" is a metrical tale of a young man of good principles and
right feelings, who, from deference to fashion, has indulged in
vanities and follies bordering on depravity, which he lays aside in
disgust when virtue and good sense, in alliance with female
loveliness, have made apparent to him the absurdity and danger of his
aberrations. In the following extract the reader will recognize some
of the oft-quoted couplets of which we have spoken:--

"Exhausted Florio, at the age
When youth should rush on glory's stage,
When life should open fresh and new,
And ardent Hope her schemes pursue,
Of youthful gayety bereft,
Had scarce an unbroached pleasure left;
He found already, to his cost,
The shining gloss of life was lost,
And Pleasure was so coy a prude,
She fled the more, the more pursued;
Or, if o'ertaken and caressed,
He loathed and left her when possessed.
But Florio knew the world; that science
Sets sense and learning at defiance;
He thought the world to him was known,
Whereas he only knew the _town_.
In men this blunder still you find:
All think their little set--mankind.
Though high renown the youth had gained,
No flagrant crimes his life had stained;
Though known among _a certain set_,
He did not like to be in debt;
He shuddered at the dicer's box,
Nor thought it very heterodox
That tradesmen should be sometimes paid,
And bargains kept as well as made.
His growing credit, as a sinner,
Was, that he liked to spoil a dinner,
Made pleasure and made business wait,
And still by system came too late;
Yet 'twas a hopeful indication
On which to found a reputation:
Small habits, well pursued, betimes
May reach the dignity of crimes;
And who a juster claim preferred
Than one who always broke his word?"

The death of Garrick may be considered an era in the life of Miss
More. His wit, his gayety,