Melmoth, William, the younger (bap. 1710, d. 1799)

Of Active and Retired Life, An Epistle

1735, 1763

"Our lives like his in one smooth current flow, / Nor swell'd with tempest, nor too calmly slow, / Whilst he like some great sage of Rome or Greece, / Shall calm each rising doubt and speak us peace, / Correct each thought, each wayward wish controul, / And stamp with every virtue all the soul."

He who would know retirement's joy refin'd
The fair recess must seek with cheerful mind:
No Cynick's pride, no bigot's heated brain,
No frustrate hope, nor love's fantastick pain,
With him must enter the sequester'd cell,
Who means with pleasing solitude to dwell;
But equal passions let his bosom rule,
A judgment candid, and a temper cool,
Enlarg'd with knowledge, and in conscience clear,
Above life's empty hopes, and death's vain fear.
Such he must be who greatly lives alone;
Such Portio is, in crowded scenes unknown.
For publick life with every talent born,
Portio far off retires with decent scorn;
Tho' without business never unemploy'd,
And life, as more at leisure, more enjoy'd:
For who like him can various science taste,
His mind shall never want an endless feast,
In his blest ev'ning walk may'st thou, may I,
Oft friendly join in sweet society;
Our lives like his in one smooth current flow,
Nor swell'd with tempest, nor too calmly slow,
Whilst he like some great sage of Rome or Greece,
Shall calm each rising doubt and speak us peace,
Correct each thought, each wayward wish controul,
And stamp with every virtue all the soul.
(pp. 211-2)

Liquid Impressions::Stamping

Reading

At least 10 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1735, 1748, 1751, 1755 1758, 1765, 1766, 1775, 1782).

See Of Active and Retired Life, An Epistle. (London: Printed for T. Cooper, 1735). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>

Text from Robert Dodsley's A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands (London: Printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763. <Link to ECCO-TCP>

04/07/2014