"Such strains as would have won the ear Of Pluto, to have quite set free His half-regained Eurydice. These delights, if thou canst give, Mirth, with thee, I mean to live."

"A poet soaring in the high reason of his fancies, with his garland and singing robes about him."

"Where the bright seraphim in burning row Their loud uplifted angel trumpets blow."

"Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of Heaven's joy,"

"O nightingale, that on yon bloomy spray Warbl'st at eve, when all the woods are still."

"Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race: Call on the lazy leaden-stepping Hours, Whose speed is but the heavy plummet's pace; And glut thyself with what thy womb devours, Which is no more than what is false and vain, And merely mortal dross."

"Under the shady roof Of branching elm star-proof."

"Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie."

"The great Emathian conqueror bid spare The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower Went to the ground."

"Captain or Colonel, or Knight in Arms, Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize, If ever deed of honour did thee please, Guard them, and him within protect from harms."

"How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stol'n on his wing my three-and-twentieth year!"

"And so sepúlchred in such pomp dost lie, That kings for such a tomb would wish to die."

"What needs my Shakespeare for his honoured bones, The labor of an age in pilèd stones, Or that his hallowed relics should be hid Under a star-y-pointing pyramid? Dear son of memory, great heir of fame, What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name?"

"Untwisting all the chains that tie The hidden soul of harmony."

"And pomp, and feast, and revelry, With mask, and antique pageantry, Such sights as youthful poets dream On summer eves by haunted stream. Then to the well-trod stage anon, If Jonson's learned sock be on, Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child, Warble his native wood-notes wild, And ever, against eating cares, Lap me in soft Lydian airs, Married to immortal verse Such as the meeting soul may pierce, In notes with many a winding bout Of linked sweetness long drawn out."

"Ladies, whose bright eyes Rain influence, and judge the prize."

"Towered cities please us then, And the busy hum of men."

"Then lies him down the lubber fiend, And stretched out all the chimney's length, Basks at the fire his hairy strength."

"Then to the spicy nut-brown ale."

"And the jocund rebecks sound To many a youth, and many a maid, Dancing in the checkered shade. And young and old come forth to play On a sunshine holiday."

"Herbs, and other country messes, Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses."

"Meadows trim, with daisies pied, Shallow brooks, and rivers wide; Towers and balements it sees Bosomed high in tufted trees, Where perhaps some beauty lies, The cynosure of neighboring eyes."

"And every shepherd tells his tale Under the hawthorn in the dale."

"While the cock with lively din Scatters the rear of darkness thin, And to the stack, or the barn door, Stoutly struts his dames before, Oft list'ning how the hounds and horn Cheerly rouse the slumb'ring morn."

"Mirth, admit me of thy crew, To live with her, and live with thee, In unreprovèd pleasures free."

"The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty."

"Sport, that wrinkled Care derides, And Laughter, holding both his sides. Come, and trip it, as you go. On the light fantastic toe."

"Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee Jest, and youthful jollity, Quips and cranks and wanton wiles, Nods and becks and wreathèd smiles."

"Hence, loathèd Melancholy, Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born, In Stygian cave forlorn, 'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy."

"Peor and Baälim Forsake their temples dim."

"From haunted spring and dale Edged with poplar pale The parting genius is with sighing sent."

"The oracles are dumb, No voice or hideous hum Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving. Apollo from his shrine Can no more divine, With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving. No nightly trance or breathed spell Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell."

"Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail."

"Time will run back and fetch the Age of Gold."

"No war, or battle's sound Was heard the world around. The idle spear and shield were high up hung."

"It was the winter wild While the Heav'n-born child All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies."

"This is the month, and this the happy morn, Wherein the Son of Heav'n's eternal King, Of wedded maid and virgin mother born, Our great redemption from above did bring; For so the holy sages once did sing, That He our deadly forfeit should release, And with His Father work us a perpetual peace."

"I neither oblige the belief of other person, nor overhastily subscribe mine own. Nor have I stood with others computing or collating years and chronologies, lest I should be vainly curious about the time and circumstance of things, whereof the substance is so much in doubt. By this time, like one who had set out on his way by night, and travelled through a region of smooth or idle dreams, our history now arrives on the confines, where daylight and truth meet us with a clear dawn, representing to our view, though at a far distance, true colours and shapes."

"Beholding the bright countenance of truth in the quiet and still air of delightful studies."

"Have hung My dank and dropping weeds To the stern god of sea."

"What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice, Of Attic taste?"

"License they mean when they cry, Liberty! For who loves that must first be wise and good."

"That would have made Quintilian stare and gasp."

"That old man eloquent."

"As ever in my great Taskmaster's eye."

"Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day."

"O fairest flower! no sooner blown but blasted, Soft silken primrose fading timelessly."

"Such as may make thee search the coffers round."