The Works of the English Poets: With Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, Volume 34, Page 3

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Page 257 - Night primaeval and of Chaos old ! Before her, Fancy's gilded clouds decay, And all its varying rainbows die away. Wit shoots in vain its momentary fires, The meteor drops, and in a flash expires. As one by one, at dread Medea's strain, The sick'ning stars fade off th' ethereal plain ; As Argus
Page 182 - Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls, And makes night hideous — Answer him, ye owls ! " Sense, speech, and measure, living tongues and dead, Let all give way, and Morris may be read.
Page 223 - As Fancy opens the quick springs of Sense, We ply the Memory, we load the brain, Bind rebel Wit, and double chain on chain; Confine the thought, to exercise the breath; And keep them in the pale of Words till death.
Page 267 - ... what contemptible men were the authors of it. He was not without hopes that, by manifesting the...
Page 258 - See skulking Truth to her old cavern fled, Mountains of Casuistry heap'd o'er her head! Philosophy, that lean'd on Heav'n before, Shrinks to her second cause, and is no more. Physic of Metaphysic begs defence, And Metaphysic calls for aid on Sense! See Mystery to Mathematics fly! In vain! they gaze, turn giddy, rave, and die, Religion blushing veils her sacred fires, And unawares Morality expires.
Page 231 - For thee we dim the eyes, and stuff the head With all such reading as was never read : For thee explain a thing till all men doubt it, And write about it, goddess, and about it : So spins the silkworm small its slender store, And labours till it clouds itself all o'er.
Page 223 - When Reason doubtful, like the Samian letter, Points him two ways, the narrower is the better. Plac'd at the door of Learning, youth to guide, We never suffer it to stand too wide. To ask, to guess, to know, as they commence...
Page 88 - In merry old England it once was a rule, The King had his Poet, and also his Fool : But now we're so frugal, I'd have you to know it, That Cibber can serve both for Fool and for Poet.
Page 203 - The person who acted Polly, till then obscure, became all at Once the favourite of the town; her pictures were engraved, and sold in great numbers; her life written, books of letters and...
Page 232 - Full in the midst of Euclid dip at once, And petrify a genius to a dunce ; Or, set on metaphysic ground to prance, Show all his paces, not a step advance.

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