On Conversation (1782) [ Concepts ]
… weigh our talents, and dispense To every man his modicum of sense, And Conversation in its better part May be esteem'd a gift, and not an art, Yet much depends, as in the tiller's toil, On culture, and the sowing of the soil. Words learn'd by … it winds, the salutary stream, Sprightly and fresh, enriches every theme, While all the happy man possess'd before, The gift of nature, or the classic store, Is made subservient to the grand design, For which Heaven form'd the faculty …
Conversation | Crime
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