Page from William's handwriting exercise book dated 1846

This is a page of a schoolbook in the possession of the late Marjorie Mitchell. It reads :-


Pride
Pride is still aiming at the blest abodes,
Men would be angles, angels would be gods
Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell,
Aspiring to be angels, men rebel,
And who but wishes to invent the laws Of Order, sins against the Eternal Cause.

Most of the handwriting exercise pages seem to follow this format taking a word as a theme and expounding on some moral/religious principle.