They thoughtless rush, where folly leads the way,

Where evils throng, and vice holds lordly sway.

Yet hoary age by long experience knows,

Where vices flourish, and where evil grows;

With cautious fondness for the budding mind,

Warns from the path, where ill with ill’s combin’d;

Whilst heedless youth, in all the pomp of pride,

Spurn at his prudence, and his laws deride.

A few short years disperse the dazzling shade,

Which fame excited, and which transports made;