What Great Men Have Said About Women Part 3

_Paradise Lost, Book 8._

Lady, thy care is fix'd, and zealously attends To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light.

And hope that reaps not shame.

_Sonnet._

A creature ...

... So lovely fair, That what seem'd fair in all the world seem'd now Mean, or in her summ'd up, in her contain'd.

_Paradise Lost, Book 8._

All things from her air inspired The spirit of love and amorous delight.

_Paradise Lost, Book 8._

It is for homely features to keep home-- They had their name thence: coa.r.s.e complexions And cheeks of sorry grain will serve to ply The sampler and to tease the housewife's wool.

_Comus._

With dispatchful looks in haste She turns, on hospitable thoughts intent.

What choice to choose for delicacy best, What order, so contrived, as not to mix Tastes, not well join'd, inelegant, but bring Taste after taste upheld with kindliest change.

_Paradise Lost, Book 5._

I do not think my sister ...

... So unprincipled in Virtue's book And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever, As that single want of light and noise Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts, And put them into misbecoming plight.

Virtue could see to do what Virtue would By her own radiant light, though sun and moon Were in the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom's self Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude: Where, with her best nurse, Contemplation, She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings.

That in the various bustle of resort Were all too ruffled, and sometimes impair'd.

_Comus._

LORD BYRON.

Around her shone The nameless charms unmark'd by her alone: The light of love, the purity of grace, The mind, the music breathing from her face, The heart whose softness harmonized the whole-- And, oh! that eye was in itself a soul!

_The Bride of Abydos, Canto 1._

Maidens, like moths, are ever caught by glare, And Mammon wins his way where seraphs might despair.

_Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto 1._

She was a form of life and light, That, seen, became a part of sight; And rose wher'er I turned mine eye, The morning-star of memory!

_The Giaour._

You know, or ought to know, enough of women, Since you have studied, them so steadily, That what they ask in aught that touches on The heart, is dearer to their feelings or Their fancy than the whole external world.

_Sardanapalus, A. 4._

Oh! too convincing--dangerously dear-- In woman's eye the unanswerable tear!

That weapon of her weakness she can wield To save, subdue--at once her spear and s.h.i.+eld.

_Corsair, Canto 2._

Who hath not proved how feebly words essay To fix one spark of beauty's heavenly ray?

Who doth not feel, until his failing sight Faints into dimness with its own delight, His changing cheek, his sinking heart confess The might--the majesty of loveliness?

_Bride of Abydos, Canto 1._

So bright the tear in beauty's eye, Love half regrets to kiss it dry; So sweet the blush of bashfulness, Even pity scarce can wish it less!

_The Bride of Abydos, Canto 1._

Her glossy hair was cl.u.s.ter'd o'er a brow Bright with intelligence, and fair and smooth; Her eyebrow's shape was like the aerial bow Her cheek all purple with the beam of youth Mounting, at times to a transparent glow, As if her veins ran lightning.

_Don Juan, Canto 1._

Man's love is of man's life a thing apart, Is woman's whole existence.

_Don Juan, Canto 1._

Her very smile was haughty, though so sweet; Her very nod was not an inclination; There was a self-will even in her small feet, As though they were quite conscious of her station;-- * * * * *

But nature teaches more than power can spoil, And when a strong although a strange sensation Moves--female hearts are such a genial soil For kinder feelings, whatsoe'er their nation.

They naturally pour the "wine and oil,"

Samaritans in every situation.

_Don Juan, Canto 5._