Cease, wild enthusiast! end thy angry tale,
O'er human frailties drop compassion's veil;
View them with grief, not rage, nor dare to scan
With censure too severe thy fellow-man!
Think, had no parent watch'd thy pliant youth,
Curb'd thy wild passions, turn'd thy steps to Truth,
And taught thee by her radiant light to know
That bliss is virtue, and that guilt is woe,
Spurning restraint, and scorn'd each sacred vow,
Haply thyself had been what these are now;
These, who by headstrong passions forc'd away,
Or pressing want, or strong example's sway,
Strangers to love of man, or fear of God,
But trod perhaps those paths their parents trod,
While ignorance led them to that whirlpool's brink,
Where long they struggled, and where now they sink!