[Night Thoughts continued. At thirty, man suspects himself a fool; Night i. Line 417. All men think all men mortal but themselves. Night i. Line 424. He mourns the dead who lives as they desire. Night ii. Line 24. And what its worth, ask death-beds; they can tell. Night ii. Line 51. Thy purpose firm is equal to the deed: "I've lost a day"-the prince who nobly cried, Had been an emperor without his crown. Night ii. Line 99. Ah! how unjust to nature, and himself, The spirit walks of every day deceased. Night ii. Line 112. Night ii. Line 180. Night ii. Line 292. Night ii. Line 334. Time flies, death urges,knells call,heaven invites, Hell threatens. Whose yesterdays look backwards with a smile. 'Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours, And ask them what report they bore to heaven. Night ii. Line 376. Night Thoughts continued.] Thoughts shut up want air, And spoil, like bales unopen'd to the sun. Night ii. Line 466. How blessings brighten as they take their flight! The chamber where the good man meets his fate Night ii. Line 633. A death-bed's a detector of the heart. Night ii. Line 641. Woes cluster; rare are solitary woes; They love a train, they tread each other's heel.' Night iii. Line 63. Beautiful as sweet! And young as beautiful! and soft as young! Lovely in death the beauteous ruin lay; Night iii. Line 104. Heaven's Sovereign saves all beings but himself That hideous sight, a naked human heart. Night iii. Line 226. 1 Compare Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act iv. Sc. 7. Thus woe succeeds a woe, as wave a wave. Herrick, Hesperides, Sorrows Succeed. [Night Thoughts continued. The knell, the shroud, the mattock,and the grave, The deep damp vault,the darkness,and the worm. Night iv. Line 10. Man makes a death which nature never made. Night iv. Line 15. Wishing, of all employments, is the worst. Night iv. Line 71. Man wants but little, nor that little long.1 Night iv. Line 118. A God all mercy is a God unjust. 'Tis impious in a good man to be sad. Night iv. Line 233. Night iv. Line 676. Night iv. Line 788. A Christian is the highest style of man. Men may live fools, but fools they cannot die. Night iv. Line 843. By night an atheist half believes a God. Night v. Line 177. Early, bright, transient, chaste, as morning dew, She sparkled, was exhal'd, and went to heaven." Night v. Line 600. We see time's furrows on another's brow, And death intrench'd, preparing his assault; How few themselves in that just mirror see! Night v. Line 627. 1 Man wants but little here below, Nor wants that little long. Goldsmith, The Hermit, St. 8. 2 See Dryden, On the Death of a very Young Gentleman. Night Thoughts continued.] Like our shadows, Our wishes lengthen as our sun declines.1 While man is growing, life is in decrease; That life is long which answers life's great end. The man of wisdom is the man of years. Night v. Line 775. Death loves a shining mark, a signal blow.3 Night v. Line 1011. Pygmies are pygmies still, though perched on Alps; And pyramids are pyramids in vales. Each man makes his own stature, builds himself : And all may do what has by man been done. The man that blushes is not quite a brute. Night vii. Line 496. Too low they build who build beneath the stars. Prayer ardent opens heaven. Night viii. Line 215. Night viii. Line 721. 1 See Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, Part i. L. 268. "Death borders upon our birth, and our cradle stands in the grave. - Bishop Hall, Epistles, Dec. iii. Epist. ii. 3 Compare Quarles, Divine Poems, 469, ante p. 162. [Night Thoughts continued. Night viii. Line 793. A man of pleasure is a man of pains. To frown at pleasure, and to smile in pain. Night viii. Line 1045. Final Ruin fiercely drives Her ploughshare o'er creation.1 Night ix. Line 167. 'T is elder Scripture, writ by God's own hand: Scripture authentic! uncorrupt by man. The love of praise, howe'er concealed by art, Reigns more or less, and glows in ev'ry heart. Satire i. Line 51. Some, for renown, on scraps of learning dote, And think they grow immortal as they quote. Satire i. Line 89. None think the great unhappy, but the great.3 Satire i. Line 238. 1 Stern Ruin's ploughshare drives elate Full on thy bloom. Burns, To a Mountain Daisy. 2 In brief, all things are artificial; for Nature is the art of God.--Sir Thomas Browne, Relig. Med., Pt. i. Sect. xvi. 3 Compare Rowe, The Fair Penitent, Prologue. |