Imatges de pàgina
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They smile, and bow, and hug, and shake the hand,
Ev'n while they whisper to the next assistant
Some cursed plot to blast its owner's head.

Beller's Injured Innocence.

I am no courtier, no fawning dog of state,
To lick and kiss the hand that buffets me.
Nor can I smile upon my guest, and praise
His stomach, when I know he feeds on poison,
And death disguis'd sits grinning at my table.

Sewell's Sir Walter Raleigh.

What are such wretches? What, but vapours foul,
From fens and bogs, by royal beams exhal'd,
That radiance intercepting which should cheer
The land at large? Hence subjects' hearts grow cold,
And frozen loyalty forgets to flow.

Young's Brothers, a. 3.

He was no civil ruffian: none of those,

Who lie with twisted looks, betray with shrugs.

Thomson's Agamemnon.

Curse on the coward or perfidious tongue,

That dares not, ev'n to kings, avow the truth!

Ibid, a. 3, s. 1.

'Tis the curse of kings

To be surrounded by a venal herd

Of flatterers, that soothe his darling vices,

And rob their master of his subjects' love.

Brooke's Earl of Warwick.

'Tis such pernicious flatterers,

Such busy, ready, fawning slaves as thou art
That choak and stifle truth, poison all virtue,
And curse mankind with tyrants and oppressors.
Crisp's Virgnia.

A lazy, proud, unprofitable crew,

The vermin, gender'd from the rank corruption
Of a luxurious state. Cumberland's Timon of Athens.

A mere court butterfly,

That flutters in the pageant of a monarch.

Byron's Sardanapalus, a. 5, s. 1.

This traitorous wretch

Betrays his sovereign. Others, destitute

Of real zeal, to every altar bend

By lucre sway'd, and act the basest things
To be styl'd honourable.

Philips's Cider, b. 1.

Men, that would blush at being thought sincere,
And feign, for glory, the few faults they want;
That love a lie, where truth would pay as well;
As if, to them, vice shone her own reward.

Young's Night Thoughts, n. 8.
Those of fairer front,

But equal inhumanity, in courts,

Delusive pomp, and dark cabals, delight;
Wreathe the deep bow, diffuse the lying smile,
And tread the weary labyrinth of state.

Thomson's Seasons-Autumn.

At the throng'd levee bends the venal tribe :
With fair but faithless smiles each varnish'd o'er,
Each smooth as those who mutually deceive,
And for their falsehood each despising each.

Thomson's Liberty.

There is a public mischief in your mirth,
It plagues your country. Folly such as yours
Grac'd with a sword, and worthier of a fan,
Has made, which enemies could ne'er have done,
Our arch of empire, stedfast but for you,

A mutilated structure, soon to fall.

Cowper's Task, b. 1.

COURTSHIP.

Into these ears of mine,

These credulous ears, he pour'd the sweetest words
That art or love could frame.

Beaumont's Maid's Tragedy.

Like conquering tyrants, you our breasts invade,
Where you are pleas'd to ravage for awhile:
But soon you find new conquests out, and leave
The ravag'd province ruinate and bare.

Otway's Orphan.

Trust me-with women worth the being won,
The softest lover ever best succeeds.

I am not form'd, by flattery and praise,

Hill's Alzira.

By sighs and tears, and all the whining trade
Of love, to feed a fair one's vanity;

To charm at once and spoil her.

Thomson's Tancred and Sigismunda, a. 2, s. 3.

Come then, ye virgins and ye youths, whose hearts
Have felt the raptures of refining love;
And thou, Amanda, come, pride of my song!
Form'd by the graces, loveliness itself!

Come with those downcast eyes, sedate and sweet,
Those looks demure, that deeply pierce the soul,
Where, with the light of thoughtful reason mix'd,
Shines lively fancy and the feeling heart:
Oh come! and while the rosy-footed May
Steals blushing on, together let us tread
The morning dews, and gather in their prime
Fresh-blooming flowers, to grace thy braided hair,
And thy lov'd bosom that improves their sweets.
Thomson's Seasons-Spring.

His folded flocks secure, the shepherd home
Hies, merry hearted; and by turns relieves

The ruddy milk-maid of her brimming pail;
The beauty whom perhaps his witless heart
Unknowing what the joy-mix'd anguish means,
Sincerely loves, by that best language shewn
Of cordial glances, and obliging deeds.

Thomson's Seasons-Summer.

Now from the world,、

Sacred to sweet retirement, lovers steal,
And pour their souls in transport.

CRUELTY.

Do not insult calamity :

It is a barbarous grossness, to lay on

The weight of scorn, where heavy misery

Too much already weighs men's fortunes down.

Villain, abhorr'd villain.

Ibid.

Daniel's Philotas.

Hath he not pushed me to extremity?

Are these wild limbs, these scarr'd and scathed limbs,
This wasted frame, a mark for human malice?

There have been those who from the high bark's side
Have whelmed their enemy in the flashing deep;
But who hath watch'd to see his struggling hands,
To hear the sob of death?

Maturin's Bertram, a. 4, s. 1.

Thou fairest flower

Why didst thou fling thyself across my path?
My tiger spring must crush thee in its way,
But cannot pause to pity thee.

Ibid, s. 2.

O breasts of pity void! t' oppress the weak,
To point your vengeance at the friendless head,
And with one mutual cry insult the fallen!
Emblem too just of man's degenerate race.

Somerville's Chase, b. 1.

I would not enter on my list of friends

(Though grac'd with polish'd manners and fine sense, Yet wanting sensibility) the man

Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.
An inadvertent step may crush the snail
That crawls at evening in the public path,
But he that has humanity, forewarned,
Will tread aside, and let the reptile live.

CURSES.

Cowper's Task, b. 6.

Oh! I will curse thee till thy frighted soul

Runs mad with horror.

Lee's Casar Borgia.

I curse thee not!

For who can better curse the plague or devil,
Than to be what they are: that curse be thine.

Dryden's Don Sebastian.

May sorrow, shame, and sickness overtake her,
And all her beauties, like my hopes, be blasted.
Rowe's Royal Convert, a. 3, s. 1.

Blast, blast her charms, some bloom-destroying air!
And turn his love to loathing; but let her's
Know no decrease, that disappointment,

Lover's worst hell, may meet her warmest wishes,
And make her curse the hour in which she wedded.
Eliz. Haywood's Duke of Brunswick.

Plagues and palsy,

Disease and pestilence consume the robber,
Infest his blood, and wither ev'ry pow'r.

Brown's Athelstan.

May curses blast thy arm! May Etna's fires
Convulse the land; to its foundation shake
The groaning isle. May civil discord bear

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