Your business is but to inform ;
But if it be, 'tis ne'er the near,
You have a wrong sow by the ear.*

Part II.

Canto III. Lines 575-580.

Make fools believe in their foreseeing
Of things before they are in being;

To swallow gudgeons ere they're catch'd,

And count their chickens ere they're hatch'd.

Lines 921-924.

For those that fly may fight again,

Which he can never do that's slain.†

Part III. Canto III. Lines 243, 244.

He that complies against his will,
Is of his own opinion still.‡

Lines 547, 548.

*This is a proverb of considerable antiquity; it occurs frequently in the old dramas. Ben Jonson quotes it in his comedy of "Every Man in his Humour," act ii. scene 1 ; and Colman, in the "Heir-at-Law," act i. scene 1.

It is a general opinion that the very familiar lines"For he that fights and runs away,

May live to fight another day,"

are in Hudibras; this is a popular error. The quotation here given, which conveys a similar idea, has probably given rise to the erroneous impression which prevails as to the authorship of the lines; some remarks on the subject will be found in a subsequent part of this work.

Often incorrectly given thus―

"A man convinced against his will."

Thomson.

-000

THE SEASONS.

But happy they! the happiest of their kind!

Whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate

Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend.

Spring. Lines 1113-1115.

Then infant reason grows apace, and calls
For the kind hand of an assiduous care.
Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,
To teach the young idea how to shoot.

Lines 1150-1153.

Nor undelightful is the ceaseless hum,

To him who muses through the woods at noon.

Summer. Lines 282, 283.

Loveliness

Needs not the foreign aid of ornament,

But is, when unadorn'd, adorn'd the most.

Autumn. Lines 204-206.

Ah, little think the gay licentious proud,
Whom pleasure, power, and affluence surround;
They, who their thoughtless hours in giddy mirth,
And wanton, often cruel, riot waste;

Ah! little think they, while they dance along,
How many feel, this very moment, death,

And all the sad variety of pain.

Winter. Lines 322-328.

Behold, fond man!

See here thy pictur'd life; pass some few years,
Thy flowering Spring, thy Summer's ardent strength,
Thy sober Autumn fading into age,

And pale concluding Winter comes at last,

And shuts the scene.

Lines 1028-1033.

Yes, we must follow soon, will glad obey ;
When a few suns have roll'd their cares away,
Tired with vain life, will close the willing eye:
'Tis the great birthright of mankind to die.

Epitaph on Miss Stanley.

Το put the power

Of sovereign rule into the good man's hand,
Is giving peace and happiness to millions.

The heart of woman tastes no truer joy,
Is never flatter'd with such dear enchantment—
'Tis more than selfish vanity—as when
She hears the praises of the man she loves.
Tancred and Sigismunda. Act 1.

Keep virtue's simple path before your eyes,
Nor think from evil good can ever rise.

Scene I.

Scene 1.

When Britain first, at Heaven's command,

Arose from out the azure main,

This was the charter of the land,

And guardian angels sung this strain:
"Rule Britannia! rule the waves;
Britons never will be slaves."

The nations not so bless'd as thee,
Must in their turns to tyrants fall;
While thou shalt flourish great and free,
The dread and envy of them all.
"Rule Britannia!" etc.

Still more majestic shalt thou rise,

More dreadful from each foreign stroke;
As the loud blast that tears the skies,
Serves but to root thy native oak.
"Rule Britannia !" etc.

Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame,
All their attempts to bend thee down
Will but arouse thy generous flame,
But work their woe, and thy renown.
"Rule Britannia!" etc.

To thee belongs thy rural reign;

Thy cities shall with commerce shine;
All thine shall be the subject main,
And every shore it circles thine.
"Rule Britannia!" etc.

The Muses, still with freedom found,

Shall to thy happy coast repair.

Bless'd isle! with matchless beauty crown'd,
And manly hearts to guard the fair.*

"Rule Britannia!" etc.

Ode in the Masque of Alfred.

*The insertion of "Rule Britannia," in its complete form, may perhaps be deemed scarcely in consonance with the object of this Work-nor is it so, strictly speaking; but as so much misapprehension exists in the public mind