The World's Best Poetry -- Volume 10
by
Various
Part 10 out of 10
Behold him setting in his western skies,
The shadows lengthening as the vapors rise.
_Absalom and Achitophel, Pt. I_ J.J. DRYDEN.
Now sunk the sun: the closing hour of day
Came onward, mantled o'er with sober gray;
Nature in silence bid the world repose.
_The Hermit_. T. PARNELL.
Parting day
Dies like the dolphin, whom each pang imbues
With a new color as it gasps away,
The last still loveliest, till--'t is gone--and all is gray.
_Childe Harold, Canto IV_. LORD BYRON.
Come watch with me the shaft of fire that glows
In yonder West: the fair, frail palaces,
The fading Alps and archipelagoes,
And great cloud-continents of sunset-seas.
_Miracles_. T.B. ALDRICH.
The setting sun, and music at the close,
As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last.
_King Richard II., Act_ ii. _Sc_. 1. SHAKESPEARE.
SUSPICION.
Yet, where an equal poise of hope and fear
Does arbitrate the event, my nature is
That I incline to hope rather than fear,
And gladly banish squint suspicion.
_Comus_. MILTON.
All seems infected that the infected spy,
As all looks yellow to the jaundiced eye.
_Essay on Criticism_. A. POPE.
Suspicion, poisoning his brother's cup.
_Catiline_. G. CROLY.
SYMPATHY.
He jests at scars, that never felt a wound.
_Romeo and Juliet, Act_ ii. _Sc_. 1 SHAKESPEARE.
No one is so accursed by fate,
No one so utterly desolate.
But some heart, though unknown,
Responds unto his own.
_Endymion_. H.W. LONGFELLOW.
There is in souls a sympathy with sounds,
And as the mind is pitched the ear is pleased
With melting airs of martial, brisk, or grave;
Some chord in unison with what we hear
Is touched within us, and the heart replies.
_The Task: Winter Walk at Noon_. W. COWPER.
Oh! who the exquisite delights can tell,
The joy which mutual confidence imparts?
Or who can paint the charm unspeakable,
Which links in tender hands two faithful hearts?
_Psyche_. MRS. M. TIGHE.
O! ask not, hope thou not too much
Of sympathy below:
Few are the hearts whence one same touch
Bids the same fountain flow.
_Kindred Hearts_. MRS. F.D. HEMANS.
Yet, taught by time, my heart has learned to glow
For other's good, and melt at other's woe.
_Odyssey, Bk. XVIII_. HOMER. _Trans. of_ POPE.
TABLE, THE.
Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it:
But we hae meat, and we can eat;
Sae let the Lord be thankit.
_Grace before Meat_. R. BURNS.
And do as adversaries do in law,
Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.
_Taming of the Shrew, Act_ i. _Sc_. 2. SHAKESPEARE.
They are as sick that surfeit with too much, as they that
starve with nothing.
_Merchant of Venice. Act_ i. _Sc_. 2 SHAKESPEARE.
He hath eaten me out of house and home.
_King Henry IV., Pt. II. Act_ ii. _Sc_. 1 SHAKESPEARE.
My cake is dough: but I'll in among the rest,
Out of hope of all but my share of the feast.
_Taming of the Shrew, Act v. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.
And gazed around them to the left and right
With the prophetic eye of appetite.
_Don Juan, Canto V_. LORD BYRON.
Blest be those feasts, with simple plenty crowned,
Where all the ruddy family around
Laugh at the jests or pranks that never fail
Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale.
_The Traveller_. O. GOLDSMITH.
They eat, they drink, and in communion sweet
Quaff immortality and joy.
_Paradise Lost, Bk. V_. MILTON.
Bone and Skin, two millers thin,
Would starve us all, or near it;
But be it known to Skin and Bone
That Flesh and Blood can't bear it.
_On Two Monopolists_. J. BYROM.
Nothing's more sure at moments to take hold
Of the best feelings of mankind, which grow
More tender, as we every day behold,
Than that all-softening, overpowering knell,
The tocsin of the soul--the dinner bell!
_Don Juan, Canto V_. LORD BYRON.
Their various cares in one great point combine
The business of their lives, that is--to dine.
_Love of Fame_. DR. E. YOUNG.
Across the walnuts and the wine.
_The Miller's Daughter_. A. TENNYSON.
No, pray thee, let it serve for table-talk;
Then, howsoe'er thou speak'st, 'mong other things
I shall digest it.
_Merchant of Venice, Act iii. Sc. 5_. SHAKESPEARE.
TASTE.
Some say, compared to Bononcini,
That Mynheer Handel's but a ninny;
Others aver,--that he to Handel
Is scarcely fit to hold a candle:
Strange all this difference should be,
'Twixt tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee!
_On the Feuds between Handel and Bononcini_. J. BYROM.
What's one man's poison, signor,
Is another's meat or drink.
_Love's Cure, Act iii. Sc. 2_. BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.
Different minds
Incline to different objects: one pursues
The vast alone, the wonderful, the wild;
Another sighs for harmony, and grace,
And gentlest beauty.
* * * * *
Such and so various are the tastes of men.
_Pleasures of the Imagination, Bk. III_. M. AKENSIDE.
TEAR.
The rose is fairest when 't is budding new,
And hope is brightest when it dawns from fears.
The rose is sweetest washed with morning dew.
And love is loveliest when embalmed in tears.
_Lady of the Lake, Canto IV_. SIR W. SCOTT.
O father, what a hell of witchcraft lies
In the small orb of one particular tear!
_A Lover's Complaint, Stanza XLII_. SHAKESPEARE.
Sunshine and rain at once.
_King Lear, Act iv. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.
The drying up a single tear has more
Of honest fame, than shedding seas of gore.
_Don Juan, Canto VIII_. LORD BYRON.
And weep the more, because I weep in vain.
_On the Death of Mr. West_. T. GRAY.
Oh! would I were dead now.
Or up in my bed now,
To cover my head now
And have a good cry!
_A Table of Errata_. T. HOOD.
So bright the tear in Beauty's eye.
Love half regrets to kiss it dry.
_Bride of Abydos_. LORD BYRON.
I cannot speak, tears so obstruct my words,
And choke me with unutterable joy.
_Caius Marius_. T. OTWAY.
Sorrow preys upon
Its solitude and nothing more diverts it
From its sad visions of the other world
Than calling it at moments back to this.
The busy have no time for tears.
_The Two Foscari, Act iv_. LORD BYRON.
TEMPER.
Oh! blessed with temper, whose unclouded ray
Can make to-morrow cheerful as to-day.
_Moral Essays, Epistle II_. A. POPE.
From loveless youth to uninspected age,
No passion gratified, except her rage,
So much the fury still outran the wit,
That pleasure missed her, and the scandal hit.
_Moral Essays, Epistle II_. A. POPE.
Good-humor only teaches charms to last,
Still makes new conquests and maintains the past.
