30]
Laconics.
[Jan.
Or, bide thee where the poppy blows,
With wind-flowers frail and fair,
While I, upon his isle of snows,
Seek and defy the bear.
Fierce though he be, and huge of frame,
This arm his savage strength shall tame,
And drag him from his lair.
With wind-flowers frail and fair,
While I, upon his isle of snows,
Seek and defy the bear.
Fierce though he be, and huge of frame,
This arm his savage strength shall tame,
And drag him from his lair.
When crimson sky and flamy cloud
Bespeak the summer fled,
And snows, that melt no more, enshroud
The valleys white and dead,
I'll build of ice thy winter home,
With glistening walls and lucid dome,
And floor with skins bespread.
Bespeak the summer fled,
And snows, that melt no more, enshroud
The valleys white and dead,
I'll build of ice thy winter home,
With glistening walls and lucid dome,
And floor with skins bespread.
The white fox by thy couch shall play;
And, from the frozen skies,
The meteors of a mimic day
Shall flash upon thine eyes.
And I—for such thy vow—meanwhile,
Shall hear thy voice and see thy smile,
Till that long midnight flies.
And, from the frozen skies,
The meteors of a mimic day
Shall flash upon thine eyes.
And I—for such thy vow—meanwhile,
Shall hear thy voice and see thy smile,
Till that long midnight flies.
Maxim makers are great thieves—e. g. take Lacon. "There are some persons," says he, "whom you might strip naked and throw off London bridge, and you would meet them next day in Bond-street, well dressed, with swords by their sides, and money in their pockets." He has taken this from Beaumont and Fletcher, who have said it better in "Wit without Money:"
Upon my conscience, bury him stark naked,
He would rise again within two hours, embroider’d.
He would rise again within two hours, embroider’d.
He who enters into a discussion with a prejudice, is like him who went into a shower bath with an umbrella—what good could it do him?
The mind derives its strength from solitude, and its suppleness from society.
