And happiness too swiftly flies? Thought would destroy their paradise. No more; where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise.1 On a Distant Prospect of Eton College. Stanza 10, Daughter of Jove, relentless power, Thou tamer of the human breast, Whose iron scourge and tort'ring hour The bad affright, afflict the best! From Helicon's harmonious springs Hymn to Adversity, The Progress of Poesy. I. 1, Line 3. Glance their many-twinkling feet. 3, Line 11. O'er her warm cheek and rising bosom move Her track, where'er the goddess roves, Th' unconquerable mind, and freedom's holy flame. Line 16. 11. 2, Line 10. Or ope the sacred source of sympathetic tears. III. 1, Line 12. He pass'd the flaming bounds of place and time: He saw; but blasted with excess of light, 2, Line 4. Bright-eyed Fancy, hov'ring o'er, Scatters from her pictured urn Thoughts that breathe and words that burn.' 3, Line 2. Beyond the limits of a vulgar fate, Beneath the good how far, - but far above the great. 1 See Davenant, page 217. Line 16. He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.— Ecclesiastes i. 18. 2 The light of love. BYRON: Bride of Abydos, canto i. stanza 6. - 8 Unconquerable mind. WORDSWORTH: To Toussaint L'Ouverture. See Cowley, page 262. Ruin seize thee, ruthless king! Confusion on thy banners wait! Though fann'd by Conquest's crimson wing, Loose his beard, and hoary hair The Bard. I. 1, Line 1. Stream'd like a meteor to the troubled air.1 To high-born Hoel's harp, or soft Llewellyn's lay. Dear as the light that visits these sad eyes; Weave the warp, and weave the woof, The winding-sheet of Edward's race. Give ample room and verge enough The characters of hell to trace. 2, Line 5. Line 14. 3, Line 12. II. 1, Line 1. Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows; In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes, Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm; Ye towers of Julius, London's lasting shame, 2, Line 9. 3, Line 11. III. 1, Line 11. 3, Line 3. Ode for Music. Line 2. And truth severe, by fairy fiction drest. The still small voice of gratitude. Ibid. Chorus. Line 3. Ibid. V. Line 8. 1 See Cowley, page 261. Milton, page 224. Iron sleet of arrowy shower The Fatal Sisters. Line 3. The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 1. Each in his narrow cell forever laid, Stanza 4. Stanza 5. Stanza 8. The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Await alike the inevitable hour. The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Stanza 9. Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault, The pealing anthem swells the note of praise. Can storied urn, or animated bust, Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Can honour's voice provoke the silent dust, Stanza 10. Or flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of death? Stanza 11. Hands that the rod of empire might have sway'd, Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre. Stanza 12. But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page, Chill penury repress'd their noble rage, Stanza 13 1 The first edition reads, "The lowing herds wind slowly o'er the lea." 2 See Sir Thomas Browne, page 217. 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.1 Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 14. Some village Hampden, that with dauntless breast Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood. The applause of list'ning senates to command, To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, And read their history in a nation's eyes. Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne, They kept the noiseless tenor of their way." Implores the passing tribute of a sigh. Stanza 15. Stanza 16. Stanza 17. Stanza 19. Stanza 20. And many a holy text around she strews, For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd, Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, Nor cast one longing ling'ring look behind? E'en from the tomb the voice of nature cries, E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires. 1 See Young, page 311. Stanza 21. Stanza 22. Stanza 23. Nor waste their sweetness in the desert air. -CHURCHILL: Gotham, book ii. line 20. 2 Usually quoted "even tenor of their way." 8 See Chaucer, page 3. Brushing with hasty steps the dews away, Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he. Here rests his head upon the lap of earth, A youth to fortune and to fame unknown: Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth, And Melancholy mark'd him for her own.1 Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere, Stanza 28. The Epitaph. He gave to mis'ry (all he had) a tear, He gained from Heav'n ('t was all he wish'd) a friend. Ibid. No further seek his merits to disclose, Or draw his frailties from their dread abode (There they alike in trembling hope repose), The bosom of his Father and his God. And weep the more, because I weep in vain. Ibid. Sonnet. On the Death of Mr. West. Rich windows that exclude the light, And passages that lead to nothing. The hues of bliss more brightly glow, Chastised by sabler tints of woe. A Long Story. Ode on the Pleasure arising from Vicissitude. Line 45. The meanest floweret of the vale, The simplest note that swells the gale, The common sun, the air, the skies, Line 53. And hie him home, at evening's close, Line 87. 1 See Walton, page 208. |