"She sente me the cherye Withouten ony ston; And so she dede the dove Withouten ony bon; She sente me the brer Withouten ony rinde; She bad me love my lemman Withoute longing."

"For hire love in slep y slake, For hire love al nyht ich wake, For hire love mournynge y make More then eny mon. Blou northerne wynd! Send thou me my suetyng! Blou northerne wynd! blou, blou, blou!"

"Icham of Irlaunde Ant of the holy londe Of Irlande. Gode sire, pray ich the, For of saynte charite, Come ant daunce wyt me In Irlaunde."

"Hand by hand we shule us take, And joye and blisse shule we make; For the devel of helle man hath forsake, And Godes Son is maked our make. A child is boren amonges man, And in that child was no wam: That child is God, that child is man, And in that child oure lif bigan."

"An hendy hap ichabbe y-hent, Ichote from hevene it is me sent; From alle wymmen my love is lent Ant lyht on Alisoun."

"Nis no fur so hot in helle All to mon That loveth derne and dar nout telle Whet him is on."

"I wish I were where Helen lies; Night and day on me she cries; Oh that I were where Helen lies On fair Kirconnell lea! Curst be the heart that thought the thought, And curst the hand that fired the shot, When in my arms burd Helen dropt, And died to succour me!"

"But had I wist, before I kist, That love had been sae ill to win, I had lock'd my heart in a case o' gowd, And pinn'd it wi' a siller pin. And O! if my young babe were born, And set upon the nurse's knee; And I mysel were dead and gane, And the green grass growing over me!"

"Mony a one for him makes mane, But nane sall ken where he is gane; O'er his white banes, when they are bare, The wind sall blaw for evermair."

"The first line that Sir Patrick read, A loud laugh laughed he; The next line that Sir Patrick read, The tear blinded his ee."

"When captains courageous, whom death could not daunt"

"What d'ye leave to your true-love, Lord Randal, my son? What d'ye leave to your true-love, my handsome young man?" "I leave her hell and fire; mother mak my bed soon, For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down."

"Goodman, you've spoken the foremost word! Get up, and bar the door."

"Maxwelton's braes are bonnie Where early fa's the dew And 'twas there that Annie Laurie Gave me her promise true. Gave me her promise true Which ne'er forgot will be And for bonnie Annie Laurie I'd lay me doon and dee."

"Ver novum, ver jam canorurn, vere natus orbis est; Vere concordant amores, vere nubunt alites, Et nemus comam resolvit de maritis imbribus. Cras amorum copulatrix inter umbras arborum Inplicat casas virentes de flagello myrteo."

"David Camden, "The Night Watch of Venus", forumromanum.org (c. 24 July 2003)"

"Arthur Quiller-Couch, The Vigil of Venus and Other Poems (1912) — also the source of the Latin text used above"

"Anonymous, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, vol. 53, no. 332 (June 1843)"

"Thomas Parnell, Poems on Several Occasions (1722)"

"Ecce jam super genestas explicant tauri latus, Quisque tutus quo tenetur conjugali foedere: Subter umbras cum maritis ecce balantum greges; Et canoras non tacere diva jussit alites. Jam loquaces ore rauco stagna cycni perstrepunt; Adsonat Terei puella subter umbram populi, Ut putes motus amoris ore dici musico, Et neges queri sororem de marito barbaro. Ilia cantat, nos tacemus. Quando ver venit meum? Quando fiam uti chelidon, ut tacere desinam? Perdidi Musam tacendo, nec me Apollo respicit; Sic Amyclas, cum tacerent, perdidit silentium."

"Rura fecundat voluptas: rura Venerem sentiunt: Ipse Amor puer Dionse rure natus dicitur. Hunc ager, cum parturiret ipsa, suscepit sinu: Ipsa florum delicatis educavit osculis."

"Ipsa Trojanos nepotes in Latinos transtulit, Ipsa Laurentem puellam conjugem nato dedit; Moxque Marti de sacello dat pudicam virginem; Romuleas ipsa fecit cum Sabinis nuptias, Unde Ramnes et Quirites proque prole posterum Romuli matrem crearet et nepotem Cæsarem."

"Et rigentibus virentes ducit umbras floribus: Cras erit quum primus Æther copulavit nuptias, Et pater totum creavit vernis annum nubibus, In sinum maritus imber fluxit almæ conjugis, Unde fetus mixtus omnes aleret magno corpore. Ipsa venas atque mentem permeanti spiritu Intus occultis gubernat procreatrix viribus, Perque coelum, perque terras, perque pontum subditum Pervium sui tenorem seminali tramite Inbuit, jussitque mundum nosse nascendi vias."

