A Sequel to Don Juan — page 23: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

14 A SEQUEL TO XXV. Selfishness changes and deprives of light Those social combinations which we rear, And most admire as beautiful and bright, Or estimate as valuable and dear : — It is the black vein in the marble white, And ever will throughout the whole appear Beneath the chisel. Remedies are vain ,— You must remodel everything again. XX VI. Contentment is the sweetest charm of life, _ The quality that cheers us on our way In this world’s pilgrimage ; and, ’midst the strife Of jarring interests, it makes us gay. It is the chief adornment of a wife, Sheds on the husband’s soul a heavenly ray, Gives man the gentleness of woman dear, And raises woman to the angel near. X XVII. It is a medicine that the passion calms, And mitigates the sting of dire disease ; It gives the humble cot a mansion’s charms, And turns a state of poverty to ease ; It robs affliction of its worst alarms, And teaches the morose the way to please ; It makes the eye more bright, the heart more kind, Cools the hot blood, and cheers the troubled mind.. Comicbooks:com