Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
Soame Jenyns
From An Essay on Virtue
No more applause would on ambition wait,
And laying waste the world be counted great,
But one good-natured act more praises gain,
Than armies overthrown, and thousands slain;
No more would brutal rage disturb our peace,
But envy, hatred, war, and discord cease;
Our own and others’ good each hour employ,
And all things smile with universal joy;
Virtue with Happiness, her consort joined,
Would regulate and bless each human mind,
And man be what his Maker first designed.
Source