_Epistle to Mrs. Blount_. A. POPE.
What then remains, but well our power to use,
And keep good-humor still whate'er we lose?
And trust me, dear, good-humor can prevail,
When airs, and flights, and screams, and scolding fail.
_Rape of the Lock, Canto V_. A. POPE.
TEMPTATION.
How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds
Makes ill deeds done!
_King John, Act iv. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.
O opportunity, thy guilt is great!
'T is thou that executest the traitor's treason;
Thou sett'st the wolf where he the lamb may get;
Whoever plots the sin, thou 'point'st the season;
'T is thou that spurn'st at right, at law, at reason.
_The Rape of Lucrece_. SHAKESPEARE.
Sometimes we are devils to ourselves,
When we will tempt the frailty of our powers,
Presuming on their changeful potency.
_Troilus and Cressida, Act iv. Sc. 4_. SHAKESPEARE.
In part to blame is she.
Which hath _without consent_ bin only tride;
He comes _too neere_, that comes to be _denide_.
_A Wife_. SIR T. OVERBURY.
Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As to be hated needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.
_Essay on Man. Epistle II_. A. POPE.
Temptations hurt not, though they have accesse;
Satan o'ercomes none but by willingnesse.
_Hesperides' Temptations_. R. HERRICK.
THEOLOGY.
In Adam's fall
We sinne'd all.
_New England Primer_.
Hold thou the good: define it well:
For fear divine Philosophy
Should push beyond her mark, and be
Procuress to the Lords of Hell.
_In Memoriam_. A. TENNYSON.
For forms of government let fools contest;
Whate'er is best administered is best:
For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight;
His can't be wrong whose life is in the right.
_Essay on Man, Epistle III_. A. POPE.
His _faith_, perhaps, in some nice tenets might
Be wrong; his _life_, I'm sure, was in the right.
_On the Death of Crashaw_. A. COWLEY.
Slave to no sect, who takes no private road.
But looks through nature up to nature's God.
* * * * *
And knows where faith, law, morals, all began,
All end, in love of God and love of man.
_Essay on Man, Epistle IV_. A. POPE.
THOUGHT.
Thought can wing its way
Swifter than lightning-flashes or the beam
That hastens on the pinions of the morn.
_Sonnet_. J.G. PERCIVAL.
I and my bosom must debate awhile,
And then I would no other company.
_King Henry V., Act iv. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.
He that has light within his own clear breast,
May sit i' th' centre and enjoy bright day:
But he that hides a dark soul, and foul thoughts,
Benighted walks under the midday sun.
_Comus_. MILTON.
So Thought flung forward is the prophecy
Of Truth's majestic march, and shows the way
Where future time shall lead the proud array
Of peace, of power, and love of liberty.
SIR J. BOWRING.
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
_Hamlet, Act ii. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.
TIME.
O Time! the beautifier of the dead,
Adorner of the ruin, comforter
And only healer when the heart hath bled--
Time! the corrector where our judgments err,
The test of truth, love,--soul philosopher,
For all besides are sophists, from thy thrift
Which never loses though it doth defer--
Time, the avenger! unto thee I lift
My hands, and eyes, and heart, and crave of thee a gift.
_Childe Harold, Canto IV_. LORD BYRON.
The more we live, more brief appear
Our life's succeeding stages:
A day to childhood seems a year,
And years like passing ages.
* * * * *
Heaven gives our years of fading strength
Indemnifying fleetness;
And those of youth, a seeming length,
Proportioned to their sweetness.
_The River of Life_. T. CAMPBELL.
Yet Time, who changes all, had altered him
In soul and aspect as in age; years steal
Fire from the mind as vigor from the limb:
And life's enchanted cup but sparkles near the brim.
_Childe Harold, Canto III_. LORD BYRON.
Catch! then, O catch, the transient hour;
Improve each moment as it flies;
Life's a short summer--man a flower.
_Winter: An Ode_. DR. S. JOHNSON.
Come what come may,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.
_Macbeth, Act i. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.
And then he drew a dial from his poke,
And, looking on it with lack-lustre eye,
Says very wisely, "It is ten o'clock:
Thus may we see," quoth he, "how the world wags:
'T is but an hour ago since it was nine;
And after one hour more 't will be eleven;
And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe.
And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot;
And thereby hangs a tale."
_As You Like it, Act ii. Sc. 7_. SHAKESPEARE.
Seven hours to law, to soothing slumber seven,
Ten to the world allot, and all to heaven.
_Ode in Imitation of Alcaeus_. SIR W. JONES.
Nought treads so silent as the foot of Time;
Hence we mistake our autumn for our prime.
_Love of Fame, Satire IV_. DR. E. YOUNG.
Not one word more of the consumed time.
Let's take the instant by the forward top;
For we are old, and on our quick'st decrees
The inaudible and noiseless foot of Time
Steals ere we can effect them.
_All's Well that End's Well, Act v. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.
TOBACCO.
Sublime tobacco! which from east to west.
Cheers the tar's labor or the Turkman's rest,
* * * * *
Divine in hookahs, glorious in a pipe.
When tipped with amber, mellow, rich and ripe;
Like other charmers, wooing the caress
More dazzlingly when daring in full dress;
Yet thy true lovers more admire by far
Thy naked beauties--Give me a cigar!
_The Island, Canto II_. LORD BYRON.
Yes, social friend, I love thee well,
In learned doctors' spite;
Thy clouds all other clouds dispel,
And lap me in delight.
_To my Cigar_. C. SPRAGUE.
Such often, like the tube they so admire,
Important triflers! have more smoke than fire.
Pernicious weed! whose scent the fair annoys,
Unfriendly to society's chief joys,
Thy worst effect is banishing for hours
The sex whose presence civilizes ours.
_Conversation_. W. COWPER.
Tobacco's a musician,
And in a pipe delighteth;
It descends in a close
Through the organ of the nose.
With a relish that inviteth.
_Song: Play of Technogamia_. B. HOLIDAY.
Some sigh for this and that;
My wishes don't go far;
The world may wag at will,
So I have my cigar.
_The Cigar_. T. HOOD.
The pipe, with solemn interposing puff,
Makes half a sentence at a time enough;
The dozing sages drop the drowsy strain,
Then pause, and puff--and speak, and pause again.
_Conversation_. W. COWPER.
To him 't was meat and drink and physic,
To see the friendly vapor
Curl round his midnight taper.
And the black fume
Clothe all the room,
In clouds as dark as science metaphysic.
_Points of Misery_. C.M. WESTMACOTT.
Just where the breath of life his nostrils drew,
A charge of snuff the wily virgin threw;
The gnomes direct, to every atom just,
The pungent grains of titillating dust;
Sudden, with starting tears each eye o'erflows,
And the high dome re-echoes to his nose.
_Rape of the Lock, Canto V_. A. POPE.
TO-MORROW.
