Like some deluded peasant, Merlin leads

Through fragrant bowers, and through delicious meads;

While here enchanted gardens to him rise,

And airy fabrics there attract his eyes,

His wandering feet the magic paths pursue;

And while he thinks the fair illusion true,

The trackless scenes disperse in fluid air,

And woods and wilds, and thorny ways appear:

A tedious road the weary wretch returns,

And, as he goes, the transient vision mourns.