The Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith: With an Account of His Life & Writings to which is Added a Critical Disseetation on His Poetry

Front Cover
Cadell & Davies, 1805 - English poetry - 148 pages
 

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 38 - How often have I blest the coming day, When toil remitting lent its turn to play, And all the village train, from labour free, Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree...
Page 57 - Redress the rigours of the inclement clime; Aid slighted truth with thy persuasive strain ; Teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain ; Teach him, that states of native strength...
Page 49 - Ye friends to truth, ye statesmen, who survey The rich man's joys increase, the poor's decay, 'Tis yours to judge how wide the limits stand Between a splendid and a happy land.
Page 38 - Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn, Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms withdrawn : Amidst thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen, And desolation saddens all thy green : One only master grasps the whole domain, And half a tillage stints thy smiling plain.
Page 42 - The sober herd that lowed to meet their young, The noisy geese that gabbled o'er the pool, The playful children just let loose from school , The watchdog's voice that bayed the whispering wind, And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind...
Page 74 - Though equal to all things, for all things unfit; Too nice for a statesman, too proud for a wit; For a patriot too cool; for a drudge disobedient; And too fond of the right to pursue the expedient. In short, 'twas his fate, unemployed or in place, sir, To eat mutton cold, and cut blocks with a razor.
Page 28 - How small, of all that human hearts endure, That part which laws or kings can cause or cure...
Page 45 - Careless their merits or their faults to scan, His pity gave ere charity began. Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride, And...
Page 10 - But me, not destined such delights to share, My prime of life in wandering spent and care ; Impell'd, with steps unceasing, to pursue Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view ; That, like the circle bounding earth and skies, Allures from far, yet, as I follow, flies ; My fortune leads to traverse realms alone, And find no spot of all the world my own.
Page 48 - The chest contrived a double debt to pay, A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day...

Bibliographic information