To-morrow yet would reap to-day,
As we bear blossoms of the dead;
Earn well the thrifty months, nor wed
Raw Haste, half-sister to Delay.
_Love Thou the Land_. A. TENNYSON.
In human hearts what bolder thoughts can rise,
Than man's presumption on to-morrow's dawn!
Where is to-morrow?
_Night Thoughts, Night I_. DR. E. YOUNG.
To-morrow is a satire on to-day,
And shows its weakness.
_The Old Man's Repose_. DR. E. YOUNG.
Nothing that is can pause or stay;
The moon will wax, the moon will wane,
The mist and cloud will turn to rain,
The rain to mist and cloud again,
To-morrow be to-day.
_Keramos_. H.W. LONGFELLOW.
To-morrow is, ah, whose?
_Between Two Worlds_. D.M. MULOCK CRAIK.
TREASON.
Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep,
And in his simple show he harbors treason.
The fox barks not, when he would steal the lamb.
_King Henry VI., Pt. II. Act iii. Sc. 1_ SHAKESPEARE.
Treason is not owned when 't is descried;
Successful crimes alone are justified.
_Medals_. J. DRYDEN.
Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.
_Epigrams_. SIR J. BARRINGTON.
Hast thou betrayed my credulous innocence
With vizored falsehood and base forgery?
_Comus_. MILTON.
Oh, for a tongue to curse the slave
Whose treason, like a deadly blight,
Comes o'er the councils of the brave,
And blasts them in their hour of might!
_Lalla Rookh: The Fire Worshipers_. T. MOORE.
To say the truth, so Judas kissed his master.
And cried "All hail!" whereas he meant all harm.
_King Henry VI., Pt. III. Act v. Sc. 7_ SHAKESPEARE.
Tellest thou me of "ifs"? Thou art a traitor:
Off with his head! so much for Buckingham!
_King Richard III. Altered, Act iv, Sc. 3_. C. CIBBER
TREE.
Welcome, ye shades! ye bowery thickets hail!
Ye lofty pines! ye venerable oaks!
Ye ashes wild, resounding o'er the steep!
Delicious is your shelter to the soul.
_Seasons: Summer_. J. THOMSON.
Now all the tree-tops lay asleep,
Like green waves on the sea,
As still as in the silent deep
The ocean woods may be.
_The Recollection_. P.B. SHELLEY.
Like two cathedral towers these stately pines
Uplift their fretted summits tipped with cones;
The arch beneath them is not built with stones,
Not Art but Nature traced these lovely lines,
And carved this graceful arabesque of vines;
No organ but the wind here sighs and moans,
No sepulchre conceals a martyr's bones,
No marble bishop on his tomb reclines.
Enter! the pavement, carpeted with leaves,
Gives back a softened echo to thy tread!
Listen! the choir is singing; all the birds,
In leafy galleries beneath the eaves,
Are singing! listen, ere the sound be fled,
And learn there may be worship without words.
_My Cathedral_. H.W. LONGFELLOW.
Those green-robed senators of mighty woods,
Tall oaks, branch-charmed by the earnest stars,
Dream, and so dream all night without a stir.
_Hyperion, Bk. I_. J. KEATS.
A brotherhood of venerable Trees.
_Sonnet composed at ---- Castle_. W. WORDSWORTH.
Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
A sylvan scene, and as the ranks ascend
Shade above shade, a woody theatre
Of stateliest view.
_Paradise Lost, Bk. IV_. MILTON.
Of vast circumference and gloom profound,
This solitary Tree! A living thing
Produced too slowly ever to decay;
Of form and aspect too magnificent
To be destroyed.
_Yew-Trees_. W. WORDSWORTH.
TRIFLE.
A little fire is quickly trodden out,
Which, being suffered, rivers cannot quench.
_King Henry VI., Pt. III. Act iv, Sc. 8_. SHAKESPEARE.
Pretty! in amber to observe the forms
Of hair, or straws, or dirt, or grubs, or worms!
The things, we know, are neither rich nor rare,
But wonder how the devil they got there!
_Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot: Prologue to Satires_. A. POPE.
At every trifle scorn to take offence;
That always shows great pride or little sense.
_Essay on Criticism_. A. POPE.
Think naught a trifle, though it small appear;
Small sands the mountain, moments make the year.
And trifles life.
_Love of Fame, Satire VI_. DR. E. YOUNG.
TRUTH.
Truth is the highest thing that man may keep.
_The Frankeleines Tale_. CHAUCER.
But truths on which depends our main concern,
That 't is our shame and misery not to learn,
Shine by the side of every path we tread
With such a lustre he that runs may read.
_Tirocinium_. W. COWPER.
For truth has such a face and such a mien,
As to be loved needs only to be seen.
_The Hind and Panther_. J. DRYDEN.
And simple truth miscalled simplicity,
And captive good attending captain ill.
_Sonnet LXVI_. SHAKESPEARE.
The firste vertue, gone, if thou wilt lere,
Is to restreine, and kepen wel thy tonge.
_The Manciples Tale_. CHAUCER.
'T is strange--but true; for truth is always strange:
Stranger than fiction.
_Don Juan, Canto XIV_. LORD BYRON.
But what is truth? 'T was Pilate's question put
To Truth itself, that deigned him no reply.
_The. Task, Bk. III_. W. COWPER.
The sages say, Dame Truth delights to dwell
(Strange mansion!) in the bottom of a well:
Questions are then the windlass and the rope
That pull the grave old Gentlewoman up,
_Birthday Ode_. J. WOLCOTT _(Peter Pindar)_.
Get but the truth once uttered, and 't is like
A star new-born that drops into its place
And which, once circling in its placid round,
Not all the tumult of the earth can shake.
_Glance Behind the Curtain_. J.R. LOWELL.
TYRANNY.
So spake the Fiend, and with necessity,
The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deeds.
_Paradise Lost, Bk. IV_. MILTON.
Tyranny
Absolves all faith; and who invades our rights,
Howe'er his own commence, can never be
But an usurper.
_Gustavus Vasa, Act iv. Sc. 1_. H. BROOKE.
Tyranny
Is far the worst of treasons. Dost thou deem
None rebels except subjects? The prince who
Neglects or violates his trust is more
A brigand than the robber-chief.
_The Two Foscari, Act ii. Sc. 1_. LORD BYRON.
Slaves would be tyrants if the chance were theirs.
_The Vanished City_. V. HUGO.
'Twixt kings and tyrants there's this difference known:
Kings seek their subjects' good, tyrants their owne.
_Kings and Tyrants_. R. HERRICK.
Oh! it is excellent
To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant.
* * * * *
Could great men thunder
As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet;
For every pelting, petty officer
Would use his heaven for thunder,--
Nothing but thunder. Merciful Heaven!
Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt,
Split'st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak,
Than the soft myrtle: but man, proud man!
Drest in a little brief authority,--
Most ignorant of what he's most assured,
His glassy essence,--like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,
As make the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.
