[Page 153]

AN EPISTLE TO A FRIEND IN TOWN.

1 HAVE my friends in the town, in the gay busy town,
2 Forgot such a man as John Dyer?
3 Or heedless despise they, or pity the clown
4 Whose bosom no pageantries fire?
5 No matter, no matter content in the shades
6 (Contented? why, every thing charms me)
7 Fall in tunes all adown the green steep, ye cascades,
8 Till hence rigid virtue alarms me.
9 Till outrage arises, or misery needs
10 The swift, the intrepid avenger;
11 Till sacred religion, or liberty bleeds,
12 Then mine be the deed, and the danger.
[Page 154]
13 Alas! what a folly, that wealth and domain
14 We heap up in sin and in sorrow!
15 Immense is the toil, yet the labour how vain!
16 Is not life to be over to-morrow?
17 Then glide on my moments, the few that I have,
18 Smooth-shaded, and quiet and even;
19 While gently the body descends to the grave,
20 And the spirit arises to heaven.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): AN EPISTLE TO A FRIEND IN TOWN.
Author: John Dyer
Themes: retirement; friendship
Genres: epistle
References: DMI 32288

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Source edition

Pearch, G. A collection of poems in four volumes. By several hands. Vol. I. [The second edition]. London: printed for G. Pearch, 1770, pp. 153-154. 4v. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T116245; DMI 1122; OTA K093079.001) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [(OC) 280 o.788].)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

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