LORD LYTTLETON.

1709-1773.

Prologue to Thomson's Coriolanus.

For his chaste Muse employed her heaven-taught lyre
None but the noblest passions to inspire,
Not one immoral, one corrupted thought,
One line, which dying he could wish to blot.

Epigram.

None without hope e'er loved the brightest fair,
But love can hope where reason would despair.

Soliloquy on a Beauty in the Country.

Where none admire, 't is useless to excel;
Where none are beaux, 't is vain to be a belle.

Song.

Alas! by some degree of woe

We every bliss must gain;

The heart can ne'er a transport know,
That never feels a pain.

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.

EDWARD MOORE.

1712-1757.

Fable IX. The Farmer; the Spaniel, and the Cat.

Can't I another's face commend,

And to her virtues be a friend,

But instantly your forehead lowers,
As if her merit lessened yours?

Fable X. The Spider and the Bee.
The maid who modestly conceals
Her beauties while she hides, reveals;
Give but a glimpse, and fancy draws
Whate'er the Grecian Venus was.

But from the hoop's bewitching round,
Her very shoe has power to wound.

The Happy Marriage.

Time still, as he flies, adds increase to her truth,
And gives to her mind what he steals from her youth.*

The Gamester. Act iii. Sc. 4.

'Tis now the summer of your youth: time has not cropt the roses from your cheek, though sorrow long has washed them.

*What envious Time takes from my face

Bestow upon my mind.

Verses by Stella.

WILLIAM SHENSTONE.

1714-1763.

Written on the Window of an Inn.
Whoe'er has travelled life's dull round

Where'er his stages may have been,
May sigh to think he still has found
His warmest welcome at an inn.

Jemmy Dawson.

For seldom shall you hear a tale
So sad, so tender, and so true.

The Schoolmistress.

Her сар, far whiter than the driven snow,
Emblems right meet of decency does yield.

DAVID GARRICK.

1716-1779.

Prologue on Quitting the Stage in 1776, 10th 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!

And snatch a fearful joy.

The sunshine of the breast.

Alas! regardless of their doom,
The little victims play;

No sense have they of ills to come,
Nor care beyond to-day.

And moody madness laughing wild,

Amid severest woe.

Where ignorance is bliss,

'Tis folly to be wise.

Progress of Poesy.
i. 3.

O'er her warm cheek, and rising bosom, move

The bloom of young Desire, and purple light of Love.

iii. 1.

Ope the sacred source of sympathetic tears.

iii. 2.

The living throne, the sapphire blaze,
Where angels tremble while they gaze,
He saw; but blasted with excess of light,
Closed his eyes in endless night.

ii. 3.

Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.

The Bard.

ii. 1.

Give ample room, and verge enough.*

ii. 2.

Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm.

iii. 1.

Visions of glory, spare my aching sight.

iii. 3.

And truth severe, by fairy fiction drest.

Elegy in a Country Churchyard.

The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

The short and simple annals of the poor.

* I have a soul, that like an ample shield,
Can take in all, and verge enough for more.
Sebastian, Act i. Sc. 1. DRYDEN.