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 J. R. LOWELL. TYRANNY. So spake the Fiend, and with necessity, Paradise Lost, Bk. IV. MILTON. Tyranny Absolves all faith; and who invades our rights, But an usurper. Gustavus Vasa, Act iv. Sc. 1. Is far the worst of treasons. H. BROOKE. Tyranny Dost thou deem None rebels except subjects? The prince who 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 Could great men thunder As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet; 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! Most ignorant of what he 's most assured, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, Measure for Measure, Act 1i. Sc. 2. VANITY. SHAKESPEARE. As eddies draw things frivolous and light, Night Thoughts, Night VIII. DR. E. YOUNG. One prospect lost, another still we gain; Essay on Man, Epistle II. A. POPE. Sir Plume (of amber snuff-box justly vain, A. POPE. Light vanity, insatiate cormorant, King Richard II., Act ii. Sc. 1. VARIETY. SHAKESPEARE. The earth was made so various, that the mind And pleased with novelty, might be indulged. Variety 's the very spice of life, The Timepiece: The Task, Bk. II. W. COWPER. W. COWPER. Not chaos-like together crushed and bruised, And where, though all things differ, all agree. Windsor Forest. A. POPE. How various his employments whom the world 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,- Essay an Man, Epistle IV. A. POPE. Virtue, not rolling suns, the mind matures, DR. E. YOUNG. Good, the more 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 Paradise Lost, Bk. IV. MILTON. So dear to heaven is saintly chastity, Comus. MILTON. Adieu, dear, amiable youth! Your heart can ne'er be wanting! In ploughman phrase, "God send you speed," 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, To One Deceived. H. T. TUCKERMAN. Virtue she finds too painful to endeavor, 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. VISIONS. SHAKESPEARE. 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, Of that rare happiness, which even on earth 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, Dunciad, Bk. III. A. POPE. And still they dream, that they shall still succeed; 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, O Cæsar! these things are beyond all use, Julius Cæsar, Act ii. Sc. 2. SHAKESPEARE. Lochiel, Lochiel! beware of the day; WAR. My sentence is for open war; of wiles T. CAMPBELL. More unexpert I boast not: then let those Contrive who need, or when they need, not now. Paradise Lost, Bk. II. And Cæsar's spirit, ranging for revenge, MILTON. Cry "Havock!" and let slip the dogs of war. Julius Cæsar, Act iii. Sc. 1. SHAKESPEARE. In every heart Are sown the sparks that kindle fiery war; The Task: Winter Morning Walk. W. COWPER. Long peace, I find, But nurses dangerous humors up to strength, Can purge away. Mustapha. D. MALLET. |