Pernicious weed! whose scent the fair annoys, Unfriendly to society's chief joys, Thy worst effect is banishing for hours The sex whose presence civilizes ours.
A moral, sensible, and well-bred man Will not affront me, and no other can.
He would not, with a peremptory tone, Assert the nose upon his face his own.
'Tis hard if all is false that I advance, A fool must now and then be right by chance.
No wild enthusiast ever yet could rest, Till half mankind were like himself possess'd.
How much a dunce that has been sent to roam Excels a dunce that has been kept at home!
Remorse, the fatal egg by Pleasure laid.
Lights of the world, and stars of human race.
Nature, exerting an unwearied power, Forms, opens, and gives scent to every flower; Spreads the fresh verdure of the field, and leads The dancing Naiads through the dewy meads.
Made poetry a mere mechanic art.
Low ambition and the thirst of praise.
Elegant as simplicity, and warm As ecstasy.
Ages elapsed ere Homer's lamp appear'd, And ages ere the Mantuan swan was heard: To carry nature lengths unknown before, To give a Milton birth, ask'd ages more.
Manner is all in all, whate'er is writ, The substitute for genius, sense, and wit.
Freedom has a thousand charms to show, That slaves, howe'er contented, never know.