THE BALM OF SORROW.
Not studied consolatory speeches, not precepts from the Cynick’s tub, nor a volume of last century sermons, but employment. Let the victim of ingratitude, of grief, of love, plunge into the whirlpool of business, and he will feel like the valetudinarian, invigorated from the bath. On this subject Armstrong prescribes like a physician, and exhorts like a philosopher.
“Go, soft enthusiast, quit the cypress groves,
Nor to the rivulet’s lonely moanings tune
Your sad complaint. Go seek the cheerful haunts
Of men, and mingle with the bustling crowd;
Lay schemes for Wealth, or Power, or Fame, the wish
Of noble minds, and push them night and day,
Or join the caravan in quest of scenes
New to your eyes, and shifting every hour,
Beyond the Alps, beyond the Apennines.
Or, more adventurous, rush into the field
Where war grows hot; and raging thro’ the sky,
The lofty trumpet swells the madd’ning soul;
And in the hardy camp and toilsome march
Forget all softer and less manly cares.”