This world is not for aye, nor 't is not strange
That even our loves should with our fortunes change.
Hamlet, Act iii. Sc. 2. SHAKESPEARE.
Man's wretched state,
That floures so fresh at morne, and fades at evening late.
Faërie Queene, Bk. III. Canto IX. E. SPENSER.
Imperious Cæsar, dead and turned to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away:
O, that that earth, which kept the world in awe,
Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw!
Hamlet, Act v. Sc. 1. SHAKESPEARE.
The seed ye sow, another reaps;
The wealth ye find, another keeps;
The robes ye weave, another wears;
The arms ye forge, another bears.
To Men of England. P.B. SHELLEY.
The flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow dies;
All that we wish to stay
Tempts and then flies:
What is this world's delight?
Lightning that mocks the night,
Brief even as bright.
Mutability. P.B. SHELLEY.
Sometimes an hour of Fate's serenest weather
Strikes through our changeful sky its coming beams;
Somewhere above us, in elusive ether,
Waits the fulfilment of our dearest dreams.
Ad Amicos. B. TAYLOR.
CHARITY.
The primal duties shine aloft, like stars;
The charities that soothe, and heal, and bless,
Are scattered at the feet of man, like flowers.
The Excursion, Bk. IX. W. WORDSWORTH.
'Tis hers to pluck the amaranthine flower
Of Faith, and round the sufferer's temples bind
Wreaths that endure affliction's heaviest shower,
And do not shrink from sorrow's keenest wind.
Sonnet XXXV. W. WORDSWORTH.
Who will not mercie unto others show,
How can he mercie ever hope to have?
Faërie Queene, Bk. VI. E. SPENSER.