Yet dare arraign the whole stupendous plan, It' but that little part incongruous seem, Nor is that part perhaps what mortals deem; Oft from apparent ill our blessings rise. O then renounce that impious self-esteem, That aims to trace the secrets of the skies: For thou art but of dust; be humble and be wise. Beattie's Minstrel.
Yes, thou art ever present, Power Supreme! Not circumscrib'd by time, nor fixt to space, Confin'd to altars, nor to temples bound. In wealth, in want, in freedom, or in chains, In dungeons, or on thrones, the faithful find Thee! Hannah More's Belshazzar.
Just as a mother, with sweet pious face, Yearns tow'rds her children from her seat, Gives one a kiss, another an embrace, Takes this upon her knee, that on her feet; And while from actions, looks, complaints, pre-
Prudence, thou virtue of the mind, by which We do consult of all that's good or evil, Conducting to felicity; direct
My thoughts and actions by the rules of reason. Teach me contempt of all inferior vanities; Pride in a marble portal gilded o'er, Assyrian carpets, chairs of ivory, The luxuries of a stupendous house, Garments perfum'd, gems valued not for use, But needless ornament: a sumptuous table, And all the baits of sense. A vulgar eye Secs not the dangers which beneath them lie. Nabb's Microcosmus.
Look forward what's to come, and back what's
Prudence, thou vainly in our youth art sought, And with age purchas'd, art too dearly bought: We're past the use of wit for which we toil: Late fruit, and planted in too cold a soil.
Prudence protects and guides us; wit betrays; A splendid source of ill ten thousand ways; A certain snare to miseries immense; A gay prerogative from common sense; Unless strong judgment that wild thing can tame, And break to paths of virtue and of fame.
Young. Consult your means, avoid the tempter's wiles, Shun grinning hosts of unreceipted files, Let Heaven-ey'd prudence battle with desire, And win the victory, though it be through fire. James T. Fields' Poems.
As dare with rigour execute the laws. Her fester'd members must be lanc'd and tented: He's a bad surgeon that for pity spares The part corrupted till the gangrene spread, And all the body perish: he that's merciful Unto the bad, is cruel to the good.
Randolph's Muses' Looking-Glass. The laws are sinfully contriv'd. Justice Should weigh the present crime, not future Inference on deeds; but now they cheapen Blood; 'tis spilt
To punish the example, not the guilt.
Spring has no blossom fairer than thy form; Winter no snow-wreath purer than thy mind; The dew-drop trembling to the morning beam Is like thy smile, pure, transient, heaven-refin'd. Mrs. Lydia Jane Pierson.
A lovelier nymph the pencil never drew; For the fond graces formed her easy mien, And heaven's soft azure in her cye was seen.
Be purity of life the test,—
Sir W. Davenant's Just Italian. Leave to the heart, to heaven, the rest.
Do not, if one but lightly thee offend, The punishment beyond the crime extend; Or after warning the offence forget; So God himself our failings did remit.
'Tis not the fairest form that holds The mildest, purest soul within;
Orgula, or the Fatal Error. "T is not the richest plant that folds The sweetest breath of fragrance in.
From a maid in the pride of her purity;
And the Power on high that can shield the good Cast my heart's gold into the furnace flame,
Thus from the tyrant of the wood,
Hath extended its mercy to guard me well From the hands of the leaguering infidel.
Byron's Siege of Corinth.
And if it come not thence refined and pure, I'll be a bankrupt to thy hope, and heaven Shall shut its gates on me.
Patience and hope, that keep the soul
Unruffled and secure,
Though floods of grief beneath it roll, I learn, when calm and pure I see the floating water-lily
Gleam amid shadows dark and chilly.
Made all of terms and shreds; no less belyers
Of great men's favours, than their own vile med'cines,
Which they will utter upon monstrous oaths: Selling that drug for two pence ere they part, Caroline May. Which they have valu'd at twelve crowns before, Jonson's Volpone.
Thine is a face to look upon and pray That a pure spirit keep thee- I would meet With one so gentle by the streams away, Living with nature; keeping thy pure feet For the unfingered moss, and for the grass Which leaneth where the gentle waters pass. The autumn leaves should sigh thee to thy sleep; And the capricious April, coming on,
Awake thee like a flower; and stars should keep A vigil o'er thee like Endymion; And thou for very gentleness shouldst weep As dews of the night's quietness come down.
There was a time when we beheld the quack, On public stage, the licens'd trade attack; He made his labour'd speech with poor parade, And then a laughing zany lent him aid.
