book ii
. The Timepiece, line 206._
[413-3] Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam.--BYRON: _The Corsair, canto i. stanza 1._
WILLIAM COWPER. 1731-1800.
Is base in kind, and born to be a slave.
_Table Talk. Line 28._
As if the world and they were hand and glove.
_Table Talk. Line 173._
Happiness depends, as Nature shows, Less on exterior things than most suppose.
_Table Talk. Line 246._
Freedom has a thousand charms to show, That slaves, howe'er contented, never know.
_Table Talk. Line 260._
Manner is all in all, whate'er is writ, The substitute for genius, sense, and wit.
_Table Talk. Line 542._
Ages elapsed ere Homer's lamp appear'd, And ages ere the Mantuan swan was heard: To carry nature lengths unknown before, To give a Milton birth, ask'd ages more.
_Table Talk. Line 556._
Elegant as simplicity, and warm As ecstasy.
_Table Talk. Line 588._
Low ambition and the thirst of praise.[414-1]
_Table Talk. Line 591._
Made poetry a mere mechanic art.
_Table Talk. Line 654._
Nature, exerting an unwearied power, Forms, opens, and gives scent to every flower; Spreads the fresh verdure of the field, and leads The dancing Naiads through the dewy meads.
_Table Talk. Line 690._
Lights of the world, and stars of human race.
_The Progress of Error. Line 97._
How much a dunce that has been sent to roam Excels a dunce that has been kept at home!
_The Progress of Error. Line 415._
Just knows, and knows no more, her Bible true,-- A truth the brilliant Frenchman never knew.
_Truth. Line 327._
The sounding jargon of the schools.[414-2]
_Truth. Line 367._
When one that holds communion with the skies Has fill'd his urn where these pure waters rise, And once more mingles with us meaner things, 'T is e'en as if an angel shook his wings.
_Charity. Line 435._
A fool must now and then be right by chance.
_Conversation. Line 96._
He would not, with a peremptory tone, Assert the nose upon his face his own.
_Conversation. Line 121._
A moral, sensible, and well-bred man Will not affront me,--and no other can.
_Conversation. Line 193._
Pernicious weed! whose scent the fair annoys, Unfriendly to society's chief joys: Thy worst effect is banishing for hours The sex whose presence civilizes ours.
_Conversation. Line 251._
I cannot talk with civet in the room, A fine puss-gentleman that 's all perfume.
_Conversation. Line 283._
The solemn fop; significant and budge; A fool with judges, amongst fools a judge.[415-1]
_Conversation. Line 299._
His wit invites you by his looks to come, But when you knock, it never is at home.[415-2]
_Conversation. Line 303._
Our wasted oil unprofitably burns, Like hidden lamps in old sepulchral urns.[415-3]
_Conversation. Line 357._
That good diffused may more abundant grow.
_Conversation. Line 443._
A business with an income at its heels Furnishes always oil for its own wheels.
_Retirement. Line 614._
Absence of occupation is not rest, A mind quite vacant is a mind distress'd.
_Retirement. Line 623._
An idler is a watch that wants both hands, As useless if it goes as if it stands.
_Retirement. Line 681._
Built God a church, and laugh'd his word to scorn.
_Retirement. Line 688._
Philologists, who chase A panting syllable through time and space, Start it at home, and hunt it in the dark To Gaul, to Greece, and into Noah's ark.
_Retirement. Line 691._
I praise the Frenchman,[416-1] his remark was shrewd,-- How sweet, how passing sweet, is solitude! But grant me still a friend in my retreat, Whom I may whisper, Solitude is sweet.
_Retirement. Line 739._
A kick that scarce would move a horse May kill a sound divine.
_The Yearly Distress._
I am monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute.
_Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk._
O Solitude! where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face?
_Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk._
But the sound of the church-going bell These valleys and rocks never heard; Ne'er sigh'd at the sound of a knell, Or smiled when a Sabbath appear'd.
_Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk._
How fleet is a glance of the mind! Compared with the speed of its flight The tempest itself lags behind, And the swift-winged, arrows of light.
_Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk._
There goes the parson, O illustrious spark! And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk.
_On observing some Names of Little Note._
But oars alone can ne'er prevail To reach the distant coast; The breath of heaven must swell the sail, Or all the toil is lost.
_Human Frailty._
And the tear that is wiped with a little address, May be follow'd perhaps by a smile.
_The Rose._
'T is Providence alone secures In every change both mine and yours.
_A Fable. Moral._
I shall not ask Jean Jacques Rousseau If birds confabulate or no.
_Pairing Time Anticipated._
Misses! the tale that I relate This lesson seems to carry,-- Choose not alone a proper mate, But proper time to marry.
_Pairing Time Anticipated._
That though on pleasure she was bent, She had a frugal mind.
_History of John Gilpin._
A hat not much the worse for wear.
_History of John Gilpin._
Now let us sing, Long live the king! And Gilpin, Long live he! And when he next doth ride abroad, May I be there to see!
_History of John Gilpin._
The path of sorrow, and that path alone, Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown.
_To an Afflicted Protestant Lady._
United yet divided, twain at once: So sit two kings of Brentford on one throne.[417-1]
_The Task. Book i . The Sofa. Line 77._
Nor rural sights alone, but rural sounds, Exhilarate the spirit, and restore The tone of languid nature.
_The Task. Book i . The Sofa. Line 181._
The earth was made so various, that the mind Of desultory man, studious of change And pleased with novelty, might be indulged.
_The Task. Book i . The Sofa. Line 506._
Doing good, Disinterested good, is not our trade.
_The Task. Book i . The Sofa. Line 673._
God made the country, and man made the town.[417-2]
_The Task.