At East Burnham, from whence this letter is dated, they were now living
in a small cottage, to which they had retired immediately on their
marriage, and to which they often looked back with a sigh in after-
times, when they were more prosperous, but less happy. It was during a
very short absence from this cottage, that the following lines were
written by him:--

"Teach me, kind Hymen, teach, for thou
Must be my only tutor now,--
Teach me some innocent employ,
That shall the hateful thought destroy,
That I this whole long night must pass
In exile from my love's embrace.
Alas, thou hast no wings, oh Time!
[Footnote: It will be perceived that the eight following lines are the
foundation of the song "What bard, oh Time," in the Duenna.]
It was some thoughtless lover's rhyme,
Who, writing in his Chloe's view,
Paid her the compliment through you.
For had he, if he truly lov'd,
But once the pangs of absence prov'd,
He'd cropt thy wings, and, in their stead,
Have painted thee with heels of lead.
But 'tis the temper of the mind,
Where we thy regulator find.
Still o'er the gay and o'er the young
unfelt steps you flit along,--
As Virgil's nymph o'er ripen'd corn,
With such ethereal haste was borne,