Unjustly laid; yet when the amazement, which That new pain brings, is worn away, they then Embrace oppression straight, with such Obedient cheerfulness, as if it came From heaven, not man.
They answer in a joint and corporate voice, Than now they are at fall,-want treasure-cannot Do what they would; are sorry - you are honour- able-
Sir William Davenant's Fair Favourite. Something had been amiss
But yet they could have wish'd-they knew not- a noble nature May catch a wrench- - would all were all well 'tis pity
An old man, broken with the storms of state, Is come to lay his weary bones among ye; Give him a little earth for charity.
Shaks. Henry VIIi His overthrow heap'd happiness upon him, For then, and not till then, he felt himself And found the blessedness of being little And, to add greater honours to his age Than man could give him, he died, fea.ing God. Shaks Henry VIII. 'Tis certain, greatness, once fallen out with for- tune,
Must fall out with men too: what the declin'd is, He shall as soon read in the eyes of others, As feel in his own fall; for men, ke butterflies, Show not their mealy wings but to the summer. Shaks. Troi. and Cres. If I once full, how many knees, now bending, Would stamp the heel of hate into my breast! Sir A. Hunt's Julian.
I am not now in fortune's power: He that is down, can fall no lower.
Butler's Hudibras Now let us thank th' eternal power; convinc'd That heaven but tries our virtue by affliction: That oft the cloud which wraps the present hour, Serves but to brighten all our future days. Brown's Barbarossa.
Daughter of Jove, relentless power, Thou tamer of the human breast, Whose iron scourge, and torturing hour, The bad affright, afflict the best! Bound in thy adamantine chain, The proud are taught to taste of pain, And purple tyrants vainly groan, With pangs unfelt before, unpitied, and alone. Gray's Hymn to Adversity. The gods in bounty work up storms about us, That give mankind occasion to exert Their hidden strength, and throw out into practice Virtues that shun the day, and lie conceal'd In the smooth seasons and the calms of life.
How sudden are the blows of fate! what change, What revolution, in the state of glory! Cibber's Casar in Egypt. I will bear it
With all the tender sufferance of a friend, As calmly as the wounded patient bears The artist's hand that ministers his cure.
Deserted at his utmost need, By those his former bounty fed. Dryden's Alexander's Feast. To exult
Ev'n o'er an enemy oppress'd, and heap Affliction on the afflicted, is the mark, And the mean triumph of a dastard soul.
Affliction is the wholesome soil of virtue : Where patience, honour, sweet humanity, Calm fortitude, take root, and strongly flourish. Mallet and Thomson's Alfred. Who has not known ill fortune, never knew Himself, or his own virtue.
In this wild world the fondest and the best, Are the most tried, most troubled, and distress'd Crabbe.
That saddening hour when bad men hotlier press: But these did shelter him beneath their roof, When less barbarians would have cheer'd him less, And fellow countrymen have stood aloof — In aught that tries the heart, how few withstand the proof! Byron's Childe Harold. Of all the horrid, hideous notes of woe, Sadder than owl-songs on the midnight blast, Is that portentous phrase, "I told you so," Utter'd by friends, those prophets of the past, Mallet and Thomson's Alfred. Who, 'stead of saying what you now should do, Own they foresaw that you would fall at last, And solace your slight lapse 'gainst “ bonos mores,” With a long memorandum of old stories.
Ye noble few! who here unbending stand Beneath life's pressure, yet bear up awhile, And what your bounded view, which only saw A little part, deem'd evil, is no more; The storms of wintry time will quickly pass, And one unbounded spring encircle all.
Thomson's Seasons. Affliction is the good man's shining scene; Prosperity conceals his brightest ray; As night to stars, woe lustre gives to man. Young's Night Thoughts.
We bleed, we tremble, we forget, we smile, The mind turns fool, before the cheek is dry. Young's Night Thoughts.
I have not quailed to danger's brow When high and happy-need I now?
