James Thomson. 1700-1748. John Bartlett, comp. 1919. Familiar Quotations, 10th ed.

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John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

James Thomson. (1700–1748)


1
Come, gentle Spring! ethereal Mildness! come.
The Seasons. Spring. Line 1.
2
Base Envy withers at another’s joy, And hates that excellence it cannot reach.
The Seasons. Spring. Line 283.
3
But who can paint Like Nature? Can imagination boast, Amid its gay creation, hues like hers?
The Seasons. Spring. Line 465.
4
Amid the roses fierce Repentance rears Her snaky crest.
The Seasons. Spring. Line 996.
5
Delightful task! to rear the tender thought, To teach the young idea how to shoot.
The Seasons. Spring. Line 1149.
6
An elegant sufficiency, content, Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, Ease and alternate labour, useful life, Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven!
The Seasons. Spring. Line 1158.
7
The meek-ey’d Morn appears, mother of dews.
The Seasons. Summer. Line 47.
8
Falsely luxurious, will not man awake?
The Seasons. Summer. Line 67.
9
But yonder comes the powerful king of day, Rejoicing in the east.
The Seasons. Summer. Line 81.
10
Ships dim-discover’d dropping from the clouds.
The Seasons. Summer. Line 946.



11
And Mecca saddens at the long delay.
The Seasons. Summer. Line 979.
12
For many a day, and many a dreadful night, Incessant lab’ring round the stormy cape.
The Seasons. Summer. Line 1003.
13
Sigh’d and look’d unutterable things.
The Seasons. Summer. Line 1188.
14
A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate Of mighty monarchs.
The Seasons. Summer. Line 1285.
15
So stands the statue that enchants the world, So bending tries to veil the matchless boast, The mingled beauties of exulting Greece.
The Seasons. Summer. Line 1346.
16
Who stemm’d the torrent of a downward age.
The Seasons. Summer. Line 1516.
17
Autumn nodding o’er the yellow plain.
The Seasons. Autumn. Line 2.
18
Loveliness Needs not the foreign aid of ornament, But is when unadorn’d, adorn’d the most. 1
The Seasons. Autumn. Line 204.
19
He saw her charming, but he saw not half The charms her downcast modesty conceal’d.
The Seasons. Autumn. Line 229.
20
For still the world prevail’d, and its dread laugh, Which scarce the firm philosopher can scorn.
The Seasons. Autumn. Line 233.
21
See, Winter comes to rule the varied year. 2
The Seasons. Winter. Line 1.
22
Cruel as death, and hungry as the grave.
The Seasons. Winter. Line 393.
23
There studious let me sit, And hold high converse with the mighty dead.
The Seasons. Winter. Line 431.
24
The kiss, snatch’d hasty from the sidelong maid.
The Seasons. Winter. Line 625.
25
These as they change, Almighty Father! these Are but the varied God. The rolling year Is full of Thee.
Hymn. Line 1.
26
Shade, unperceiv’d, so softening into shade.
Hymn. Line 25.
27
From seeming evil still educing good.
Hymn. Line 114.
28
Come then, expressive silence, muse His praise.
Hymn. Line 118.
29
A pleasing land of drowsyhed it was, Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye; And of gay castles in the clouds that pass, Forever flushing round a summer sky: There eke the soft delights that witchingly Instil a wanton sweetness through the breast, And the calm pleasures always hover’d nigh; But whate’er smack’d of noyance or unrest Was far, far off expell’d from this delicious nest.
The Castle of Indolence. Canto i. Stanza 6.
30
O fair undress, best dress! it checks no vein, But every flowing limb in pleasure drowns, And heightens ease with grace.
The Castle of Indolence. Canto i. Stanza 26.
31
Plac’d far amid the melancholy main.
The Castle of Indolence. Canto i. Stanza 30.
32
Scoundrel maxim.
The Castle of Indolence. Canto i. Stanza 30.
33
A bard here dwelt, more fat than bard beseems.
The Castle of Indolence. Canto i. Stanza 68.
34
A little round, fat, oily man of God.
The Castle of Indolence. Canto i. Stanza 69.
35
I care not, Fortune, what you me deny: You cannot rob me of free Nature’s grace, You cannot shut the windows of the sky Through which Aurora shows her brightening face; You cannot bar my constant feet to trace The woods and lawns, by living stream, at eve: Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace, And I their toys to the great children leave: Of fancy, reason, virtue, naught can me bereave.
The Castle of Indolence. Canto ii. Stanza 3.
36
Health is the vital principle of bliss, And exercise, of health.
The Castle of Indolence. Canto ii. Stanza 55.
37
Forever, Fortune, wilt thou prove An unrelenting foe to love; And when we meet a mutual heart, Come in between and bid us part?
Song.
38
Whoe’er amidst the sons Of reason, valour, liberty, and virtue Displays distinguish’d merit, is a noble Of Nature’s own creating.
Coriolanus. Act iii. Sc. 3.
39
O Sophonisba! Sophonisba, O! 3
Sophonisba. Act iii. Sc. 2.
40
When Britain first, at Heaven’s command, Arose from out the azure main, This was the charter of her land, And guardian angels sung the strain: Rule, Britannia! Britannia rules the waves! Britons never shall be slaves.
Alfred. Act ii. Sc. 5.

Note 1.
See Milton, Quotation 114.

Nam ut mulieres esse dicuntur nonnullæ inornatæ, quas id ipsum diceat, sic hæc subtilis oratio etiam incompta delectat (For as lack of adornment is said to become some women; so this subtle oration, though without embellishment, gives delight)—Cicero: Orator, 23, 78. [back]

Note 2.
O Winter, ruler of the inverted year.—William Cowper: The Task, book iv. Winter Evening, line 34. [back]

Note 3.
The line was altered after the second edition to “O Sophonisba! I am wholly thine.” [back]

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