239

ETERNITY - FUTURITY

ETERNITY-- FUTURITY.

O, that a man might know

The end of this day's business, ere it come,
But it sufficeth that the day will end ;
And then the end is known.

Beyond is all abyss,

Eternity, whose end no eye can reach.

SHAKSPEARE.

MILTON'S Paradise Lost,

Too curious man! why dost thou seek to know
Events, which, good or ill, foreknown, are woe?
Th' all-seeing power, that made thee mortal, gave
Thee every thing a mortal state should have.

Sure there is none but fears a future state;

And when the most obdurate swear they do not,

DRYDEN

Their trembling hearts belie their boasting tongues.

DRYDEN

Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought!

Through what variety of untried beings

Through what new scenes and changes must we pass!
The wide, th' unbounded prospect lies before me,
But shadows, clouds, and darkness rest upon it.

ADDISON'S Cato

Heaven from all creatures hides the book of fate,
All but the page prescrib'd, their present state.

Oh! in that future let us think

POPE's Essay on Man,

To hold each heart the heart that shares; With them the immortal waters drink,

And, soul in soul, grow deathless theirs!

BYRON.

240

ETIQUETTE-POLITENESS, &c.

Shall I be left forgotten in the dust,

When Fate, relenting, lets the flower revive!
Shall Nature's voice, to man alone unjust,

Bid him, though doom'd to perish, hope to live?

Is it for this fair Virtue oft must strive

With disappointment, penury and pain?

No: heaven's immortal spring shall yet arrive

And man's majestic beauty bloom again,

Brignt thro' the eternal years of Love's triumphant reign.

BEATTIE'S Minstrel

ETIQUETTE-POLITENESS-RUDENESS.

Fit for the mountains and the barbarous caves
Where manners ne'er were preach'd.

SHAKSPEARE

He was the mildest manner'd man,
That ever scuttled ship, or cut a throat.

BYRON'S Don Juan.

To all she was polite without parade;
To some she show'd attention of that kind
Which flatters, but is flattery convey'd

In such a sort as cannot leave behind

A trace unworthy.

BYRON'S Don Juan.

There's nothing in the world like etiquette

In kingly chambers, or imperial halls,
As also at the race, and county balls.

BYRON'S Don Juan.

There was a general whisper, toss, and wriggle,
But etiquette forbade them all to giggle.

BYRON'S Don Juan.

All smiles, and bows, and courtesy was he.

JT. WATSON.

EVENING-EXAMPLE.

EVENING. (See Day.)

241

EXAMPLE.

No age hath been, since Nature first began
To work Jove's wonders, but hath left behind
Some deeds of praise for mirrors unto man,

Which, more than threatful laws, have men inclin'd
To thread the paths of praise excites the mind;
Mirrors tie thoughts to virtue's due respects;

Example hastens deeds to good effects.

A fault doth never with remorse
Our minds so deeply move,
As when another's guiltless life
Our error doth reprove.

For as the light

Mirror for Magistrates

Not only serves to show, but renders us
Mutually profitable: so our lives,

In acts exemplary, not only win

Ourselves good names, but do to others give
Matter for virtuous deeds, by which we live.

"Tis thus the spirit of a single mind

BRANDON,

CHAPMAN

Maxes that of multitudes take one direction,
As roll the water to the breathing wind,
Or roams the herd beneath the bull's protection.

BYRON'S Don Juan

242

EXCELLENCE - MERIT. WORTH.

EXCELLENCE - MERIT

WORTH.

The sweet eye-glances, that like arrows glide,

The charming smiles, that rob sense from the heart,
The lovely pleasaunce, and the lofty pride,

Cannot expressèd be by any art.

SPENSER'S Sonnets

Oh, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem,
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give!
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem,

For that sweet odour which doth in it live.

SHAKSPEARE,

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety.

SHAKSPEARE.

A combination and a form indeed,

Where every god did seem to set his scal,

To give the world assurance of a man.

SHAKSPEARE.

More pity that the eagle should be mew'd,
While kites and buzzards prey at liberty.

SHAKSPEARE.

Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shin'd.

MILTON

Good nature and good sense must ever join;
Tc err is human, to forgive divine.

POPE.

Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll;

Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul

Pore.

Form'd by the converse happily to steer

From grave to gay, from lively to severe;

Correct with spirit, eloquent with ease,

Intent to reason, or polite to please.

POPE.

EXCELLENCE - MERIT - WORTH.

Worth makes the man, and want of it, the fellow

Let envy snarl, let slander rail;

In vain malicious tongues assail:

POPE

213

From virtue's shield (secure from wound,)

Their blunted, venom'd shafts rebound.

A matchless pair;

With equal virtue form d, and equal grace,
The same, distinguish'd by their sex alone;
Hers the mild lustre of the blooming morn,
And his the radiance of the risen day.

GAY's Fables.

Ease in your mien, and sweetness in your face,
You speak a syren, and you move a grace;
Nor time shall urge these beauties to decay,
While virtue gives what years shall steal away.

Full many a gem, of purest ray serene,

The dark, unfathom'd caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,

And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

THOMSON

TICKELL.

GRAY'S Elegy.

His pencil was striking, resistless, and grand;
His manners were gentle, complying, and bland;
Still born to improve us in every part,

His pencil our faces-his manners our heart.

GOLDSMITH'S Retaliation.

Describe him who can,

An abridgement of all that was pleasant in man.

GOLDSMITH'S Retaliation.

For she was good as she was fair,

None, none on earth above her— As pure in thought as angels are, To see her, was to love her.