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John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

Page 479

 
 
William Wordsworth. (1770–1850) (continued)
 
5039
    The monumental pomp of age
Was with this goodly personage;
A stature undepressed in size,
Unbent, which rather seemed to rise
In open victory o’er the weight
Of seventy years, to loftier height.
          The White Doe of Rylstone. Canto iii.
5040
    “What is good for a bootless bene?”
With these dark words begins my tale;
And their meaning is, Whence can comfort spring
When prayer is of no avail?
          Force of Prayer.
5041
    A few strong instincts, and a few plain rules.
          Alas! what boots the long laborious Quest?
5042
    Of blessed consolations in distress.
          Preface to the Excursion. (Edition, 1814.)
5043
    The vision and the faculty divine;
Yet wanting the accomplishment of verse.
          The Excursion.Book i.
5044
    The imperfect offices of prayer and praise.
          The Excursion.Book i.
5045
    That mighty orb of song,
The divine Milton.
          The Excursion.Book i.
5046
    The good die first, 1
And they whose hearts are dry as summer dust
Burn to the socket.
          The Excursion.Book i.
5047
    This dull product of a scoffer’s pen.
          The Excursion.Book ii.
5048
    With battlements that on their restless fronts
Bore stars.
          The Excursion.Book ii.
5049
    Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop
Than when we soar.
          The Excursion.Book iii.
 
Note 1.
Heaven gives its favourites—early death.—Lord Byron: Childe Harold, canto iv. stanza 102. Also Don Juan, canto iv. stanza 12.

Quem Di diligunt
Adolescens moritur
(He whom the gods favor dies in youth).
Plautus: Bacchides, act iv. sc. 7. [back]