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Untitled Article
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
Let gay , fantastic Pleasure boast her sweets , And spread her net for unsuspecting prey ; While , without intermission , she repeats Her luring song— ' * Ye mortals , come away ;
** Leave all your cares , your troubles all forget ; And pay your homage to your festive Queen ; Enjoy this moment , leave the rest to fate—Come , come and taste life's most enchanting scene V
Ah ! trust her not , beware her specious wiles ; Remorse attends close-tread ing in her train ; Her rose-strew'd path , cheer'd by her sweetest smiles , Leads on to ruin , infamy > and pain . Where , then , ah where ! shall inexperienc ed youth Th' unerring guide to Happiness e ' er find ? How oft do reason ^ and the clearest truth To headstrong passion tamely yield the mind !
No vain delusion now would fancy paint—No idle dreams enthusiastic tell ; Experience , truth , and reason , all consent , That active goodness will the prize reveal . 'Tis this can mitigate our greatest ills ; Our dearest joys sublimely can improve ;
The voice of discontent it sweetly stills , And breathes tranquillity and boundless love . This gives a firm cement to Friendship ' s bond ; Each social , generous feeling opes to view ; It pours the balm of pity in each wound , And flies unask'd , preventing worth to sue .
Base Envy , sickening at another's joy ; And Malice , sharp corroder of the mind ; And foul-mouth'd Slander , ever to destroy Fair Reputation ' s honest fame inclined ;—At Virtue ' s first approach , abash'd they fly , And in their place a gentle train succeed ; Forbearance mild , Good-will , warm Charity , Each generous thought , each heart-approving deed .
In conscious dignity the mind she bears ; Of intellectual pleasures shews the worth ; Forbids to stoop to sordid , grov'ling cares ; And points to joys above this fleeting earth . Virtue adds grace to Beauty's brightest bloom , It smooths the brow of venerable age ; From Death's cold pillow scatters every gloom , And borne in triumph quits this chequer'd stage .
This is the fountain—this the source from whence Th' exhaustless stream of pleasure ever ran ; This gives " a conscience void of all offence , In sight of God our judge * as well as man . "
Untitled Article
90 Happiness .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1831, page 90, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2594/page/18/
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