THORN-AfPLE. 
159 
THORN-APPLE. 
DECEITFUL CHARMS. 
Too often enervated by luxurious ease, an in¬ 
dolent beauty languishes the whole day, and 
avoids the cheering rays of the sun. At night, 
arrayed with all the art of coquetry, she exhibits 
herself to her admirers. The unsteady and delu¬ 
sive light of tapers, aiding her artifices, lends her 
a deceptive brilliancy, and she enchants by 
charms that are not her own. Her heart, mean¬ 
while, is a stranger to love : all that she wants is 
slaves, victims. Imprudent youth, flee from the 
approach of this enchantress. Nature alone is 
sufficient, art useless, in order to please and to 
love. She who employs the latter is always dan¬ 
gerous, perfidious. 
The flowers of the Thorn-apple, like those 
nocturnal beauties, droop while the sun shines 
beneath their dull-looking foliage; but, on the 
approach of night, they revive, display their 
charms, and unfold their prodigious bells, which 
