I'll turn two mincing steps Into a manly stride; and speak of frays For men (it is reported) dash and vapour Less on the field of battle than on paper. Like a fine bragging youth; and tell quaint lies, Thus in the hist'ry of each dire campaign How honourable ladies sought my love, Which I denying, they fell sick and died: I could not do with all:- then I will repent, And wish, for all that, that I had not kill'd them, And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell, That men shall swear I have discontinued school Above a twelvemonth. Shaks. Merchant of Venice. What art thou? Have not I An arm as big as thine? a heart as big? More carnage loads the newspaper than plain. Dr. Wolcot's Peter Pindar. BOOKS. And though books, madam, cannot make this mind, Which we must bring apt to be set aright; And touch it so, as that it turns that way Shaks. Cymbeline. He made me mad, A book! O rare one! To see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet, And talk so like a waiting gentlewoman Be not, as is our fangled word, a garment Of guns, and drums, and wounds (God save the Nobler than that it covers. mark!) And telling me, the sovereign'st thing on earth Shaks. Henry IV. A gallant curtle-axe upon my thigh, Shaks. As you like it. Here is a silly, stately style indeed! Daniel. Shaks. Cymbeline Calling their victories, if unjustly got, Deface their ill-plac'd statues. Can I then Nay, an thou 'lt mouth, I'll rant as well as thou. Shaks. Hamlet. A mad-cap ruffian, and a swearing jack, We rise in glory, as we sink in pride; To augment a heap of wealth: it shall be mine To increase in knowledge. Fletche Books are part of man's prerogative, "Tis in books the chief Of all perfections to be plain and brief. Butler 56 BOUNTY - BREVITY-BRIBERY. Twere well with most, if books, that could engage Cowper. Books are men of higher stature, And the only men that speak aloud for future times to hear! Miss Barrett's Poems. Come let me make a sunny realm around thee, Of thought and beauty!-Here are books and flowers, BOUNTY. What you desire of him, he partly begs Shaks. Antony and Cleopatra. There was no winter in 't; an autumn 't was Shaks. Antony and Cleopatra. O blessed bounty, giving all content! With spells to loose the fetters which hath bound That lend'st success to every good intent, thee, That soothes and heals the wounded heart. I there's a fever of the soul Beyond this opiate control, When the book charm its influence loses. That struck the foremost man of all this world, But for supporting robbers;-shall we now Mrs. Hale's Vigil of Love. Contaminate our fingers with base bribes? Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself Shaks. Julius Cæsar. The world is not thy friend, nor the world's law: The world affords no law to make thee rich; Then be not poor, but break it and take this. Shaks. Romeo and Juliet. Who thinketh to buy villany with gold, Silver, though white, Middleton and Rowley's Fair Quarrel. Petitions not sweetened With gold, are but unsavoury and oft refused; Or if received, are pocketed, not read. A suitor's swelling tears by the glowing beams Of choleric authority are dried up Before they fall, or if seen, never pitied. Massinger. Beaumont and Fletcher's Four Plays in One. Sir W. Davenant's Law against Lovers. Foretells his own calamity, and makes But we must trust to virtue, not to fate; Thus, sometimes hath the brightest day a cloud; Tell me no more Young. Of my soul's lofty gifts! Are they not vain The earth unknown. Mrs. Hemans. I turn me back, and find a barren waste, Joyless and rayless; a few spots are there, Where briefly it was granted me to taste The tenderness of youthful love—in air The charm is broken. Percival CALM. Pure was the temp'rate air, an even calm Perpetual reign'd, save what the zephyrs bland Breath'd o'er the blue expanse. Thomson's Seasons. Gradual sinks the breeze Into a perfect calm; that not a breath I heard to quiver thro' the closing woods, Or rustling turn the many twinkling leaves Of aspen tall. The uncurling floods, diffus'd In glassy breadth, seem through delusive lapse, Forgetful of their course. "Tis silence all, And pleasing expectation. Thomson's Seasons. The wind breathed soft as lovers sigh, Scott's Lord of the Isles. St. George's banner, broad and gay, The evening gale had scarce the power The sea is like a silvery lake, Moore. Serenely my heart took the hue of the hour, As the billow the force of the gale that was fled! And all was stillness, save the sea-bird's cry, Byron's Don Juan, When all the fiercer passions cease, Byron's Lara. (The glory and disgrace of youth); When the deluded soul in peace, Can listen to the voice of truth; Thy beauty is as undenied Scott's Marmion. And thy heart beats just as equally, Whate'er thy praises are; And so long without a parallel Thy loveliness hath shone, That, followed like the tided moon, Thou movest as calmly on. CANDOUR. Crabbe. Willis Rude was his garment, and to rags all rent, In care they live, and must for many care; Of all proceedings in this great affair, Although my cares do hang upon my soul Clapthorne's Albertus Wallenstein. What bliss, what wealth, did e'er the world be stow On man, but cares and fears attended it? May's Agrippina. Care that is enter'd once into the breast, Will have the whole possession ere it rest. Jonson's Tale of a Tub. Thus sometimes hath the brightest day a cloud, And after summer ever more succeeds Barren winter with his wrathful nipping cold; So cares and joys abound as seasons fleet. Shaks. Henry VI. |