A SONG. (When a nymph at her toilet has…)

When a nymph at her toilet has spent the whole day, To shine in brocade at a ball or the play, Her rival the butterfly, vain to excess, May be justly more proud, if there's merit in dress. The purple and gold, in his plumage display'd, Than velvet's more soft, and more gay than brocade. But, with all this advantage of dress, you may see That the butterfly still is less lov'd than the bee: For the bee, tho' he shines with no purple and gold, We provide a good lodging to fence from the cold; For his honey we love him, altho' he will sting, And despise the gay insects that flutter and sing: And hence the coquet this plain lesson may find, " That the useful alone are the lov'd of mankind."

Let the foolish and vain at the toilet still vie In a fruitless endeavour to rival a fly, Which if they could do, like the fly, for a day, By fools they'd be play'd with, and then thrown away. Let me like the bee every moment improve, And merit a love which no time shall remove.