Of all the follies in human life, there is none greater than that of extravagance, or profuseness; it being constant labour, without the least ease or relaxation.
"Ah! why so vain, though blooming in thy spring, Thou shining, frail, adorn'd, but wretched thing Old age will come; disease may come before, And twenty prove as fatal as threescore!"
Now burst the blazing bonfires on the sight, Through the wide air their corruscations play; The windows beam with artificial light, And all the region emulates the day.
The moping mason, from yon tavern led, In mystic words doth to the moon complain That unsound port distracts his aching head,
Oh, vanity of age untoward! Ever spleeny, ever froward! Why these bolts and massy chains, Squint suspicions, jealous pains? Why, thy toilsome journey o'er, Lay'st thou up an useless store? Hope, along withTimeis flown;
————————Let the picture rust, Perhaps Time's price-enhancing dust,— As statues moulder into earth, When I'm no more, may mark its worth; And future connoisseurs may rise, Honest as ours, and full as wise, To puff the piece, and painter too, And make me then what Guido's now.
"When fear cometh as desolation, and their destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress cometh upon them, then shall they call upon God, but he will not answer." Proverbs, chapter i. verse 7, 8.
Prosperity(with harlot's smiles, Most pleasing when she most beguiles), How soon, great foe, can all thy train Of false, gay, frantic, loud, and vain, Enter the unprovided mind, And memory in fetters bind? Load faith and love with golden chain,
