“Tea! how I tremble at thy fatal stream!

As Lethe, dreadful to the love of fame.

What devastations on thy banks are seen!

What shades of mighty names which once have been!

A hecatomb of characters supplies

Thy painted altar’s daily sacrifice.

Hervey, Pearce, Blount, aspersed by thee, decay,

As grains of finest sugars melt away,

And recommend thee more to mortal taste:

Scandal’s the sweetener of a female feast.”