Beauties selected from the writings of James Beattie. To which are prefixed a life of the author and an account of his writings. Together with notes on the first book of The minstrel, by T. Gray

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Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, 1809 - 12 pages

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Page 83 - AT the close of the day, when the hamlet is still, •**• And mortals the sweets of forgetfulness prove ; When nought but the torrent is heard on the hill, And nought but the nightingale's song in the grove...
Page 7 - The warbling woodland, the resounding shore, The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields; All that the genial ray of morning gilds, And all that echoes to the song of even, All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields, And all the dread magnificence of heaven, O how canst thou renounce, and hope to be forgiven ! X.
Page 3 - AH ! who can tell how hard it is to climb The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar; Ah! who can tell how many a soul sublime Has felt the influence of malignant star, And waged with Fortune an eternal war; Check'd by the scoff of Pride, by Envy's frown, And Poverty's unconquerable bar, In life's low vale remote has pined alone, Then dropt into the grave, unpitied and unknown...
Page xii - Let Vanity adorn the marble tomb With trophies, rhymes, and scutcheons of renown, In the deep dungeon of some gothic dome, Where night and desolation ever frown. Mine be the breezy hill that skirts the down; Where a green grassy turf is all I crave, With here and there a violet bestrown, Fast by a brook, or fountain's murmuring wave; And many an evening sun shine sweetly on my grave.
Page 84 - And darkness and doubt are now flying away ; No longer I roam in conjecture forlorn. So breaks on the traveller, faint, and astray, The bright and the balmy effulgence of morn. See Truth, Love, and Mercy, in triumph descending, And nature all glowing in Eden's first bloom ! On the cold cheek of Death smiles and roses are blending, And Beauty immortal awakes from the tomb.
Page 11 - The crimson cloud, blue main, and mountain grey, •And lake, dim-gleaming on the smoky lawn : Far to the west the long long vale withdrawn, Where twilight loves to linger for a while ; And now he faintly kens the bounding fawn, And villager abroad at early toil. But lo ! the Sun appears ! and heaven, earth, ocean, smile.
Page 18 - But who the melodies of morn can tell ? The wild brook babbling down the mountain side ; The lowing herd ; the sheepfold's simple bell; The pipe of early shepherd dim descried In the lone valley; echoing far and wide The clamorous horn along the cliffs above; The hollow murmur of the ocean-tide; The hum of bees, the linnet's lay of love, And the full choir that wakes the universal grove.
Page 285 - Municipal law, thus understood, is properly defined to be a 'rule of civil conduct prescribed by the supreme power in a state, commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong.
Page 13 - And be it so. Let those deplore their doom Whose hope still grovels in this dark sojourn : But lofty souls, who look beyond the tomb, .Can smile at Fate, and wonder how they mourn.' Shall Spring to these sad scenes no more return ? Is yonder wave the sun's eternal bed * Soon shall the orient with new lustre burn, And Spring shall soon her vital influence shed, Again attune the grove, again adorn the mead.
Page 10 - And sees, on high, amidst th' encircling groves, From cliff to cliff the foaming torrents shine : While waters, woods, and winds, in concert join, And echo swells the chorus to the skies. Would Edwin this majestic scene resign For aught the huntsman's puny craft supplies? Ah! no: he better knows great Nature's charms to prize.

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