| |
Night is a stealthy, evil Raven, Wrapt to the eyes in his black wings. T. B. AldrichDay and Night. | 1 |
Night comes, world-jewelled, * * * The stars rush forth in myriads as to wage War with the lines of Darkness; and the moon, Pale ghost of Night, comes haunting the cold earth After the suns red sea-deathquietless. BaileyFestus. Sc. Garden and Bower by the Sea. | 2 |
I love night more than dayshe is so lovely; But I love night the most because she brings My love to me in dreams which scarcely lie. BaileyFestus. Sc. Water and Wood. Midnight. | 3 |
Wan night, the shadow goer, came stepping in. Beowulf. III. | 4 |
When it draws near to witching time of night. BlairThe Grave. L. 55. | 5 |
The Night has a thousand eyes, The Day but one; Yet the light of the bright world dies With the dying sun. F. W. BourdillonLight. | 6 |
Most glorious night! Thou wert not sent for slumber! ByronChilde Harold. Canto III. St. 93. | 7 |
For the night Shows stars and women in a better light. ByronDon Juan. Canto II. St. 152. | 8 |
The stars are forth, the moon above the tops Of the snow-shining mountainsBeautiful! I linger yet with Nature, for the night Hath been to me a more familiar face Than that of man; and in her starry shade Of dim and solitary loveliness I learnd the language of another world. ByronManfred. Act III. Sc. 4. | 9 |
Nights black Mantle covers all alike. Du BartasDivine Weekes and Workes. First Week. First Day. L. 562. | 10 |
Dark the Night, with breath all flowers, And tender broken voice that fills With ravishment the listening hours, Whisperings, wooings, Liquid ripples, and soft ring-dove cooings In low-toned rhythm that loves aching stills! Dark the night Yet is she bright, For in her dark she brings the mystic star, Trembling yet strong, as is the voice of love, From some unknown afar. George EliotSpanish Gypsy. Song. Bk. I. | 11 |
O radiant Dark! O darkly fostered ray! Thou hast a joy too deep for shallow Day. George EliotSpanish Gypsy. Bk. I. | 12 |
The watch-dogs voice that bayd the whispering wind, And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind: These all in sweet confusion sought the shade, And filld each pause the nightingale had made. GoldsmithDeserted Village. L. 121. | 13 |
A late lark twitters from the quiet skies: And from the west, Where the sun, his days work ended, Lingers as in content, There falls on the old, gray city An influence luminous and serene, A shining peace. HenleyMargaritæ Sorori. | 14 |
The smoke ascends In a rosy-and-golden haze. The spires Shine and are changed. In the valley Shadows rise. The lark sings on. The sun Closing his benediction, Sinks, and the darkening air Thrills with the sense of the triumphing night, Night with train of stars And her great gift of sleep. HenleyMargaritæ Sorori. | 15 |
Now deep in ocean sunk the lamp of light, And drew behind the cloudy vale of night. HomerIliad. Bk. VIII. L. 605. Popes trans. | 16 |
At night, to his own dark fancies a prey, He lies like a hedgehog rolled up the wrong way, Tormenting himself with his prickles. HoodMiss Kilmansegg and her precious Leg. | 17 |
Watchman, what of the night? Isaiah. XXI. 11. | 18 |
Night, when deep sleep falleth on men. Job. IV. 13; XXXIII. 15. | 19 |
The night cometh when no man can work. John. IX. 4. | 20 |
| |
|
|
| |
Tis the witching hour of night, Orbed is the moon and bright, And the stars they glisten, glisten, Seeming with bright eyes to listen For what listen they? KeatsA Prophecy. L. 1. | 21 |
I heard the trailing garments of the Night Sweep through her marble halls. LongfellowHymn to the Night. | 22 |
O holy Night! from thee I learn to bear What man has borne before! Thou layest thy fingers on the lips of Care, And they complain no more. LongfellowHymn to the Night. | 23 |
Then stars arise, and the night is holy. LongfellowHyperion. Bk. I. Ch. I. | 24 |
And the night shall be filled with music And the cares, that infest the day, Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs, And as silently steal away. LongfellowThe Day is Done. | 25 |
