3. Once more upon the waters! yet once more, And the waves bound beneath me, as a steed That knows his rider!

BYRON'S Childe Harold.

4. O'er the glad waters of the dark blue sea,
Our thoughts as boundless, and our homes as free,
Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam,
Behold our empire and survey our home!

5. Oh! who can tell, save he whose heart hath tried,
And danc'd in triumph o'er the waters wide,
The exulting sense the pulse's maddening play,
That thrills the wanderer of the trackless way!

6. The polish'd mirror of the lake,

In which the deep reflected sky appears,
A calm, sublime immensity below.

7. Like an eagle caged I pine,

On this dull, unchanging shore;
Oh! give me the flashing brine,
The spray, and the tempest's roar!

BYRON'S Corsair.

BYRON'S Corsair.

9. Thou boundless, shining, glorious sea!
With ecstasy I gaze on thee;
And, as I gaze, thy billowy roll
Wakes the deep feelings of my soul!

CARLOS WILCOX.

8. The sea! the sea! the open sea!
The blue, the fresh, the ever free!
Without a mark, without a bound,
It runneth the earth's wide region round;
It plays with the clouds; it mocks the skies;
Or like a cradled creature lies.

BARRY CORNWALL (PROCTOR).

10. Old Ocean's grey and melancholy waste.

11. I, too, have been upon thy rolling breast,
Wildest of waters! I have seen thee lie
Calm, as an infant pillow'd in its rest

On a fond mother's bosom, when the sky,
Not smoother, gave the deep its azure dye,
Till a new heaven was arch'd and glass'd below.

12. For every wave, with dimpled face,
That leap'd upon the air,

Had caught a star in its embrace,
And held it trembling there!

2.

OFFENCE.

1. In such a time as this, it is not meet That every

W. C. BRYANT.

J. G. PERCIVAL.

MRS. AMELIA B. WELBY.

nice offence should bear its comment.

What is my offence?
Where is the evidence that doth accuse me?
What lawful 'quest have given this verdict up
Unto the frowning judge?

SHAKSPEARE.

3. If my offence be of such mortal kind,
That neither service past, nor present sorrows,
Nor purpos'd merit in futurity,

Can ransom me into his love again,

But to know so much be my benefit;

So shall I clothe me in a forc'd content,
And shut myself up in some other course
To fortune's alms.

SHAKSPEARE.

SHAKSPEARE.

4. The very head and front of my offending Hath this extent, no more.

5. For, well you know, we of th' offending side
Must keep aloof from strict arbitrament;
And stop all sight-holes, every loop, from whence
The eye of reason may pry in upon us.

6. All's not offence that indiscretion finds, And dotage terms so.

SHAKSPEARE.

2.

SHAKSPEARE.

7. He hath wrong'd his queen, but still he is her lord;
He hath wrong'd my sister, still he is my brother;
He hath wrong'd his people, still he is their sovereign,
And I must be his friend, as well as subject: -
He must not perish thus.

BYRON'S Sardanapalus.

SHAKSPEARE.

OFFICE.

1.

To hold a place

In council, which was once esteem'd an honour,

And a reward for virtue, hath quite lost
Lustre and reputation, and is made
A mercenary purchase.

When impious men bear sway,
The post of honour is a private station.

MASSINGER.

ADDISON.

3. The seals of office glitter in his eyes;

He climbs, he pants, he grasps them; at his heels,
Close at his heels, a demagogue ascends,

And, with a dexterous jerk, soon twists him down,
And wins them but to lose them in his turn.

COWPER.

4.

Why, look around,

And count, if possible, the pamper'd numbers, Who fatten on the state: they are the men, Who, if they find a man too honourable To be a fellow-gleaner of the spoils, When faction's sickle sweeps the public wealth, Lift up their angry voices to the crowd, And breathe around their pestilential breath, Till virtue's self is tainted by the touch. DAWES' Athenia of Damascus. 5. And here and there some stern, high patriot stood, Who could not get the place for which he sued.

BYRON'S Don Juan.

OLD AGE. (See AGE.)

OPINION.

1. Opinion's but a fool, that makes us scan The outward habit by the inward man.

2. Opinion is that high and mighty dame

Which rules the world, and in the mind doth frame
Distastes or likings; for, in human race,
She makes the fancy various as the face.

3. Let not opinion make thy judgment err;
The evening conquest crowns the conqueror.

SHAKSPEARE.

4. Opinionators naturally differ

From other men; as wooden legs are stiffer
Than those of pliant joints, to yield and bow,
Which way soe'er they are design'd to go.

HOWEL.

LADY ALIMONY.

BUTLER'S Hudibras.

436

5. Opinion governs all mankind,
Like the blind leading of the blind;
For he that has no eyes in 's head,
Must be b'a dog glad to be led.

OPPORTUNITY.

7.

6. And nothing's so perverse in nature, As a profound opinionator.

BUTLER'S Hudibras.

BUTLER'S Hudibras.

4.

We all, my lords, have err'd;
Men may, I find, be honest, though they differ.

OPPORTUNITY.

1. There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.

2. A little fire is quickly trodden out,

Which, being suffer'd, rivers cannot quench.

THOMSON.

SHAKSPEARE.

3. The means that heaven yields must be embrac'd,
And not neglected; else, if heaven would,
And we will not, heaven's offers we refuse,
The proffer'd means of succour and redress.

SHAKSPEARE.

SHAKSPEARE.

Accursed opportunity!
The midwife and the bawd to all our vices:
That work'st our thoughts into desires; desires

To resolutions; and these being ripe and quicken'd,
Thou giv'st them birth, and bring'st them forth to action.

DENHAM.