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DECLARATION - PROPOSAL.

Thou-thou hast metamorphos'd me;
Made me neglect my studies, lose my time,

War with good counsel, set the world at nought,
Made me with musing weak, heart-sick with thought.

Helen, I love thee; by my life I do :

SHAKSPEARE.

I swear by that, which I will lose for thee,
To prove him false, that says I love thee not.

SHAKSPEARE

Perdition seize my soul, but I do love thee!

SHAKSPEARE.

On your

hand, that pure altar, I vow,

Though I've look'd, and have lik'd, and have left,-That I never have loved till now!

I know thou doom'st me to despair,
Nor wilt, nor canst relieve me;
But, ah, Eliza, hear my prayer,——
For pity's sake, forgive me!

M. G. LEWIS.

BURNS.

By day or night, in weal or wo,
This heart, no longer free,

Must bear the love it cannot show,

And, silent, ache for thee.

BYRON

DEFIANCE.

I court others in verse, but I love thee in prose,
They have my whimsies, but thou hast my heart.

Why should I blush to own I love ?— "Tis love that rules the realms above; Why should I blush to say to all,

That virtue holds my heart in thrall?

PRIOR

DEFIANCE.

I do defy him, and spit at him;

HENRY KIRK WHITE.

Call him—a slanderous coward, and a villain.

SHAKSPEARE.

Must I give way and room to your rash choler?
Shall I be frighted, when a madman stares?

SHAKSPEARE.

Torture thou may'st, but thou shalt ne'er despise me;
The blood will follow where the knife is driven;
The flesh will quiver where the pincers tear;
And sighs and cries by nature grow on pain:
But these are foreign to the soul; not mine

The

groans that issue, or the tears that fall; They disobey me ;-on the rack I scorn thee!

He halts, and turns with clenched hand,
And shouts of loud defiance pours,
And shakes his gauntlet at the towers.

Come one, come all-this rock shall fly
From its firm base as soon as I.

YOUNG.

SCOTT's Marmion,

SCOTT's Marmion

186

186

DELAY-PROCRASTINATION.

DELAY - PROCRASTINATION.

O, my good lord, that comfort comes too late:
"Tis like a pardon after execution;

That gentle physic, given in time, had cur'd me;
But now I'm past all comfort here but prayers.

SHAKSPEARE.

Your gift is princely, but it comes too late,
And falls like sunbeams on a blasted blossom.

SUCKLING.

Shun delays, they breed remorse;

Take thy time, while time is lent thee;
Creeping snails have weakest force;

Fly their fault, lest thou repent thee.
Good is best when soonest wrought,
Lingering labours come to nought.

Be wise to-day: 't is madness to defer;
Next day the fatal precedent will plead;
Thus on till wisdom is push'd out of life.

SOUTHWELL.

YOUNG'S Night Thoughts

Procrastination is the thief of time:
Year after year it steals, till all are fled,
And to the mercies of a moment leaves
The vast concerns of an eternal scene.

YOUNG'S Night Thoughts

Think not to-morrow still shall be your care;

Alas! to-morrow like to-day will fare.
Reflect that yesterday's to-morrow's o'er,-
Thus one "to-morrow," one "to-morrow" more,
Have seen long years before them fade away,
nd still appear no nearer than to-day.

GIFFORD'S Perseus.

DELICACY.

Oh! how many deeds

Of deathless virtue, and immortal crime,
The world had wanted, had the actor said

I will do this to-morrow!

LORD JOHN RUSSELL.

197

DELICACY.

Like the lily,

That once was mistress of the field, and flourish'd,

I'll hang my head, and perish.

SHAKSPEARE.

Early, bright, transient, chaste as morning dew,

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Her eye may grow dim, and her cheek may grow pale,
But tell they not both the same fond tale?-

Love's lights have fled from her eye and her cheek,
To burn and die on the heart which they seek.

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188

DESIGN-INTENTION - DESPAIR.

I dare not think, thou lovely maid,
Thy soul-lit beauty e'er shall fade;

Sure, life and love must stay with thee,
Chain'd by thy potent witchery.

MRS. CHILD.

DESIGN-INTENTION.

I do believe you think what now you speak,
But what we do determine oft we break:
Purpose is but the slave to memory,
Of violent birth, but poor validity;

Which now, like fruits unripe, sticks on the tree,
But fall, unshaken, when they mellow be.

He that intends well, yet deprives himself
Of means to put his good thoughts into deeds,
Deceives his purpose of the due reward.

SHAKSPEARE.

BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.

When any great designs thou dost intend,
Think on the means, the manner, and the end.

DENHAM.

When men's intents are wicked, their guilt haunts them,
But when they're just, they 're arm'd, and nothing daunts

them.

Honest designs

Justly resemble our devotions,

Which we must pay, and wait for the reward.

MIDDLETON.

SIR R. HOWARD.

DESPAIR.

It were all one,

That I should love a bright particular star,

And think to wed it.

SHAKSPEARE

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