Chapter 67
_The Schoolmistress_.
Her cap, far whiter than the driven snow, Emblems right meet of decency does yield.
JOHN BROWN.
1715-1766.
_Barbarossa_. Act. v. Sc. 3.
Now let us thank the Eternal Power: convinced That Heaven but tries our virtue by affliction, That oft the cloud which wraps the present hour Serves but to brighten all our future days.
DAVID GARRICK.
1716-1779.
_Prologue on Quitting the Stage in 1776, 10th of June_.
Their cause I plead--plead it in heart and mind; A fellow-feeling makes one wondrous kind.
_On the Death of Mr. Pelham_.
Let others hail the rising sun: I bow to that whose race is run.
THOMAS GRAY.
1716-1771.
_On a Distant Prospect of Eton College_.
Ah, happy hills! ah, pleasing shade!
Ah, fields beloved in vain!
Where once my careless childhood strayed, A stranger yet to pain!
Alas! regardless of their doom, The little victims play; No sense have they of ills to come, Nor care beyond to-day.
No more: where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise.
_Progress of Poesy_.
O'er her warm cheek and rising bosom move The bloom of young Desire, and purple light of Love.
Ope the sacred source of sympathetic tears.
Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.
_The Bard_.
Give ample room, and verge enough.
Youth at the prow, and Pleasure at the helm.
_Elegy in a Country Churchyard_.
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.
The short and simple annals of the poor.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.