454

POETRY-POLITENESS - POLITICS.

Whose song gush'd from his heart

As showers from the clouds of summer,

Or tears from the eyelids start.

A politician, Proteus-like, must alter
His face and habit; and, like water, seem

Of the same colour that the vessel is

That doth contain it, varying his form,

With the chameleon, at each object's change.

Dull rogues affect the politician's part,
And learn to nod, and smile, and shrug with art;
Who nothing has to lose, the war bewails;
And he, who nothing pays, at taxes rails.

Your politicians

Have evermore a taint of vanity;

As hasty still to show and boast a plot,
As they are greedy to contrive it.

MASON.

CONGREVE.

SIR W. DAVENANT.

All would be deem'd, e'en from the cradle, fit
To rule in politics, as well as wit;
The grave, the gay, the fopling, and the dunce,
Start up (God bless us !) statesmen all at once!

CHURCHILI

POPULARITY - PORTRAIT, &c.

Who's in or out, who moves the grand machine,
Nor stirs my curiosity nor spleen ;

Secrets of state no more I wish to know,
Than secret movements of a puppet-show :
Let but the puppets move, I've my desire,
Unseen the hand that guides the master wire.

455

CHURCHILL.

How far the little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

Had I but serv'd my God with half the zeal
I serv'd my king, he would not, in mine age,
Have left me to mine enemies.

SHAKSPEARE.

SHAKSPEARE

Each must, in virtue, strive for to excel;

The man lives twice, who lives the first life well.

HERRICK.

450

PRAYER-RELIGION - VIRTUE

Shall ignorance of good and ill
Dare to direct th' eternal will?
Seek virtue; and, of that possess'd,

To Providence resign the rest.

His pure thoughts were borne

GAY's Fables.

Like fumes of sacred incense o'er the clouds,
And wafted thence on angels' wings, through ways
Of light to the bright Source of all.

For blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds,
And though a late, a sure reward succeeds.

CONGREVE.

CONGREVE'S Mourning Bride

Virtue may be assail'd, but never hurt;
Surpris'd by unjust force, but not enthrall'd;
Yet even that, which mischief meant most harm,
Shall in the happy trial prove most glory.

MILTON'S Comus.

Then to be good is to be happy; angels
Are happier than mankind, because they're better.

He patient show'd us the wise course to steer,
A candid censor, and a friend sincere;
He taught us how to live; and (Oh! too high
The price of knowleage) taught us how to die.

ROWE.

TICKELL, on the Death of Addison.
Sure the last end

Of the good man is peace! - how calm his exit!
Night-dews fall not more gently to the ground,
Nor weary, worn-out winds expire so soft!

BLAIR'S Grave.

What nothing earthly gives or can destroy,
The soul's calm sunshine, and the heartfelt joy,
Is virtue's prize.

POPE'S Essay on Man.

PRAYER-RELIGION - VIRTUE.

Know then this truth, (enough for man to know,,
Virtue alone is happiness below.

457

POPE'S Essay on Man.

She points the arduous height where glory lies,
And teaches mad ambition to be wise.

Beside the bed where parting life was laid,
And sorrow, guilt, and pain by turns dismay'd,
The reverend champion stood. At his control,
Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul :
Comfort came down, the trembling wretch to raise,
And his last, faltering accents whisper'd praise.

POPE.

GOLDSMITH'S Deserted Village.

Virtue on herself relying,
Every passion hush'd to rest,

Loses every pain of dying

In the hope of being blest.

Virtue in itself commands its happiness,
Of every outward object independent.

GOLDSMITH.

Virtue

Stands like the sun, and all which rolls around
Drinks life, and light, and glory, from her aspect.

And let not this seem strange; the devotee
Lives not on earth, but in his ecstasy;

Around him days and worlds are heedless driven,
His soul is gone, before his dust, to heaven.

While he lives,

FRANCIS

BYRON,

BYRON'S Island.

To know no bliss but that which virtue gives;
And when he dies, to leave a lofty name,
A light, a landmark on the cliffs of fame.

MOORE'S Lalla Rookh.

458

PREFERMENT-PRESS-PRESUMPTION.

Count life by virtues - these will last
When life's lame-footed race is o'er;
And these, when earthly joys are past,
Shall cheer us on a brighter shore.

MRS. S. J. HALF

PREFERMENT.

For places in the court are but like beds
In the hospital, where this man's head lies
At that man's foot, and so lower and lower.

'Tis the curse of service;

Preferment goes by letter and affection,

Not by the old gradation, when each second
Stood heir to the first.

WEBSTER.

SHAKSPEARE.

If on the sudden he begins to rise,

No man that lives can count his enemies.

MIDDLETON.

All preferment,

'T'hat springs from sin and lust, shoots quickly up,
As gard'ners' crops do in the rottenest grounds.

PRESS. (See Books.)

PRESUMPTION.

I was indeed delirious in my heart,
To lift my love so lofty as thou art;
That thou wert beautiful, and I not blind,

MIDDLETON.

BYRON