Noctes Atticę, or Reveries in a garret; containing observations on men and books

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Page 96 - I'll give thee this plague for thy dowry : be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny.
Page 153 - FRIENDS. Friendship, like love, is but a name, Unless to one you stint the flame. The child, whom many fathers share, Hath seldom known a father's care. Tis thus in friendships; who depend On many, rarely find a friend. A hare, who in a civil way, Complied with everything, like Gay, Was known by all the bestial train Who haunt the wood, or graze the plain.
Page 21 - Pillag'd from slaves to purchase slaves at home; Fear, pity, justice, indignation start, Tear off reserve, and bare my swelling heart ; Till half a patriot, half a coward grown, I fly from petty tyrants to the throne.
Page 28 - twixt south and southwest side; On either which he would dispute, Confute, change hands, and still confute. He'd undertake to prove by force Of argument, a man's no horse; He'd prove a buzzard is no fowl, And that a lord may be an owl; A calf an alderman, a goose a justice, And rooks committee-men and trustees.
Page 45 - How reverend is the face of this tall pile, Whose ancient pillars rear their marble heads, To bear aloft its arch'd and ponderous roof, By its own weight made stedfast and immovable, Looking tranquillity. It strikes an awe And terror on my aching sight ; the tombs And monumental caves of death look cold, And shoot a dullness to my trembling heart.
Page 129 - For the wit and mind of man, if it work upon matter, which is the contemplation of the creatures of God, worketh according to the stuff, and is limited thereby; but if it work upon itself, as the spider worketh his web, then it is endless, and brings forth indeed cobwebs of learning, admirable for the fineness of thread and work, but of no substance or profit.
Page 153 - The purest treasure mortal times afford Is spotless reputation ; that away, Men are but gilded loam or painted clay.
Page 5 - I do not know whether I am singular in my opinion, but, for my own part, I would rather look upon a tree in all its luxuriancy and diffusion of boughs and branches, than when it is thus cut and trimmed into a mathematical figure; and cannot but fancy that an orchard in flower looks infinitely more delightful than all the little labyrinths of the most finished parterre.
Page 68 - In that bright eminence, and with his good Upbraided none; nor was his service hard. What could be less than to afford him praise, The easiest recompense, and pay him thanks, How due! yet all his good...
Page 38 - Or, like a mountebank, did wound And stab herself with doubts profound, Only to show with how small pain The sores of faith are cured again; Although by woeful proof we find They always leave a scar behind.

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