CURIOSITY. 1. I loathe that low vice, Curiosity. BYRON'S Don Juan. 2. Since that first fatal hour when Eve, With all the fruits of Eden blest, Save only one, rather than leave That one unknown, lost all the rest. MOORE's Loves of the Angels. 3. It reign'd in Eden, in that heavy hour 4. 'Tis Curiosity-who hath not felt Its spirit, and before its altar knelt? 5. Be it a bonfire, or a city's blaze, SPRAGUE'S Curiosity. SPRAGUE'S Curiosity. The gibbet's victim, or the nation's gaze, SPRAGUE'S Curiosity. 6. Sport drops his ball, Toil throws his hammer by, Thrift breaks a bargain off, to please his eye. SPRAGUE'S Curiosity. 7. How many a noble art, now widely known, Owes its young impulse to this power alone! SPRAGUE'S Curiosity. 8. As down the pane the rival rain-drops chase, Curious he'll watch to see which wins the race; And let two dogs beneath his window fight, He'll shut his Bible to enjoy the sight. SPRAGUE'S Curiosity. 168 CURSES-MALEDICTIONS. 9. How thro' the buzzing crowd he threads his way, To catch the flying rumours of the day. SPRAGUE'S Curiosity. 1. May all th' infections that the sun sucks up 2. Poison be their drink! SHAKSPEARE. Gall, worse than gall, the daintiest meat they taste !— And boding screech-owls make their concerts full ! SHAKSPEARE. 3. May sorrow, shame, and sickness overtake her, And all her beauties, like my hopes, be blasted! 4. 5. Let the world grow dark, That the extinguish'd sun may hide thy shame! And when life declines, ROWE. AARON HILL. May thy sure heirs stand titt'ring round thy bed, 6. May the grass wither from thy feet! the woods 7. So let him stand, through ages yet unborn, Fix'd statue on the pedestal of scorn! SHENSTONE. BYRON'S Cain. BYRON'S Curse of Minerva. 8. May screaming night-fiends, hot in recreant gore, ROBERT TREAT PAINE. 9. But curses are like arrows shot upright, DRYDEN'S Ovid. CUSTOM-HABIT. 1. All habits gather by unseen degrees, 2. Custom's the world's great idol we adore, Our ripen'd eye confirms us to believe. POMFRET. 3. A custom More honour'd in the breach than the observance. SHAKSPEARE. 4. How use doth breed a habit in a man! SHAKSPEARE. 5. Custom does often reason overrule, 6. And only serves for reason to the fool. Custom forms us all; Our thoughts, our morals, our most fix'd belief, 7. Custom, 't is true, a venerable tyrant, O'er servile man extends her blind dominion. ROCHESTER. AARON HILL. THOMSON. 170 DANCING-DANGER-PERIL. 8. My very chains and I grew friends, BYRON'S Prisoner of Chillon. 9. As custom arbitrates, whose shifting sway Our life and manners must alike obey. BYRON'S Hints from Horace. DANCING. (See BALL.) DANGER-PERIL. 1. The absent danger greater still appears; 2. From a safe port, 't is easy to give counsel. 3. DANIEL. SHAKSPEARE. We've scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it, 4. For he that stands upon a slippery place, Makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up. 5. 6. Let terror strike slaves mute; SHAKSPEARE. SHAKSPEARE. Much danger makes great hearts most resolute. What is danger MARSTON. More than the weakness of our apprehension ? Were made the masters of it. BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER. 7. Our dangers and delights are near allies; From the same stem the rose and prickle rise. ALEYN. 8. But there are human natures so allied Unto the savage love of enterprise, That they will seek for peril as a pleasure. BYRON. DAY — MORNING — NIGHT, &c. 1. Dark night that from the eye its function takes, SHAKSPEARE. 2. The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve. SHAKSPEARE. 3. Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tip-toe on the misty mountain tops. SHAKSPEARE. 4. But look! the moon, in russet mantle clad, Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill. 5. Oft till the star, that rose at evening bright, SHAKSPEARE. Towards heaven's descent had sloped his westerning wheel. 6. Now came still evening on, and twilight grey Silence accompanied; for beasts and birds, MILTON. MILTON'S Paradise Lost. 7. Twilight, short arbiter 'twixt day and night. MILTON'S Paradise Lost. |