George Granville Quotes

In vain we plant, we build, our stores increase,
If conscience roots up all our inward peace.

Nature indulgent, provident, and kind,
In all things that excell some use design'd;
The radiant sun […]
Sends from above ten thousand blessings down,
Nor is he set so high for show alone;
His beams, reviving with auspicious fire,
Freely we all enjoy what all admire.
The moon and stars, those faithful guides of night,
Are plac'd to help, not entertain, the sight.
Plants, fruits, and flow'rs, the fertile fields produce,
Not for vain ornament, but wholesome use;
Health they restore, and nourishment they give,
We see with pleasure, but we taste to live.

Scarce hadst thou time t'unsheath thy conqu'ring blade;
It did but glitter, and the rebels fled.

But ah! in vain from Fate we fly!
For, first and last, as all must die,
So 'tis as much decreed above,
That, first or last, we all must love.

Thy thoughts to nobler meditations give,
And study how to die, not how to live.

Beauty by no complexion is defin'd,
Is of all colours, and to none confin'd.

But ah! what mighty magick can assuage
A woman's envy, and a bigot's rage?

Love is a subject to himself alone,
And knows no other empire than his own.

Mankind, from Adam, have been women's fools;
Women, from Eve, have been the devil's tools:
Heaven might have spar'd one torment when we fell;
Not left us woman, or not threatened hell.

But tho' we fetch from Italy and France
Our fopperies of tune, and mode of dance,
Our sturdy Britons scorn to borrow sense.

Oh my lov'd friend! till now I never knew
The pangs of parting friendship.
At distance I have tasted of the pain,
When the rude morn has sundered us away,
To our repose: but by my soul, I swear
Even then my eyes would drop a silent tear,
Repugnant still to close, and shut out thee.

Shall Nature, erring from her first command,
Self-preservation, fall by her own hand?

Important truths still let your fable hold,
And moral mysteries with art unfold.

The sun is set—but see in bright array
What hosts of heav'nly light recruit the day!
Love in a shining galaxy appears
Triumphant still.

The liberal are secure alone,
For what we frankly give, for ever is our own.