"I still had hopes, my latest hours to crown,
Amidst these humble bow'rs to lay me down."—Goldsmith.
"Why dost thou then suggest to me distrust,
Knowing who I am, as I know who thou art?"—Milton, P. R.
LESSON II.—PARSING.
"I would, methinks, have so much to say for myself, that if I fell into the hands of him who treated me ill, he should be sensible when he did so: his conscience should be on my side, whatever became of his inclination."—Steele, Spect., No. 522.
"A boy should understand his mother tongue well before he enters upon the study of a dead language; or, at any rate, he should be made perfect master of the meaning of all the words which are necessary to furnish him with a translation of the particular author which he is studying."—Gallaudet, Lit. Conv., p. 206.
"No discipline is more suitable to man, or more congruous to the dignity of his nature, than that which refines his taste, and leads him to distinguish, in every subject, what is regular, what is orderly, what is suitable, and what is fit and proper."—Kames's El. of Crit., i, 275.
"Simple thoughts are what arise naturally; what the occasion or the subject suggests unsought; and what, when once suggested, are easily apprehended by all. Refinement in writing, expresses a less natural and [less] obvious train of thought."—Blair's Rhet., p. 184.
"Where the story of an epic poem is founded on truth, no circumstances must be added, but such as connect naturally with what are known to be true: history may be supplied, but it must not be contradicted."—See Kames's El. of Crit., ii, 280.
"Others, I am told, pretend to have been once his friends. Surely they are their enemies, who say so; for nothing can be more odious than to treat a friend as they have treated him. But of this I cannot persuade myself, when I consider the constant and eternal aversion of all bad writers to a good one."—Cleland, in Defence of Pope.
"From side to side, he struts, he smiles, he prates,
And seems to wonder what's become of Yates."—Churchill.