Virtue has secret charms which all men…

Virtue has secret charms which all men love; And those that do not choose her, yet approve.

TRUE happiness—man's gen'ral aim and end, The point of rest to which our wishes tend, To no externals ever was assign'd, But fixt the portion of a steady mind; A steady mind, that no desires inflame, Still constant to itself, and still the same; The same when fortune blows an adverse gale; The same when on a throne or in a jail: A mind that can each mad excess controul, Subdue the passions, and direct the soul; That, summon'd, chearfully resigns her breath, Nor trembles, anxious at th' approach of death.