WHAT IS YOUR DESTINY?
You unconcern'd
And calm, can meet your coming destiny,
In all its charming, or its frightful shapes.
Dr. Watts.
I have an ear that craves for every thing,
That hath the smallest sign or Omen in it.
Joanna Baillie.
Let me deem that
Some unknown influence, some sweet oracle,
Communicates between us though unseen,
In absence, and attracts us to each other.
Byron.
WHAT IS YOUR DESTINY?
Ye'll draw a bonny silken purse;
Ye'll ca' your coach, ye'll ca' your horse.
Burns.
2. Of the present much is bright,
And in the coming years I see
A brilliant and a cheering light,
Which burns before thee constantly.
W. D. Gallagher.
3. A better cellar nowhere can be found;
The pantry never is without baked meat,
And fish and flesh, so plenteous and complete:
It snows within your house of meat and drink,
Of all the dainties that a man can think.
Chaucer.
4. Gentleman.—Thine never was a woman's dower
Of tenderness and love!
Thou who canst chain the eagle's power,
Canst never tame the dove.
E. C. Embury.
4. Lady.—Let me gaze for a moment, that ere I die
I may read thee, lady, a prophecy.
That brow may beam in glory awhile,
That cheek may bloom, and that lip may smile,
But clouds shall darken that brow of snow,
And sorrow blight thy bosom's glow.
Miss L. Davidson.
5. The best establishment in the city,
Coaches and horses, hounds and liveried servants.
Mary Howitt.
6. Thou seest only what is fair,
Thou sippest only what is sweet;
Thou wilt mock at fate and care,
Leave the chaff, and take the wheat.
R. W. Emerson.
7. Ye build, ye build, but ye enter not in!
Mrs. Sigourney.
8. I'll warrant thee from drowning, though thy
Ship were no stronger than a nut-shell.
Tempest.
9. The sea of ambition is tempest-toss'd,
And thy hopes may vanish like foam;
But when sails are shiver'd and rudder lost,
Then look to the light of home!
Mrs. Hale.
10. Your life's a summer even,
Whose sun of light, though set
Amidst the clouds of heaven,
Leaves streams of brightness yet.
Bowring.
11. In a narrow sphere,
The little circle of domestic love,
You will be known and loved; the world beyond
Is not for you.
Southey.
12. Thou dwell'st on sorrow's high and barren place,
But round about the mount an angel-guard—
Chariots of fire, horses of fire—encamp,
To keep thee safe for heaven!
Mrs. Ellet.
13. To cheer with sweet repast the fainting guest,
To lull the weary on the couch of rest,
To warm the traveller, numb'd with winter cold,
The young to cherish, to support the old,
The sad to shelter, and the lost direct—
These are your cares, and this your glorious task;
Can heaven a nobler give, or mortals ask?
Sir William Jones.
14. The sordid cares in which you dwell
Shrink and consume your heart.
Bryant.
15. A wide future is before you;
Your heart will beat for fame,
And you will learn to breathe with love
The music of a name,
Writ on the tablets of that heart
In characters of flame.
J. O. Sargent.
16. To grow in the world's approving eyes,
In friendship's smile, and home's caress,
Collecting all the heart's sweet ties
Into one knot of happiness.
Moore.
17. Sorely harass'd, and tired at last with fortune's vain delusions, O,
You'll drop your schemes like idle dreams, and come to this conclusion, O,—
The past was bad, the future hid, the good and ill untried, O,
But the present hour is in your power, and so you will enjoy it, O.
Burns.
18. You will be blest exceedingly; your store
Grow daily, weekly, more and more,
And peace so multiply around,
Your very hearth seem holy ground.
Mary Howitt.
19. With steady aim your fortune chase,
Keen hope let every sinew brace,
Through fair, through foul, urge on your race,
And seize the prey;
Then cannie, in some cozie place,
Thou'lt close life's day.
Burns.
20. In your dreams a form you'll view,
That thinks on you and loves you too;
You start, and when the vision's flown
You'll weep that you are all alone.
H. K. White.
21. Quiet by day,
Sound sleep by night, study and ease
Together mix'd, sweet recreation,
And innocence which most doth please,
With meditation.
Pope.
22. Gentleman.—A gentle lover shalt thou be,
Sitting at thy loved one's side;
She giving her whole soul to thee,
Without a thought or wish of pride,
And she shall be thy cherish'd bride.
J. R. Lowell.
22. Lady.—Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow,
Thou shalt not escape calumny.
Shakspeare.
23. Every day
A little life, a blank to be inscribed
With gentle deeds, such as in after time
Console, rejoice, whene'er you turn the leaf
To read them.
Rogers.
24. Through many a clime 'tis yours to go,
With many a retrospection cursed;
And all your solace is to know,
Whate'er betide, you've known the worst.
Byron.
25. Rouse to some high and holy work of love,
And thou an angel's happiness shalt know,
Shalt bless the earth while in the world above;
The good begun by thee shall onward flow,
In many a branching stream, and wider flow.
Carlos Wilcox.
26. You shall go down as men have ever done,
And tread the pathway worn by common tramp.
A. C. Coxe.
27. Friendship shall still thy evening feasts adorn,
And blooming peace shall ever bless thy morn
Succeeding years their happy race still run,
And age unheeded by delight come on.
Prior.
28. Gentleman.—She's fair and fause that caused your smart,
You will lo'e her mickle and lang;
She will break her vow, she will break your heart,
And ye may e'en go hang.
Burns.
28. Lady.—Gay hope is yours by fancy led,
Less pleasing when possess'd,
The tear forgot as soon as shed,
The sunshine of the breast.
Gray.
29. Single as a stray glove.
Fanny Kemble.
