The FIRE-SIDE. Nathaniel Cotton Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
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Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
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Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T131163 K104099.004 Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. IV. London printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley 1763 [1st ed. 1758] pp. 251-254. 6v.: music; 8⁰.

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The FIRE-SIDE . By Dr. COTTON . I. DEAR Chloe , while the busy crowd , The vain , the wealthy , and the proud , In Folly's maze advance ; Tho' singularity and pride Be call'd our choice , we'll step aside , Nor join the giddy dance . II . From the gay world we'll oft retire To our own family and fire , Where love our hours employs ; No noisy neighbour enters here , No intermeddling stranger near , To spoil our heart-felt joys . III . If solid happiness we prize , Within our breast this jewel lies ; And they are fools who roam : The world has nothing to bestow , From our own selves our joys must flow , And that dear hut , our home . IV . Of rest was Noah's dove bereft , When with impatient wing she left That safe retreat , the ark ; Giving her vain excursion o'er , The disappointed bird once more Explor'd the sacred bark . V. Tho' fools spurn Hymen's gentle pow'rs , We , who improve his golden hours , By sweet experience know , That marriage , rightly understood , Gives to the tender and the good A paradise below . VI . Our babes shall richest comforts bring , If tutor'd right , they'll prove a spring , Whence pleasures ever rise : We'll form their minds with studious care , To all that's manly , good , and fair , And train them for the skies . VII . While they our wisest hours engage , They'll joy our youth , support our age , And crown our hoary hairs : They'll grow in virtue ev'ry day , And thus our fondest loves repay , And recompense our cares . VIII . No borrow'd joys ! they're all our own , While to the world we live unknown , Or by the world forgot : Monarchs ! we envy not your state , We look with pity on the great , And bless our humbler lot . IX . Our portion is not large indeed , But then , how little do we need , For Nature's calls are few ! In this the art of living lies , To want no more than may suffice , And make that little do . X. We'll therefore relish with content Whate'er kind Providence has sent , Nor aim beyond our pow'r ; For if our stock be very small , 'Tis prudence to enjoy it all , Nor lose the present hour . XI . To be resign'd ; when ills betide , Patient , when favours are deny'd , And pleas'd with favours giv'n ; Dear Chloe , this is wisdom's part , This is that incense of the heart , Whose fragrance smells to heav'n . XII . We'll ask no long protracted treat , ( Since winter life is seldom sweet ; ) But when our feast is o'er , Grateful from table we'll arise , Nor grudge our sons with envious eyes , The relicks of our store . XIII . Thus hand in hand thro' life we'll go , Its checker'd paths of joy and woe With cautious steps we'll tread ; Quit its vain scenes without a tear , Without a trouble or a fear , And mingle with the dead . XIV . While Conscience , like a faithful friend , Shall thro' the gloomy vale attend , And cheer our dying breath ; Shall , when all other comforts cease , Like a kind angel whisper peace , And smooth the bed of death .