"Jussit Hyblæis tribunal stare diva floribus; Præses ipsa jura dicit, adsederunt Gratiæ. Hybla, totos funde floras quidquid annus adtulit; Hybla, florum rumpe vestem quantus Ætnæ campus est. Ruris hic erunt puellæ, vel puellæ montium, Quæque silvas, quæque lucos, quæque fontes incolunt: Jussit omnes adsidere mater alitis dei, Jussit et nudo puellas nil Amori credere."

"Una res est quam rogamus: cede, virgo Delia, Ut nemus sit incruentum de ferinis stragibus. Ipsa vellet ut venires, si deceret virginem: Jam tribus choros videres feriatos noctibus Congreges inter catervas ire per saltus tuos, Floreas inter coronas, myrteas inter casas: Nee Ceres nee Bacchus absunt, nee poetarum Deus; De tenente tota nox est pervigilia canticis: Regnet in silvis Dione; tu recede, Delia."

"Ipsa nymphas diva luco jussit ire myrteo: It puer comes puellis. Nee tamen credi potest Esse Amorem feriatum, si sagittas vexerit. Ite, nymphæ, posuit arma, feriatus est Amor; Jussus est inermis ire, nudus ire jussus est, Neu quid arcu, neu sagitta, neu quid igne Iæderet; Sed tamen nymphse cavete, quod Cupido pulcher est; Est in armis totus idem quando nudus est Amor!"

"En, pudorem florulentæ prodiderunt purpuræ: Umor ille quern serenis astra rorant noctibus Mane virgineas papillas solvit umenti peplo. Ipsa jussit mane ut udas virgines nubant rosæ; Fusa Paphies de cruore deque Amoris osculis Deque gemmis deque flammis deque solis purpuris, Cras ruborem qui latebat veste tectus ignea Unico marita nodo non pudebit solvere."

"Ipsa gemmis purpurantem pingit annum floribus, Ipsa surgentes papillas de Favoni spiritu Urget in toros tepentes; ipsa roris lucidi Noctis aura quem relinquit, spargit umentes aquas. Et micant lacrimæ trementes de caduco pondere."

"Tunc liquore de superno spumeo et ponti globo, Cærulas inter catervas, inter et bipedes equos, Fecit undantem Dionen de maritis imbribus."

"Cras amet qui nunquam amavit; quique amavit cras amet."

"O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse Without all hope of day!"

"All is best, though we oft doubt, What the unsearchable dispose Of highest Wisdom brings about."

"Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail Or knock the breast, no weakness, no contempt, Dispraise, or blame, nothing but well and fair, And what may quiet us in a death so noble."

"But he, though blind of sight, Despised, and thought extinguished quite, With inward eyes illuminated, His fiery virtue roused From under ashes into sudden flame, And as an ev'ning dragon came, Assailant on the perched roosts And nests in order rang'd Of tame villatic fowl. So Virtue, given for lost, Depressed and overthrown, as seemed, Like that self-begotten bird In the Arabian woods embost, That no second knows nor third, And lay erewhile a holocaust, From out her ashy womb now teemed, Revives, reflourishes, then vigorous most When most unactive deemed; And, though her body die, her fame survives, A secular bird, ages of lives."

"Suspense in news is torture."

"For evil news rides post, while good news baits."

"He’s gone, and who knows how he may report Thy words by adding fuel to the flame?"

"Boast not of what thou would'st have done, but do What then thou would'st."

"Promise was that I Should Israel from Philistian yoke deliver; Ask for this great Deliverer now, and find him Eyeless in Gaza at the Mill with slaves, Himself in bonds under Philistian yoke."

"The sun to me is dark And silent as the moon, When she deserts the night, Hid in her vacant interlunar cave."

"The way to know were not to see, but taste."

"Love-quarrels oft in pleasing concord end; Not wedlock-treachery."

"Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power, After offense returning, to regain Love once possessed."

"Fame, if not double-faced, is double-mouthed, And with contrary blast proclaims most deeds; On both his wings, one black, the other white, Bears greatest names in his wild airy flight."

"Dalila: In argument with men a woman ever Goes by the worse, whatever be her cause. Samson: For want of words, no doubt, or lack of breath!"

"But who is this, what thing of sea or land? Female of sex it seems, That so bedecked, ornate, and gay, Comes this way sailing Like a stately ship Of Tarsus, bound for th' isles Of Javan or Gadire, With all her bravery on, and tackle trim, Sails filled, and streamers waving, Courted by all the winds that hold them play; An amber scent of odorous perfume Her harbinger?"

"My race of glory run, and race of shame, And I shall shortly be with them at rest."

"What boots it at one gate to make defense, And at another to let in the foe?"