CONTENTMENT. Stephen Duck Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T131163 K104099.003 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.

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CONTENTMENT . By the Same . FArewell aspiring thoughts , no more My soul shall leave the peaceful shore , To sail Ambition's main ; Fallacious as the harlot's kiss , You promise me uncertain bliss , And give me certain pain . A beauteous prospect first you shew , Which ere survey'd you paint anew , And paint it wond'rous pleasant : This in a third is quickly lost : Thus future good we covet most , But ne'er enjoy the present . Deluded on from scene to scene , We never end , but still begin , By flatt'ring Hope betray'd ; I'm weary of the painful chace , Let others run this endless race To catch a flying shade . Let others boast their useless wealth ; Have I not honesty and health ? Which riches cannot give : Let others to preferment soar , And , changing liberty for pow'r , In golden shackles live . 'Tis time , at length , I should be wise , 'Tis time to seek substantial joys ; Joys out of Fortune's pow'r : Wealth , honours , dignities , and fame , Are toys the blind capricious dame Takes from us ev'ry hour . Come , conscious Virtue , fill my breast , And bring Content , thy daughter , dress'd In ever-smiling charms : Let sacred Friendship too attend ; A friendship worthy of my friend , Such as my LAELIUS warms . With these I'll in my bosom make A bulwark Fortune cannot shake , Tho' all her storms arise ; Look down and pity gilded slaves , Despise Ambition's giddy knaves , And wish the Fools were wise .