From every drachm of mercy. 2. CRUELTY-TORTURE. 1. A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch, Incapable of pity, void and empty The poor beetle, that we tread upon, SHAKSPEARE. In corporal suffering feels a pang as great SHAKSPEARE. 3. Do not insult calamity; It is a barbarous grossness to lay on The weight of scorn, where heavy misery 4. Thou shalt behold him stretch'd in all the agonies 5. DANIEL. OTWAY'S Venice Preserved. Bring forth the rack: Fetch hither cords, and knives, and sulphurous flames; He shall be bound and gash'd, his skin fleec'd, burnt alive; NAT. LEE. 6. Wire-draw his skin, spin all his nerves like hair, And work his tortur'd flesh as thin as flame. 7. I reverence the coachman who cries "Gee," Or view a butcher, with horn-handled knife, Indeed, indeed, I'm very, very sick! NAT. LEE. Rejected Addresses. 166 CRUELTY - TORTURE. 8. The savage brute, that haunts in woods remote, And deserts wild, tears not the fearful traveller, If hunger, or some injury, provoke not. 9. Oh! rather fail this ardent breath, ROWE. MRS. HOLFORD'S Margaret of Anjou. 10. His was the sternest, hardest breast That ever burnish'd cuirass press'd. MRS. HOLFORD'S Margaret of Anjou. 11. Thy suing to these men were as the bleating Of the lamb to the butcher, or the cry 12. 13. Of seamen to the And ponder still BYRON'S Corsair. On pangs that longest rack, and latest kill. A saint had cried out, Even with the crown of glory in his eyes, As was forc'd on him. BYRON'S Two Foscari. 14. Nurtur'd in blood betimes, his heart delights In vengeance gloating on another's pain. 15. Humanity is policy in war, BYRON'S Childe Harold. And cruelty's a prodigal, that heaps DAWES' Athenia of Damascus. CURIOSITY. 1. I loathe that low vice, Curiosity. BYRON'S Don Juan. 2. Since that first fatal hour when Eve, With all the fruits of Eden blest, Save only one, rather than leave That one unknown, lost all the rest. MOORE's Loves of the Angels. 3. It reign'd in Eden, in that heavy hour 4. "Tis Curiosity-who hath not felt Its spirit, and before its altar knelt? 5. Be it a bonfire, or a city's blaze, SPRAGUE'S Curiosity. SPRAGUE'S Curiosity. The gibbet's victim, or the nation's gaze, SPRAGUE'S Curiosity. 6. Sport drops his ball, Toil throws his hammer by, Thrift breaks a bargain off, to please his eye. SPRAGUE'S Curiosity. 7. How many a noble art, now widely known, Owes its young impulse to this power alone! SPRAGUE'S Curiosity. 8. As down the pane the rival rain-drops chase, SPRAGUE'S Curiosity. 168 CURSES-MALEDICTIONS. 9. How thro' the buzzing crowd he threads his way, To catch the flying rumours of the day. SPRAGUE'S Curiosity. CURSES-MALEDICTIONS. 1. May all th' infections that the sun sucks up 2. Poison be their drink! SHAKSPEARE. Gall, worse than gall, the daintiest meat they taste!— And boding screech-owls make their concerts full! SHAKSPEARE. 3. May sorrow, shame, and sickness overtake her, And all her beauties, like my hopes, be blasted! 4. 5. Let the world grow dark, That the extinguish'd sun may hide thy shame! And when life declines, ROWE. AARON HILL. May thy sure heirs stand titt'ring round thy bed, 6. May the grass wither from thy feet! the woods 7. So let him stand, through ages yet unborn, Fix'd statue on the pedestal of scorn! SHENSTONE. BYRON'S Cain. BYRON'S Curse of Minerva. 8. May screaming night-fiends, hot in recreant gore, ROBERT TREAT PAINE. 9. But curses are like arrows shot upright, DRYDEN'S Ovid. CUSTOM-HABIT. 1. All habits gather by unseen degrees, 2. Custom's the world's great idol we adore, And, knowing this, we seek to know no more. What education did at first conceive, Our ripen'd eye confirms us to believe. POMFRET. 3. A custom More honour'd in the breach than the observance. SHAKSPEARE. 4. How use doth breed a habit in a man! SHAKSPEARE. 5. Custom does often reason overrule, 6. And only serves for reason to the fool. Custom forms us all; Our thoughts, our morals, our most fix'd belief, 7. Custom, 't is true, a venerable tyrant, O'er servile man extends her blind dominion. ROCHESTER. AARON HILL. THOMSON. |