Page:The Art of Preserving Health - A Poem in Four Books.djvu/42

But man, th' inhabitant of every clime,
With all the commoners of nature feeds.
150Directed, bounded, by this pow'r within,
Their cravings are well-aim'd: Voluptous man
Is by superior faculties misled;
Misled from pleasure even in quest of joy.
Sated with nature's boons, what thousands seek,
155With dishes tortur'd from their native taste,
And mad variety, to spur beyond
Its wiser will the jaded appetite!
Is this for pleasure? Learn a juster taste;
And know, that temperance is true luxury.
160Or is it pride? Pursue some nobler aim.
Dismiss your parasites, who praise for hire;
And earn the fair esteem of honest men,
Whose praise is fame. Form'd of such clay as yours,
The sick, the needy, shiver at your gates.
165Even modest want may bless your hand unseen,