Poems and Letters of Thomas Gray: With Memoirs of His Life and Writings |
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Page 20
From this collection I have selected such as I thought would be most likely to
please the generality of readers ; omitting , though with regret , many of the more
sprightly and humorous sort , because either from their personality , or some
other ...
From this collection I have selected such as I thought would be most likely to
please the generality of readers ; omitting , though with regret , many of the more
sprightly and humorous sort , because either from their personality , or some
other ...
Page 39
I fill up my paper with a loose sort of version of that scene in Pastor Fido that
begins , Care selve beati . * Sept . 1738 . LETTER XVIII . MR . WEST TO MR .
GRAY . I THANK you again and again for your two last most agreeable letters .
I fill up my paper with a loose sort of version of that scene in Pastor Fido that
begins , Care selve beati . * Sept . 1738 . LETTER XVIII . MR . WEST TO MR .
GRAY . I THANK you again and again for your two last most agreeable letters .
Page 42
... of those very places which Mr . Gray describes , will necessarily take from them
much of their novelty ; yet the elegant ease of his epistolary style has a charm in it
for all readers of true taste , that will make every apology of this sort needless .
... of those very places which Mr . Gray describes , will necessarily take from them
much of their novelty ; yet the elegant ease of his epistolary style has a charm in it
for all readers of true taste , that will make every apology of this sort needless .
Page 44
This chaise is a strange sort of conveyance , of much greater use than beauty ,
resembling an ill - shaped chariot , only with the door opening before instead of
the side ; three horses draw it , one between the shafts , and the other two on
each ...
This chaise is a strange sort of conveyance , of much greater use than beauty ,
resembling an ill - shaped chariot , only with the door opening before instead of
the side ; three horses draw it , one between the shafts , and the other two on
each ...
Page 54
What pleasures the place denies to the sight it makes up to the palate ; since you
have nothing to drink but the best champaigne in the world , and all sort of
provisions equally good . As to other pleasures , there is not that freedom of ...
What pleasures the place denies to the sight it makes up to the palate ; since you
have nothing to drink but the best champaigne in the world , and all sort of
provisions equally good . As to other pleasures , there is not that freedom of ...
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Popular passages
Page 17 - But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
Page 461 - A stranger yet to pain ! I feel the gales that from ye blow A momentary bliss bestow, As waving fresh their gladsome wing My weary soul they seem to soothe, And, redolent of joy and youth, To breathe a second spring.
Page 466 - Aeolian lyre, awake, And give to rapture all thy trembling strings. From Helicon's harmonious springs A thousand rills their mazy progress take: The laughing flowers, that round them blow, Drink life and fragrance as they flow. Now the rich stream of music winds along, Deep, majestic, smooth, and strong, Through verdant vales and Ceres...
Page 492 - For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, Or busy housewife ply her evening care ; No children run to lisp their sire's return, Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share. Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke ; How jocund did they drive their team afield ! How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke ! Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys, and destiny obscure ; y> Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile The short...
Page 474 - Fair laughs the Morn, and soft the zephyr blows, While proudly riding o'er the azure realm In gallant trim the gilded Vessel goes : Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm : Regardless of the sweeping Whirlwind's sway, That hush'd in grim repose expects his evening prey.
Page 511 - And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone : and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
Page 470 - Where Angels tremble while they gaze, He saw ; but blasted with excess of light. Closed his eyes in endless night. Behold, where Dryden's less presumptuous car, Wide o'er the fields of glory bear Two coursers of ethereal race, With necks in thunder clothed, and long-resounding pace.
Page 493 - Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear ; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air. Some village Hampden, that with dauntless breast The little tyrant of his fields withstood ; Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest ; Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country's blood. Th...
Page 476 - Raised by thy breath, has quench'd the orb of day? To-morrow he repairs the golden flood And warms the nations with redoubled ray. Enough for me : with joy I see The different doom our fates assign: Be thine Despair and sceptred Care; 125 126 BOOK THIRD. To triumph and to die are mine.
Page 468 - Man's feeble race what ills await ! Labour and Penury, the racks of Pain, Disease, and Sorrow's weeping train, And Death, sad refuge from the storms of Fate ! The fond complaint, my song, disprove, And justify the laws of Jove.