Alexandria Daily Gazette, Commercial & Political

From the Boston Patriot.

THE BIRTH AND EDUCATION OF LOVE.

FROM THE FRENCH

WHEN Love first saw the light of day,
All Nature on Cythera smil'd,
And his fond mother, Venus gay,
Said, "I myself will nurse the Child."
Yet Love in vain the nectar quaff'd,
But wilder'd in a maze of charms,
The cup preferring to the draught,
Pin'd in his Goddess Mother's arms.
"Now the poor infant must be fed,"
Said Venus to the Court above--
"Take him, the wisest in my stead;
And pray remember--it is Love!"
Straight offer'd Candor--smiling dame,
And Tenderness with beaming eye;
And even Delicacy came--
None could the food of Love supply.
Sometimes of Complaisance they thought,
But she would spoil him, well they knew,
And, long by sage Experience taught,
To trust in Pleasure would not do.
The synod long between them pass'd,
To fix their choice were much distress'd,
Till some one Hope, at last, propos'd,
And Love soon prosper'd at her breast.
Amid the train, with envious eyes,
The choice, 'tis said, was mark'd by Joy:
She watch'd her moment, by surprize,
To seize herself the beauteous Boy.
In garb of Innocence array'd,
To rock the cradle she intruded;
And Hope, in evil hour betray'd,
To grant the favor, was deluded.
It chanced one day, that Hope, inclin'd
The balmy sweets of Sleep to share,
The little urchin weak and blind,
Left to the fair impostor's care.
Then Joy, with many a wanton kiss,
Sweetmeats in such profusion gave:
That Love, in ecstasies of bliss,
Soon on her bosom found--his grave!

* We have never met with a thought more delicate or more happily expressed than in this [poem].