_Measure for Measure, Act ii. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.
VANITY.
As eddies draw things frivolous and light,
How is man's heart by vanity drawn in!
_Night Thoughts_ DR. E. YOUNG.
One prospect lost, another still we gain;
And not a vanity is giv'n in vain:
Even mean Self-love becomes, by force divine,
The scale to measure others' wants by thine.
_Essay on Man, Epistle II_. A. POPE.
Sir Plume (of amber snuff-box justly vain,
And the nice conduct of a clouded cane),
With earnest eyes, and round unthinking face,
He first the snuff-box opened, then the case.
_Rape of the Lock_ A. POPE.
Light vanity, insatiate cormorant.
Consuming means, soon preys upon itself.
_King Richard II., Act ii. Sc. I_. SHAKESPEARE.
VARIETY.
The earth was made so various, that the mind
Of desultory man, studious of change.
And pleased with novelty, might be indulged.
_The Task, Bk. I_. W. COWPER.
Variety's the very spice of life.
That gives it all its flavor.
_The Timepiece: The Task, Bk. II_ W. COWPER.
Not chaos-like together crushed and bruised.
But, as the world, harmoniously confused,
Where order in variety we see,
And where, though all things differ, all agree.
_Windsor Forest_ A. POPE.
How various his employments whom the world
Calls idle, and who justly in return
Esteems that busy world an idler too!
_The Task: The Timepiece_. W. COWPER.
VIRTUE.
The world in all doth but two nations bear,
The good, the bad, and these mixed everywhere.
_The Loyal Scot_. A. MARVELL.
What nothing earthly gives or can destroy,--
The soul's calm sunshine, and the heartfelt joy,
Is Virtue's prize.
_Essay on Man, Epistle IV_. A. POPE.
Virtue, not rolling suns, the mind matures,
That life is long, which answers life's great end.
The time that bears no fruit, deserves no name.
_Night Thoughts, Night V_. DR. E. YOUNG.
Good, the more
Communicated, more abundant grows.
_Paradise Lost, Bk. V_. MILTON.
Her virtue and the conscience of her worth,
That would be wooed, and not unsought be won.
_Paradise Lost, Bk. VIII_. MILTON.
Know then this truth (enough for man to know),
"Virtue alone is happiness below."
_Essay on Man, Epistle IV_. A. POPE.
For blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds;
And though a late, a sure reward succeeds.
_The Mourning Bride, Act v. Sc. 12_. W. CONGREVE.
That virtue only makes our bliss below,
And all our knowledge is, ourselves to know.
_Essay on Man, Epistle IV_. A. POPE.
Pygmies are pygmies still, though perched on Alps;
And pyramids are pyramids in vales.
Each man makes his own stature, builds himself:
Virtue alone outbuilds the Pyramids;
Her monuments shall last when Egypt's fall.
_Night Thoughts, Night VI_. DR. E. YOUNG.
Abashed the devil stood,
And felt how awful goodness is, and saw
Virtue in her shape how lovely.
_Paradise Lost, Bk. IV_. MILTON.
So dear to heaven is saintly chastity,
That, when a soul is found sincerely so,
A thousand liveried angels lacky her,
Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt.
_Comus_. MILTON.
Adieu, dear, amiable youth!
Your heart can ne'er be wanting!
May prudence, fortitude, and truth
Erect your brow undaunting!
In ploughman phrase, "God send you speed,"
Still daily to grow wiser;
And may you better reck the rede,
Than ever did the adviser!
_Epistle to a Young Friend_. R. BURNS.
Though lone the way as that already trod,
Cling to thine own integrity and God!
_To One Deceived_. H.T. TUCKERMAN.
Virtue she finds too painful to endeavor,
Content to dwell in decencies forever.
_Moral Essays, Epistle II_. A. POPE.
Keep virtue's simple path before your eyes,
Nor think from evil good can ever rise.
_Tancred, Act v. Sc. 8_. J. THOMSON.
Count that day lost whose low descending sun
Views from thy hand no worthy action done.
_Staniford's Art of Reading_. ANONYMOUS.
This above all.--to thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
_Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.
VISIONS.
My thoughts by night are often filled
With visions false as fair:
For in the past alone I build
My castles in the air.
_Castles in the Air_. T.L. PEACOCK.
It is a dream, sweet child! a waking dream,
A blissful certainty, a vision bright,
Of that rare happiness, which even on earth
Heaven gives to those it loves.
_The Spanish Student, Act iii. Sc. 5_. H.W. LONGFELLOW.
Hence the fool's paradise, the statesman's scheme,
The air-built castle, and the golden dream.
The maid's romantic wish, the chemist's flame,
And poet's vision of eternal fame.
_Dunciad, Bk. III_. A. POPE.
And still they dream, that they shall still succeed;
And still are disappointed. Rings the world
With the vain stir. I sum up half mankind,
And add two-thirds of the remaining half,
And find the total of their hopes and fears
Dreams, empty dreams.
_The Task, Bk. VI_. W. COWPER.
[_Witches vanish_.
BANQUO.--The earth hath bubbles as the water has,
And these are of them. Whither are they vanished?
MACBETH.--Into the air; and what seemed corporal melted
As breath into the wind.
_Macbeth, Act i. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.
Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds,
In ranks and squadrons, and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol.
O Caesar! these things are beyond all use,
And I do fear them.
_Julius Caesar, Act ii. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.
Lochiel, Lochiel! beware of the day;
For, dark and despairing, my sight I may seal,
But man cannot cover what God would reveal;
'T is the sunset of life gives me mystical lore,
And coming events cast their shadows before.
_Lochiel's Warning_. T. CAMPBELL.
WAR.
My sentence is for open war; of wiles
More unexpert I boast not: then let those
Contrive who need, or when they need, not now.
_Paradise Lost, Bk. II_. MILTON.
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
* * * * *
Cry "Havock!" and let slip the dogs of war.
_Julius Caesar, Act iii. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.
In every heart
Are sown the sparks that kindle fiery war;
Occasion needs but fan them, and they blaze.
_The Task: Winter Morning Walk_. W. COWPER.
Long peace, I find,
But nurses dangerous humors up to strength,
License and wanton rage, which war alone
Can purge away.
_Mustapha_. D. MALLET.
The fire-eyed maid of smoky war
All hot and bleeding will we offer them.
_King Henry IV., Pt. I. Act iv. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.
Lochiel, Lochiel! beware of the day
When the Lowlands shall meet thee in battle array!
For a field of the dead rushes red on my sight,
And the clans of Culloden are scattered in fight.
They rally, they bleed, for their kingdom and crown;
Woe, woe to the riders that trample them down!
Proud Cumberland prances, insulting the slain,
And their hoof-beaten bosoms are trod to the plain.
_Lochiel's Warning_. T. CAMPBELL.
