Through all the drama—whether damned or not—
Love gilds the scene, and women guide the plot.
The Rivals: Epilogue. R.B. SHERIDAN.
YOUTH.
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very Heaven!
The Prelude, Bk. XI. W. WORDSWORTH.
O Life! how pleasant in thy morning,
Young Fancy's rays the hills adorning!
Cold-pausing Caution's lesson scorning,
We frisk away,
Like school-boys at th' expected warning,
To joy and play.
Epistle to James Smith. R. BURNS.
O, would I were a boy again,
When life seemed formed of sunny years,
And all the heart then knew of pain
Was wept away in transient tears!
O, would I were a boy again. M. LEMON.
This morning, like the spirit of a youth
That means to be of note, begins betimes.
Antony and Cleopatra, Act iv. Sc. 4. SHAKESPEARE.
Long as the year's dull circle seems to run
When the brisk minor pants for twenty-one.
Imitations of Horace, Epistle I. Bk, I. A. POPE.
A lovely being, scarcely formed or moulded,
A rose with all its sweetest leaves yet folded.
Don Juan, Canto XV. LORD BYRON.
"Young, gay, and fortunate!" Each yields a theme.
And, first, thy youth: what says it to gray hairs?
Narcissa, I'm become thy pupil now;—
Early, bright, transient, chaste as morning dew,
She sparkled, was exhaled, and went to heaven.
Night Thoughts, Night V. DR. E. YOUNG.
This bud of lovely Summer's ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.
Romeo and Juliet, Act ii. Sc 2. SHAKESPEARE.