Date: February 22, 1723

"Yes, and Cæsar sat / Pensive and silent; in his anxious breast / Perhaps revolving that of all his train, / Who proudly wanton in his mounted rays, / Gay flutt'ring insects of a summer-noon, / How few wou'd bear the wintry storms of fate!"

— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)

Date: February 22, 1723

"For Mariamne with superior charms / Triumphs o'er reason; in her look she bears / A paradise of ever-blooming sweets: / Fair as the first idea beauty prints / On the young lover's soul: a winning grace / Guides every gesture, and obsequious Love / Attends on all her steps; for, majesty / Streams...

— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)

Date: February 22, 1723

"For 'tis th' infirmity of noblest minds, / When ruffled with an unexpected woe, / To speak what settled prudence wou'd conceal: / As the vex'd ocean working in a storm, / Oft brings to light the wrecks which long lay calm, / In the dark bosom of the secret deep."

— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)

Date: February 22, 1723

"If your ill-judging choice mis-lead your heart, / To meet his passion with an equal flame"

— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)

Date: February 22, 1723

"If a single thought / Were tinctur'd with disloyalty, this hand / Shou'd pierce my heart to drive the rebel out."

— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)

Date: February 22, 1723

"No, my dear Roman! nothing can deface / Thy image from thy virgin-widow's breast; / Th' inviolable band of strong desire / Shall ever join our souls!"

— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)

Date: February 22, 1723

"My favours shall deface the memory / Of past afflictions: on a soul secure / In native innocence, or grief or joy / Shou'd make no deeper prints than air retains; / Where fleet alike the vulture and the dove, / And leave no trace."

— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)

Date: February 22, 1723

"Blind fortune that bestows / The perishable toys of wealth and pow'r, / At random oft resumes them, pleas'd to make / An hurricane of life: but the firm mind / Safe on exalted virtue reigns sedate, / Superior to the giddy whirls of fate."

— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)

Date: February 22, 1723

"We cheat the world / With florid outside 'till we meet surprize; / Then conscience, working inward like a mole, / Crumbles the surface, and reveals the dirt / From which our actions spring."

— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)

Date: February 22, 1723

"My lord, recall / Your wandering reason."

— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)