VISIONS.
My thoughts by night are often filled
With visions false as fair:
For in the past alone I build
My castles in the air.
Castles in the Air. T.L. PEACOCK.
It is a dream, sweet child! a waking dream,
A blissful certainty, a vision bright,
Of that rare happiness, which even on earth
Heaven gives to those it loves.
The Spanish Student, Act iii. Sc. 5. H.W. LONGFELLOW.
Hence the fool's paradise, the statesman's scheme,
The air-built castle, and the golden dream.
The maid's romantic wish, the chemist's flame,
And poet's vision of eternal fame.
Dunciad, Bk. III. A. POPE.
And still they dream, that they shall still succeed;
And still are disappointed. Rings the world
With the vain stir. I sum up half mankind,
And add two-thirds of the remaining half,
And find the total of their hopes and fears
Dreams, empty dreams.
The Task, Bk. VI. W. COWPER.
[Witches vanish.
BANQUO.—The earth hath bubbles as the water has,
And these are of them. Whither are they vanished?
MACBETH.—Into the air; and what seemed corporal melted
As breath into the wind.
Macbeth, Act i. Sc. 3. SHAKESPEARE.
Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds,
In ranks and squadrons, and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol.
O Cæsar! these things are beyond all use,
And I do fear them.
Julius Cæsar, Act ii. Sc. 2. SHAKESPEARE.
Lochiel, Lochiel! beware of the day;
For, dark and despairing, my sight I may seal,
But man cannot cover what God would reveal;
'T is the sunset of life gives me mystical lore,
And coming events cast their shadows before.
Lochiel's Warning. T. CAMPBELL.