The QUESTION. Occasion'd by a serious Admonition. Mary Leapor Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T127827 p. 413 K101776.000 Leapor, Mrs. (Mary), 1722-1746. Poems upon several occasions: By Mrs. Leapor of Brackley in Northamptonshire. London printed: and sold by J. Roberts 1748 pp. 224-226. 15,[5],282p. ; 8⁰.

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The QUESTION . Occasion'd by a serious Admonition . IS Mirth a Crime ? Instruct me you that know ; Or shou'd these Eyes with Tears eternal flow : No ( let ye Powers ) let this Bosom find , Life's one grand Comfort a contented Mind : Preserve this Heart , and may it find no room For pale Despondence or unpleasing Gloom : Too well the Mischief and the Pangs we know Of doubtful Musing and prophetick Woe . But now these Evils for a Moment rest , And brighter Visions please the quiet Breast , Where sprightly Health its blessed Cordial pours , And chearful Thought deceives the gliding Hours : Then let me smile , and trifle while I may , Yet not from Virtue nor from Reason stray : From hated Slander I wou'd keep my Tongue ; My Heart from Envy , and from Guilt my Song : Nature's large Volume with Attention read , Its God acknowledge , and believe my Creed : Through Weakness , not Impiety , offend ; But love my Parent , and esteem my Friend . If ( like the most ) my undistinguish'd Days Deserve not much of Censure or of Praise : If my still Life , like subterraneous Streams , Glides unobserv'd , nor tainted by Extremes , Nor dreadful Crime has stain'd its early Page , To hoard up Terrors for reflecting Age ; Let me enjoy the sweet Suspence of Woe , When Heav'n strikes me , I shall own the Blow : Till then let me indulge one simple Hour , Like the pleas'd Infant o'er a painted Flow'r : Idly 'tis true : But guiltlesly the Time Is spent in trifling with a harmless Rhyme . Heroick Virtue asks a noble Mind , A Judgment strong , and Passions well refin'd : But if that Virtue's measur'd by the Will , 'Tis surely something to abstain from Ill .