No crowds around for pleasure, or for state,

You are not cast upon a stranger land,

And wander pensive o'er the barren strand;

Nor are you by receiv'd example taught,

In toys to shun the discipline of thought;

But unconfin'd by bounds of time and place,

You choose companions from all human race;

Converse with those the deluge swept away,

Or those whose midnight is Britannia's day.

Books not so much inform, as give consent