quote · Legacy record
The rout is folly’s circle which she draws With magic wand. So potent is the spell, That none decoy’d into that fatal ring, Unless by Heaven’s peculiar grace, escape. There we grow early grey, but never wise; There form connections, but acquire no friend; Solicit pleasure, hopeless of success; Waste youth in occupations only fit For second childhood; and devote old age To sports, which only childhood could excuse.
The rout is folly’s circle which she draws With magic wand. So potent is the spell, That none decoy’d into that fatal ring, Unless by Heaven’s peculiar grace, escape. There we grow early grey, but never wise; There form connections, but acquire no friend; Solicit pleasure, hopeless of success; Waste youth in occupations only fit For second childhood; and devote old age To sports, which only childhood could excuse.
Approximate author period: c. 1765 AD · early modern
Meaning not yet available
An individual explanation has not yet been added. We do not substitute a generic description for an interpretation of these particular words.
Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- William Cowper
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1765 AD · early modern
author lifetime midpoint (1731–1800)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 230 · printed citation: Cowper · subject: FOLLY
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.