30. Gentleman.—You will not waste your spring of youth
In idle dalliance. You will plant rich seeds
To blossom in your manhood, and bear fruit
When you are old.
Hillhouse.
30. Lady.—To shrine within your heart's core one dear image,
To think of it all day, to dream all night.
Mary Howitt.
31. The duties of a wedded life
Hath heaven ordain'd for thee.
Southey.
32. To love,
Love fondly, truly, fervently, and pine
When you have told your love, and sue in vain.
Wordsworth.
33. Hope, and health, and "learned leisure,"
Friends, books, thy thoughts.
Barry Cornwall.
34. Toiling, rejoicing, sorrowing;
Each morn will see some task begun,
Each evening see it close;
Something attempted, something done,
Will earn a night's repose.
Longfellow.
35. You will go east, you will go west,
To seek for what you will not find,—
A heart at peace with its own thoughts,
A quiet and contented mind.
You will seek high, you will seek low,
But your search will be in vain.
Landon.
36. A course of days composing happy months,
And they as happy years; the present still
So like the past, and both so firm a pledge
Or a congenial future, that the wheels
Of pleasure move without the aid of hope.
Wordsworth.
37. You will tread the path of fame,
And barter peace to win a name.
S. G. Goodrich.
38. Each hour, each minute of your life
Shall be a golden holiday; and if a cloud
O'ercast thee, 'twill be light as gossamer.
G. Coleman.
39. A little, and content;
The faithful friend, and cheerful night,
The social scene of dear delight,
The conscience pure, the temper gay,
The musing eve and busy day.
Thomas Warton.
40. Live where your father lived, die where he dies;
Live happy, die happy.
Pollok.
41. You'll use up life in anxious cares,
To lay up hoards for future years.
Gay.
42. You think of all the bubbles men are chasing;
They dream them worlds, because they're bright and fair;
You sit down with your book, your fireside facing,
And laugh to think of the wealth to which you are heir.
Cranch.
43. Impell'd with steps unceasing to pursue
Some fleeting good that mocks thee with the view.
Goldsmith.
44. You'll have a clear and competent estate,
That you may live genteelly, but not great;
As much as you can moderately spend,
A little more, sometimes, to oblige a friend.
Pomfret's Choice.
45. Rich, hated; wise, suspected; scorn'd if poor;
Great, feared; fair, tempted; high, still envied more.
Sir H. Wotton.
46. Gentleman.— You love
A blooming lady, a conspicuous flower,
Admired for beauty, for her sweetness praised,
Whom you have sensibility to love,
Ambition to attempt, and skill to win.
Wordsworth.
46. Lady.—I fain would give to thee the loveliest things,
For lovely things belong to thee of right.
J. R. Lowell.
47. Oh, you will still enjoy the cheerful day,
Till many years unheeded by have roll'd;
Pleased in your age to trifle life away,
And tell how much you loved ere you grew old.
Hammond—Love Elegies.
48. Endless labor all along,
Endless labor to do wrong.
Dr. Johnson.
49. A fearful sign stands in thy house of life,
An enemy;——a fiend lurks close behind
The radiance of thy planet:—Oh, be warn'd!
Coleridge.
50. Thy God, in the darkest of days, will be
Greenness, and beauty, and strength to thee.
Barton.
51. You were not meant to struggle from your birth,
To skulk and creep, and in mean pathways range;
Act with stern truth, large faith, and loving will,
Up and be doing.
J. R. Lowell.
52. Gentleman.—To die 'midst flame and smoke,
And shout, and groan, and sabre stroke,
And death-shots falling thick and fast
As lightning from the mountain cloud.
Halleck.
52. Lady.— Death shall come
Gently, to one of delicate mould like thee,
As light winds wandering through groves of bloom
Detach the delicate blossom from the tree.
Bryant.
53. I know that pleasure's hand will throw
Her silken nets about thee,
I know how lonesome friends will find
The long, long days without thee;
But in thy letters there'll be joy,
The reading, the replying;
They'll kiss each word that's traced by thee,
Upon thy truth relying.
Bayley.
54. Your life shall be as it has been,
A sweet variety of joys.
R. H. Wilde.
55. Neither poverty
Nor riches,
But godliness so gainful
With content.
No painted pomp nor glory that
Bewitches;
A blameless life is your best monument,
And such a life that soars a—
Bove the sky,
Well pleased to live, but better pleased to die.
Hugh Peters.
56. A life you'll lead
Which hath no present time, but is made up
Entirely of to-morrows.
Joanna Baillie.
57. Gentleman.—I see Lord Mayor written on your forehead.
Massinger.
57. Lady.—A marriage in May weather.
Leigh Hunt—Rimini.
58. You'll have never a penny left in your purse,
Never a penny but three;
And one is brass, and another is lead,
And another is white money.
Percy's Reliques—Heir of Linne.
59. You will double your life's fading space,
For he that runs it well, runs twice his race;
And in this true delight,
These unbought sports, this happy state,
You will not fear, nor wish your fate;
But boldly say each night,
"To-morrow let my sun his beams display,
"Or in clouds hide them; I have lived to-day."
Cowley.
60. Yet haply there will come a weary day,
When, over-task'd at length,
Both Love and Hope beneath the weight give way.
Then with a statue's smile, a statue's strength,
Stands the mute sister Patience, nothing loth,
And both supporting, does the work of both.
Coleridge.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources. Many missing periods were added.
Except for those changes noted below, misspellings by the author, misquotations, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
[Pg 14.] 'Macauly' replaced by 'Macaulay'.
[Pg 14.] 'MacNeil' replaced by 'Macneil'.
[Pg 43.] Note: author George Lillo is not listed in 'Catalogue of Authors' at the front of the book.)
[Pg 61.] 'Macauley' replaced by 'Macaulay'.