Byron's Giaour. One thought alone he could not-dared not meet. "Oh how these tidings will Medora greet?" Then-only then-his clanking hands he raised And strain'd with rage the chain on which he gaz'd. Byron's Corsair The good are better made by ill:- As odours crush'd are sweeter still!
Adversity's cold frosts will soon be o'er; It heralds brighter days :-the joyous Spring Is cradled on the Winter's icy breast, And yet comes flushed in beauty.
Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Mrs. Hemans. Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel; But do not dull thy palm with entertaiment Of each new hatch'd unfledged comrade.
For to unfold the anguish of your heart: Mishaps are master'd by advice discreet, And counsel mitigates the greatest smart. Spenser's Fairy Queen. Know when to speak; for many times it brings Danger, to give the best advice to kings.
Herrick. Direct not him, whose way himself will choose; "Tis breath thou lack'st, and that breath wilt thou lose. Shaks. Richard II.
Let him be so, For counsel still is folly's deadly foe.
Shaks. London Prodigal. I pray thee, cease thy counsel. Which falls into mine ears as profitless As water in a sieve.
I shall the effect of this good lesson keep As watchman to my heart.
'Tis all men's office to speak patience To those that wring under the load of sorrow; But no man's virtue, nor sufficiency, To be so moral, when he shall endure The like himself. Therefore give me no counsel: My griefs cry louder than advertisement. Shaks. Much ado. Men
Can counsel and speak comfort to that grief Which they themselves not feel; but, tasting it, Their counsel turns to passion, which before Would give preceptial medicine to rage, Fetter strong madness in a silken thread, Charm ache with air, and agony with words.
Shaks. Much ado. A wretched soul, bruised with adversity, We bid be quiet, when we hear it cry; But were we burdened with like weight of pain, As much, or more, we should ourselves complain. Shaks. Much ado. What could I more?
Do wrong to none; be able for thine enemy Rather in power than use; and keep thy friend Under thine own life's key: be check'd for silence, But never tax'd for speech.
Shaks. All's well. I warn'd thee, I admonish'd thee, foretold The danger, and the lurking enemy That lay in wait; beyond this had been force, And force upon free will hath here no place. Milton's Paradise Lost. Learn to dissemble wrongs, to smile at injuries, And suffer crimes thou want'st the power to punish:
Of entrance to a quarrel; but being in, Bear it that the opposer may beware of thee. Shaks. Hamlet. Give every man thine ear but few thy voice: Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judg. Shaks. Hamlet.
ment. Neither a borrower nor a lender be: For loan oft loses both itself and friend; And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. Shaks. Hamlet. Love thyself last; cherish those hearts that hate
Be easy, affable, familiar, friendly: Search, and know all mankind's mysterious ways; But trust the secret of thy soul to none: This is the way,
This only, to be safe in such a world as this is Rowe's Ulysses.
And cool-soul'd hermits, mortify'd with care, And bent by age and palsies, whine out maxims, Which their brisk youth had blushed at. Hill's Henry V
Aye free, off han', your story tell When wi' a bosom crony; But still keep something to yoursel Ye scarcely tell to onv.
But this shall be a token thou hast been A friend to him who pluck'd these lovely flowers, And sent them as a tribute to a friend, And a remembrance of the few kind hours Which lightened on the darkness of my path.
On the door you will not enter,
By tyranny, or rigour of compulsion, Like tempest-threatened trees, unfirmly rooted, Ne'er spring to timely growth.
John Ford's Broken Heart
O! there is one affection which no stain
Of earth can ever darken;—when two find, The softer and the manlier, that a chain Of kindred taste has fastened mind to mind, "Tis an attraction from all sense refined; The good can only know it; 'tis not blind, As love is unto baseness; its desire Is but with hands entwined to lift our being higher Percival's Poems
Ah! could you look into my heart, And watch your image there! You would own the sunny loveliness Affection makes it wear.
I have gazed too long-adieu!
Hope withdraws her peradventure- Death is near me and not you.
What war so cruel, or what siege so sore, As that which strong affections do apply Against the fort of reason, evermore To bring the soul into captivity!
