[Page 327]
SONNET VI.
1 R**, who well hast judg'd the task too hard,
2 Of this short life throughout the total day
3 To follow glory's false bewitching ray,
4 Through certain toils, uncertain of reward;
5 A prince's service how should we regard;
6 As service still — though deck'd in livery gay,
7 Disguis'd with titles, gilded o'er with pay,
8 Specious, yet ill to liberty preferr'd.
9 Bounding thy wishes by the golden mean,
10 Nor weakly bartering happiness for show,
11 Wisely thou'st left the busy bustling scene,
12 Where merit seldom has successful been,
13 In C**'s shades to taste the joys, that flow
14 From calm retirement, and a mind serene.
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About this text
Author: Thomas Edwards
Themes:
retirement
Genres:
sonnet; Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet
References:
DMI 23544
Text view / Document view
Source edition
Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. II. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], p. 327. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.002) (Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)
Editorial principles
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.
Other works by Thomas Edwards
- SONNET I. ()
- SONNET II. ()
- SONNET III. To F. K. Esq ()
- SONNET IV. ()
- SONNET V. On a FAMILY-PICTURE. ()
- SONNET VII. ()
- SONNET VIII. On the CANTOS of SPENSER'S Fairy Queen, lost in the Passage from Ireland. ()
- SONNET IX. ()
- SONNET X. To the Author of Observations on the Conversion and Apostleship of St. PAUL. ()
- SONNET XI. ()
- SONNET XII. ()
- SONNET XIII. To the Right Hon. Mr. —, with the foregoing SONNETS. ()
- SONNET. ()
- SONNET. FOR THE ROOT-HOUSE AT WREST. ()
- SONNET. TO MATTHEW BARNARD. ()
- SONNET. TO MISS H. M. ()
- SONNET. TO MR. J. PAICE. ()
- SONNET. TO THE SAME. ()
- SONNET. TO W. HEBERDEN, M. D. ()
- SONNET. TO —. ()