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L’Amour.
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L’AMOUR.

[Translation from the French of Boufflers (1775).]

‘Look not on love; he is a fair deceiver,’—
This is my mother’s counsel day by day,—
‘He cheats the hopes of every fond believer,
He smiles and kisses, only to betray!
Can this be true? He seems so sweet a child,
I fear, by scandal, mother is beguiled.

Parents are wise, and I am young and stupid,
But I have heard Lucas and Josephine
Speak of some charming friend—sweet rosy Cupid;
They sing his praises with a happy mien.
Would you believe it? ’Tis precisely he
That mother looks on so suspiciously.

How solve the riddle? For the case is serious;
I think that I must seek this God of Love;
Colin will help me in the quest mysterious;
What harm could happen to us as we rove?
And even if Love should roguish prove and wild,
We are so tall—and two against a child!