Inconsolable to the minuet in Ariadne.

The Critic. Act ii. Sc. 2.

The Spanish fleet thou canst not see,

- because

It is not yet in sight. Ibid. Act ii. Sc. 2. An oyster may be crossed in love.

Ibid. Act iii.

You shall see them on a beautiful quarto page, where a neat rivulet of text shall meander through a meadow of margin.

School for Scandal. Act i. Sc. 1.

I leave my character behind me.

Ibid. Act ii. Sc. 2.

Here's to the maiden of bashful fifteen ;
Here's to the widow of fifty;

Here's to the flaunting, extravagant quean,
And here's to the housewife that 's thrifty.
Let the toast pass;
Drink to the lass;

I'll warrant she 'll prove an excuse for the glass.

Ibid. Act iii. Sc. 3.

An unforgiving eye, and a damned disinherit

ing countenance.

Ibid. Act iv. Sc. 1.

I ne'er could any lustre see

In eyes that would not look on me;
I ne'er saw nectar on a lip

But where my own did hope to sip.

The Duenna. Acti. Sc. 2.

Had I a heart for falsehood framed,

I ne'er could injure you.

Ibid. Acti. Sc. 5.

416

Sheridan.- Pitt.- Crabbe.

Conscience has no more to do with gallantry than it has with politics. The Duenna. Act ii. Sc. 4.

The Right Honorable gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests and to his imagination for his facts.1

Speech in reply to Mr. Dundas. (Sheridaniana.) You write with ease to show your breeding, But easy writing 's curst hard reading.

Clio's Protest. Moore's Life of Sheridan. Vol. i. p. 155.

WILLIAM PITT.

1759-1806.

Necessity is the argument of tyrants, it is the creed of slaves.2

Speech on the India Bill, Nov. 1783. Prostrate the beauteous ruin lies; and all That shared its shelter, perish in its fall. From The Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin. No. xxxvi.

GEORGE CRABBE. 1754-1832.

Oh! rather give me commentators plain, Who with no deep researches vex the brain; Who from the dark and doubtful love to run, And hold their glimmering tapers to the sun. The Parish Register. Pt. i. Introduc.

1 On peut dire que son esprit brille aux dépens de sa mémoire. Le Sage, Gil Blas, Livre iii. Ch. xi.

2 Compare Milton, Par. Lost, Book iv. Line 393. 8 See Young, Satire vii. Line 97.

Her air, her manners, all who saw admired;
Courteous though coy, and gentle though retired;
The joy of youth and health her eyes display'd,
And ease of heart her every look convey'd.
The Parish Register. Pt. ii. Marriages.

In this fool's paradise he drank delight.1

The Borough. Letter xii. Players.

Books cannot always please, however good;
Minds are not ever craving for their food.

Ibid. Letter xxiv. Schools.

In idle wishes fools supinely stay;

Be there a will, and wisdom finds a way.

The Birth of Flattery.

"T was good advice, and means, my son, be good.

The Learned Boy.

Cut and come again.

Tales. vii. Line 26.

J. P. KEMBLE. 1757-1823.

Perhaps it was right to dissemble your love,

But why did you kick me down stairs?

The Panel2 Act i. Sc. 1.

1 See Proverbial Expressions.

2 Altered from Bickerstaff's 'Tis Well 't is no Worse. The lines are also found in Debrett's Asylum for Fugitive Pieces, Vol. i. p. 15.

JOHN TRUMBULL. 1750-1831.

But optics sharp it needs, I ween,

To see what is not to be seen.

McFingal. Canto i. Line 67.

But as some muskets so contrive it,

As oft to miss the mark they drive at,
And though well aimed at duck or plover,
Bear wide, and kick their owners over.
Canto i. Line 93.

As though there were a tie,

And obligation to posterity.

We get them, bear them, breed and nurse.
What has posterity done for us,

That we, lest they their rights should lose,
Should trust our necks to gripe of noose.

Canto ii. Line 121.

No man e'er felt the halter draw,

With good opinion of the law.

Canto iii. Line 489.

TIMOTHY DWIGHT. 1752-1817.

Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise,

The queen of the world, and child of the skies! Thy genius commands thee; with rapture behold, While ages on ages thy splendors unfold.

Columbia.

ROBERT BURNS. 1759-1796.

Where sits our sulky, sullen dame,
Gathering her brows like gathering storm,
Nursing her wrath to keep it warm.

Tam O'Shanter.

Ah gentle dames! it gars me greet,
To think how monie counsels sweet,
How monie lengthened sage advices,
The husband frae the wife despises.

His ancient, trusty, drouthy crony ;
Tam lo'ed him like a vera brither —
They had been fou for weeks thegither.
The landlady and Tam grew gracious
Wi favours secret, sweet, and precious.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.

The landlord's laugh was ready chorus.

Ibid.

Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious,
O'er a' the ills o' life victorious.

Ibid.

But pleasures are like poppies spread,

You seize the flower, its bloom is shed;
Or, like the snow-fall in the river,

A moment white, then melts for ever.

Ibid.

That hour, o' night's black arch the keystane.

Inspiring, bold John Barleycorn,

Ibid.

What dangers thou canst make us scorn! Ibid.