Moderation In Diet

Charles Lamb 1775 (Inner Temple, London) – 1834 (Edmonton, London)



The drunkard's sin, excess in wine,
Which reason drowns, and health destroys,
As yet no failing is of thine,
Dear Jim; strong drink's not given to boys.

You from the cool fresh stream allay
Those thirsts which sultry suns excite;
When choked with dust, or hot with play,
A cup of water yields delight.

And reverence still that temperate cup,
And cherish long the blameless taste;
To learn the faults of men grown up,
Dear Jim, be wise and do not haste.

They'll come too soon.-But there's a vice,
That shares the world's contempt no less;
To be in eating over-nice,
Or to court surfeits by excess.

The first, as finical, avoid;
The last is proper to a swine:
By temperance meat is best enjoyed;
Think of this maxim when you dine.

Prefer with plain food to be fed,
Rather than what are dainties styled;
A sweet tooth in an infant's head
Is pardoned, not in a grown child.

If parent, aunt, or liberal friend,
With splendid shilling line your purse,
Do not the same on sweetmeats spend,
Nor appetite with pampering nurse.

Go buy a book; a dainty eaten
Is vanished, and no sweets remain;
They who their minds with knowledge sweeten,
The savour long as life retain.

Purchase some toy; a horse of wood,
A pasteboard ship; their structure scan;
Their mimic uses understood
The school-boy make a kind of man.

Go see some show; pictures or prints;
Or beasts far brought from Indian land;
Those foreign sights oft furnish hints,
That may the youthful mind expand.

And something of your store impart,
To feed the poor and hungry soul;
What buys for you the needless tart,
May purchase him a needful roll.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:28 min read
91

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IAIA JKJK LMLM NONO PQPQ RSRS TUTU
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,557
Words 288
Stanzas 11
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Charles Lamb

Charles Lamb was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his Essays of Elia and for the children's book Tales from Shakespeare, co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764–1847). Friends with such literary luminaries as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, William Wordsworth, and William Hazlitt, Lamb was at the centre of a major literary circle in England. He has been referred to by E. V. Lucas, his principal biographer, as "the most lovable figure in English literature". more…

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