At Christmas play, and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year.
The Farmer's Daily Diet. T. TUSSER.
He kept no Christmas-house for once a year:
Each day his boards were filled with lordly fare.
A Maiden's Dream. R. GREENE.
Alike all ages: dames of ancient days
Have led their children through the mirthful maze;
And the gay grandsire, skilled in gestic lore,
Has frisked beneath the burden of threescore.
The Traveller. O. GOLDSMITH.
Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round,
And while the bubbling and loud hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups,
That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each,
So let us welcome peaceful evening in.
The Task: Winter Evening, Bk, IV. W. COWPER.
HOPE.
True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings;
Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings.
King Richard III., Act v. Sc. 2. SHAKESPEARE.
Know then, whatever cheerful and serene
Supports the mind, supports the body too;
Hence, the most vital movement mortals feel
Is hope, the balm and lifeblood of the soul.
Art of Preserving Health, Bk. IV. J. ARMSTRONG.
O welcome, pure-eyed Faith, white-handed Hope,
Thou hovering angel, girt with golden wings!
Comus. MILTON.
Hope! of all ills that men endure,
The only cheap and universal cure!