The Minstrel, Or, The Progress of Genius, with Some Other PoemsJ. Ballantyne, 1803 - 147 pages |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
adorn afar alarms Ambition's array art thou balmy beams beauty bloom bosom bower breast charms cheek cliffs clouds controul cranes dark dark mansions dart deep doom dread dream dust EDINBURGH Edwin falchion fame Fancy Fancy's Fate fierce fire fled flies flowers forlorn friends frown gale gentle gleams glittering gloom glow Gothic grace grove hail heart Heaven hope JAMES BALLANTYNE life's lofty lone lore lyre majestic melancholy mind MINSTREL mirth morn mountains mourn murmur Muse Nature's ne'er nymph o'er peace pity pomp pride pygmy rage rapture rills roam roll Scaped scene serene shades silent silent wing skies smile Solitude song sooth soul sound spleen sprightly storm strain stream stupified sublime sway sweet tears tempest thee thine thou thunder toil truth Twas vale virtue Virtue's voice wander warbling wild wind wings withered yonder youth
Popular passages
Page 15 - And be it so. Let those deplore their doom. Whose hope still grovels in this dark sojourn : But lofty souls, who look beyond the tomb, Can smile at Fate, and wonder how they mourn. Shall Spring to these sad scenes no more return ? Is yonder wave the Sun's eternal bed ? Soon shall the orient with new lustre burn, And Spring shall soon her vital influence shed. Again attune the grove, again adorn the mead.
Page 123 - AT the close of the day, when the hamlet is still, And mortals the sweets of forgetfulness prove, When nought but the torrent is heard on the hill, And nought but the nightingale's song in the grove : 'Twas thus, by the cave of the mountain afar, While his harp rung symphonious, a hermit began ; No more with himself or with nature at war, He thought as a sage, though he felt as a man.
Page 21 - But who the melodies of morn can tell ? — The wild brook babbling down the mountain side ; The lowing herd ; the sheepfold's simple bell ; The pipe of early shepherd dim descried In the lone valley ; echoing far and wide, The clamorous horn along the cliffs above ; The hollow murmur of the ocean-tide ; The hum of bees ; the linnet's lay of love ; And the full choir that wakes the universal grove.
Page 6 - O, how canst thou renounce the boundless store Of charms which Nature to her votary yields ! The warbling woodland, the resounding shore, The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields ; All that the genial ray of morning gilds, » And all that echoes to the song of even, All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields, And all the dread magnificence of Heaven, O, how canst thou renounce^ and hope to be forgiven ! These charms shall work thy soul's eternal health, And love, and gentleness, and joy,...
Page 54 - Sweet were your shades, O ye primeval groves ! Whose boughs to man his food and shelter lent, Pure in his pleasures, happy in his loves, His eye still smiling, and his heart content. Then, hand in hand, health, sport, and labour went. Nature supplied the wish she taught to crave.
Page 59 - And Reason now through number, time, and space, Darts the keen lustre of her serious eye, And learns, from facts compared, the laws to trace, Whose long progression leads to Deity.
Page 2 - AH ! who can tell how hard it is to climb The steep, where Fame's proud temple shines afar?
Page 27 - One part, one little part, we dimly scan Through the dark medium of life's feverish dream; Yet dare arraign the whole stupendous plan, If but that little part incongruous seem.
Page 66 - Adieu, ye lays, that Fancy's flowers adorn. The soft amusement of the vacant mind ! He sleeps in dust, and all the Muses mourn, He, whom each virtue fired, each grace refined, Friend, teacher, pattern, darling of mankind !* He sleeps in dust.
Page 41 - Hail, awful scenes, that calm the troubled breast, " And woo the weary to profound repose ! " Can passion's wildest uproar lay to rest, " And whisper comfort to the man of woes ? " Here, Innocence may wander, safe from foes, " And Contemplation soar on seraph wings.