He is come to ope
The purple testament of bleeding war;
But ere the crown he looks for live in peace,
Ten thousand bloody crowns of mothers' sons
Shall ill become the flower of England's face,
Change the complexion of her maid-pale peace
To scarlet indignation, and bedew
Her pastures' grass with faithful English blood.
_King Richard II., Act iii. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.
War, my lord,
Is of eternal use to human kind;
For ever and anon when you have passed
A few dull years in peace and propagation,
The world is overstocked with fools, and wants
A pestilence at least, if not a hero.
_Edwin_. G. JEFFREYS.
O War! thou hast thy fierce delight,
Thy gleams of joy intensely bright!
Such gleams as from thy polished shield
Fly dazzling o'er the battle-field!
_Lord of the Isles_. SIR W. SCOTT.
The tyrant custom, most grave senators,
Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war
My thrice-driven bed of down.
_Othello, Act i. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.
Hang out our banners on the outward walls;
The cry is still, _They come_. Our castle's strength
Will laugh a siege to scorn: here let them lie
Till famine and the ague eat them up.
_Macbeth, Act v. Sc. 5_. SHAKESPEARE.
War, war is still the cry.--"war even to the knife!"
_Childe Harold, Canto I_. LORD BYRON.
WAR.
O, the sight entrancing,
When morning's beam is glancing
O'er files arrayed
With helm and blade,
And plumes, in the gay wind dancing!
When hearts are all high beating,
And the trumpet's voice repeating
That song, whose breath
May lead to death,
But never to retreating.
O, the sight entrancing.
When morning's beam is glancing
O'er files arrayed
With helm and blade,
And plumes, in the gay wind dancing.
_O, the sight entrancing_. T. MOORE.
From the tents,
The armorers, accomplishing the knights,
With busy hammers closing rivets up,
Give dreadful note of preparation.
_King Henry V., Act iv. Chorus_. SHAKESPEARE.
Father, I call on thee!
Clouds from the thunder-voiced cannon enveil me,
Lightnings are flashing, death's thick darts assail me:
Ruler of battles, I call on thee!
Father, oh lead thou me!
_Prayer During the Battle. German of_ K.T. KOeRNER.
_Trans. of_ J.S. BLACKIE.
Lochiel, untainted by flight or by chains,
While the kindling of life in his bosom remains,
Shall victor exult, or in death be laid low,
With his back to the field, and his feet to the foe;
And leaving in battle no blot on his name,
Look proudly to Heaven from the death-bed of fame!
_Lochiel's Warning_. T. CAMPBELL.
Not hate, but glory, made these chiefs contend;
And each brave foe was in his soul a friend.
_The Iliad, Bk. VII_. HOMER. _Trans. of_ POPE.
Ay me! what perils do environ
The man that meddles with cold iron.
_Hudibras, Pt. I. Canto III_. S. BUTLER.
Now swells the intermingling din; the jar
Frequent and frightful of the bursting bomb;
The falling beam, the shriek, the groan, the shout,
The ceaseless clangor, and the rush of men
Inebriate with rage;--loud, and more loud
The discord grows: till pale Death shuts the scene,
And o'er the conqueror and the conquered draws
His cold and bloody shroud.
* * * * *
War is the statesman's game, the priest's delight,
The lawyer's jest, the hired assassin's trade,
And to those royal murderers whose mean thrones
Are bought by crimes of treachery and gore.
The bread they eat, the staff on which they lean.
_War_. P.B. SHELLEY.
One to destroy is murder by the law;
And gibbets keep the lifted hand in awe;
To murder thousands takes a specious name,
War's glorious art, and gives immortal fame.
_Love of Fame, Satire VII_. DR. E. YOUNG.
Great princes have great playthings.
* * * * *
But war's a game which, were their subjects wise,
Kings would not play at.
_The Task: Winter Morning Walk_. W. COWPER.
One murder made a villain,
Millions a hero. Princes were privileged
To kill, and numbers sanctified the crime.
_Death_ B. PORTEUS.
Mark where his carnage and his conquest cease!
He makes a solitude, and calls it--peace!
_The Bride of Abydos, Canto II_. LORD BYRON.
Some undone widow sits upon mine arm,
And takes away the use of it; and my sword.
Glued to my scabbard with wronged orphans' tears,
Will not be drawn.
_A New Way to Pay Old Debts, Act v. Sc. 1_. P. MASSINGER.
Ez fer war, I call it murder,--
There you hev it plain an' flat;
I don't want to go no furder
Than my Testyment fer that.
_The Biglow Papers, First Series, No. I_. J.R. LOWELL.
WATERS.
Water is the mother of the vine,
The nurse and fountain of fecundity.
The adorner and refresher of the world.
_The Dionysia_. C. MACKAY.
Till taught by pain,
Men really know not what good water's worth;
If you had been in Turkey or in Spain,
Or with a famished boat's-crew had your berth,
Or in the desert heard the camel's bell,
You'd wish yourself where Truth is--in a well.
_Don Juan, Canto II_. LORD BYRON.
Water its living strength first shows,
When obstacles its course oppose.
_God, Soul, and World_. J.W. GOETHE.
The current, that with gentle murmur glides,
Thou know'st, being stopped, impatiently doth rage;
But, when his fair course is not hindered,
He makes sweet music with the enamelled stones,
Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge
He overtaketh in his pilgrimage.
_Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act_ ii. _Sc_. 7. SHAKESPEARE.
Mine be the breezy hill that skirts the down;
Where a green grassy turf is all I crave,
With here and there a violet bestrewn,
Fast by a brook or fountain's murmuring wave:
And many an evening sun shine sweetly on my grave.
_The Minstrel, Book II_. J. BEATTIE.
Along thy wild and willowed shore;
Where'er thou wind'st, by dale or hill,
All, all is peaceful, all is still.
_Lay of the Last Minstrel, Canto IV_. SIR W. SCOTT.
With spots of sunny openings, and with nooks
To lie and read in, sloping into brooks.
_The Story of Rimini_. L. HUNT.
The torrent's smoothness, ere it dash below!
_Gertrude, Pt. III_. T. CAMPBELL.
Thou hastenest down between the hills to meet me at the road,
The secret scarcely lisping of thy beautiful abode
Among the pines and mosses of yonder shadowy height.
Where thou dost sparkle into song, and fill the woods with light.
_Friend Brook_. LUCY LARCOM.
Brook! whose society the poet seeks,
Intent his wasted spirits to renew;
And whom the curious painter doth pursue
Through rocky passes, among flowery creeks.
And tracks thee dancing down thy water breaks.
_Brook! Whose Society the Poet Seeks_.
W. WORDSWORTH.
The roar of waters!--from the headlong height
Velino cleaves the wave-worn precipice;
The fall of waters! rapid as the light
The flashing mass foams shaking the abyss;
The hell of waters! where they howl and hiss,
And boil in endless torture.
_Childe Harold, Canto IV_. LORD BYRON.
