صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

;

Likewise unequal were her handes twain
That one did reach, the other push'd away;
That one did make, the other marr'd again,
And sought to bring all things unto decay;
Whereby great riches gather'd many a day,
She in short space did often bring to nought,
And their possessors often did dismay.
For all her study was, and all her thought,

How she might overthrow the things that Concord

wrought.

MLXXVIII.

Spenser.

Such is the destiny of great men, that their superior genius always exposes them to be the butt of the envenomed darts of calumny and envy.-Voltaire.

MLXXIX.

Done the tales, to bed we creep,
By whisp'ring winds soon lull'd asleep.
Tower'd cities please us then,

And the busy hum of men,

Where throngs of knights and barons bold
In weeds of peace high triumphs hold,'
With store of ladies, whose bright eyes
Rain influence, and judge the prize
Of wit, or arms, while both contend
To win her grace, whom all commend.
There let Hymen oft appear

In saffron robe, with taper clear,
And Pomp, and Feast, and Revelry,
With Mask and antique Pageantry;
Such sights as youthful poets dream,
On summer eves by haunted stream.
Then to the well-trod stage anon,
If Jonson's learned sock be on,

H. H

Or sweetest Shakspeare, Fancy's child,
Warble his native wood-notes wild.
And ever against eating cares,
Lap me in soft Lydian airs,
Married to immortal Verse;

Such as the meeting soul may pierce
In notes with many a winding bout
Of linked sweetness long drawn out,
With wanton heed, and giddy cunning,
The melting voice through mazes running,
Untwisting all the chains that tie

The hidden soul of harmony;

That Orpheus' self may heave his head
From golden slumber on a bed

Of heap'd Elysian flowers, and hear
Such strains as would have won the ear
Of Pluto, to have quite set free
His half-regain'd Eurydice.
These delights if thou canst give,
Mirth, with thee I mean to live.

MLXXX.

i Milton.

Sharpness of style does for the most part naturally flow from the humour of the writer; and therefore, 'tis observable, that few are guilty of it, but either those that write too young (when it resembles the acidity of juices strained from the fruits before they be matured), or else those that write too old (and then 'tis like the sourness of liquors, which being near corrupting, turn eager); and both these are generally disrelished or if men do admit them for sauce, yet he must be very thirsty that will take a draught of them; whereas the generousest wine drops from the grape naturally, without pressing, and though piquant, has its sweetness. - Marvell.

MLXXXI.

If Satire charms, strike faults, but spare the man;
"Tis dull to be as witty as you can.

Satire recoils whenever charg'd too high;
Round your own fame the fatal splinters fly.
As the soft plume gives swiftness to the dart,
Good-breeding sends the satire to the heart.

MLXXXII.

Young.

China is sometimes purchased for little less than its weight in gold, only because it is old, though neither less brittle, nor better painted than the modern; and brown china is caught up with ecstasy, though no reason can be imagined for which it should be preferred to common vessels of common clay.—Johnson.

MLXXXIII.

When gods and goddesses come down
To look about them here in town,
(For change of air is understood,
By sons of Physic to be good,
In due proportions now and then
For these same gods as well as men)
By custom rul'd, and not a poet
So very dull, that he must know it,
In order to remain incog.
They always travel in a fog.
For if we Majesty expose

To vulgar eyes, too cheap it grows;
The force is lost, and free from awe,
We spy and censure ev'ry flaw.
But well preserv'd from public view,
It always breaks forth fresh and new,
Fierce as the sun in all his pride,
It shines, and not a spot's descried.

Churchill.

MLXXXIV,

The greater part of those whom the kindness of fortune has left to their own direction, and whom want does not keep chained to the counter or the plough, play throughout life with the shadows of business, and know not at last what they have been doing. — Johnson.

MLXXXV.

[ocr errors]

Would I had trod the humble path: the shrub
Securely grows, the tallest tree stands most
In the wind and thus we distinguish the
Noble from the base: the noble find their
Lives and deaths still troublesome;
But humility doth sleep, whilst the storm
Grows hoarse with scolding.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

All governments and societies of men do in process of long time gather an irregularity; and wear away much of their primitive institution. And therefore the true wisdom of all ages hath been to review at fit periods those errors, defects, or excesses, that have insensibly crept into the public administration; to brush the dust off the wheels, and oil them again, or, if it be found advisable, to choose a set of new ones. And this reformation is most easily, and with least disturbance, to be effected by the society itself, no single men being forbidden by any magistrate to amend their own manners, and much more, all societies having the liberty to bring themselves within compass.—Marvell.

END OF PART VI.

INDEX.

ABUSES, 107

Activity, 489, 969, 1067, 1084
Actors, 245, 280, 547, 934, 1072
Adam and Eve, 798, 840, 862
Admiration, 426
Advancement, 383, 507
Adversity, 227, 367, 522, 568,
574, 589

Advice, 207, 350, 414, 524, 984,
1076

Affectation, 374, 901

Age, 229, 262, 513, 539, 624, 628
Alehouse, 920

Ambition, 81, 101, 151, 204,
436, 441, 701

American War, 97, 161, 205,
219

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
« السابقةمتابعة »