I am not mad;—I would to heaven I were!
For then, 'tis like I should forget myself;
O, if I could, what grief I should forget!
King John, Act iii. Sc. 4. SHAKESPEARE.
Not to the grave, not to the grave, my soul,
Follow thy friend beloved!
But in the lonely hour,
But in the evening walk,
Think that he accompanies thy solitude;
Think that he holds with thee
Mysterious intercourse:
And though remembrance wake a tear,
There will be joy in grief.
The Dead Friend. R. SOUTHEY.
HABIT.
Habit with him was all the test of truth;
"It must be right: I've done it from my youth."
The Borough, Letter III. G. CRABBE.
How use doth breed a habit in a man!
This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods,
I better brook than flourishing peopled town.
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act v. Sc. 4. SHAKESPEARE.
Hackneyed in business, wearied at that oar,
Which thousands, once fast chained to, quit no more.
Retirement. W. COWPER.
Small habits, well pursued betimes,
May reach the dignity of crimes.
Florio, Pt. I. HANNAH MORE.
Ill habits gather by unseen degrees,
As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas.
Metamorphoses, Bk. XV. OVID. Trans. of DRYDEN.
HAIR.
Those curious locks so aptly twined,
Whose every hair a soul doth bind.
To A.L. Persuasions to Love. T. CAREW.
Beware of her fair hair, for she excels
All women in the magic of her locks;
And when she winds them round a young man's neck,
She will not ever set him free again.
Faust: Sc. Walpurgis Night. GOETHE. Trans. of SHELLEY.