The cairn

Chapter 123: On the Loss of a Watch—Lord Erskine.

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About This Book

A compact miscellany of short essays, anecdotes, prayers, poems, and biographical sketches that collects reflections on grief, maternal love, benevolence, virtue, taste, and historical episodes. The pieces alternate personal memories, moral aphorisms, humorous and touching anecdotes, and brief portraits of public figures, often framed as letters, epitaphs, or short narratives. Recurring themes include the effects of sorrow and joy, domestic affection, charity, the vicissitudes of fortune, and the consolations of faith and art. The tone moves between intimate recollection and light moralizing, presenting varied, self-contained vignettes meant to instruct, console, and amuse.

On the Loss of a Watch—Lord Erskine.

To a Gentleman, on his complaining of having lost his Gold Watch.

Grieve not, my friend, or peevish say

Your luck is worse than common,

For “Gold takes wings, and flies away,”

And “Time will stay for no man.”