God makes sech nights, all white an still Furz you can look or listen, Moonshine an snow on field an hill, All silence an all glisten. LowellThe Courtin. | 26 |
Night hath a thousand eyes. LylyMaydes Metamorphose. Act III. Sc. 1. | 27 |
Quiet night, that brings Rest to the labourer, is the outlaws day, In which he rises early to do wrong, And when his work is ended dares not sleep. MassingerThe Guardian. Act II. Sc. 4. | 28 |
A night of tears! for the gusty rain Had ceased, but the eaves were dripping yet; And the moon lookd forth, as tho in pain, With her face all white and wet. Owen Meredith (Lord Lytton)The Wanderer. Bk. II. The Portrait. | 29 |
O thievish Night, Why shouldst thou, but for some felonious end, In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars, That nature hung in heaven, and filled their lamps With everlasting oil, to give due light To the misled and lonely traveller? MiltonComus. L. 195. | 30 |
* * * And when night Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine. MiltonParadise Lost. Bk. I. L. 500. | 31 |
Where eldest Night And Chaos, ancestors of nature, hold Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise Of endless wars, and by confusion stand. MiltonParadise Lost. Bk II. L. 894. | 32 |
Sable-vested Night, eldest of things. MiltonParadise Lost. Bk. II. L. 962. | 33 |
* * * For now began Night with her sullen wings to double-shade The desert; fowls in their clay nests were couchd, And now wild beasts came forth, the woods to roam. MiltonParadise Regained. Bk. I. L. 499. | 34 |
Darkness now rose, As daylight sunk, and brought in lowring Night Her shadowy offspring. MiltonParadise Regained. Bk. IV. L. 397. | 35 |
Night is the time for rest; How sweet, when labours close, To gather round an aching breast The curtain of repose, Stretch the tired limbs, and lay the head Down on our own delightful bed! MontgomeryNight. St. 1. | 36 |
Then awake! the heavens look bright, my dear; Tis never too late for delight, my dear; And the best of all ways To lengthen our days Is to steal a few hours from the night, my dear. MooreThe Young May Moon. | 37 |
But we that have but span-long life, The thicker must lay on the pleasure; And since time will not stay, Well add night to the day, Thus, thus well fill the measure. Duet printed 1795. Probably of earlier date. | 38 |
There never was night that had no morn. D. M. MulockThe Golden Gate. | 39 |
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, And the highwayman came riding. Alfred NoyesThe Highwayman. | 40 |
Day is ended, Darkness shrouds The shoreless seas and lowering clouds. Thomas Love PeacockRhododaphne. Canto V. L. 264. | 41 |
Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls, And makes night hideous;Answer him, ye owls! PopeDunciad. Bk. III. L. 165. | 42 |
O Night, most beautiful and rare! Thou givst the heavens their holiest hue, And through the azure fields of air Bringst down the gentle dew. Thomas Buchanan ReadNight. | 43 |
Ce que jôte à mes nuits, je lajoute à mes jours. What I take from my nights, I add to my days. Ascribed to Rotrou in Venceslas. (1647). | 44 |
Quune nuit paraît longue à la douleur qui veille! How long the night seems to one kept awake by pain. SaurinBlanche et Guiscard. V. 5. | 45 |
On dreary night let lusty sunshine fall. SchillerPompeii and Herculaneum. | 46 |
To all, to each, a fair good night, And pleasing dreams; and slumbers light. ScottMarmion. Canto VI. Last lines. | 47 |
In the dead vast and middle of the night. Hamlet. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 198. (Waist in many editions; afterwards printed waste. Vast in the quarto of 1603.) | 48 |
Making night hideous. Hamlet. Act I. Sc. 4. L. 54. | 49 |
Tis now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world. Hamlet. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 404. | 50 |
And night is fled, Whose pitchy mantle overveild the earth. Henry VI. Pt. I. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 1. | 51 |
I must become a borrower of the night For a dark hour or twain. Macbeth. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 27. | 52 |
