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The Harvard Classics › Vol. 40

Shorten Sail

George Bubb Dodington, Lord Melcombe

p. 463GEORGE BUBB DODINGTON , LORD ME L COMBE
[I69I(?)-1762]

293 Shorten Sail

LOVE thy country, wish it well,Not with too intense a care;'Tis enough that, when it fell,Thou its ruin didst not share.
Envy's censure, Flattery's praise,With unmoved indifference view:Learn to tread Life's dangerous mazeWith unerring Virtue's clue.
Void of strong desire and fear,Life's wide ocean trust no more;Strive thy little bark to steerWith the tide, but near the shore.
Thus prepared, thy shorten'd sailShall, when'er the winds increase,Seizing each propitious gale,Waft thee to the port of Peace.

George Bubb Dodington

Keep thy conscience from offenceAnd tempestuous passions free,So, when thou art call'd from hence,Easy shall thy passage be.
— Easy shall thy passage be,Cheerful thy allotted stay,Short the account 'twixt God and thee.Hope shall meet thee on thy way.