Poétique anglaise, Volume 2

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Page 383 - THESE, as they change, ALMIGHTY FATHER, these Are but the varied God. The rolling year Is full of THEE. Forth in the pleasing Spring THY beauty walks, THY tenderness and love. Wide flush the fields ; the softening air is balm ; Echo the mountains round ; the forest smiles ; And every sense, and every heart is joy.
Page 436 - Thro' life's more cultur'd walks, and charm the way, These, far dispers'd, on timorous pinions fly, To sport and flutter in a kinder sky. To kinder skies, where gentler manners reign, I turn ; and France displays her bright domain.
Page 139 - That eagle's fate and mine are one, Which, on the shaft that made him die, Espied a feather of his own, Wherewith he wont to soar so high. Had Echo, with so sweet a grace, Narcissus' loud complaints returned, Not for reflection of his face, But of his voice, the boy had burned.
Page 435 - But me, not destined such delights to share, My prime of life in wandering spent and care ; Impell'd, with steps unceasing, to pursue Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view ; That, like the circle bounding earth and skies, Allures from far, yet, as I follow, flies ; My fortune leads to traverse realms alone, And find no spot of all the world my own.
Page 386 - Veil'd in a simple robe, their best attire, * Beyond the pomp of dress ; for loveliness Needs not the foreign aid of ornament, But is, when unadorn'd, adorn'd the most.
Page 123 - Enfin Malherbe vint, et, le premier en France, Fit sentir dans les vers une juste cadence, D'un mot mis en sa place enseigna le pouvoir. Et réduisit la Muse aux règles du devoir.
Page 429 - Made to engage all hearts, and charm all eyes, Though meek, magnanimous, though witty, wise ; Polite, as all her life in courts had been, Yet good, as she the world had never seen ; The noble fire of an exalted mind, With gentlest female tenderness combin'd.
Page 309 - VI. ON MRS. CORBET, Who died of a cancer in her breast '. Here rests a woman, good without pretence, Blest with plain reason, and with sober sense : No conquest she, but o'er herself, desir'd ; No arts essay'd, but not to be admir'd. Passion and pride were to her soul unknown, Convinc'd that virtue only is our own. So unaffected, so compos'da mind, So firm, yet soft, so strong, yet so refin'd, Heav'n, as its purest gold, by tortures try'd ; The saint sustain'd it, but the woman dy'd.
Page 307 - Though the same sun, with all-diffusive rays, Blush in the rose, and in the diamond blaze, We prize the stronger effort of his power, And justly set the gem above the flower.
Page 140 - ON A GIRDLE THAT which her slender waist confined Shall now my joyful temples bind : No monarch but would give his crown His arms might do what this has done. It was my Heaven's extremest sphere, The pale which held that lovely deer : My joy, my grief, my hope, my love Did all within this circle move. A narrow compass ! and yet there Dwelt all that's good, and all that's fair : Give me but what this ribband bound, Take all the rest the Sun goes round.

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