Grocott & Ward, comps. Grocott’s Familiar Quotations, 6th ed. 189-?.
Decay
A fiery soul, which, working out its way,
Fretted the pigmy body to decay,
And o’er-inform’d the tenement of clay.
Dryden.—Absalom and Achitophel, Part I. Line 156.
The unreach’d Paradise of our despair,
Which o’er-informs the pencil and the pen,
And overpowers the page where it would bloom again.
Byron.—Childe Harold, Canto IV. Stanza 122. Line 7.
Nature strips her garment gay,
And wears the vesture of decay.
Logan.—The Country in Autumn.
Sinks to the grave with unperceived decay,
While resignation gently slopes the way.
Goldsmith.—The Deserted Village, Line 109.
So peaceful shalt thou end thy blissful days,
And steal thyself from life by slow decays.
Pope.—The Odyssey, Book XI. Line 164.
Those domes where Cæsars once bore sway,
Defaced by time, and tottering in decay.
Goldsmith.—The Traveller, Line 159.