DRAYTON.
* * * * *
UNDERSTANDING.
Most miserable creature under sky
Man without understanding doth appear,
For all this world's affliction he thereby,
And Fortune's freaks is wisely taught to bear;
Of wretched life the only joy is she,
And the only comfort in calamity;
She arms the breast with constant patience,
Against the bitter throes of Dolour's darts,
She solaceth with rules of sapience,
The gentle winds in midst of worldly smarts:
When he is sad, she seeks to make him merry,
And doth refresh his spirits when they be weary.
SPENSER.
* * * * *
CARE.
Care, the consuming canker of the mind,
The discord that disorders sweet heart's tune,
The abortive bastard of a coward mind,
The lightfoot lackey that runs post by death,
Bearing the letters which contain our end;
The busy advocate that sells his breath
Denouncing worst to him who's most his friend.
CONSTABLE.
* * * * *
SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.
* * * * *
OLD PARR AND OLD PEOPLE.
(_From "After Dinner Chat," in the New Monthly Magazine._)
_N_.--Parr was a mischievous old fellow: he has left a pernicious
example of longevity behind him. At sixty-nine a man will look with
complacency to the approaching termination of his career, as an event
to be expected in the ordinary course of Nature.
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