Her
voice was ever soft,
Gentle, and low.—an excellent
thing in woman.
King Lear, Act v. Sc. 3. SHAKESPEARE.
Not stepping o’er the bounds of modesty. Romeo and Juliet, Act iv. Sc. 2. SHAKESPEARE.
And yet believe me, good as well
as ill,
Woman ’s at best a contradiction still.
Moral Essays, Epistle II. A. POPE.
For woman is not undeveloped man
But diverse; could we make her as the
man
Sweet love were slain; his dearest bond
is this:
Not like to like but like in difference.
The Princess, XII. A. TENNYSON.
Through all the drama—whether
damned or not—
Love gilds the scene, and women guide
the plot.
The Rivals: Epilogue. R.B. SHERIDAN.
YOUTH.
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very Heaven!
The Prelude, Bk. XI. W. WORDSWORTH.
O Life! how pleasant in thy morning,
Young Fancy’s rays the hills adorning!
Cold-pausing Caution’s lesson scorning,
We frisk away,
Like school-boys at th’ expected warning,
To joy and play.
Epistle to James Smith. R. BURNS.
O, would I were a boy again,
When life seemed formed of sunny years,
And all the heart then knew of pain
Was wept away in transient tears!
O, would I were a boy again. M. LEMON.
This morning, like the spirit of
a youth
That means to be of note, begins betimes.
Antony and Cleopatra, Act iv. Sc. 4.
SHAKESPEARE.
Long as the year’s dull circle seems
to run
When the brisk minor pants for twenty-one.
Imitations of Horace, Epistle I. Bk, I.
A. POPE.
A lovely being, scarcely formed or moulded,
A rose with all its sweetest leaves yet
folded.
Don Juan, Canto XV. LORD BYRON.
“Young, gay, and fortunate!”
Each yields a theme.
And, first, thy youth: what says
it to gray hairs?
Narcissa, I’m become thy pupil now;—
Early, bright, transient, chaste as morning
dew,
She sparkled, was exhaled, and went to
heaven.
Night Thoughts, Night V. DR. E. YOUNG.
This bud of lovely Summer’s ripening
breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next
we meet.
Romeo and Juliet, Act ii. Sc 2. SHAKESPEARE.
The nimble-footed mad-cap Prince of Wales,
And his comrades, that daffed the world
aside,
And bid it pass.
King Henry IV., Pt. I. Act iv. Sc. 1.
SHAKESPEARE.
Is in the very May-morn of his youth,
Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises.
King Henry V., Act i. Sc. 2. SHAKESPEARE.
We think our fathers fools, so wise
we grow;
Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so.
Essay on Criticism. A. POPE.
My salad days;
When I was green in judgment.
Antony and Cleopatra, Act iv. Sc. 5.
SHAKESPEARE.