Let beeves and home-bred kine partake
The sweets of Burn-mill meadow;
The swan on still St. Mary's Lake
Float double, swan and shadow!
_Yarrow Unvisited_. W. WORDSWORTH.
Under the cooling shadow of a stately elm,
Close sat I by a goodly river's side.
Where gliding streams the rocks did overwhelm;
A lonely place, with pleasures dignified.
I, that once loved the shady woods so well.
Now thought the rivers did the trees excel,
And if the sun would ever shine, there would I dwell.
_Contemplations_. ANNE BRADSTREET.
Two ways the rivers
Leap down to different seas, and as they roll
Grow deep and still, and their majestic presence
Becomes a benefaction to the towns
They visit, wandering silently among them,
Like patriarchs old among their shining tents.
_Christus: The Golden Legend, Pt. V_ H.W. LONGFELLOW.
Sweet Teviot! on thy silver tide
The glaring bale-fires blaze no more;
No longer steel-clad warriors ride
Along thy wild and willowed shore.
_Lay of the Last Minstrel, Canto IV_. SIR W. SCOTT.
Is it not better, then, to be alone.
And love Earth only for its earthly sake?
By the blue rushing of the arrowy Rhone
Or the pure bosom of its nursing lake...?
_Childe Harold, Canto III_. LORD BYRON.
WATERS--WEALTH.
You leave us; you will see the Rhine,
And those fair hills I sailed below,
When I was there with him; and go
By summer belts of wheat and vine.
_In Memoriam, XCVII_. A. TENNYSON.
There is a hill beside the silver Thames,
Shady with birch and beech and odorous pine;
And brilliant underfoot with thousand gems,
Steeply the thickets to his floods decline.
_There is a Hill beside the Silver Thames_. R.S. BRIDGES.
The torrent roared; and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews, throwing it aside,
And stemming it with hearts of controversy.
_Julius Caesar, Act i. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.
That was the River. It looked cool and deep,
And as I watched, I felt it slipping past
As if it smoothly swept along in sleep,
Gleaning and gliding fast.
_A London Idyl_. R. BUCHANAN.
It flows through old hushed Egypt and its sands,
Like some grave mighty thought threading a dream.
_The Nile_. L. HUNT.
WEALTH.
Here Wisdom calls, "Seek virtue first, be bold;
As gold to silver, virtue is to gold."
There London's voice, "Get money, money still,
And then let Virtue follow if she will."
_Imitations of Horace, Epistle I. Bk. I_. A. POPE.
The devil was piqued such saintship to behold,
And longed to tempt him, like good Job of old;
For Satan now is wiser than of yore,
And tempts by making rich, not making poor.
_Moral Essays, Epistle III_. A. POPE.
Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell
From heaven; for even in heaven his looks and thoughts
Were always downward bent, admiring more
The riches of heaven's pavement, trodden gold,
Than ought divine or holy else enjoyed
In vision beatific.
_Paradise Lost, Bk. I_. MILTON.
Religious, punctual, frugal, and so forth;
His word would pass for more than he was worth.
One solid dish his week-day meal affords,
An added pudding solemnized the Lord's.
Constant at church and change, his gains were sure,
His giving Rare, save farthings to the poor.
_Moral Essays, Epistle III_. A. POPE.
Gold begets in brethren hate;
Gold in families debate;
Gold does friendship separate;
Gold does civil wars create.
_Anacreontics: Gold_. A. COWLEY.
Trade it may help, society extend,
But lures the Pirate, and corrupts the friend:
It raises armies in a nation's aid,
But bribes a senate, and the land's betrayed.
_Moral Essays, Epistle II_. A. POPE
The lust of gold succeeds the rage of conquest;
The lust of gold, unfeeling and remorseless!
The last corruption of degenerate man.
_Irene, Act i. Sc. I_. DR. S. JOHNSON.
But in the temple of their hireling hearts
Gold is a living god, and rules in scorn
All earthly things but virtue.
_Queen Mab, Pt. V_. P.B. SHELLEY.
Gold! gold! gold! gold!
Bright and yellow, hard and cold,
Molten, graven, hammered and rolled;
Heavy to get, and light to hold;
Hoarded, bartered, bought, and sold.
Stolen, borrowed, squandered, doled:
Spurned by the young, but hugged by the old
To the very verge of the churchyard mold;
Price of many a crime untold:
Gold! gold! gold! gold!
Good or bad a thousand-fold!
How widely its agencies vary,--
To save, to ruin, to curse, to bless,--
As even its minted coins express.
Now stamped with the image of good Queen Bess,
And now of a Bloody Mary.
_Miss Kilmansegg_. T. HOOD.
But all thing, which that shineth as the gold,
Ne is no gold, as I have herd it told.
_Canterbury Tales. Chanones Yemannes Tale_. CHAUCER.
Shame and woe to us, if we our wealth obey;
The horse doth with the horseman run away.
_Imitations of Horace, Bk. I_. A. COWLEY.
You have too much respect upon the world:
They lose it, that do buy it with much care.
_Merchant of Venice, Act i. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.
WIFE.
The world well tried--the sweetest thing in life
Is the unclouded welcome of a wife.
_Lady Jane, Canto II_. N.P. WILLIS.
Look through mine eyes with thine. True wife,
Round my true heart thine arms entwine;
My other dearer life in life,
Look through my very soul with thine!
_The Miller's Daughter_. A. TENNYSON.
She gave me eyes, she gave me ears;
And humble cares, and delicate fears,
A heart, the fountain of sweet tears;
And love, and thought, and joy.
_The Sparrow's Nest_. W. WORDSWORTH.
My latest found,
Heaven's last best gift, my ever new delight.
_Paradise Lost, Bk. V_. MILTON.
She is mine own!
And I as rich in having such a jewel
As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl,
The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.
_Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act ii. Sc. 4_. SHAKESPEARE.
A wife, domestic, good, and pure,
Like snail, should keep within her door;
But not, like snail, with silver track,
Place all her wealth upon her back.
_Good Wives_. W.W. HOW.
How much the wife is dearer than the bride.
_An Irregular Ode_. LORD LYTTELTON.
But earthlier happy is the rose distilled,
Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn,
Grows, lives, and dies, in single blessedness.
_Midsummer Night's Dream, Act i. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.
To cheer thy sickness, watch thy health,
Partake, but never waste thy wealth,
Or stand with smile unmurmuring by,
And lighten half thy poverty.
_Bride of Abydos, Canto I_. LORD BYRON.
This flour of wifely patience.
_The Clerkes Tale, Pt. V_. CHAUCER.
And mistress of herself, though china fall.
_Moral Essays, Epistle II_. A. POPE.
Time still, as he flies, brings increase to her truth,
And gives to her mind what he steals from her youth.
_The Happy Marriage_. E. MOORE.
Of earthly goods, the best is a good wife;
A bad, the bitterest curse of human life. SIMONIDES.
WIND.