Come, seeling night, Skarf up the tender eye of pitiful day; And with thy bloody and invisible hand, Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond Which keeps me pale! Macbeth. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 46. | 53 |
Light thickens; and the crow Makes wing to the rooky wood: Good things of the day begin to droop and drowse; Whiles nights black agents to their preys do rouse. Macbeth. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 50. | 54 |
The night is long that never finds the day. Macbeth. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 240. | 55 |
Now the hungry lion roars, And the wolf behowls the moon; Whilst the heavy ploughman snores, All with weary task foredone. Midsummer Nights Dream. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 378. | 56 |
This is the night That either makes me or fordoes me quite. Othello. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 128. | 57 |
Come, gentle night, come, loving, blackbrowd night. Romeo and Juliet. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 20. | 58 |
How beautiful this night! the balmiest sigh Which Vernal Zephyrs breathe in evenings ear Were discord to the speaking quietude That wraps this moveless scene. Heavens ebon vault, Studded with stars, unutterably bright, Through which the moons unclouded grandeur rolls, Seems like a canopy which love has spread To curtain her sleeping world. ShelleyQueen Mab. Pt. IV. | 59 |
Swiftly walk over the western wave, Spirit of Night! ShelleyTo Night. | 60 |
How beautiful is night! A dewy freshness fills the silent air; No mist obscures, nor cloud nor speck nor stain Breaks the serene of heaven. SoutheyThalaba. Bk. I. | 61 |
Dead sounds at night come from the inmost hills, Like footsteps upon wool. TennysonÆnone. St. 20. | 62 |
I was heavy with the even, When she fit her glimmering tapers Round the days dead sanctities. Francis ThompsonHound of Heaven. L. 84. | 63 |
Now black and deep the Night begins to fall, A shade immense! Sunk in the quenching Gloom, Magnificent and vast, are heaven and earth. Order confounded lies; all beauty void, Distinction lost, and gay variety One universal blot: such the fair power Of light, to kindle and create the whole. ThomsonThe Seasons. Autumn. L. 113. | 64 |
Come, drink the mystic wine of Night, Brimming with silence and the stars; While earth, bathed in this holy light, Is seen without its scars. Louis UntermeyerThe Wine of Night. | 65 |
When, upon orchard and lane, breaks the white foam of the Spring When, in extravagant revel, the Dawn, a Bacchante upleaping, Spills, on the tresses of Night, vintages golden and red When, as a token at parting, munificent Day for remembrance, Gives, unto men that forget, Ophirs of fabulous ore. William WatsonHymn to the Sea. Pt. III. 12. | 66 |
Mysterious night! when our first parent knew Thee from report divine, and heard thy name, Did he not tremble for this lovely frame, This glorious canopy of light and blue? Joseph Blanco WhiteNight and Death. | 67 |
The summer skies are darkly blue, The days are still and bright, And Evening trails her robes of gold Through the dim halls of Night. Sarah H. P. WhitmanSummers Call. | 68 |
Night begins to muffle up the day. WithersMistresse of Philarete. | 69 |
Night, sable goddess! from her ebon throne, In rayless majesty, now stretches forth Her leaden sceptre oer a slumbering world. Silence, how dead! and darkness, how profound! Nor eye, nor listning ear, an object finds; Creation sleeps. Tis as the general pulse Of life stood still, and nature made a pause; An awful pause! prophetic of her end. YoungNight Thoughts. Night I. L. 18. | 70 |
How is nights sable mantle labord oer, How richly wrought with attributes divine! What wisdom shines! what love! this midnight pomp, This gorgeous arch, with golden worlds inlaid Built with divine ambition! YoungNight Thoughts. Night IV. L. 385. | 71 |
Mine is the night, with all her stars. YoungParaphrase on Job. L. 147. | 72 |
| |