294

FAULTS.

FAVOUR.

FAULTS.

THE noble mind, unconscious of a fault,
No fortune's frowns can bend, or smiles exalt,
Like the firm rock, that in mid-ocean braves
The war of whirlwinds, and the dash of waves.

Frail creatures are we all! To be the best,
Is but the fewest faults to have;

Look thou then to thyself, and leave the rest
To God, thy conscience, and the grave.

Pope.

Coleridge.

What are another's faults to me?
I've not a vulture's bill

To peck at every flaw I see,
And make it wider still.

It is enough for me to know
I've follies of my own,

And on my heart the care bestow,

And let my friends alone.

Anon.

FAVOUR-FAVOURITE.

BID her steal into the pleached bower,
Where honey-suckles, ripen'd by the sun,
Forbid the sun to enter; like favourites,

Made proud by princes, that advance their pride
Against that power that bred it.

Shakspere.

No trifle is so small as what obtains,
Save that which loses favour; 't is a breath
Which hangs upon a smile! a look, a word,
A frown, the air-built tower of fortune shakes,
And down the unsubstantial fabric falls.

Hannah More.

'Tis ever thus when favours are denied;
All had been granted but the thing we beg;
And still some great unlikely substitute,
Your life, your souls, your all of earthly good,
Is proffer'd in the room of one small boon.

Johanna Baillie.

NEXT him was fear, all arm'd from top to toe, Yet thought himself not safe enough thereby, But fear'd each shadow moving to and fro, And his own arms when glittering he did spy, Or clashing heard, he fast away did fly; As ashes pale of hue, and winged heeld, And evermore on danger fixt his eye, 'Gainst whom he always bent a brazen shield, Which his right hand unarmed fearfully did wield. Spenser.

Extreme fear can neither fight nor fly, But coward-like with trembling terror die.

Shakspere.

If evils come not, then our fears are vain;
And if they do, fear but augments the pain.
Sir Thomas More.

They that fear the adder's sting, will not
Come near his hissing.

And, though he posted e'er so fast,
His fear was greater than his haste;
For fear, though fleeter than the wind,
Believes 't is always left behind.

Chapman.

Butler.

The wretch that fears to drown, will break thro' flames;

Or, in his dread of flames, will plunge in waves.
When eagles are in view, the screaming doves
Will cower beneath the feet of man for safety.

Thou, to whom the world unknown,
With all its shadowy shapes is shown,
Who see'st appall'd the unreal scene,
While fancy lifts the veil between:
Ah, Fear! ah, frantic Fear!

I see I see thee near.

I know thy hurried step, that haggard eye!
Like thee I start, like thee disorder'd fly,
For, lo! what monsters in thy train appear!

Cibber.

Collins.

296

FEATURES.

FEELING.

FEATURES.

THOUGH ye be the fairest of God's creatures,
Yet think that death will spoil your goodly features.

Spenser.

He lived in courts most praised, most loved,
A sample to the young'st; to the more mature
A glass that featured them.

Shakspere.

Though various features did the sisters grace,
A sister's likeness was in every face.

Your thief looks, in the crowd,

Exactly like the rest, or rather better;
'Tis only at the bar, or in the dungeon,

Addison.

That wise men know your felon by his features.

Byron.

FEELING.

THE Soul of music slumbers in the shell,

Till wak'd and kindled by the master's spell,
And feeling hearts-touch them but lightly-pour
A thousand melodies unheard before.

Rogers.

Admire-exalt-despise-laugh-weep-for here
There is much matter for all feeling.

If e'er when faith had fall'n asleep,
I heard a voice-"believe no more,"
And heard an ever-breaking shore,
That tumbled in the Godless deep;
A warmth within the breast would melt
The freezing reason's colder part,
And like a man in wrath, the heart
Stood up and answered "I have felt."

I felt to madness! but my full heart gave
No utterance to the ineffable within.

Byron.

Tennyson.

Words were too weak: they were unknown; but still The feeling was most poignant.

Percival.

FELLOWSHIP. FICKLENESS.

297

FELLOWSHIP.

THE mind much sufferance doth o'ership,
When grief hath mates and bearing fellowship.

Shakspere.

O love! thou sternly dost thy power maintain,
And wilt not bear a rival in thy reign;
Tyrants and thou all fellowship disdain.

Dryden.

Worth makes the man, the want of it the fellow, The rest is all but leather and prunella.

Let partial spirits still aloud complain,

Pope.

Think themselves injured that they cannot reign;
And own no liberty but where they may
Without control upon their fellows prey.

Waller.

FICKLENESS.

BEWARE of fraud, beware of fickleness,

In choice and change of thy dear loved dame.

Hovering dreams,

Spenser.

The fickle pensioners of Morpheus' train.

Milton.

How long must women wish in vain

A constant love to find?

No art can fickle man retain,

Or fix a roving mind.

Hast thou seen the down in the air,

When wanton blasts have tost it?

Or the ship on the sea,

Shadwell.

When ruder winds have crost it?

Hast thou marked the crocodiles weeping,

Or the foxes sleeping?

Or hast thou viewed the peacock in his pride,
Or the dove by his bride?

Oh! so fickle; oh! so vain; oh! so false is she!

Suckling.

298

FIRE. FIRMNESS.

FIRE.

A LITTLE fire is quickly trodden out,
Which, being suffered, rivers cannot quench.

Love various heats does variously inspire,
It stirs in gentle bosoms gentle fire,
Like that of incense on the altar laid;
But raging flames tempestuous souls invade;
A fire which every windy passion blows,

Shakspere.

With pride it mounts, and with revenge it glows.

The bold Longinus all the nine inspire,
And warm the critic with the poet's fire.

Though safe thou think'st thy treasure lies
Concealed in chests from human eyes,
A fire may come, and it may be
Buried, my friend, as far from thee.

Dryden.

Pope.

Granville.

If in some town a fire breaks out by chance,
The impetuous flames with lawless power advance;
On ruddy wings the bright destruction flies,
Followed with ruin and amazing cries:

The flaky plague spreads swiftly with the wind,
And ghastly desolation howls behind.

FIRMNESS.

THAT thou should'st my firmness doubt
To God or thee, because we have a foe
May tempt us, I expected not to hear.

Himself to be, the man the fates require;
I firmly judge, and what I judge desire.

The man that's resolute and just,
Firm to his principles and trust,
Nor hopes nor fears can blind.

Blackmore.

Come one, come all-this rock shall fly
From its firm base as soon as I.

Milton.

Dryden.

Walsh.

Scott.