Sacrifice to the Graces.1

Letter, March 9, 1748.

Manners must adorn knowledge, and smooth its way through the world. Like a great rough diamond, it may do very well in a closet by way of curiosity, and also for its intrinsic value.

Style is the dress of thoughts.

Despatch is the soul of business.

Chapter of accidents.2

July 1, 1748.

Nov. 24, 1749.

Feb. 5, 1750.

Feb. 16, 1753.

significant word

I assisted at the birth of that most "flirtation," which dropped from the most beautiful

mouth in the world.

The World. No. 101.

Unlike my subject now shall be my song;
It shall be witty, and it sha'n't be long.

Impromptu Lines.

The dews of the evening most carefully shun,-
Those tears of the sky for the loss of the sun.

Advice to a Lady in Autumn.

The nation looked upon him as a deserter, and he shrunk into insignificancy and an earldom.

Character of Pulteney.

He adorned whatever subject he either spoke or wrote upon, by the most splendid eloquence.

8

Character of Bolingbroke.

1 Plato was continually saying to Xenocrates, "Sacrifice to the Graces." - DIOGENES LAERTIUS: Xenocrates, book iv. sect. 2.

Let us sacrifice to the Muses.

Wise Men. (A saying of Solon.)

PLUTARCH: The Banquet of the Seven

2 Chapter of accidents. - - BURKE: Notes for Speeches (edition 1852), vol. ii. p. 426.

John Wilkes said that "the Chapter of Accidents is the longest chapter in the book." — - SOUTHEY: The Doctor, chap, cxviii.

3 Who left scarcely any style of writing untouched,
And touched nothing that he did not adorn.

JOHNSON: Epitaph on Goldsmith.

Il embellit tout ce qu'il touche (He adorned whatever he touched). FÉNELON: Lettre sur les Occupations de l'Académie Française, sect. iv.

Though pleased to see the dolphins play,
I mind my compass and my way.

Ibid.

RICHARD SAVAGE. 1698-1743.

He lives to build, not boast, a generous race;
No tenth transmitter of a foolish face.

The Bastard. Line 7.

May see thee now, though late, redeem thy name,
And glorify what else is damn'd to fame.1

Character of Foster.

ROBERT BLAIR. 1699-1747.

The Grave, dread thing!

Men shiver when thou 'rt named: Nature, appall'd,
Shakes off her wonted firmness.

The Grave. Part i. Line 9.

The schoolboy, with his satchel in his hand,
Whistling aloud to bear his courage up.2

Friendship! mysterious cement of the soul!
Sweetener of life! and solder of society!

Of joys departed,

Not to return, how painful the remembrance!

1 See Pope, page 331.
2 See Dryden, page 277.

Line 58.

Line 88.

Line 109.

The cup goes round:

And who so artful as to put it by!

"Tis long since Death had the majority.

The Grave. Part ii. Line 449.

The good he scorn'd

Stalk'd off reluctant, like an ill-used ghost,
Not to return; or if it did, in visits

Like those of angels, short and far between.1

Line 586.

JAMES THOMSON. 1700-1748.

Come, gentle Spring! ethereal Mildness! come.

The Seasons. Spring. Line 1.

Base Envy withers at another's joy,
And hates that excellence it cannot reach.

But who can paint

Line 283.

Like Nature? Can imagination boast,
Amid its gay creation, hues like hers?

Line 465.

Amid the roses fierce Repentance rears
Her snaky crest.

Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,
To teach the young idea how to shoot.

An elegant sufficiency, content,
Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books,
Ease and alternate labour, useful life,
Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven!

Line 996.

Line 1149.

Line 1158.

The meek-ey'd Morn appears, mother of dews.

Summer. Line 47.

Line 67.

Falsely luxurious, will not man awake?

But yonder comes the powerful king of day,
Rejoicing in the east.

1 See Norris, page 281.

Line 81.

Ships dim-discover'd dropping from the clouds.

The Seasons. Summer. Line 946.

Line 979.

And Mecca saddens at the long delay.

For many a day, and many a dreadful night,
Incessant lab'ring round the stormy cape.
Sigh'd and look'd unutterable things.

A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate
Of mighty monarchs.

So stands the statue that enchants the world,
So bending tries to veil the matchless boast,
The mingled beauties of exulting Greece.
Who stemm'd the torrent of a downward age.
Autumn nodding o'er the yellow plain.

Loveliness

Needs not the foreign aid of ornament,
But is when unadorn'd, adorn'd the most.1

Line 1003.

Line 1188.

Line 1285.

Line 1346.

Line 1516.

Autumn.

Line 2.

He saw her charming, but he saw not half
The charms her downcast modesty conceal'd.
For still the world prevail'd, and its dread laugh,
Which scarce the firm philosopher can scorn.
See, Winter comes to rule the varied year.2

Cruel as death, and hungry as the grave.

There studious let me sit,

Line 204.

Line 229.

Line 233.

Winter. Line 1.

And hold high converse with the mighty dead.

The kiss, snatch'd hasty from the sidelong maid.

1 See Milton, page 234.

Line 393.

Line 431.

Line 625.

Nam ut mulieres esse dicuntur nonnullæ inornatæ, quas id ipsum diceat, sic hæc subtilis oratio etiam incompta delectat (For as lack of adornment is said to become some women; so this subtle oration, though without embellishment, gives delight). — CICERO: Orator, 23, 78.

2 O Winter, ruler of the inverted year. COWPER: The Task, book iv. Winter Evening, line 34.

These as they change, Almighty Father! these
Are but the varied God. The rolling year
Is full of Thee.

Shade, unperceiv'd, so softening into shade.

From seeming evil still educing good.

Hymn. Line 1.

Line 25.

Line 114.

Come then, expressive silence, muse His praise. Line 118.

A pleasing land of drowsyhed it was,

Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye;
And of gay castles in the clouds that pass,
Forever flushing round a summer sky:
There eke the soft delights that witchingly
Instil a wanton sweetness through the breast,
And the calm pleasures always hover'd nigh;
But whate'er smack'd of noyance or unrest
Was far, far off expell'd from this delicious nest.

The Castle of Indolence. Canto i. Stanza 6.

O fair undress, best dress! it checks no vein,
But every flowing limb in pleasure drowns,
And heightens ease with grace.

Stanza 26.

Plac'd far amid the melancholy main.

Stanza 30.

Scoundrel maxim.

Ibid.

A bard here dwelt, more fat than bard beseems.

Stanza 68.

A little round, fat, oily man of God.

I care not, Fortune, what you me deny :
You cannot rob me of free Nature's grace,
You cannot shut the windows of the sky

Stanza 69.

Through which Aurora shows her brightening face;
You cannot bar my constant feet to trace

The woods and lawns, by living stream, at eve:

Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace,

And I their toys to the great children leave:
Of fancy, reason, virtue, naught can me bereave.

Canto ii. Stanza 3.