I in this sweet retirement find
A joy unknown to kings,
For sceptres, to a virtuous mind,
Seem vain and empty things.

II. Great Cincinnatus at his plough
With brighter lustre shone,
Than guilty Cesar e'er could show,
Though seated on a throne.

Tumultuous days and restless nights
Ambition ever knows,

A stranger to the calm delights
Of study and repose.

Then, free from envy, care, and strife,
Keep me, ye Powers Divine:

And, pleas'd, when ye demand my life,
May I that life resign!

MRS. PILKINGTON.

NO glory I covet, no riches I want,
Ambition is nothing to me;

The one thing I beg of kind Heaven to grant,
Is a mind, independent and free.

With passions unruffled, untainted with pride,
By reason my life let me square;

The wants of my nature are cheaply supplied,
And the rest are but folly and care.

The blessings, which Providence freely has lent,
I'll justly and gratefully prize;

Whilst sweet meditation, and cheerful content,
Shall make me both healthful and wise.

II. In the pleasures the great man's possessions display,
Unenvied I'll challenge my part :

For every fair object my eyes can survey
Contributes to gladden my heart.

R

How vainly, through infinite trouble and strife,
The many their labours employ !
Since all that is truly delightful in life
Is what all, if they please, may enjoy.

THE VANITY OF WEALTH.

NO more, thus brooding o'er yon heap,
With Avarice, painful vigils keep!
Still unenjoy'd the present store,

Still endless sighs are breath'd för more.
O! quit the shadow, catch the prize,
Which not all India's treasure buys!
To purchase heaven, has gold the power?
Can gold remove the mortal hour?
In life can love be bought with gold?
Are friendship's pleasures to be sold?
No-all that's worth a wish-a thought,
Fair Virtue gives unbrib'd, unbought.
Cease, then, on trash thy hopes to bind ;
Let nebler views engage thy mind.

JOHNSON

RECEIVE, dear friend, the truths I teach,

So shalt thou live beyond the reach

Of adverse fortune's power:

Not always tempt the distant deep,
Nor always timorously creep
Along the treacherous shore.

He that holds fast the golden mean,
And lives contentedly between

The little and the great,

Feels not the wants that pinch the poor,
Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door,
Imbittering all his state.

II. The tallest pines feel most the power
Of wintry blast: the loftiest tower

Comes heaviest to the ground;

The boits that spare the mountain's side
His cloud-capt eminence divide,
And spread the ruin round.
The well inform'd philosopher
Rejoices with a wholesome fear,
And hopes in spite of pain:
If winter bellow from the north,

Soon the sweet spring comes dancing forth,
And nature laughs again.

III. What if thine heaven be overcast ?
The dark appearance will not last ;
Expect a brighter sky;

The god that strings the silver bow
Awakes, sometimes, the muses too,
And lays his arrows by.

If hindrances obstruct thy way,
Thy magnanimity display;

And let thy strength be seen:

But oh! if fortune fill thy sail
With more than a propitious gale,
Take half thy canvass in.

COWPER.

DOMESTIC HAPPINESS.

HOW blest has my time been, what joys have I known,
Since wedlock's soft bondage made Jessy my own!
So joyful my heart is, so easy my chain,
That freedom is tasteless, and roving is pain.

Through walks grown with woodbines as often we stray,
A round us our boys and girls frolick and play :
How pleasing their sport is, the wanton ones see,
And borrow their looks from my Jessy and me.
II. To try her sweet temper, sometimes am I seen
In revels all day, with the nymphs on the green;

Though painful my absence, my doubts she beguiles,
And meets me at night with compliance and smiles.

What though on her cheeks the rose loses its bue.
Her wit and good humour bloom all the year through;
Time still, as he flies, adds increase to her truth,
And gives to her mind what he steals from her youth.

Ye shepherds so gay, who make love to ensnare,
And cheat with false vows the too credulous Fair;
In search of true pleasure how vainly you roam !
To hold it for life, you must find it at home.

FROM the court to the cottage convey me away,
For I'm weary of grandeur, and what they call
Where pride without measure,

And pomp without pleasure,

Make life in a circle of hurry decay.

gay:

Far remote and retir'd from the noise of the town,
I'll exchange my brocade for a plain russet gown ;
My friends shall be few,

But well chosen and true,

And sweet recreation our evening shall crown.

II. With a rural repast, a rich banquet for me,
On a mossy green turf, near some shady old tree,
The river's clear brink

Shall afford me my drink,

And Temperance my friendly physician shall be.

Ever calm and serene, with contentment still blest, Not too giddy with joy, or with sorrow depress'd, I'll neither invoke

Nor repine at death's stroke,

retire from the world as I would to my rest.

A SELECTION OF WORDS IN MODERN USE, ARRANGED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER, AND THE MEANING OF EACH EXPLAINED.