University of Virginia Library

Well then, for advice, it most common and trite is,
And therefore, perhaps, most easy to write is;
And you know, like the slipper that's hunted, you reap it
From all without trouble, though no one will keep it:
And as they give it first, who should have least to do with it,
Why, we'll make that a reason for my troubling you with it.

In all things you do, say, think, or devise,
Moderation will govern you if you be wise;
The extremes e'en of virtues are vices that hurt you,
The beginning of vices is sometimes a virtue;
There's nothing so bad that it has not some good in't;
To discover how much be but cautious and prudent.
Though all bitter we like not, all sweetness admire,
'Tis a mixture of both that most we desire;
For where is the fruit ever woman or man ate
With more relish than oranges, shaddock, pomegranate?
Of beauty, both moral and physical, ‘tak tent;’
The highest of beauty's when neither is lacked in't;
Of the two, that which claims of attention most part,
Of course is the beauty of mind and of heart;
As an earthenware jug of real flowers is finer
Than the best artificial! though clustered in China;
And a plain homely dish of good viands will tempt ye
From the brightest and richest gold plate that is empty.
Study mildness, good-humour, submission, and meekness,
For the strength of a woman consists in her weakness;
The thistle and nettle, though armed, none would spare,
But who'd tread on the daisy, “wee, crimson and fair?”
Good hours, of course, I need not recommend to you,
The cheapest best ornaments any could send to you;
“Good hours, of fair cheeks,” Byron says, “are best tinters,
“And lower the rouge bills, at least by some winters.”
Take care of your health, and take care of your purse,
'Tis a friend you should cherish—you often meet worse.
But whatever you lean to, whate'er in your way shun,
Of all things, keep farthest from vile affectation;
It puts one in mind of the story related
By the good-humoured Hajji, wherein it is stated
That the doctor or purser (I forget which it was) had a
Dye lent him by one of the suite of the ambassador;
And his head he profusely anointed, opining
That his hair would be soon both jet-black and shining;
But one of the stains which mixed gave the jettiness
Its virtue had lost—and with it its prettiness;
And the coxcomb was shocked, when he found to his sorrow
That his hair was as red as a brick on the morrow.
Just so, the good folks who this foible delight in,
But detract from those charms which they think it will heighten.