FALSEHOOD — TRUTH ‘Christian Carstairs’ 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. T76883 Carstairs, Christian. Original Poems. By a Lady, Dedicated to Miss Ann Henderson. A Tribute to Gratitude and Friendships. Edinburgh Andrew Shortrede 1786 p. 62.

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Burntisland Castle , August 1764. FALSEHOOD — TRUTH WITH cautious care , each virtue , trembling claim , Perform each duty that can raise thy name . Thy alms bestow , thy prayers in public pay , Restrain thy tongue , each passion must obey . Weep to a friend , the reigning sins lament , And , pitying , hate a beauty that can paint . Thy faith maintain with controverted strife , Nor , panting , yield what ye've imbib'd with life . All meek again — so humble — and so fair , Sure so much goodness must be Heav'n's own care ; That breast , no gall , no wormwood ever knows , Till — enter beauty — brighter than the rose , No sly disguise her faults to cover o'er , No mean applause the purport of her soul ; From higher views her mind benevolence shade , The social virtues hand in hand are led . Modest though knowing brightens on your hand , And as she brightens , Envy cannot stand . As night retires at break or dawn of light , Let Falsehood vanish — Truth shine out more bright .