Old men, for the most part, are like old chronicles that give you dull but true accounts of times past, and are worth knowing only on that score.

Soft is the strain when zephyr gently blows, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows; But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar. When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, The line too labours, and the words move slow: Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the main.

To the Elysian shades dismiss my soul, where no carnation fades.

The dances ended, all the fairy train For pinks and daisies search'd the flow'ry plain.

Persons of genius, and those who are most capable of art, are always most fond of nature: as such are chiefly sensible, that all art consists in the imitation and study of nature.

Fine sense and exalted sense are not half so useful as common sense.

Thou wert my guide, philosopher, and friend.