None need despair, whose silence can offend;

“Should I,” resumed the thoughtful Lass, “consent

To hear the man, the man may now repent:

Think you my sighs shall call him from the plough,

Or give one hint, that ‘You may woo me now?’”

“Persist, my love,” replied the Friend, “and gain

A parent’s praise, that cannot be in vain.”

The father saw the change, but not the cause,

And gave the alter’d maid his fond applause:

The coarser manners she in part removed,