When evil tongues hiss forth the foul abuse,
When Fortune turns away, and friends prove false,
Man's peaceful refuge is the tomb.
From the depths of his rich experience he had realised that the harbour of refuge 'from life's frequent storms' is found, not—
In the flowery vales where Pleasure sports,
Nor where Ambition rears the tottering seat;
'Tis not within the miser's gloomy cave;
'Tis not within the roseate bowers of Love,
Nor where the pale lamp lights the studious sage
To midnight toil: alas! it is not there.
And while we seek in vain amid the great,
Or on the gorgeous thrones where monarchs sit,
It often may be found in humble cot
Where Virtue with the honest peasant dwells.
And what is virtue? 'Tis the conscious power
Of acting right in spite of every foe
That may oppose its base, malicious aim
To check the pure designs which it inspires.
It is to stem the tide Corruption rolls
O'er half the world, to curb the impetuous will
Of lawless passion, and, on life's vast stage,
To act that noble part which will attain
The good man's praise and the applause of Heaven.
Yes, virtue, potent virtue, can secure
'Gainst every peril; 'tis a triple shield
To him who has it 'gainst the pointed darts
Of ev'ry enemy; the hour of death,
With all its gloom, gives not a fear to him
Who triumphs o'er the grave; he stands secure
Amid the ruins of a fallen world.
Virtue will listen to the trumpet's sound
With holy awe, yet hear it unappall'd,
And feels Eternity its destin'd sphere:
When all the works of man shake to their base,
And the world melts away whereon they stood;
When Time's last agonising hour is come,
And Death, who from Creation's pregnant hour
Has made the world a grave, himself shall die;
When man from his long slumber shall awake,
And the day breaks that never more shall close;
Then Virtue shall its promis'd glory claim,
And find it, too, at the o'erflowing source
Of Heaven's stupendous and eternal joys.
1817.
THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD.
1817–1823. [The Vicar of Wakefield], a Tale, by Doctor Goldsmith. Illustrated with twenty-four designs by Thomas Rowlandson. Etchings dated May 1, 1817. London, published by R. Ackermann, at the Repository of Arts. Republished 1823.