TO
THE
RIGHT
HONOURABLE
THE
EARL
OF
CHESTERFIELD
.
ON
HIS
LATE
RECOVERY
FROM
A
DANGEROUS
ILLNESS
.
BY
THE
REV.
WALTER
HARTE
.
Sed
nihil
dulcius
est
bene
quam
munita
tenere
,
Edita
doctrinâ
sapientum
templa
serena
,
Despicere
unde
queas
alios
,
possimque
videre
Errare
atque
viam
palentes
quaerere
vita
.
LUCRET.
l.
ii
.
v.
6.
AT
length
,
in
pity
to
a
nation's
prayer
,
Thou
liv'st
,
O
STANHOPE
,
Providence's
care
:
"
Life's
sun
,
we
read
,
when
heaven
a
respite
lends
,
"
Ten
degrees
back
against
the
shade
descends
See
the
story
of
Hezekiah
,
and
the
dial
of
Ahaz
,
Isaiah
,
ch.
xxxviii
ver.
8.
.
"
By
wisdom
purify'd
,
by
age
inspir'd
;
For
twice
nine
years
in
Greenwich
groves
retir'd
;
Rapt
like
Elijah
in
the
aërial
car
,
Thou
wisely
mark'st
this
busy
world
from
far
:
Where
Avarice
and
Ambition
vainly
run
,
This
to
undo
,
and
that
to
be
undone
.
—
Considerate
truths
are
now
thy
favourite
themes
;
Age
may
see
visions
,
tho'
our
youth
dream'd
dreams
:
Hail
truly
wise
,
and
good
!
O
happier
thou
Than
if
state
diadems
had
grac'd
thy
brow
!
Like
sage
AENEAS
Virgil's
Aeneid
IV
.
,
mantled
in
a
cloud
,
Unseen
you
see
the
falshood
of
the
crowd
:
Brother
his
brother
cheats
,
and
friend
his
friend
:
—
Life's
vain
wise
men
prove
blockheads
in
the
end
.
—
Thou
seest
,
like
ADAM
Paradise
Lost
,
l.
xi
.
v.
270.
by
the
archangel
led
,
The
many
peopled
earth
beneath
thee
spread
;
(
Thy
eyes
much
purg'd
with
euphrasy
and
rue
Ibid.
p.
412.
,
For
even
a
CHESTERFIELD
has
much
to
view
)
Thou
seest
like
him
the
plagues
of
human
strife
,
The
snares
of
greatness
,
emptiness
of
life
,
Abner's
sincerity
,
and
Joab's
heart
,
Achitophel's
deep
schemes
,
and
Zimrl's
part
;
Shimei's
ill-nature
,
and
(
to
mark
the
times
)
The
flattery
of
Og's
and
Doeg's
rhymes
.
O
still
contemplate
,
look
thro'
Reason's
eye
,
—
For
hours
are
precious
ages
when
we
die
!
Thus
,
even
in
Pagan
times
,
the
chosen
few
,
Pomponius
,
Scipio
,
Atticus
,
withdrew
:
Thus
Dioclesian
,
with
true
greatness
fir'd
,
From
lordly
Rome
to
Spalatro
retir'd
;
Exchang'd
the
imperial
fasces
for
a
spade
,
And
left
court
sunshine
for
the
sylvan
shade
;
Lord
of
himself
,
monarch
of
fields
and
plains
,
By
Nature
call'd
to
rule
,
and
crown'd
by
swains
.