FABLES OF FLORA 
35 
Her moral thus the matron read, 
Studious to teach her children dear; 
And they, by love or duty led, 
With pleasure heard, or seemed to hear. 
Yet one, less duteous, not less fair, 
(In convents still the tale is known,) 
The fable heard with silent care, 
But found a moral of her own. 
The flower that smiled along the day, 
And drooped in tears at evening’s fall, 
Too well she found her life display, 
Too well her fatal lot recall. 
The envious Ivy’s gloomy shade, 
That murdered what it most embraced, 
Too well that cruel scene conveyed, 
Which all her fairer hopes effaced. 
Her heart with silent horror shook ; 
With sighs she sought her lonely cell; 
To the dim light she cast one look, 
And bade once more the world farewell. 
Dr. Languors e. 
