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THE FIRE-SIDE.

BY NATHANIEL COTTON, M. D. *

I.

DEAR Chloe, while the bufy crowd,

The vain, the wealthy, and the proud,
In Folly's maze advance;

Tho' fingularity and pride

Be call'd our choice, we'll step afide,

Nor join the giddy dance.

From the gay

II.

world we'll oft retire

To our own family and fire,

Where love our hours employs; No noify neighbour enters here,

No intermeddling stranger neår,

To spoil our heart-felt joys.

III.

If folid happiness we prize,
Within our breaft this jewel lies;

And they are fools who roam:

The world has nothing to beftow,

From our own felves our joys must flow,

And that dear hut, our home.

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IV.

Of reft was Noah's dove bereft,
When with impatient wing fhe left

That fafe retreat, the ark;
Giving her vain excurfion o'er,

The disappointed bird once more

Explor'd the facred bark.

V.

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Tho' fools fpurn Hymen's gentle pow'rs,

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We, who improve his golden hours,

By sweet experience know,

That marriage, rightly underftood,

Gives to the tender and the good

A paradise below.

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VI.

Our babes fhall richest comforts bring,
If tutor'd right, they'll prove a spring,

Whence pleasures ever rife:

We'll form their minds with ftudious care

To all that's manly, good, and fair,

And train them for the skies.

VII.

While they our wifeft hours engage,

They'll joy our youth, fupport our age,

And crown our hoary hairs:

They'll grow in virtue ev'ry day,
And thus our fondeft loves repay,

And recompenfe our cares.

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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 blefs our humbler lot.

IX.

Our portion is not large indeed,

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We'll therefore relish with content
Whate'er kind providence has fent,
Nor aim beyond our pow'r ;
For if our stock be very small,
'Tis prudence to enjoy it all,
Nor lofe the present hour.

XI.

To be refign'd, when ills betide,
Patient, when favours are deny'd,

And pleas'd with favours giv'n;
Dear Chloe, this is wifdom's part,
This is that incenfe of the heart,
Whofe fragrance smells to heav'n.

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XII.

We'll afk no long protracted treat,

(Since winter life is feldom fweet,)

But when our feaft is o'er,

Grateful from table we'll arise,

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Nor grudge our fons, 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.

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XIV.

While Confcience, like a faithful friend,
Shall thro' the gloomy vale attend,

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And cheer our dying breath;

Shall, when all other comforts cease,
Like a kind angel whisper peace,
And smooth the bed of death.

THE

ENGLISH ANTHOLOGY.

PART THE SECOND.

A RETIR'D FRIENDSHIP:

TO ARDELIA.

BY MRS. KATHERINE PHILIPS.

I.

Come, my
Ardelia, to this bow'r,

Where kindly mingling fouls awhile,

Let's innocently fpend an hour,

And at all serious follies fmile.

Born 1631; dyed 1664. Her maiden name was Fowler.

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