A wreath from an immortal bough Should deck that gen'rous victor's brow, Who hears his captive's grateful praise Augment the thanks his country pays; For him the minstrel's song shall flow,...
Cou'd aweful Johnson want poetic ear, Fancy, or judgment? - no! his splendid strain, In prose, or rhyme, confutes that plea. - The pain Which writh'd o'er Garrick's fortunes, shows us clear...
Emblem of blasted hope and lost desire, No finger ever traced thy yellow page Save Time's. Thou hast not wrought to noble rage The hearts thou wouldst have stirred. Not any fire...
The Roman Consul doomed his sons to die Who had betrayed their country. The stern word Afforded (may it through all time afford) A theme for praise and admiration high. Upon the surface of humanity...
Tenderly do we feel by Nature's law For worst offenders: though the heart will heave With indignation, deeply moved we grieve, In after thought, for Him who stood in awe Neither of God nor man, and only saw,...
This Spot, at once unfolding sight so fair Of sea and land, with yon grey towers that still Rise up as if to lord it over air Might soothe in human breasts the sense of ill,...
Is 'Death', when evil against good has fought With such fell mastery that a man may dare By deeds the blackest purpose to lay bare? Is Death, for one to that condition brought,...
Though to give timely warning and deter Is one great aim of penalty, extend Thy mental vision further and ascend Far higher, else full surely shalt thou err. What is a State? The wise behold in her...
Before the world had past her time of youth While polity and discipline were weak, The precept eye for eye, and tooth for tooth, Came forth a light, though but as of daybreak,...
Fit retribution, by the moral code Determined, lies beyond the State's embrace, Yet, as she may, for each peculiar case She plants well-measured terrors in the road...
Ye brood of conscience Spectres! that frequent The bad Man's restless walk, and haunt his bed Fiends in your aspect, yet beneficent In act, as hovering Angels when they spread...
Not to the object specially designed, Howe'er momentous in itself it be, Good to promote or curb depravity, Is the wise Legislator's view confined. His Spirit, when most severe, is oft most kind;...
Ah, think how one compelled for life to abide Locked in a dungeon needs must eat the heart Out of his own humanity, and part With every hope that mutual cares provide;...
Yes, though He well may tremble at the sound Of his own voice, who from the judgment-seat Sends the pale Convict to his last retreat In death; though Listeners shudder all around,...
See the Condemned alone within his cell And prostrate at some moment when remorse Stings to the quick, and, with resistless force, Assaults the pride she strove in vain to quell....
The formal World relaxes her cold chain For One who speaks in numbers; ampler scope His utterance finds; and, conscious of the gain, Imagination works with bolder hope...
Our bodily life, some plead, that life the shrine Of an immortal spirit, is a gift So sacred, so informed with light divine, That no tribunal, though most wise to sift...
Here, far from all the pomp Ambition seeks, Much sought, but only whilst untasted prais'd, Content and Innocence, with rosy cheeks, Enjoy the simple shed their hands have rais'd. ...
Read me a lesson, Muse, and speak it loud Upon the top of Nevis, blind in mist! I look into the chasms, and a shroud Vapourous doth hide them, just so much I wist Mankind do know of hell; I look o'erhead,...