The Virginia Gazette

Mr. RIND,

Please to insert the following, and you will oblige, SIR, Your humble servant,

R. L.

To happy a direct stream
Our schemes are diff'rent, but our ends the same,
Littus amat—Altum alii teneant.

the same,
From France's proud aspiring Monarch, down
To the most abject creature of the town.
Their greatest blessing some in grandeur place,
In titles, garters, equipage and lace;
They learn to lie, to flatter, fawn and cheat,
And prostitute their virtue to be great.
Others in quest of glory and of fame,
Exchange their quiet for a sounding name;
In battle brave the dangers of the war,
And smiling view each honourable scar:
Fatigue and hunger, heat and cold endure,
And all the miseries of being poor,
Until at last they mix among the dead,
By hostile swords destroy'd, or want of bread
Let no such thoughts disturb my calm retreat;
No thirst for fame, nor wishes to be great;
But grant, kind Heav'n, that I may spend
my days
In learned converse, innocence, and ease:
Known but to few, and by the world forgot,
Near purling streams, and a romantic grot;
Where cooing turtles and the hooting owl,
Convey a gloomy transport to the soul;
Where spangled Heavens, and the herbag'd field,
Minister for health, and contemplation yield.
The grot with books, instead of shells, I'll stock,
The classics, poets, Bacon's works, & Locke
And leave vain honours, and all meager things
(The gifts of villains, Ministers, and Kings)
To be enjoy'd by sharpers, fools, and knaves,
Or by the madman, that in Bedlam raves.
I heartily despise the wretch of wealth,
And only pray for liberty and health.