Nations, we know, have nature's law transgressed.
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And snatch'd the infant from the parent's breast;
But still for public good the boy was train'd,
The mother suffer'd, but the matron gain'd:
Here nature's outrage serves no cause to aid;
The ill is felt, but not the Spartan made.
Then too, I own, it grieves me to behold
Those ever virtuous, helpless now and old,
By all for care and industry approved,