It was not by vile loitering in ease
  That Greece obtained the brighter palm of art,
  That soft yet ardent Athens learnt to please,
  To keen the wit, and to sublime the heart,
  In all supreme! complete in every part! 
  It was not thence majestic Rome arose,
  And o’er the nations shook her conquering dart: 
  For sluggard’s brow the laurel never grows;
  Renown is not the child of indolent repose.
       * * * * *
  Toil, and be glad! let Industry inspire
  Into your quickened limbs her buoyant breath! 
  Who does not act is dead; absorpt entire
  In miry sloth, no pride, no joy he hath: 
  O leaden-hearted men to be in love with death!
The Castle of Indolence, Canto II.  J. THOMSON.

My nature is subdued
To what it works in, like the dyer’s hand.
Sonnet CXI.  SHAKESPEARE.

Mechanic slaves
With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers.
Antony and Cleopatra, Act v.  Sc. 2.  SHAKESPEARE.

How many a rustic Milton has passed by,
Stifling the speechless longings of his heart,
In unremitting drudgery and care! 
How many a vulgar Cato has compelled
His energies, no longer tameless then,
To mould a pin, or fabricate a nail!
Queen Mab, Pt.  V.  P.B.  SHELLEY.

  If all the year were playing holidays,
  To sport would be as tedious as to work.
King Henry, Pt.  I. Act i.  Sc. 2.  SHAKESPEARE.

  MACDUFF.  I know this is a joyful trouble to you,
  But yet, ’tis one.

MACBETH.  The labor we delight in physics pain. Macbeth.  Act ii.  Sc. 3.  SHAKESPEARE.

  Cheered with the view, man went to till the ground
  From, whence he rose; sentenced indeed to toil,
  As to a punishment, yet (even in wrath,
  So merciful is heaven) this toil became
  The solace of his woes, the sweet employ
  Of many a livelong hour, and surest guard
  Against disease and death.
Death.  B. PORTEUS.

  Like a lackey, from the rise to set,
  Sweats in the eye of Phoebus, and all night
  Sleeps in Elysium; next day after dawn
  Doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse,
  And follows so the ever-running year
  With profitable labor to his grave. 
  And, but for ceremony, such a wretch,
  Winding up days with toil and nights with sleep,
  Hath the forehand and vantage of a king.
King Henry V., Act iv.  Sc. 1.  SHAKESPEARE.

  When Adam dolve, and Eve span,
  Who was then the gentleman? [A]
J. BALL.

[Footnote A:  Lines used by John Ball, to encourage the rebels in Wat Tyler’s rebellion.  Hume’s History of England, Vol. i.]

  Joy to the Toiler!—­him that tills
  The fields with Plenty crowned;
  Him with the woodman’s axe that thrills
  The wilderness profound.
Songs of the Toiler.  B. HATHAWAY.