24. Man's at the best a creature frail and vain,

In knowledge ignorant, in strength but weak;
Subject to sorrow, losses, sickness, pain,

Each storm his state, his mind, his body break.
MRS. BRADSTREET.

25. What tho' the generous cow give me to quaff
The milk nutritious; am I then a calf?

26. Smile on, nor venture to unmask

Man's heart, and view the hell that's there.

JOEL BARLOW.

27. Man's a phenomenon, one knows not what,
And wonderful beyond all wondrous measure;
"Tis pity tho', in this sublime world, that
Pleasure's a sin, and sometimes sin's a pleasure.

BYRON.

BYRON'S Don Juan.

28. Men are the sport of circumstances when The circumstances seem the sport of men.

BYRON'S Don Juan.

29. Man's a strange animal, and makes strange use
Of his own nature and the various arts,
And likes particularly to produce

Some new experiments to show his parts.

BYRON'S Don Juan.

30. That which I am, I am; I did not seek For life, nor did I make myself.

BYRON'S Cain.

31. Admire, exult, despise, laugh, weep,- for here There is much matter for all feeling :- Man! Thou pendulum betwixt a smile and tear!

BYRON'S Childe Harold.

32. But like the tender rose, men soon decay, They bloom, they wither, die, and pass away.

J. T. WATSON.

1. From that day forth, in peace and joyous bliss, They liv'd together long without debate; Nor private jars, nor spite of enemies,

Could shake the safe assurance of their state.

SPENSER'S Fairy Queen.

2. Marriage is a matter of more worth Than to be dealt in by attorneyship.

3. What is wedlock forced, but a hell,
An age of discord and continual strife?
Whereas the contrary bringeth forth bliss,
And is a pattern of celestial peace.

SHAKSPEARE.

SHAKSPEARE.

4. The hour of marriage ends the female reign,
And we give all we have to buy a chain;
Hire men to be our lords, who were our slaves,
And bribe our lovers to be perjur'd knaves.

CROWN.

5. The husband's sullen, dogged, shy,
The wife grows flippant in reply;
He loves command and due restriction,
And she as well likes contradiction.
She never slavishly submits;

She'll have her will, or have her fits;
He this way tugs, she that way draws,
And both find fault with equal cause.

6. Marriage to maids is like a war to men; The battle causes fear, but the sweet hopes Of winning at the last, still draws 'em in.

GAY'S Fables.

NAT. LEE.

392

MATRIMONY - WEDLOCK.

7. Are we not one? Are we not join'd by heaven?
Each interwoven with the other's fate?

Are we not mix'd like streams of meeting rivers,
Whose blended waters are no more distinguish'd,
But roll into the sea one common flood?

8. Though fools spurn Hymen's gentle powers,
We, who improve his golden hours,

By sweet experience know
That marriage, rightly understood,
Gives to the tender and the good

A Paradise below.

9. O marriage! marriage! what a curse is thine, Whose hands alone consent, and hearts abhor!

ROWE.

COTTON.

AARON HILL.

10. There have been wedlock's joys of swift decay,
Like lightning, seen at once, and shot away;
But theirs were hopes, which, all unfit to pair,
Like fire and powder, kiss'd, and flash'd to air.
Thy soul and mine, by mutual courtship won,
Meet like two mingling flames, and make but one.
Union of hearts, not hands, does marriage make,
And sympathy of mind keeps love awake.

11. Then let Hymen oft appear,

In saffron robes, with taper clear,
With pomp, and feast, and revelry,
With mask, and antique pageantry.

12. Wedded love is founded on esteem,

Which the fair merits of the mind engage,

AARON HILL.

For those are charms which never can decay;
But time, which gives new whiteness to the swan,
Improves their lustre.

MILTON.

FENTON.

13. As spiders never seek the fly,

But leaves him of himself t' apply,
So men are by themselves employ'd
To quit the freedom they enjoy'd,
And run their necks into a noose,
They'd break 'em after to get loose.

14. And after matrimony's over,

He, that remains but half a lover,
Deserves, for every minute, more
Than half a year of love before.

BUTLER'S Hudibras.

BUTLER'S Hudibras.

15. But happy they, the happiest of their kind! Whom gentle stars unite, and in one fate

16.

Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend.

What is the world to them,

THOMSON'S Seasons.

Its pomp, its pleasure, and its nonsense all,

Who in each other clasp whatever fair
High fancy forms, and lavish hearts can wish?

THOMSON'S Seasons.

17. Thou art the nurse of virtue. In thine arms She smiles, appearing, as in truth she is, Heaven-born, and destin'd to the skies again.

COWPER'S Task.

18. Wedlock's a saucy, sad, familiar state, Where folks are very apt to scold and hate.

DR. WOLCOT's Peter Pindar.

19. No jealousy their dawn of love o'ercast,
Nor blasted were their wedded days with strife;
Each season look'd delightful as it past,

To the fond husband, and the faithful wife.

BEATTIE'S Minstrel.

20. The bloom or blight of all men's happiness.

BYRON'S Bride of Abydos.

394

MATRIMONY - WEDLOCK.

21. To cheer thy sickness, watch thy health,
Partake, but never waste thy wealth,
Or stand with smile unmurmuring by,
And lighten half thy poverty.

BYRON'S Bride of Abydos.

22. They liv'd together as most people do, Suffering each other's foibles by accord, And not exactly either one or two.

BYRON'S Don Juan.

23. Wishing each other, not divorc'd, but dead, They liv'd respectably as man and wife.

BYRON'S Don Juan.

24. No power in death shall tear our names apart, As none in life could rend thee from my heart.

BYRON'S Lament of Tasso.

25. There's a bliss beyond all that the minstrel has told,
When two, that are link'd in one heavenly tie,
With heart never changing, and brow never cold,
Love on thro' all ills, and love on till they die.
One hour of a passion so sacred is worth

Whole ages of heartless and wandering bliss;
And Oh! if there be an Elysium on earth,

26. To love, to bliss, their blended souls were given, And each, too happy, ask'd no brighter heaven.

DR. DWIGHT.

27. And if division come, it soon is past,
Too sharp, too strange an agony to last!
And, like some river's bright, abundant tide,
Which art or accident hath forc'd aside,
The well-springs of affection, gushing o'er,
Back to their natural channels flow once more.

MRS. NORTON's Dream.