1 Kings: His father had not displeased him at any time, &c

The parent indolently mild
May here his fatal dotage see:
Afraid to vex thy darling child,
Thy darling child shall trouble thee,
Make his indulgent father smart,
And break thy old, fond, foolish heart.

Samuel xxiv. i6 — i Kings vi. 7.

" What pity 'tis, to cross his will,
His clamorous appetites deny,
Restrain the acts of childish ill,
And make the fretted infant cry, 1
Harshly his little faults reprove!
How can I grieve the son I love?"

Continue then thy son to please.
Leave him to nature's discipline,
Till ripe in full-grown wickedness
He claims the wages of his sin.
The wrath of heaven's impartial Lord,
The edge of the Avenger's sword.