"Three poets, in three distant ages born, Greece, Italy, and England did adorn. The first in loftiness of thought surpassed; The next, in majesty; in both the last. The force of Nature could no further go. To make a third, she joined the former two."

"And torture one poor word ten thousand ways."

"Our vows are heard betimes! and Heaven takes care To grant, before we can conclude the prayer: Preventing angels met it half the way, And sent us back to praise, who came to pray."

"Her wit was more than man, her innocence a child."

"O gracious God! how far have we Profaned thy heavenly gift of poesy!"

"Since heaven's eternal year is thine."

"Men met each other with erected look, The steps were higher that they took; Friends to congratulate their friends made haste, And long inveterate foes saluted as they passed."

"Above any Greek or Roman name."

"Wit will shine Through the harsh cadence of a rugged line."

"Bold knaves thrive without one grain of sense, But good men starve for want of impudence."

"Happy who in his verse can gently steer From grave to light, from pleasant to severe."

"Thespis, the first professor of our art, At country wakes sung ballads from a cart."

"Their heavenly harps a lower strain began, And in soft music mourn the fall of man."

"But Shakespeare's magic could not copied be; Within that circle none durst walk but he."

"All things are hush'd, as Nature's self lay dead, The Mountains seem to nod their drowsy head; The little Birds in dreams their Songs repeat, And sleeping Flowers, beneath the night-dew sweat; Even Lust and Envy sleep."

"An horrid stillness first invades the ear, And in that silence we the tempest fear."

"Mark well the flow’ring almonds in the wood: If od’rous blooms the bearing branches load, The glebe will answer to the sylvan reign: Great heats will follow, and large crops of grain."

"The low’ring spring, with lavish rain, Beats down the slender stem and bearded grain."

"Some steep their seeds, and some in cauldrons boil O’er gentle fires; the exuberant juice to drain, And swell the flatt’ring husks with fruitful grain."

"In shallow furrows vines securely grow."

"The vineyard must employ thy sturdy steer To turn the glebe; besides thy daily pain To break the clods, and make the surface plain."

"She in pens his flocks will fold."

"Oft the drudging ass is driven with toil; Returning late and loaden home with gain Of barter’d pitch, and handmills for the grain."

"In vain the hinds the threshing floor prepare, And exercise their flails in empty air."

"If a wood of leaves o’ershade the tree, In vain the hind shall vex the threshing floor, For empty chaff and straw will be thy store."

"Delve of convenient depth your threshing floor; With temper’d clay then fill and face it o’er."

"Your hay it is mow’d, and your corn it is reap’d; Your barns will be full, and your hovels heap’d; Come, my boys, come, Come, my boys, come, And merrily roar out harvest-home."

"Moist earth produces corn and grass, but both Too rank and too luxuriant in their growth. Let not my land so large a promise boast, Lest the lank ears in length of stem be lost."

"The bearded corn ensued From earth unask’d; nor was that earth renew’d."

"On a short pruning-hook his head reclines, And studiously surveys his gen’rous vines."

"He burns the leaves, the scorching blast invades The tender corn, and shrivels up the blades,"

"Thou king of horned floods, whose plenteous urn Suffices fatness to the fruitful corn, Shalt share my morning song and evening vows."

"His corn and cattle were his only care, And his supreme delight a country fair."

"Who can cease to admire The ploughman consul in his coarse attire?"

"The lab’ring swain Scratch’d with a rake a furrow for his grain, And cover’d with his hand the shallow seed again."

"An ox that waits the coming blow, Old and unprofitable to the plough."

"No fruitful crop the sickly fields return; But oats and darnel choke the rising corn."

"No plough shall hurt the glebe, no pruning-hook the vine."

"The teeming earth, yet guileless of the plough, And unprovoked, did fruitful stores allow."

"Can heav'nly minds such high resentment show, Or exercise their spite in human woe?"

"Arms, and the man I sing, who, forced by Fate, And haughty Juno's unrelenting hate, Expell'd and exil'd, left the Trojan shore; Long labours both by sea and land he bore."

"The field is spacious I design to sow, With oxen far unfit to draw the plough."

"Love is lord of all, and is in all the same."

"My next desire is, void of care and strife, To lead a soft, secure, inglorious life: A country cottage near a crystal flood, A winding valley, and a lofty wood."

"Tough thistles choked the fields, and kill’d the corn, And an unthrifty crop of weeds was born."

"Love conquers all, and we must yield to Love."

"Endure the hardships of your present state, Live, and reserve yourselves for better fate."

"A Heroick Poem, truly such, is undoubtedly the greatest Work which the Soul of Man is capable to perform."