網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

MATTHEW PRIOR. 1664-1721.

E to her virtues very kind;

BE

Be to her faults a little blind. An English Padlock.

Be to her merits kind,

And to her faults whate'er they are be blind.

Prologue to the Royal Mischief.

Abra was ready ere I called her name;
And though I called another, Abra came.

Solomon on the Vanity of the World. Part ii.

Now fitted the halter, now traversed the cart,
And often took leave; but was loth to depart.

The Thief and the Cordelier.

Of two evils I have chose the least.* Imitation of Horace.

Here lies what once was Matthew Prior ;+

The son of Adam and of Eve:

Can Bourbon or Nassau claim higher?

Epitaph on Himself.

Odds life! must one swear to the truth of a song?

That, if weak women went astray,

A Better Answer.

Their stars were more in fault than they.

Hans Carvel.

* Of two evils the less is always to be chosen.-THOMAS A KEMPIS. Imitation of Christ. Book iii. Ch. 12.

The following epitaph was written long before the time of Prior:

Johnnie Carnegie lais heer,

Descendit of Adam and Eve,

Gif ony con gang hieher,

Ise willing give him leve.

The end must justify the means.

And virtue is her own reward.

Hans Carvel.

Ode in Imitation of Horace. B. iii. Od. 2. That air and harmony of shape express, Fine by degrees, and beautifully less.*

Henry and Emma.

Our hopes, like tow'ring falcons, aim
At objects in an airy height;
The little pleasure of the game
Is from afar to view the flight.

To the Hon. Charles Montague.

[blocks in formation]

'HE dawn is overcast, the morning lowers,

THE

And heavily in clouds brings on the day,

The great, the important day, big with the fate
Of Cato, and of Rome.

Acti. Sc. 1.

Thy steady temper, Portius,

Can look on guilt, rebellion, fraud, and Cæsar,

Act i. Sc. 1.

In the calm lights of mild philosophy.

'Tis not in mortals to command success,

But we'll do more, Sempronius: we'll deserve it.

Acti. Sc. 2.

*Fine by defect and delicately weak.-POPE, p. 183.

Blesses his stars and thinks it luxury.

Acti. Sc. 4.

'Tis pride, rank pride, and haughtiness of soul ;

I think the Romans call it stoicism.

Acti. Sc. 4.

Were you with these, my prince, you'd soon forget

The pale, unripened beauties of the North.

Acti. Sc. 4.

The virtuous Marcia towers above her sex. Act i. Sc. 4.

My voice is still for war.

Gods! can a Roman senate long debate

Which of the two to choose, slavery or death?

[blocks in formation]

When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway,
The post of honour is a private station.

Act iv. Sc. 2.

It must be so.- Plato, thou reasonest well.

Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,
This longing after immortality?

'Tis the divinity that stirs within us;

Act v. Sc. I.

'Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter,

And intimates eternity to man.

Act v. Sc. I.

I'm weary of conjectures.

Act v. Sc. I.

My death and life,

My bane and antidote, are both before me. Act v. Sc. z.

The soul secured in her existence, smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.

Act v. Sc. 1.

The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds.

Act v. Sc. I.

And, pleased the Almighty's orders to perform,
Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm.*
The Campaign. Line 291.

For wheresoe'er I turn my ravished eyes,
Gay gilded scenes and shining prospects rise,
Poetic fields encompass me around,

And still I seem to tread on classic ground.t

[blocks in formation]

The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly to the listening earth

[blocks in formation]

* Frequently ascribed to Pope. Dunciad. Book iii. Line 264.

+ Malone states that this was the first time the phrase, classic ground,

since so common, was ever used.

[blocks in formation]

LOUIS THEOBALD. 1691-1744.

NONE but himself can be his parallel.+

The Double Falsehood.

THE

COLLEY CIBBER. 1671-1757.

HE aspiring youth that fired the Ephesian dome,
Outlives in fame the pious fool that raised it.

Richard III. Altered. Act iii. Sc. 1.

Now by St. Paul the work goes bravely on. Act iii. Sc. 1.

I've lately had two spiders

Crawling upon my startled hopes.

Now tho' thy friendly hand has brushed 'em from me,

Yet still they crawl offensive to my eyes;

I would have some kind friend to tread upon 'em.

*Vio. I pity you.

Oli. That's a degree to love.

Act iv. Sc. 3.

SHAKSPERE. Twelfth Night. Act iii. Sc. 1.

+ Quæris Alcidæ parem?

Nemo est nisi ipse.

SENECA. Hercules Furens. Acti. Sc. 1.

« 上一頁繼續 »