William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909.
Fair HebeJohn West, Earl De La Warr (16931766)
F
To escape from her charms, and to drown them in wine,
I tried it; but found, when I came to depart,
The wine in my head, and still love in my heart.
Who paused on my case, and each circumstance weighed,
Then gravely pronounced, in return to my prayer,
‘That Hebe was fairest of all that was fair!’
I came for your counsel to find out a fault.’
‘If that’s all,’ quoth Reason, ‘return as you came;
To find fault with Hebe, would forfeit my name.’
While, like lightning, she darts through each throbbing vein!
My Senses surprised, in her favour took arms;
And Reason confirms me a slave to her charms.