The careful cold hath nipt my rugged rind, And in my face deep furrows eld hath plight; My head besprent with hoary frost I find, And by mine eye the crow his claw doth wright: Delight is laid abed, and pleasure past; No sun now shines, clouds have all overcast. Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar. These old fellows have
Their ingratitude in them hereditary: Their blood is cak'd, 't is cold, it seldom flows; 'Tis lack of kindly warmth, they are not kind And nature, as it grows again toward earth, Is fashion'd for the journey-dull and heavy. Shaks. Timon.
O let us have him; for his silver hairs Spenser's Fairy Queen. Will purchase us a good opini、n,
And buy men's voices to commend our deeds; It shall be said,—his judgment rul'd our hands; Our youths, and wildness shall no wit appear, But all be bury'd in his gravity.
Shaks. Julius Cæsar. Youth no less becomes The light and careless livery that it wears, Than settled age his sables and his weeds, Importing health, and graveness.
Shaks. Hamlet Though I look old, yet I am strong and lusty: For in my youth I never did apply Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood.
I know thee not, old man: fall to thy prayers, How ill white hairs become a fool and jester
he lean and slipper'd pantaloon; spectacles on nose, and pouch on side; outhful hose well sav'd, a world too wide is shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, ng again towards childish treble, pipes whistles in his sound.
But fell like autumn fruit that mellowed long, Even wonder'd at because he dropped no sooner; Fate seem'd to wind him up for fourscore years, Yet freshly ran he on ten winters more, Till, like a clock worn out with eating time, The wheels of weary life at last stood still. Lee's Edipus
Learn to live well, or fairly make your will; You've play'd, and lov'd, and ate, and drank your fill,
Walk sober off before a sprightlier age Comes tittering on, and shoves you from the stage: Leave such to trifle with more grace and ease, Whom folly pleases, and whose follics please.
This heart, by age and grief congeal'd, Is no more sensible of love's endearments, Than are our barren rocks to morn's sweet dew, That calmly trickles down their rugged checks. Miller's Mahomet. Shaks. As you like it. His mien is lofty, his demeanour great, Last scene of all, Nor sprightly folly wantons in his air, Nor dull serenity becalms his eyes, Such had I trusted once as soon as seen, But cautious age suspects the flattering form, And only credits what experience tells.
ends this strange eventful history, ond childishness, and mere oblivion; eeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans every thing. Shaks. As you like it.
d where age's wretched victim lies, is head trembling, and his half clos'd eyes, ent for breath his panting bosom heaves; oken sleep his remnant sense he gives, only by his pains, awaking, finds he lives.
Dr. Johnson's Irene. The still returning tale, and lingering jest, Perplex the fawning niece, and pamper'd guest, While growing hopes scarce awe the gath'ring
Prior's Solomon. And scarce a legacy can bribe to hear.
are the effects of doting age, doubts, and idle cares, and over caution. Dryden's Sebastian. t of power and of riches now bear sway, passion and infirmity of age.
Frowde's Philotas. its with decent grace upon his visage, worthily becomes his silver locks; ears the marks of many years well spent, -tue, truth well tried, and wise experience. Rowe's Jane Shore. wise old men, those plodding grave state pedants, et the course of youth; their crooked pru- dence,
seness verging still, forgets to take heir fine-spun schemes the generous heart, through the cobweb system bursting, lays labours waste.
Dr. Johnson's Vanity of Human Wishes.
Though old, he still retained
His manly sense, and energy of mind. Virtuous and wise he was, but not severe; He still remember'd that he once was young: His easy presence check'd no decent joy, Him even the dissolute admir'd; for he A graceful looseness, when he pleas'd, put on, And laughing could instruct.
Armstrong's Art of preserving Health. Fresh hopes are hourly sown In furrow'd brows: To gentle life's descent, We shut our eyes, and think it is a plain: We take fair days in winter, for the spring; And turn our blessings into bane.
O my coevals! remnants of ourselves! Poor human ruins tottering o'er the grave! Shall we, shall aged men, like aged trees, Thomson's Tancred and Sigismunda. Strike deeper their vile root, and closer cling,
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