Needful when o'er wide realms the tempest breaks,
Needful amid life's ordinary woes;—
A tale which now, dear helpmate, I present
To thee and to the world with pure intent.[T]
He serves the Muses erringly and ill,
Whose aim is pleasure light and fugitive:
O, that my mind were equal to fulfil
The comprehensive mandate which they give—
Vain aspiration of an earnest will!
Yet in this moral Strain a power may live,