A Literary Curiosity — 38 Lines, Different Poets, One Poem

1878

A Literary Curiosity

A lady occupied a whole year in searching for and fitting the following thirty-eight lines from English and American poems. The whole reads almost as if it had been written at one time and by one author:

LIFE

Why all this toil for the triumphs of an hour? —Young.
Life's short summer — man is but a flower; —Dr. Johnson.
By turns we catch the fatal breath and die —Pope.
The cradle and the tomb, alas! so nigh. —Prior.
To be is better far than not to be. —Sewell.
Though all man's life may seem a tragedy; —Spencer.
But light cares speak when mighty grief is dumb— —Daniel.
The bottom is but shallow whence they come. —St. Walter Ralph.
Your fate is but the common fate of all; —Longfellow.
Unmingled joys here no man befall. —Southwell.
Nature to each allots his proper sphere. —Congreve.
Fortune makes folly her peculiar care; —Churchill.
Custom does often reason overrule, —Rochester.
And throw a cruel sunshine on a fool. —Armstrong.
Live well — how long or short permit to heaven —Milton.
Those who forgive most shall be most forgiven. —Bailey.
Since may be clasped so close we cannot see its face— —French.
Vile intercourse where virtue has not place. —Somerville.
Then keep each passion however dear, —Thompson.
Thou pendulum betwixt a smile and tear; —Byron.
Her sensual shares let faithless pleasure lay, —Smollet.
With craft and skill to ruin and betray. —Crabbe.
Soar not too high to fall, but stoop to rise; —Massinger.
We masters grow of all that we despise. —Crowley.
Oh, then, renounce that impious self-esteem; —Beattie.
Riches have wings, and grandeur is a dream. —Cowper.
Think not ambition wise because 'tis brave. —Sir Wm. Davenaut.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave. —Gray.
What is ambition? 'Tis but a glorious cheat. —Willis.
Only destructive to the brave and great. —Addison.
What's all the gaudy glitter of a crown? —Dryden.
The way to bliss lies not on beds of down. —Francis Quaries.
How long we live, not years but actions tell; —Watkins.
That man lives twice who lives the first life well. —Herrick.
Make, then, while yet ye may, your God your friend. —Wm. Mason.
Whom Christians worship, yet not comprehend. —Hill.
The trust that's given guard, and to yourself be just; —Dana.
For live we how we may, yet die we must. —Shakespeare.

—Daily Star, Marion, OH, April 1, 1878, p. 2.