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Old age come on apace to ravage all the clime.
Topic: Age
Source: The Minstrel (bk. I, st. 25)
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Zealous, yet modest; innocent, though free;
Patient of toil; serene amidst alarms;
Inflexible in faith; invincible in arms.
Topic: Character
Source: The Minstrel (bk. I, st. 11)
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Rocks, torrents, gulfs, and shapes of giant size
And glitt'ring cliff on cliffs, and fiery ramparts rise.
Topic: Clouds
Source: Ministrel (bk. I)
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From labour health, from health contentment spring;
Contentment opes the source of every joy.
Topic: Content
Source: The Minstrel (bk. I, st. 13)
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Or merry swains, who quaff the nut-brown ale,
And sing enamour'd of the nut-brown maid.
Topic: Drinking
Source: The Minstrel (bk. I, st. 44)
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At the close of the day, when the hamlet is still
And mortals the sweets of forgetfulness prove,
When nought but the torrent is heard on the hill
And nought but the nightingale's song in the grove.
Topic: Evening
Source: The Hermit
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Ah! who can tell how hard it is to climb
The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar!
Topic: Fame
Source: The Minstrel (st. 1)
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Let those deplore their doom,
Whose hope still grovels in this dark sojourn:
But lofty souls, who look beyond the tomb,
Can smile at Fate, and wonder how they mourn.
Topic: Fate
Source: The Minstrel (bk. I)
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He thought as a sage, though he felt as a man.
Topic: Feeling
Source: The Hermit (l. 8)
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I dare not hope to please a Cinna's ear.
Or sing what Varus might vouchsafe to hear;
Harsh are the sweetest lays that I can bring,
So screams a goose where swans melodious sing.
Topic: Geese
Source: Vergil (pastoral 9), his translation
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Mine be the breezy hill that skirts the down;
Where a green grassy turf is all I crave,
With here and there a violet bestrown,
Fast by a brook or fountain's murmuring wave;
And many an evening sun shine sweetly on my grave.
Topic: Grave
Source: The Minstrel (bk. II, st. 17)
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Be ignorance thy choice, where knowledge leads to woe.
Topic: Ignorance
Source: The Minstrel (bk. II, st. 30)
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On the cold cheek of Death smiles and roses are blending,
And beauty immortal awakes from the tomb.
Topic: Immortality
Source: The Hermit (st. 6, last lines)
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Changed to a lapwing by th' avenging god,
He made the barren waste his lone abode,
And oft on soaring pinions hover'd o'er
The lofty palace then his own no more.
Topic: Lapwings
Source: Vergil (pastoral 6)
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And none speaks false, when there in none to hear.
Topic: Lying
Source: The Minstrel (bk. II, st. 24)
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No jealousy their dawn of love o'ercast,
Nor blasted were their wedded days with strife;
Each season looked delightful as it past,
To the fond husband and the faithful wife.
Topic: Matrimony
Source: The Minstrel (bk. I, st. 14)
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At the close of the day, when the hamlet is still
And mortals the sweets of forgetfulness prove,
When nought but the torrent is heard on the hill
And nought but the nightingale's song in the grove.
Topic: Nature
Source: The Hermit
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And from the prayer of Want, and plaint of Woe,
O never, never turn away their ear!
Forlorn, in this bleak wilderness below,
Ah! what were man, should Heaven refuse to hear!
Topic: Prayer
Source: Minstrel (bk. I, st. 29)
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And, lo! in the dark east, expanded high,
The rainbow brightens to the setting Sun.
Topic: Rainbows
Source: The Minstrel (bk. I, st. 30)
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'Twas thus by the glare of false science betray'd,
That leads to bewilder, and dazzles to blind.
Topic: Science
Source: The Hermit
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How sweet the words of Truth, breath'd from the lips of Love.
Topic: Truth
Source: The Minstrel (bk. II, st. 53)
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Zealous, not modest.
Topic: Zeal
Source: The Minstrel (bk. I, st. 11)
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