TOBIAS SMOLLETT. 1721-1771.

Thy spirit, Independence, let me share;
Lord of the lion heart and eagle eye,
Thy steps I follow with my bosom bare,
Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky.
Ode to Independence.

Thy fatal shafts unerring move,

I bow before thine altar, Love!

Facts are stubborn things.1

Roderick Random. Chap. xl.

Translation of Gil Blas. Book x. Chap. 1.

SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE. 1723-1780.

The royal navy of England hath ever been its greatest defence and ornament; it is its ancient and natural strength, the floating bulwark of our island.

Commentaries. Vol. i. Book i. Chap. xiii. § 418.

Time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the

contrary.

Chap. xviii. § 472.

JOHN HOME. 1724-1808.

In the first days

Of my distracting grief, I found myself
As women wish to be who love their lords.

Douglas. Act i. Sc. 1.

Ibid.

I'll woo her as the lion wooes his brides.
My name is Norval; on the Grampian hills.
My father feeds his flocks; a frugal swain,
Whose constant cares were to increase his store,
And keep his only son, myself, at home.
A rude and boisterous captain of the sea.
Like Douglas conquer, or like Douglas die.

Act ii. Sc. 1.

Act iv. Sc. 1.

Act v. Sc. 1.

1 Facts are stubborn things. - ELLIOT: Essay on Field Husbandry, p. 35 (1747).

Verse sweetens toil, however rude the sound;
She feels no biting pang the while she sings;
Nor, as she turns the giddy wheel around,"

Revolves the sad vicissitudes of things.

Contemplation.

The flowers of the forest are a' wide awae.1

The Flowers of the Forest.

1 Me pinguem et nitidum bene curata cute vises,

...

Epicuri de grege porcum

(You may see me, fat and shining, with well-cared for hide, from Epicurus' herd). HORACE: Epistolæ, lib. i. iv. 15, 16.

2 Thus altered by Johnson,

All at her work the village maiden sings,
Nor, while she turns the giddy wheel around.

8 See Sterne, page 379.

4 This line appears in the "Flowers of the Forest," part second, a later poem by Mrs. Cockburn. See Dyce's "Specimens of British Poetesses," p. 374.

OLIVER GOLDSMITH. 1728-1774.

Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow,
Or by the lazy Scheld or wandering Po.

The Traveller. Line 1.

Where'er I roam, whatever realms to see,
My heart untravell'd fondly turns to thee;
Still to my brother turns with ceaseless pain,
And drags at each remove a lengthening chain.
And learn the luxury of doing good.1

Line 7.

Line 22.

Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view.

Line 26.

These little things are great to little man.

Line 42.

Creation's heir, the world, the world is mine!

Line 50.

Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roam,
His first, best country ever is at home.

Where wealth and freedom reign contentment fails,
And honour sinks where commerce long prevails.

Man seems the only growth that dwindles here.
The canvas glow'd beyond ev'n Nature warm,
The pregnant quarry teem'd with human form.2

Line 91.

Line 126.

Line 137.

By sports like these are all their cares beguil'd;
The sports of children satisfy the child.

Line 153.

But winter lingering chills the lap of May.

Line 172.

Cheerful at morn, he wakes from short repose,
Breasts the keen air, and carols as he goes.

Line 185.

So the loud torrent and the whirlwind's roar
But bind him to his native mountains more.

1 See Garth, page 295.

CRABBE: Tales of the Hall, book iii. GRAVES: The Epicure. 2 See Pope, page 329.

Line 217.

Alike all ages.
Dames of ancient days
Have led their children through the mirthful maze,
And the gay grandsire, skill'd in gestic lore,
Has frisk'd beneath the burden of threescore.

The Traveller. Line 251.

They please, are pleas'd; they give to get esteem,
Till seeming blest, they grow to what they seem.1

Line 266.

Embosom'd in the deep where Holland lies.
Methinks her patient sons before me stand,
Where the broad ocean leans against the land.
Pride in their port, defiance in their eye,
I see the lords, of humankind pass by.2

Line 282.

Line 327.

The land of scholars and the nurse of arms.

Line 356

For just experience tells, in every soil,

That those that think must govern those that toil.

Line 372.

Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.

Line 386.

Forc'd from their homes, a melancholy train,
To traverse climes beyond the western main;
Where wild Oswego spreads her swamps around,
And Niagara stuns with thundering sound.

Line 409.

Vain, very vain, my weary search to find
That bliss which only centres in the mind.
Luke's iron crown, and Damien's bed of steel.3
Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain.

Line 423.

Line 436.

The Deserted Village. Line 1.

The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade,
For talking age and whispering lovers made.

1 The character of the French.

2 See Dryden, page 277.

Line 13.

8 When Davies asked for an explanation of "Luke's iron crown," Goldsmith referred him to a book called "Géographie Curieuse," and added that by Damien's bed of steel" he meant the rack. GRANGER: Letters, (1805), p. 52.

The bashful virgin's sidelong looks of love.

The Deserted Village. Line 29.

Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.
Princes and lords may flourish or may fade,

1

A breath can make them, as a breath has made; 1
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride,
When once destroy'd, can never be supplied.

Line 51.

His best companions, innocence and health;
And his best riches, ignorance of wealth.

Line 61.

How blest is he who crowns in shades like these
A youth of labour with an age of ease!

Line 99.

Line 110.

While Resignation gently slopes away,
And all his prospects brightening to the last,
His heaven commences ere the world be past.
The watch-dog's voice that bay'd the whispering wind,
And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.

Line 121.

A man he was to all the country dear,
And passing rich with forty pounds a year.

Line 141.

Wept o'er his wounds, or tales of sorrow done, Shoulder'd his crutch, and shew'd how fields were won.

Careless their merits or their faults to scan,

His pity gave ere charity began.

Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride,
And even his failings lean'd to Virtue's side.
And as a bird each fond endearment tries
To tempt its new-fledg'd offspring to the skies,
He tried each art, reprov'd each dull delay,
Allur'd to brighter worlds, and led the way.

Line 157.

Line 161.

Line 167.

Qu'un souffle peut détruire, et qu'un souffle a produit

(It is a shining glass, which a breath may destroy, and which a breath has produced). DE CAUX (comparing the world to his hour-glass).