Was robed in silk and gold, and every day Turn now thine eye, and look on poverty! No limbs to walk; no home, no house, no friend. As comes the traveller's foot; and hear his groan. And noisome wounds, his bones of racking pains. This great disparity of outward things Of migratory, ever-changing sort; And further taught, that in the soul alone, So slight, that virtue never could grow strong: 131. ALLUREMENTS. Earthly O STREAMS of earthly love and joy, Ye lure us, and we venture in, Cheated by sun and smiles; Ye tempt us, and we brave your depths, Too deep and strong for us!--We glide On to a siren grave. O world, with all thy smiles and loves, What treachery is thine! Thou woundest, but thou canst not heal, O world, there's fever in thy touch, And frenzy in thine eye; To lose and shun thee is to live, To win thee is to die!-Bonar. 132. ALLUREMENTS. Fatal A FOUNT-O'ERSHADING tree stands near the highway-side, And many a good fellow, pausing there, has died. For in the fountain's depths a dragon lies asleep : Sits on the tree a bird, his constant watch to keep. The bird's sweet song allures the unwary wanderer near: Then sings he loud, so loud the dragon wakes to hear. The thirsty traveller drinks, the dragon darts aloft, And on the tree the fatal bird sings soft.-Oriental. 133. ALLUREMENTS. Looking on TURN thou thine eyes from each seducing sight, For looking whets the ready edge of appetite. Oriental, tr. by W. R. Alger. ULYSSES, sailing by the Siren's isle, Seal'd first his comrades' ears, then bade them fast Lest those sweet voices should their souls beguile, 137. AMBITION. Baseness of ungoverned DARE to be great without a guilty crown; View it, and lay the bright temptation down. 'Tis base to seize on all.-Dryden. 138. AMBITION. Cheat of WHAT IS AMBITION? 'Tis a glorious cheat! And what is its reward? At best, a name! All things but love-when love is all we want; 139. AMBITION. Check to Go, climb the rugged Alps, ambitious fool, If 'tis a vice, then let those souls beware, Thrice noble though they be, and passing fair In the world's eye, and high upon the scrolls, Her favour'd minions where the world enrolls, Lest it conduct to shame! Be thine the care, Soldier of Christ, that nobler strife to dare, Which the rash spirit of the world controls, And makes ambition virtue! Be it thine To win thy bright unfading diadem By works of love! Around his brows shall shine In heaven from glory's source the purest beam, Whose aspect here, with beauty most divine, Reflects the image of the GOOD Supreme. 142. AMBITION. Curse of Mant. WOE to thee, wild Ambition! I employ And but for thee there had not been a hell. Through the celestial domes thy clarion peal'd ; Angels, entranced, beneath thy banners ranged And straight were fiends; hurl'd from the shrinking field, They waked in agony to wail the change. Darting through all her veins the subtle fire, The world's fair mistress first inhaled thy breath; To lot of higher beings learn'd to aspire, Dared to attempt, and doom'd the world to death. Maria A. Brooks. 143. AMBITION: destroys Peace. ONE shall rise Of proud ambitious heart, who, not content Milton. O dire Ambition! what infernal power Unchain'd thee from thy native depth of hell, To stalk the earth with thy destructive train, Murder and lust! to waste domestic peace And every heartfelt joy.-Brown. 144. AMBITION. Devil of How, like a mounting devil in the heart, We look upon our splendour and forget 145. AMBITION. Disappointments of I AM as one Those who to empire by dark paths aspire, 148. AMBITION. End of HERE, like a shepherd gazing from his hut, 149. AMBITION. Example of Young. ON what foundations stands the warrior's pride, Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vain; 'Think nothing gain'd,' he cries, till nought re main, On Moscow's walls till Gothic standards fly, The march begins in military state, His fall was destined to a barren strand, A petty fortress, and a dubious hand; He left the name, at which the world grew pale, To point a moral or adorn a tale.— Johnson. 150. AMBITION. Examples of NAPOLEON, Frederic, Charles, and Cromwell these Swept the earth with a besom dipp'd in fire. They would have kings and nations bend their knees; Theirs was the untamed thirst of something higher, An energy of hope, that could not tire, The love of self to deeds of might sublimed. Ambition wrought to habitudes of ire, Force, reckless force, uncheck'd, unbent, untimed, An aim to gain a height where power had never climb'd. They sought they knew not what,-they set no bound To their wide-clenching grasp their longing grew, As grew their empire, -keenly, as the hound Blood to the earth like water,-madly flew Now they are dust and ashes; other swarms People the ground they wasted, other men Rise to be torn and toss'd by other storms. Ambition sleeps a moment in her den To gain new breath, and fire, and strength; but then She blows the ember'd coals, and they are flame. Fever of 151. AMBITION. HEW Atlas for my monument; upraise A pyramid for my tomb, that, undestroy'd By rank, oblivion, and the hungry void, My name shall echo through prospective days. O careless conqueror! cold, abysmal grave! Is it not sad-is it not sad, my heartTo smother young Ambition, and depart Unhonour'd and unwilling, like death's slave? No rare immortal remnant of my thought Embalms my life; no poem firmly rear'd Against the shock of time, ignobly fear'd, But all my life's progression come to nought. Hew Atlas! build a pyramid in a plain ! O, cool the fever burning in my brain! David Gray. 152. AMBITION. Fling away I CHARGE thee, fling away Ambition; By that sin fell the angels: how can man then, To silence envious tongues. Be just and fear not. 153. AMBITION : impatient. AMBITION is like love, impatient 154 AMBITION. Ingratitude of Brutus. The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins Remorse from power: and to speak truth of Cæsar, I have not known when his affections sway'd More than his reason. But 'tis a common proof, That lowliness is young Ambition's ladder, Whereto the climber upward turns his face : But when he once attains the upmost round, He then unto the ladder turns his back, Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees By which he did ascend.-Shakespeare. 155. AMBITION : insatiable. AMBITION is a lust that's never quench'd, Otway. Ambition, like a torrent, ne'er looks back; A high mind can put off. It is a rebel The world sufficed not Alexander's mind; Dryden. 156. AMBITION: makes life a toil. BLINDED greatness, ever in turmoil, Still seeking happy life, makes life a toil. Daniel. 157. AMBITION: may be an excellence. A friend, in his creation, to himself, 160. AMBITION: natural to man. NATURE, that framed us of four elements, That perfect bliss and sole felicity, The sweet fruition of a heav'nly crown.-Marlo. So strong the zeal t' immortalize himself Beats in the breast of man, that ev'n a few, Of blank oblivion seem a glorious prize, And even to a clown.—Cowper. 161. AMBITION: often leads to disgrace. WHERE ambition of place goes before fitness Of birth, contempt and disgrace follow.-Chapman. 162. AMBITION. Penalties of THEY that stand high have many blasts to shake them, And if they fall, they dash themselves to pieces. Shakespeare. O false ambition! Thou lying phantom! whither hast thou lured me? |