A dictionary of quotations from the British poets, by the author of The peerage and baronetage charts, &c

YOUTH.

There was a time in the gay spring of life,
When every note was as the mounting lark's,
Merry and cheerful, to salute the morn;
When all the day was made of melody.

Southern's Fate of Capua.

Youth is, ever, apt to judge in haste,
And lose the medium in the wild extreme.

Hill's Alzira.

Grief seldom join'd with youthful bloom is seen;
Can sorrow be where knowledge scarce has been?
Howard's Indian Queen.

Young men soon give, and soon forget affronts;
Old age is slow in both.

Oh! the joy

Addison's Cato.

Of young ideas painted on the mind,
In the warm glowing colours fancy spreads
On objects not yet known, when all is new,
And all is lovely.

Hannah More's David and Goliah, pt. 2.

I took the rabble's shouts for love-the breath
Of friends for truth-the lips of woman for

My only guerdon. Byron's Sardanapalus, a. 4, s. 1.
Down the smooth stream of life the stripling darts,
Gay as the morn; bright glows the vernal sky,
Hope swells the sails, and passion steers his course.
Safe glides his little bark along the shore
Where virtue takes her stand; but if too far
He launches forth beyond discretion's mark,
Sudden the tempest scowls, the surges roar,
Blot his fair day, and plunge him in the deep.
Porteus's Death.

Happy the school-boy! did he prize his bliss,
'Twere ill exchang'd for all the dazzling gems
That gaily sparkle in ambition's eye;
His are the joys of nature, his the smile,
The cherub smile, of innocence and health.
Sorrow unknown, or if a tear be shed,
He wipes it soon for hark! the cheerful voice
Of comrades calls him to the top, or ball,
Away he hies, and clamours as he goes,

With glee, which causes him to tread on air. Knox.

I can remember, with unsteady feet

Tottering from room to room, and finding pleasure
In flowers, and toys, and sweetmeats, things which long
Have lost their power to please; which, when I see
them,

Raise only now a melancholy wish,

I were the little trifler once again

Who could be pleas'd so lightly.

ZEAL.

Zeal and duty are not slow;

Southey's Thalaba,

But on occasion's forelock watchful wait.

Milton's Paradise Regained, b. 3.

His zeal

None seconded, as out of season judg'd,
Or singular and rash.

Ibid. b. 5.

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