The three tours of Doctor Syntax In search of 1. The picturesque, 2. Of consolation, 3. Of a wife. The text complete. [By William Combe] With four illustrations |
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 | The three tours of Doctor Syntax |  |
How is it none contented lives With the fair lot which reason gives,
Or chance presents or labour gains! Why in our pleasures or our pains
Does want disturb or envy wound,
And calm enjoyment's rarely found?
—May not this answer meet the ear,
That life is not th'appointed sphere,
Where, by the wise design of Heaven, A cloudless joy is ever given?
For that e'en virtue's self must wait
Till death has clos'd our mortal state;
And then our virtue's promis'd meed Of endless pleasure will succeed.
Or chance presents or labour gains! Why in our pleasures or our pains
Does want disturb or envy wound,
And calm enjoyment's rarely found?
—May not this answer meet the ear,
That life is not th'appointed sphere,
Where, by the wise design of Heaven, A cloudless joy is ever given?
For that e'en virtue's self must wait
Till death has clos'd our mortal state;
And then our virtue's promis'd meed Of endless pleasure will succeed.
| The three tours of Doctor Syntax | |