If wit, that seldomer does good than harm
’Midst social scenes, shall teach the tongue to charm,
If love with sweet sensations fills the mind,
Or sacred friendship mutual bosoms bind,
Howe’er with genius, fancy, feeling blest,
’Tis Prudence must direct, or vain are all the rest.
Reflection.
Let none imagine that the bare letter of duty or even the reputation of good resolutions will bear them with “golden opinions” through a life of action, despising those means which, like the farmer’s heavy rollers, smoothen the ground they are compelled to crush. Let such persons neglect that amenity, that considerate bearing, so essential in the intercourse of life, and infallibly the return will be found a bitter harvest of aversion.