THE
LADIES' CABINET
OF
FASHION, MUSIC, AND ROMANCE.
THE SHY GENTLEMAN.
O MORTAL man that livest here by toil,
Do not complain of this thy hard estate;
That like an emmet thon must ever moil,
Is a sad sentence of an ancient date;
And certes there is reason for it great;
For though sometimes it makes thee weep and wail,
And curse thy stars, and early drudge and late,
Withouten that would come an heavier bale,
Loose life, unruly passions, and diseases pale.
Castle of Indolence.
This is a busy world, and repose was not made for man, except in his old age. Let philosophers, who know less of themselves than they do of the world, complain of the folly of mankind, in never being satisfied with the situation in which Providence hath placed them , and thus losing the present in the anticipation of the future. Let them sneer at their baffled hopes, when arriving at the summit they have been toiling for years to gain, they find it a barren waste, dreary and desolate, unlike the peaceful vale below. Why is it that philosophers study to become wiser than they are, since the acquisition of knowledge no more leads to the happiness of themselves or others, than does the acquisition of wealth and honours? It is, that they may become wiser than the rest of mankind, just as a man labours for wealth that he may become richer and more powerful. In short, it is that they may be happier than they are; happier than the rest of their fellow creatures. What a dead sea of a world would this be, if we all knew to a certainty that we were quite as happy as our neighbours ! All would then be at ease, and all equally miserable. But let my story exemplify my meaning.
I was born and brought up in the Castle of Indolence . My father was a philosopher in his way, for he hated the world, and despised his fellow creatures, for no other reason that I could ever learn, but having toiled the best part of his life to get rich, and finding that his wealth added nothing to his hap-
Jan. 1839.