| |
| SO very deaf, so blind a creature, | |
| As Delia, ne’er was seen in nature. | |
| Blind to each failing of a friend, | |
| But ever ready to commend; | |
| Yet not to failings blind alone, | 5 |
| Blind to each beauty of her own. | |
| So very deaf, that if around | |
| A thousand shrill-toned tongues should sound, | |
| With scandal tipt, good names to tear, | |
| A single word she would not hear; | 10 |
| Or, if, by chance, amidst a crowd, | |
| Some antiquated maid, so loud, | |
| Against a youthful fair should rail, | |
| That deafness’ self must hear the tale: | |
| Her comprehension is so slow, | 15 |
| A single word she would not know; | |
| Or did she know, so weak her brain, | |
| That scandal’s tale it can’t contain. | |
| Yet these are trifles, when compared | |
| To things that all the town has heard, | 20 |
| For though so stupid, deaf and blind, | |
| The greatest charge is left behind; | |
| The faults of nature, I ’d forgive, | |
| But she ’s the greatest thief alive. | |
| In earliest youth, the cunning chit | 25 |
| Had pilfer’d Hermes of his wit! | |
| Within a deep embowering wood, | |
| A hoary hermit’s cottage stood; | |
| There as Minerva once retired, | |
| To seek the sage herself inspired, | 30 |
| While all around was wrapt in night, | |
| Save the pale student’s glimmering light, | |
| She came with worse than burglar’s tread, | |
| And filch’d the helmet from her head! | |
| She robb’d the Graces of their charms, | 35 |
| And off she ran with Cupid’s arms. | |
| She stole the queen of beauty’s zone, | |
| And made Diana’s smiles her own; | |
| Nor does she ever spend a day | |
| But what she steals some heart away; | 40 |
| E’en while I write this hasty line, | |
| I feel, I feel she ’s stealing mine. | |
| Yes—stupid, deaf and blind’s the creature, | |
| And yet the greatest thief in nature. | |
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