Page:Rules for penmanship.pdf/11



There is a tide in the affairs of men,

, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

, all the voyage of their life

bound in shallows, and in miseries.

all the griefs that harrass the distress’d,

the most bitter, is a scornful jest.

never wounds more deep the gen’rous heart,

when a blockhead’s insult points the dart.

all the causes which conspire to blind

erring judgment, and misguide the mind,

the weak head with strongest bias rules,

Pride, the never-failing voice of fools.

whom can riches give repute or trust,

or pleasure, but the good and just!

and senates have been bought for gold,

and love were never to be sold.

what is life! with ills encompass’d round,

our hopes, fate strikes the sudden wound:

, the statesman of new honour dreams,

, death destroys his airy schemes.