Page images
PDF
EPUB

112

CHANGE-VICISSITUDE.

9. Fortune makes quick despatch, and in a day

May strip you bare as beggary itself.

CUMBERLAND's Philemon.

10. All our advantages are those of fortune;

Birth, health, wealth, beauty, are her accidents;
And fortune can take nought save what she gives.

11. Oh, many a shaft, at random sent, Finds mark the archer little meant;

BYRON'S Two Foscari.

And many a word, at random spoken,
May soothe or wound a heart that's broken.

SCOTT.

CHANGE-VICISSITUDE.

1. For all, that in this world is great or gay, Doth, as a vapour, vanish and decay.

SPENSER'S Ruins of Time.

2. Thus doth the ever-changing course of things
Run a perpetual circle, ever turning;
And that same day, that highest glory brings,
Brings us unto the point of back-returning.

3. Is there no constancy in earthly things?
No happiness in us, but what must alter?
No life without the heavy load of fortune?
What miseries we are, and to ourselves!
Even then, when full content seems to sit by us,
What daily sores and sorrows!

DANIEL.

BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.

4. But yesterday the word of Cæsar might

Have stood against the world; now lies he there,

And none so poor to do him reverence.

SHAKSPEARE.

5. The time has been, when no harsh sounds would fall From lips that now may seem imbued with gall; But now so callous grown, so chang'd since youth, I've learn'd to think, and sternly speak the truth. BYRON'S English Bards, &c. 6. Gone, glimm'ring thro' the dreams of things that were A schoolboy's tale-the wonder of an hour.

BYRON'S Childe Harold.

7. How chang'd since last her speaking eye

Glanc'd gladness round the glitt'ring room;
Where high-born men were proud to wait,
Where beauty watch'd to imitate!

BYRON'S Parisina.

8. A minute past, and she had been all tears,
And tenderness, and infancy; but now

She stood as one who champion'd human fears:-
Pale, statue-like, and stern, she woo'd the blow.

9. Roses bloom, and then they wither,

BYRON'S Don Juan.

Cheeks are bright, then fade and die;

Shapes of light are wafted hither,
Then like visions hurry by.

J. G. PERCIVAL.

10. Ah me! what is there in earth's various range, Which time and absence may not sadly change?

11. But while the glitter charms our gazing eyes, Its wings are folded, and the meteor dies.

12. Change is written on the tide,

SANDS.

ROBERT TREAT PAINE.

On the forest's leafy pride;
On the streamlet glancing bright,
On the jewell'd crown of night;-
All, where'er the eye can rest,
Show it legibly imprest.

REV. J. H. CLINCH.

114

CHARACTER - DISPOSITION, &c.

13. There are no birds in last year's nest.

H. W. LONGfellow.

14. Your coldness I heed not, your frown I defy;

Your affection I need not-the time has gone by,
When a blush or a smile on that cheek could beguile
My soul from its safety, with witchery's wile.

MRS. OSGOOD.
15. Oh! what a change comes over that sad heart!
Where all was joyous, light, and free from care,
All thoughts of peace do for a time depart,
And yield to rage, and anguish, and despair!

J. T. WATSON.

CHARACTER-DISPOSITION, &c.

1. He was a man of rare, undoubted might,
Famous throughout the world for warlike praise,
And glorious spoils purchas'd in perilous fight;
Full many doughty knights he, in his days,
Had done to death, subdued in equal frays.

SPENSER'S Fairy Queen.

2. With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws, and modern instances.

SHAKSPEARE.

3. Who steals my purse, steals trash; 't is something, nothing, 'T was mine, 't is his, and has been slave to thousands;

But he, who filches from me my good name,

Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.

SHAKSPEARE.

4. The purest treasure mortal times afford,
Is spotless reputation; that away,
Men are but gilded loam, or painted clay.

SHAKSPEARE.

5. Gnats are unnotic'd, wheresoe'er they fly, But eagles gaz'd upon with ev'ry eye.

SHAKSPEARE.

6. In all thy humours, whether grave or mellow,
Thou'rt such a touchy, testy, pleasant fellow,
Hast so much wit and mirth, and spleen about thee,
There is no living with thee, nor without thee.

7. With warlike sword, and sing-song lay, Equipp'd alike for feast or fray.

From MARTIAL.

TRUMBULL'S MC Fingal.

8. Though gay as mirth, as curious thought sedate;

As elegance polite, as power elate;
Profound as reason, and as justice clear;
Soft as compassion, yet as truth severe.

9. Without, or with, offence to friends or foes, I sketch the world exactly as it goes.

SAVAGE.

BYRON'S Don Juan.

10. Cold-blooded, smooth-fac'd, placid miscreant.

BYRON'S Don Juan.

11. Here's a sigh for those who love me,
And a smile for those who hate;
And, whatever sky's above me,
Here's a heart for ev'ry fate.

12. With more capacity for love, than earth
Bestows on most of mortal mould and birth,
His early dreams of good outstripp'd the truth,
And troubled manhood follow'd baffled youth.

BYRON.

BYRON'S Lara.

13. Quick in revenge, and passionately proud,
His brightest hour still shone forth from a cloud;
And none conjecture on the next could form,—
So play'd the sunbeam on the verge of storm.

The New Timon.

[blocks in formation]

14. It was not mirth-for mirth she was too still;
It was not wit-wit leaves the heart more chill;
But that continuous sweetness, which with ease
Pleases all round it, from the wish to please.

15.

The dark grave,

The New Timon.

Which knows all secrets, can alone reclaim
The fatal doubt once cast on woman's name.

HON. W. HERBERT.

16. Devoted, anxious, generous, void of guile,

And with her whole heart's welcome in her smile.

CHARITY.

MRS. NORTON.

1. The secret pleasure of a generous act Is the great mind's great bribe.

2. In faith and hope the world will disagree,
But all mankind's concern'd in charity;

All must be false, that thwart this one great end;
And all of God, that bless mankind, or mend.

DRYDEN.

POPE'S Essay on Man.

3. There are, while human miseries abound,
A thousand ways to waste superfluous wealth,
Without one fool or flatterer at our board,
Without one hour of sickness or disgust.

4. Let shining Charity adorn your zeal,
The noblest impulse generous minds can feel.

5. The truly generous is the truly wise;
And he, who loves not others, lives unblest.

ARMSTRONG.

AARON HILL.

HOME's Douglass.

« EelmineJätka »