Thou best of friendship, knowledge, and of art!
The charm of whose lov'd name preserves my heart
From female vanities (thy name, which there,
Till Time dissolves the fabric, I must wear),
Forgive a crime which long my soul opprest,
And crept by chance in my unwary breast,
So great, as for thy pardon were unfit,
And to forgive were worse than to commit,
But that the fault and pain were so much one,
10The very act did expiate what was done.