A sea of lies art thou,-our sin, "Not so," said Satan: "I serve God, In tempting, I both bless and curse, Tell, then, the truth; for well I know Loud laughed the fiend. "You know me well; If you had missed your prayer, I knew A swift repentance would ensue; And such repentance would have been A good, outweighing far the sin. I chose this humbleness divine, Born out of fault, should not be thine; Epigrams. MARTIAL'S EPIGRAM ON EPIGRAMS. Omnis epigramma, sit instar apis; sit aculeus illi, MIDAS AND MODERN STATESMEN. Of turning whatsoe'er he touched to gold. This, modern statesmen can reverse with ease; Touch them with gold, they'll turn to what you please. INSCRIBED ON A STATUE TO SLEEP. Somne levis, quanquam certissima mortis imago, Alma quies, optata, veni, nam sic sine vita Vivere quam suave est, sic sine morte mori.-WARTON. [Light sleep, though death's strong image, prythee give Thy fellowship while in my couch I lie; O gentle, wished-for rest, how sweet to live Thus without life, and without death to die !]* TO DR. ROBERT FREIND, WHO WROTE LONG EPITAPHS. Freind, for your epitaphs I'm grieved, Where still so much is said: One half will never be believed, THE FOOL AND THE POET. Sir, I admit your general rule, That every poet is a fool; But you yourself may serve to show it DUM VIVIMUS VIVAMUS. Live while you live, the epicure would say, And give to God each moment as it flies. Lord, in my view let both united be; I live in pleasure while I live to thee.-DODDridge. ▲ celebrated “beauty, scholar, and wit," who spoke in praise of liberty. Liber ut esse velim, suasisti, pulchra Maria: Ut maneam liber, pulchra Maria, vale!-DR. JOHNSON. ON ONE IGNORANT AND ARROGANT. Thou mayst of double ignorance boast, Who knowst not that thou nothing knowst.-OWEN, Trans. by Cowper. Come, gentle sleep! attend thy votary's prayer, And, without dying, oh, how sweet to die!- Wolcot's Trans. TO OUR BED. In bed we laugh, in bed we cry; The near approach the bed may show Of human bliss to human woe.-BENSERADE. LATE REPENTANCE. Pravus, that aged debauchee, Proclaimed a vow his sins to quit; Except what now he can't commit? ON A PALE LADY WITH A RED-NOSED HUSBAND. Whence comes it that in Clara's face The lily only has its place? Is it because the absent rose Has gone to paint her husband's nose? ON SOME SNOW THAT MELTED ON A LADY'S BREAST. Those envious flakes came down in haste, To prove her breast less fair, But, grieved to find themselves surpassed,* SELVAGGI'S DISTICH ADDRESSED TO JOHN MILTON. While at Rome. Græcia Moonidem, jactet sibi Roma Maronem, DRYDEN'S AMPLIFICATION. Three poets in three distant ages born, To make a third, she joined the former two. The following madrigal was addressed to a Lancastrian lady, and accompanied with a white rose, during the opposition of the "White Rose" and "Red Rose" adherents of the houses of York and Lancaster:- If this fair rose offend thy sight, It in thy bosom wear; "Twill blush to find itself less white, And turn Lancastrian there. ON BUTLER'S MONUMENT. While Butler, needy wretch, was yet alive, See him, when starved to death and turned to dust, The poet's fate is here in emblem shown: He asked for bread, and he received a stone.-S. WESLEY. OVERDRAWN COMPLIMENT. So much, dear Pope, thy English Homer charms, As pity melts us, or as passion warms, That after-ages will with wonder seek SUGGESTED BY A GERMAN TOURIST. Who accompanied Prince Albert into Scotland. How good the Athol Boetry must be !"-Tox HOOD. ETERNITY. Reason does but one quaint solution lend OCCASIONED BY THE LOSS OF A CLERGYMAN'S PORTMANTEAU, Containing his Sermons. I've lost my portmanteau. "I pity your grief." It contained all my sermons. TO A LIVING AUTHOR. Your comedy I've read, my friend, Take courage, man! and steal the rest. Athol brose is a favorite Highland drink, composed of honey, whiskey, and water, although the proportion of the latter is usually so homoeopathically minute as to be difficult of detection except by chemical or microscopical analysis. Possibly the Scotch aversion to injuring the flavor of their whiskey by dilution arises from a fact noted by N. P. Willis, that the water has tasted so strongly of sinners ever since the Flood. THE FRUGAL QUEEN. One Queen Artemisia, as old stories tell, When deprived of her husband she loved so well, In respect for the love and affection he showed her, She reduced him to dust, and she drank off the powder. When called on to order the funeral direction, ON COMMISSARY GOLDIE'S BRAINS. Lord, to account who dares thee call, Or e'er dispute thy pleasure? Else why within so thick a wall Enclose so poor a treasure?-Burns. GIVING AND TAKING. "I never give a kiss," says Prue, "To naughty man, for I abhor it." She will not give a kiss, 'tis true: She'll take one, though, and thank you for it.-MOORE. то "Moria pur quando vuol non è bisogna mutar ni faccia ni voce per esser un Angelo." Die when you will, you need not wear At Heaven's court a form more fair Than beauty here on earth has given; Keep but the lovely looks we see,— The voice we hear,-and you will be An angel ready-made for heaven!-MOORE. THE LOVER TO HIS MISTRESS, WITH A PRESENT of a MIRROR. This mirror my object of love will unfold Oh, would, when I'm gazing, that I might behold TO A CAPRICIOUS FRIEND. Difficilis, facilis, jucundus, acerbus es idem, Nec tecum possum vivere, nec sine te.-MARTIAL. [In all thy humors, whether grave or mellow, Thou'rt such a touchy, testy, pleasant fellow, Hast so much wit, and mirth, and spleen about thee, There is no living with thee, nor without thee.-ADDISON.] |