There was a laughing devil in his sneer, Hope withering fled, and mercy sighed farewell. Canto 1. Stanza 9. ENGLISH BARDS AND SCOTCH REVIEWERS. 'Tis pleasant, sure, to see one's name in print; Unhappy White! while life was in its spring, Keen were his pangs, but keener far to feel He nursed the pinion which impell'd the steel; Yet truth will sometimes lend her noblest fires, Lines 839-842. There's not a joy the world can give Stanzas for Music. * These lines, not excelled in imagery by anything in the works of the noble poet, refer to Henry Kirke White, whose death was accelerated by too close an application to study. On account of the fame acquired by this portion of the poem, the extract containing the allusion to Kirke White is given in its entirety. The idea here conveyed is imitated by Moore in his "Corruption—an Epistle,” lines 95-98 "Like a young eagle, who has lent his plume To fledge the shaft by which he meets his doom; Yes! where is he, the champion and the child* Whose game was empires, and whose stakes were thrones, Whose table earth-whose dice were human bones? Swift. I've often wish'd that I had clear, Of land, set out to plant a wood. Imitation of Part of the Sixth Satire of the This was a visionary scheme, Lines 1-6. He wak'd, and found it but a dream; A project far above his skill; For nature must be nature still. Cadenus and Vanessa. Lines 584-587. 'Tis an old maxim in the schools, Ibid. Lines 758-761. Then, rising with Aurora's light, The Muse invok'd, sit down to write; Be mindful, when invention fails, To scratch your head, and bite your nails. On Poetry. Lines 85-90. He has more goodness in his little finger than you have in your whole body. Mary the Cookmaid's Letter to Dr. Sheridan. I love to tell truth and shame the devil.* Ibid. In all distresses of our friends, We first consult our private ends ; While Nature, kindly bent to ease us, On the Death of Dr. Swift. Lines 7-10. * See also Quotations from Shakspere, Henry IV., Part I. This and the quotation immediately preceding it from Mary's Letter, are proverbial expressions, probably in use long prior to the days of either Swift or Shakspere. The Dean's writings abound with old proverbs: most of those in familiar use in his day will be found in his "Polite Conversation." † An adaptation of the well-known maxim of Rochetoucault, "Dans l'adversité de nos meilleurs amis, nous |