Excerpt from The Poetical Works of Charles Churchill, Vol. 2: With a Memoir by James L. Hannay and Copious Notes by W. Tooke F. R. S Coursed the man, whom fate ordains, in spite, And cruel parents teach, to read and write What need of letters wherefore should we spell? Why write our names a mark will do as well. Much are the precious hours of youth misspent In climbing learning's rugged, steep ascent; When to the top the bold adventurer's got, He'reigns, vain monarch o'er a barren spot, Whilst in the vale of ignorance below Folly and vice to rank luxuriance grow; Honours and wealth pour in on every side, And proud preferment rolls her golden tide. O'er crabbed authors life's gay prime to waste, To cramp wild genius in the chains of taste. To bear the slavish drudgery of schools, And tamely stoop to every pedant's rules; For seven long years debarr'd of liberal ease, To plod in college trammels to degrees; Beneath the weight of solemn toys to groan, Sleep over books, and leave mankind unknown; 20 To praise each senior blockhead's threadbare tale, And laugh till reason blush, and spirits fail; Manhood with vile submission to disgrace, And cap the fool, whose merit is his place. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.