Yet true it is, as cow chews cud,
And trees, at spring, do yield forth bud,
Except wind stands as never it stood,
It is an ill wind turns none to good.
_The Properties of Winds_. T. TUSSER.
Ill blows the wind that profits nobody.
_King Henry VI., Pt. III. Act ii. Sc. 5_. SHAKESPEARE.
Pure was the temperate air, an even calm
Perpetual reigned, save what the zephyrs bland
Breathed o'er the blue expanse.
_Seasons: Spring_. J. THOMSON.
Under the yaller-pines I house,
When sunshine makes 'em all sweet-scented,
An' hear among their furry boughs
The baskin' west-wind purr contented.
_Biglow Papers, Second Series, No. X_. J.R. LOWELL.
A breeze came wandering from the sky,
Light as the whispers of a dream;
He put the o'erhanging grasses by,
And softly stooped to kiss the stream,
The pretty stream, the flattered stream,
The shy, yet unreluctant stream.
_The Wind and the Stream_. W.C. BRYANT.
As winds come whispering lightly from the West,
Kissing, not ruffling, the blue deep's serene.
_Childe Harold, Canto II_. LORD BYRON.
The moaning winds of autumn sang their song.
_A Sicilian Story_. B.W. PROCTER _(Barry Cornwall)_.
Loud wind, strong wind, sweeping o'er the mountains,
Fresh wind, free wind, blowing from the sea,
Pour forth thy vials like streams from airy mountains,
Draughts of life to me.
_The North Wind_. D.M. MULOCK CRAIK.
I hear the wind among the trees
Playing celestial symphonies;
I see the branches downward bent,
Like keys of some great instrument.
_A Day of Sunshine_. H.W. LONGFELLOW.
In winter when the dismal rain
Came down in slanting lines,
And wind, that grand old harper, smote
His thunder-harp of pines.
_A Life Drama_. A. SMITH.
'T was when the sea was roaring
With hollow blasts of wind.
_The What d' ye Call 't_. J. GAY.
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
_King Lear, Act iii. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.
The Lord descended from above
And bowed the heavens high;
And underneath his feet he cast
The darkness of the sky.
On cherubs and on cherubims
Full royally he rode;
And on the wings of all the winds
Came flying all abroad.
_Hymns: Psalm CIV_. T. STERNHOLD.
WINE.
Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape
Crushed the sweet poison of misused wine.
_Comus_. MILTON.
In courts and palaces he also reigns,
And in luxurious cities, where the noise
Of riot ascends above their loftiest towers,
And injury, and outrage: and when night
Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons
Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.
_Paradise Lost, Bk. I_. MILTON.
From wine what sudden friendship springs!
_The Squire and his Cur_. J. GAY.
And wine can of their wits the wise beguile.
Make the sage frolic, and the serious smile.
_Odyssey, Bk. XIV_. HOMER. _Trans. of_ POPE.
O, when we swallow down
Intoxicating wine, we drink damnation;
Naked we stand, the sport of mocking fiends.
Who grin to see our nobler nature vanquished,
Subdued to beasts.
_Wife's Reick_. C. JOHNSON.
WISDOM.
By wisdom wealth is won;
But riches purchased wisdom yet for none.
_The Wisdom of Ali_. B. TAYLOR.
On every thorn, delightful wisdom grows,
In every rill a sweet instruction flows.
_Love of Fame: Satire I_. DR. E. YOUNG.
In idle wishes fools supinely stay;
Be there a will, and wisdom finds a way.
_The Birth of Flattery_. G. CRABBE.
Wealth may seek us, but wisdom must be sought.
_Night Thoughts, Night VIII_. DR. E. YOUNG.
And Wisdom's self
Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude,
Where, with her best nurse, Contemplation,
She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings,
That in the various bustle of resort
Were all-to ruffled, and sometimes impaired.
_Comus_. MILTON.
The weak have remedies, the wise have joys,
Superior wisdom is superior bliss.
_Night Thoughts, Night VIII_. DR. E. YOUNG.
Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise!
_Vanity of Human Wishes_. DR. S. JOHNSON.
Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop
Than when we soar.
_The Excursion, Bk. III_. W. WORDSWORTH.
To know
That which before us lies in daily life
Is the prime wisdom.
_Paradise Lost, Bk. VIII_. MILTON.
Good sense, which only is the gift of Heaven,
And though no science, fairly worth the seven.
_Moral Essays, Epistle IV_. A. POPE.
WOMAN.
What a strange thing is man! and what a stranger
Is woman! What a whirlwind is her head,
And what a whirlpool full of depth and danger
Is all the rest about her.
_Don Juan, Canto IX_. LORD BYRON.
O woman! lovely woman! nature made thee
To temper man; we had been brutes without you.
Angels are painted fair, to look like you:
There is in you all that we believe of heaven;
Amazing brightness, purity, and truth,
Eternal joy, and everlasting love.
_Venice Preserved, Act i. Sc. 1_. T. OTWAY.
Without the smile from partial beauty won,
O, what were man?--a world without a sun.
_Pleasures of Hope, Pt. II_. T. CAMPBELL.
If the heart of a man is depressed with cares,
The mist is dispelled when a woman appears.
_The Beggar's Opera, Act ii. Sc. 1_. J. GAY.
In her first passion, woman loves her lover:
In all the others, all she loves is love.
_Don Juan, Canto III_. LORD BYRON.
Man's love is of man's life a thing apart;
'T is woman's whole existence. Man may range
The court, camp, church, the vessel, and the mart,
Sword, gown, gain, glory, offer in exchange
Pride, fame, ambition, to fill up his heart,
And few there are whom these cannot estrange:
Men have all these resources, we but one,--
To love again, and be again undone.
_Don Juan, Canto I_. LORD BYRON.
She's beautiful, and therefore to be wooed;
She is a woman, therefore to be won.
_King Henry VI., Part I. Act v. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.
Alas, the love of women! it is known
To be a lovely and a fearful thing;
For all of theirs upon that die is thrown,
And if 't is lost, life hath no more to bring
To them but mockeries of the past atone,
And their revenge is as the tiger's spring,
Deadly and quick and crushing; yet as real
Torture is theirs--what they inflict they feel.
_Don Juan, Canto II_. LORD BYRON.
We call it only pretty Fanny's way.
_An Elegy to an Old Beauty_. T. PARNELL.
The fair, the chaste, and unexpressive she.
_As You Like It, Act iii. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.
With prudes for proctors, dowagers for deans,
And sweet girl-graduates in their golden hair.
_The Princess: Prologue_. A. TENNYSON.
If ladies be but young and fair,
They have the gift to know it.
_As You Like It, Act ii. Sc. 7_. SHAKESPEARE.
Ladies like variegated tulips show,
'T is to their changes half their charms we owe.
Fine by defect, and delicately weak,
Their happy spots the nice admirer take.
_Moral Essays, Pt. II_ A. POPE.
And when a lady's in the case,
You know all other things give place.
