119. A Hermitage
From St. Gregory Nazianzen.

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SOME one whisper'd yesterday,
     Of the rich and fashionable,
Gregory in his own small way
     Easy was and comfortable.

Had he not of wealth his fill
     Whom a garden gay did bless,
And a gently trickling rill,
     And the sweets of idleness?

I made answer:—"Is it ease
     Fasts to keep and tears to shed,
Vigil hours and wounded knees,
     Call you these a pleasant bed?"
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Thus a veritable monk
     Does to death his fleshly frame;
Be there who in sloth are sunk,
     They have forfeited the name.

Oxford
.
1834.

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Newman Reader — Works of John Henry Newman
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