Explore "Lines" by Lord Byron on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
WRITTEN IN "LETTERS OF AN ITALIAN NUN AND AN ENGLISH GENTLEMAN; BY J. J. ROUSSEAU: FOUNDED ON FACTS
"Away, away, your fleeting arts / May now betray some simpler hearts; / And you will smile at their believing, / And they shall weep at your deceiving."
ANSWER TO THE FOREGOING, ADDRESSED TO MISS .
Dear, simple girl, those flattering arts, / From which thou'dst guard frail female hearts, / Exist but in imagination,- / Mere phantoms of thine own creation; / For he who views that witching grace, / That perfect form, that lovely face, / With eyes admiring, oh! believe me, / He never wishes to deceive thee: / Once in thy polish'd mirror glance, / Thou'lt there descry that elegance / Which from our sex demands such praises, / But envy in the other raises: / Then he who tells thee of thy beauty, / Believe me, only does his duty: / Ah! fly not from the candid youth; / It is not flattery,-'tis truth.
July 1804