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CONTENTMENT.
1 FArewell aspiring thoughts, no more
2 My soul shall leave the peaceful shore,
3 To sail Ambition's main;
4 Fallacious as the harlot's kiss,
5 You promise me uncertain bliss,
6 And give me certain pain.
7 A beauteous prospect first you shew,
8 Which ere survey'd you paint anew,
9 And paint it wond'rous pleasant:
10 This in a third is quickly lost:
11 Thus future good we covet most,
12 But ne'er enjoy the present.
13 Deluded on from scene to scene,
14 We never end, but still begin,
15 By flatt'ring Hope betray'd;
16 I'm weary of the painful chace,
17 Let others run this endless race
18 To catch a flying shade.
19 Let others boast their useless wealth;
20 Have I not honesty and health?
21 Which riches cannot give:
22 Let others to preferment soar,
23 And, changing liberty for pow'r,
24 In golden shackles live.
25 'Tis time, at length, I should be wise,
26 'Tis time to seek substantial joys;
27 Joys out of Fortune's pow'r:
28 Wealth, honours, dignities, and fame,
29 Are toys the blind capricious dame
30 Takes from us ev'ry hour.
31 Come, conscious Virtue, fill my breast,
32 And bring Content, thy daughter, dress'd
33 In ever-smiling charms:
34 Let sacred Friendship too attend;
35 A friendship worthy of my friend,
36 Such as my LAELIUS warms.
37 With these I'll in my bosom make
38 A bulwark Fortune cannot shake,
39 Tho' all her storms arise;
40 Look down and pity gilded slaves,
41 Despise Ambition's giddy knaves,
42 And wish the Fools were wise.
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About this text
Author: Stephen Duck
Themes:
contentment; ambition
Genres:
ballad metre; ode
References:
DMI 23341
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Source edition
Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. III. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], pp. 119-121. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.003) (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 Stephen Duck
- The ABSENT LOVER. ()
- [Ad JOANNEM MILTONUM.] ()
- The ANSWER. ()
- AVARO and AMANDA. A POEM, in FOUR CANTO's, Taken from the Spectator, Vol. I. No. xi. ()
- CHLOE's CONQUEST. ()
- A Description of a Journey To Marlborough, Bath, Portsmouth, &c. To the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount PALMERSTON. ()
- An EPIGRAM. ()
- FELIX and CONSTANCE. A POEM, taken from BOCCACE. ()
- GRATITUDE. A PASTORAL. ()
- Imitated from CLAUDIAN. ()
- An IMITATION Of the Sixteenth Ode Of the Second Book of HORACE. ()
- An Imitation of the Sixteenth Ode of the Third Book of HORACE. ()
- An Imitation of the Tenth Ode of the Second Book of HORACE. To the Right Hon. the Lord Viscount PALMERSTON. ()
- Occasion'd by a Dispute with a LADY. ()
- An ODE, presented to their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of WALES, in Richmond Gardens, on Thursday, May 6. 1736. ()
- Of FRIENDSHIP. To CELIA. ()
- On a GOOD CONSCIENCE. ()
- On a Screen, work'd in Flowers by Her Royal Highness ANNE, Princess of ORANGE. ()
- On Celia's Picture, drawn by Sir Godfrey Kneller. ()
- On Delia singing, and playing on Music. ()
- On FLORELLA's Birth-Day. ()
- On MITES. To a LADY. ()
- On Mrs. L—s. ()
- On MUSIC. ()
- On POVERTY. ()
- On RICHMOND PARK, and ROYAL GARDENS. ()
- On the Hon. Mrs. HORNER's Travelling for the Recovery of her Health. ()
- On the Marriage of his Serene Highness the Prince of Orange. ()
- On the QUEEN's Grotto, in RICHMOND Gardens. ()
- On Two Young Ladies leaving the Country. ()
- A PASTORAL ELEGY. ()
- PENELOPE to ULYSSES. Paraphras'd from OVID. ()
- A Poem on Her MAJESTY's Birth-Day. ()
- Proper Ingredients to make a Sceptic. ()
- The SHUNAMMITE. To Mrs. STANLEY. ()
- The THRESHER's LABOUR. To the Revd. Mr. STANLEY. ()
- To a Gentleman, who requested a Copy of Verses from the Author. ()
- To a Young LADY, who had a CUPID given Her. ()
- To DEATH. An IRREGULAR ODE. ()
- To His ROYAL HIGHNESS The DUKE of CUMBERLAND, On His BIRTH-DAY. ()
- To Mr. Winder, (now Fellow) of Corpus-Christi, Oxford; in Answer to a Latin Epistle, which he sent me. ()
- To Mr. WORSDALE: Occasion'd by seeing CELIA's Picture unfinish'd. Writ extempore at Kensington. ()
- To the Author of a Poem on the Duke of Lorrain's Arrival at the British Court. ()
- To the Rev. Dr. Freind, on his quitting Westminster School. ()
- To the Right Honourable William Clayton, Esq (now Lord Sundon) on his being Elected Representative in Parliament for Westminster without Opposition. ()
- TRUTH and FALSHOOD. A FABLE. ()
- The Two Beavers. A FABLE. ()
- VERSES to the Author, In IMITATION of HORACE's ODE on PINDAR. Apply'd to the Marriage of his Highness the Prince of Orange with ANNE, Princess Royal of Great Britain. ()