Familiar Quotations Part 87

_The Lady of the Lake_.

Canto i. St. 18.

And ne'er did Grecian chisel trace A nymph, a naiad, or a grace, Of finer form or lovelier face.

A foot more light, a step more true, Ne'er from the heath-flower dashed the dew.

Canto i. St. 21.

On his bold visage middle age Had slightly pressed its signet sage.

Canto ii. St. 22.

Some feelings are to mortals given With less of earth in them than heaven.

Canto iv. St. 1.

The rose is fairest when 'tis budding new, And hope is brightest when it dawns from fears.

Canto iv. St. 30.

Art thou a friend to Roderick?

Canto v. St. 10.

Come one, come all! this rock shall fly From its firm base as soon as I.

And the stern joy which warriors feel In foemen worthy of their steel.

_The Lord of the Isles_.

Canto v. Stanza 18.

O many a shaft, at random sent, Finds mark, the archer little meant!

And many a word at random spoken May soothe, or wound, a heart that's broken!

_Old Mortality_.

Vol. ii. Chapter xxi.

Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife!

To all the sensual world proclaim, One crowded hour of glorious life Is worth an age without a name.

_Bob Roy_.

Vol. i. Chapter ii.

O for the voice of that wild horn On Fontarabian echoes borne.

_The Monastery_.

Vol. i. Chapter ii.

Within that awful volume lies The mystery of mysteries!

THOMAS MOORE.

1780-1852.

_Lalla Rookh_. _The Fire-Wors.h.i.+ppers_.

O, ever thus from childhood's hour I've seen my fondest hopes decay; I never loved a tree or flower, But 'twas the first to fade away.

_The Light of the Harem_.

Alas! how light a cause may move Dissension between hearts that love!

Hearts that the world in vain had tried, And sorrow but more closely tied; That stood the storm when waves were rough, Yet in a sunny hour fall off, Like s.h.i.+ps that have gone down at sea, When heaven was all tranquillity.