Sweeps the long tract of day.

*

For from the birth

*

*

Of mortal man the Sovereign Maker said,
That not in humble nor in brief delight,
Nor in the fading echoes of renown,

Power's purple robes nor pleasure's flowery lap,
The soul should find enjoyment; but from these
Turning disdainful to an equal good,

Through all the ascent of things enlarge her own,
Till every bound at length should disappear,
And infinite perfection close the scene.

As flame ascends;

As bodies to their proper centre move;
As the poised ocean to the attracting moon
Obedient swells; as every headlong stream
Devolves its winding waters to the main;
So all things which have life aspire to God.

Akenside.

Akenside.

Thrice happy they, who fixing hope and aim
On the humanities of peaceful fame,
Enter by times with more than martial fire
The generous cause, aspire and still aspire;
Upheld by warnings, heeded not too late,
Stifle the contradictions of their fate,

And to one purpose cleave, their being's God-like mate.

Wordsworth.

ASSASSINATION.

Is there a crime

Beneath the roof of heaven, that stains the soul
With more infernal hue than damned

Assassination?

'Tis bad enough when the assassin stabs

The perishable body, sending man

Unto his dread account all unprepared;

But, Oh! 't is worse when he essays to pierce
The vital principle within the soul-

The principle of virtue, which alone

Cibber.

Could save, through grace divine, him from perdition.

This, this, indeed, is dire assassination!

Egone.

62

62

ASSURANCE.

ATHEIST.

ASSURANCE.

WHAT man is he that boasts of fleshly might,
And vain assurance of mortality,

Which all so soon as it doth come to fight

Against spiritual foes, yields by and by. Spenser.

But what on earth can long abide in state?
Or who can man assure of happy day?

'Tis far off,

And rather like a dream, than the assurance
My remembrance warrants.

Spenser.

Shakspere.

But yet I'll make assurance doubly sure,
And take a bond of fate.

Shakspere.

With all the assurance innocence can bring,
Fearless without, because secure within;
Armed with my courage, unconcerned I see
This pomp, a shame to you, a pride to me.

ATHEIST.

Dryden.

To these, the sober race of men, whose lives
Religious titled them the sons of God,
Shall yield up all their virtue, all their fame,
Ignobly to the trains and to the smiles

Of these fair atheists.

Atheist, use thine eyes,

Milton.

And having viewed the order of the skies,
Think, if thou canst, that matter blindly hurled
Without a guide, should frame this wondrous world.

Creech.

An atheist!-he hath never faced an hour
And not belied the name he bore. His doubt
Is darkness from the unbelieving will
Begot and oft a parasite to sin,

Too dear to be deserted; for the truth
That unveils heaven and her immortal thrones,
Uncovers hell and awful duties too.

R. Montgomery.

ATTEMPT.

HE flattering his displeasure, Tript me behind, got praises of the king, For him attempting, who was self-subdued.

Who, in all things wise and just,

Hindered not Satan to attempt the mind

Shakspere.

Of man, with strength entire and free-will armed.

The wise and active conquer difficulties,
By daring to attempt them; sloth and folly
Shiver and sink at sights of toil and hazard,
And make the impossibility they fear.

Toiling―rejoicing—sorrowing,

Onward through life he goes;
Each morning sees some task begin,
Each evening sees it close;

Something attempted, something done,
Has earned a night's repose.

Milton.

Rowe.

Longfellow.

I'm never merry when I hear sweet music;

The reason is your spirits are attentive. Shakspere.
The first true cause, and last good end,
She cannot here so well and truly see;
For this perfection she must yet attend,
Till to her Maker she espoused be.

Sir John Davies.

Attendance none shall need, nor train, where none Are to behold the judgment, but the judged; Those two.

Milton.

Beware,

And govern well thy appetite, lest sin
Surprise thee and her black attendant, death.—Milton.

What can then be less in me than desire

To see Thee, and approach Thee, whom I know
Declared the Son of God, and hear attent
Thy wisdom, and behold Thy God-like deeds.-Milton.

When some gracious monarch dies,

Soft whispers first and mournful murmurs rise
Among the sad attendants.

Dryden.

Music's force can tame the furious beast;

Can make the wolf or foaming boar restrain
His rage; the lion drop his crested mane
Attentive to the song.

ATTIRE.

Prior.

LET it likewise your gentle breast inspire
With sweet infusion, and put you in mind
Of that proud maid whom now those leaves attire,
Proud Daphne.

Thy sumptuous buildings, and thy wife's attire,
Hath cost a mass of public treasury.

Spenser.

Shakspere.

I pass their form and every charming grace,
But their attire, like liveries of a kind,
All rich and rare, is fresh within my mind.

Dryden.

And in this coarse attire which now I wear
With God and with the Muses I confer. Donne.

Now sappy boughs

Attire themselves with blooms.

When lavish nature with her best attire
Clothes the gay spring, the season of desire.

Philips.

Waller.

ATTORNEY.

I AM a subject,

And challenge law: attorneys are denied me,
And therefore personally I lay my claim
To mine inheritance.

Shakspere.

Despairing quacks with curses fled the place,
And vile attorneys, now a useless race

Pope.

ATTRACT-ATTRACTION.
WHAT if the sun

Be centre to the world; and other stars,
By his attractive virtue, and their own,
Incited, dance about him various rounds.

So plastic nature working to this end
The single atoms to each other tend,
Attract, attracted to the next in place,

Milton.

Formed and impelled its neighbour to embrace.-Pope.
Some the round earth, cohesion to secure,
For that hard task employ magnetic power;
Remark, say they, the globe, with wonder own
Its nature like the famed attractive stone.

Blackmore.

AUCTION.

AND much more honest, to be hired, and stand
With auctionary hammer in thy hand,
Provoking to give more, and knocking thrice,
For the old household stuff of picture's price.-Dryden.

Ask you why Phrine the whole auction buys;
Phrine foresees a general excise.

F

Pope.