The works of the English poets. With prefaces, biographical and critical, by S. Johnson, Volume 27

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Page 67 - To pile a sacred altar here ; Hold, boy, thy hand out-runs thy wit, You reach'd the plays that Dennis writ ; You reach'd me Philips' rustic strain ; Pray take your mortal bards again.
Page 22 - Where sportive fairies made resort To revel out the night. His heart was drear, his hope was...
Page 22 - Yet, spite of all that Nature did To make his uncouth form forbid, This creature dar'd to love. He felt the charms of Edith's eyes, Nor wanted hope to gain the prize, Could ladies look within...
Page 88 - The mean, suspicious wretch, whose bolted door Ne'er mov'd in duty to the wandering poor ; With him I left the cup, to teach his mind That heaven can bless, if mortals will be kind. Conscious of wanting worth, he views the bowl, And feels compassion touch his grateful soul. Thus artists melt the sullen ore of lead, With heaping coals of fire upon its head ; In the kind warmth the metal learns to glow, And loose from dross, the silver runs below.
Page 76 - Those graves, with bending osier bound, That nameless heave the crumbled ground, Quick to the glancing thought disclose Where toil and poverty repose. The flat smooth stones that bear a name...
Page 93 - Tis God ! a present God ! through cleaving air I see the throne, and see the Jesus there Plac'd on the right. He shows the wounds he bore, (My fervours oft have won him thus before) ; How pleas'd he looks ! my words have reach'd his ear ; He bids the gates unbar; and calls me near.
Page 85 - When from his vest the young companion bore That cup, the generous landlord own'd before, And paid...
Page 81 - FAR in a wild, unknown to public view, From youth to age a reverend hermit grew ; The moss his bed, the cave his humble cell, His food the fruits, his drink the crystal well : Remote from man, with God he pass'd the days, Prayer all his business, all his pleasure praise.
Page 82 - And hail, my son," the reverend sire replied ; Words follow'd words, from question answer flow'd, And talk of various kind deceiv'd the road; Till each with other pleas'd, and loth to part, While in their age they differ, join in heart: Thus stands an aged elm in ivy bound, Thus youthful ivy clasps an elm around. Now sunk the sun ; the closing hour of day Came onward, mantled o'er with sober...
Page 79 - Through rocks amidst the foaming sea, To gain thy love, and then perceives Thou wert not in the rocks and waves ; The silent heart which grief assails, Treads soft and lonesome .o'er the vales, Sees daisies open, rivers run, And seeks (as I have vainly done,) Amusing thought ; but learns to know, That solitude's the nurse of woe.

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