_The Hare and Many Friends_ J. GAY.
A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty.
_Taming of the Shrew, Act v. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.
For several virtues
Have I liked several women; never any
With so full soul but some defect in her
Did quarrel with the noblest grace she owed,
And put it to the foil.
_Tempest, Act iii. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.
IAGO.--Come on, come on; you are pictures out of doors,
Bells in your parlors, wild-cats in your kitchens,
Saints in your injuries, devils being offended.
* * * * *
For I am nothing if not critical.
_Othello, Act ii. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.
Had she been true,
If heaven would make me such another world
Of one entire and perfect chrysolite,
I'd not have sold her for it.
_Othello, Act v. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.
Lightly thou say'st that woman's love is false,
The thought is falser far.
_Bertram_. C.R. MATURIN.
But woman's grief is like a summer storm,
Short as it violent is.
_Basil, Act v. Sc. 3_. JOANNA BAILLIE.
When greater perils men environ,
Then women show a front of iron;
And, gentle in their manner, they
Do bold things in a quiet way.
_Betty Zane_. T.D. ENGLISH.
First, then, a woman will, or won't, depend on 't;
If she will do 't, she will, and there's an end on 't.
But if she won't, since safe and sound your trust is,
Fear is affront, and jealousy injustice.
_Epilogue to Zara_. A. HILL.
I have no other but a woman's reason;
I think him so because I think him so.
_Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act i. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.
She hugged the offender, and forgave the offence.
Sex to the last.
_Cymon and Iphigenia_. J. DRYDEN.
Woman may err, woman may give her mind
To evil thoughts, and lose her pure estate;
But, for one woman who affronts her kind
By wicked passions and remorseless hate,
A thousand make amends in age and youth,
By heavenly pity, by sweet sympathy,
By patient kindness, by enduring truth,
By love, supremest in adversity.
_Praise of Women_. C. MACKAY.
Not she with traitorous kiss her Saviour stung,
Not she denied him with unholy tongue;
She, while apostles shrank, could danger brave,
Last at his cross and earliest at his grave.
_Woman, her Character and Influence_. E.S. BARRETT.
Earth's noblest thing, a woman perfected.
_Irene_. J.R. LOWELL.
Shalt show us how divine a thing
A woman may be made.
_To a Young Lady_. W. WORDSWORTH.
Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle, and low.--an excellent thing in woman.
_King Lear, Act v. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.
Not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty.
_Romeo and Juliet, Act iv. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.
And yet believe me, good as well as ill,
Woman 's at best a contradiction still.
_Moral Essays, Epistle II_. A. POPE.
For woman is not undeveloped man
But diverse; could we make her as the man
Sweet love were slain; his dearest bond is this:
Not like to like but like in difference.
_The Princess, XII_. A. TENNYSON.
Through all the drama--whether damned or not--
Love gilds the scene, and women guide the plot.
_The Rivals: Epilogue_. R.B. SHERIDAN.
YOUTH.
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very Heaven!
_The Prelude, Bk. XI_. W. WORDSWORTH.
O Life! how pleasant in thy morning,
Young Fancy's rays the hills adorning!
Cold-pausing Caution's lesson scorning,
We frisk away,
Like school-boys at th' expected warning,
To joy and play.
_Epistle to James Smith_. R. BURNS.
O, would I were a boy again,
When life seemed formed of sunny years,
And all the heart then knew of pain
Was wept away in transient tears!
_O, would I were a boy again_. M. LEMON.
This morning, like the spirit of a youth
That means to be of note, begins betimes.
_Antony and Cleopatra, Act iv. Sc. 4_. SHAKESPEARE.
Long as the year's dull circle seems to run
When the brisk minor pants for twenty-one.
_Imitations of Horace, Epistle I. Bk, I_. A. POPE.
A lovely being, scarcely formed or moulded,
A rose with all its sweetest leaves yet folded.
_Don Juan, Canto XV_. LORD BYRON.
"Young, gay, and fortunate!" Each yields a theme.
And, first, thy youth: what says it to gray hairs?
Narcissa, I'm become thy pupil now;--
Early, bright, transient, chaste as morning dew,
She sparkled, was exhaled, and went to heaven.
_Night Thoughts, Night V_. DR. E. YOUNG.
This bud of lovely Summer's ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.
_Romeo and Juliet, Act ii. Sc 2_. SHAKESPEARE.
The nimble-footed mad-cap Prince of Wales,
And his comrades, that daffed the world aside,
And bid it pass.
_King Henry IV., Pt. I. Act iv. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.
Is in the very May-morn of his youth,
Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises.
_King Henry V., Act i. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.
We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow;
Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so.
_Essay on Criticism_. A. POPE.
My salad days;
When I was green in judgment.
_Antony and Cleopatra, Act iv. Sc. 5_. SHAKESPEARE.
The spirit of a youth
That means to be of note, begins betimes.
_Antony and Cleopatra, Act iv. Sc. 4_. SHAKESPEARE.
Returning, he proclaims by many a grace,
By shrugs and strange contortions of his face,
How much a dunce that has been sent to roam,
Excels a dunce that has been kept at home.
_The Progress of Error_. W. COWPER.
Young fellows will be young fellows.
_Love in a Village, Act ii. Sc. 2_. I. BICKERSTAFF.
Young men soon give and soon forget affronts;
Old age is slow in both.
_Canto, Act ii_. J. ADDISON.
Ah who, when fading of itself away,
Would cloud the sunshine of his little day!
Now is the May of life. Careering round,
Joy wings his feet, joy lifts him from the ground!
_Human Life_. S. ROGERS.
Our youth we can have but to-day:
We may always find time to grow old.
_Can Love be Controlled by Advice_? BISHOP G. BERKELEY.
Flowers are lovely; Love is flower-like;
Friendship is a sheltering tree;
O! the joys, that came down shower-like,
Of Friendship, Love, and Liberty,
Ere I was old!
Ere I was old! Ah woful Ere.
Which tells me, Youth's no longer here!
_Youth and Age_. S.T. COLERIDGE.
ZEAL.
Zeal and duty are not slow;
But on occasion's forelock watchful wait.
_Paradise Regained, Bk. III_. MILTON.
For virtue's self may too much zeal be had;
The worst of madmen is a saint run mad.
_Satires of Horace, Sat. I Bk. II_. A. POPE.
No seared conscience is so fell
As that, which has been burned with zeal;
For Christian charity's as well
A great impediment to zeal,
As zeal's a pestilent disease
To Christian charity and peace.
_Miscellaneous Thoughts_. S. BUTLER.
Easy still it proves, in factious times,
With public zeal to cancel private crimes.
_Absalom and Achitophel_. J. DRYDEN.
Awake, my soul; stretch every nerve,
And press with vigor on:
A heavenly race demands thy zeal,
And an immortal crown.
_Zeal and Vigor in the Christian Race_. PH. DODDRIDGE.
THE END.
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