ODE to VIRTUE. Mary Robinson (née Darby) 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. T100118 Robinson, Mary, 1758-1800. Poems by Mrs. Robinson [poems only]. London Printed for C. Parker, the Upper Part of New Bond-Street 1775 pp. 45-47. [8],134p.,plate; 8⁰.

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ODE to VIRTUE . I Hail daughter of th'etherial sky , Hail everlasting purity , To thee the seraphs and archangels sing , Peace to thy altar shall her off'rings bring , Free from every earthly woe , From every ill that reigns below , Welcome thou sweet celestial guest , Receive me to thy gentle breast . II Instruct my unexperienc'd heart , And all thy precious gifts impart , That my fond soul may learn of thee to prize , Joys , which alone from thy fair laws arise , To thee , my willing heart aspires , Thy name , my tender bosom fires , Teach me , then teach me , by thy sacred rules , To shun with scorn , the empty joys of fools . III Learn me to tread the paths of truth , And rectify my erring youth , That under thy supreme , discerning eye , Thy precepts may each action dignify , And in life's perplexing maze , May'st thou guide my blinded ways , That free from art , from falsehood or disguise , Thy solid joys my soul shall learn to prize .