But now our quacks are gamesters, and they play
With craft and skill to ruin and betray; With monstrous promise they delude the mind, And thrive on all that tortures human-kind. Crabbe's Borough
Void of all honour, avaricious, rash, The daring tribe compound their boasted trash-- Tincture or syrup, lotion, drop or pill:
All tempt the sick to trust the lying bill; There are among them those who cannot read, And yet they'll buy a patent and succeed; Will dare to promise dying sufferers aid, For who, when dead, can threaten or upbraid? With cruel avarice still they recommend More draughts, more syrups to the journey's
Robert Morris. Of real helpers, to be call'd too late;
Quack-salving cheating mountebanks-your skill Is to make sound men sick, and sick men kill. Massinger and Decker's Virgin Martyr.
This find the sick, when (time and patience
When the black'ng clouds in sprinkling showers Distil, from the high summits down the rain Runs trickling, with the fertile moisture cheer'd, The orchards smile, joyous the farmers see Their thriving plants, and bless the heavenly dew. Philips's Cider. The clouds consign their treasures to the fields, And softly shaking on the dimpled pool Prelusive drops, let all their moisture flow, In large effusion, o'er the freshen'd world. Thomson's Seasons.
The rain is o'er-How densely bright Yon pearly clouds reposing lie! Cloud above cloud, a glorious sight, Contrasting with the deep-blue sky! In grateful silence earth receives
The general blessing; fresh and fair Each flower expands its little leaves, As glad the common joy to share.
Andrew Norton. The rain is playing its soft pleasant tune Fitfully on the skylight, and the shade Of the fast flying clouds across my book Passes with delicate change.
My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky!
Triumphal arch, that fill'st the sky, When storms prepare to part, I ask not proud Philosophy
To tell me what thou art.
Still seem, as to my childhood's sight, A midway station given
For happy spirits to alight,
Betwixt the earth and heaven!
The rainbow dies in heaven and not on earth. Bailey's Festus.
Far up the blue sky a fair rainbow unroll'd Its soft-tinted pinions of purple and gold; 'Twas born in a moment, yet quick at its birth, It had stretch'd to the uttermost ends of the earth, And fair as an angel, it floated as free, With a wing on the earth and a wing on the sea Mrs. Welby's Poems. O, beautiful rainbow;—all woven of light!— There's not in thy tissue, one shadow of night; Heaven surely is open when thou dost appear, And, bending above thee, the angels draw near, And sing-"The rainbow! the rainbow! "The smile of God is here."
Webster's Duchess of Malfy.
Man is not the prince of creatures, But in reason; fail that, he is worse Than horse, or dog, or beast of wilderness.
Field's Amends for Ladies. Where men have several faiths, to find the true, We only can the aid of reason use; 'Tis reason shows us which we should eschew, When by comparison we learn to choose. But though we there on reason must rely, Where men to several faiths their minds dispose; Yet after reason's choice, the schools are shy To let it judge the very faith it chose.
I see the errors that I would avoid, And have my reason still, but not the use on 't: It hangs upon me like a wither'd limb Bound up and numb'd by some disease's frost, The form the same, but all the use is lost. Sir R. Howard's Great Favourite. Thought
Precedes the will to think, and error lives Ere reason can be born. Reason, the power
To guess at right and wrong, the twinkling lamp Of wand'ring life, that winks and wakes by turns, Fooling the follower betwixt shade and shining.
Within the brain's most secret cells, A certain lord chief justice dwells, Of sov'reign power, whom one and all, With common voice we reason call.
'The Infinite speaks in our silent hearts, And draws our being to himself, as deep Calleth unto deep. He who all thought imparts, Demands the pledge, the bond of soul to keep; But reason, wandering from its fount afar,
And stooping downward, breaks the subtle chain That inus it to itself, like star to star, And sun to sun, upward to God again.
Every creature knoweth its capacities, running in the road of instinct,
And reason must not lag behind, but serve itself of all proprieties.
Tupper's Proverbial Philosophy.
I would not always reason. The straight path Wearies us with its never-varying lines, And we grow melancholy. I would make Reason my guide, but she should sometimes sit Patiently by the wayside, while I trac'd The mazes of the pleasant wilderness Around me. She should be my counsellor But not my tyrant. For the spirit needs Impulses from a deeper source than hers, And there are motions, in the mind of man, That she must look upon with awe.
Bryant's Poems — When I see cold man of reason proud, My solitude is sad-I'm lonely in the crowd. Dana's Poems.
Is mustering in his clouds, on our behalf, Armies of pestilence; and they shall strike Your children yet unborn, and unbegot, That lift your vassal hands against my head, And threat the glory of my precious crown. Shaks. Richard II.
The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd, The meteors fight the fixed stars of heaven; The pale-fac'd moon looks bloody on the earth, And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change: Rich men look sad, and ruffians dance and leap. Shaks. Richard II.
Go thou, and like an executioner Cut off the heads of two fast growing sprays, That look too lofty in our commonwealth: All must be even in our government.
Here do we make his friends Blush, that the world goes well; who rather had, Though they themselves did suffer by 't, behold Dissentious numbers pestering streets, than sce Our tradesmen singing in their shops, and going About their functions friendly. Shaks. Coriolanus,
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