The Schoolmistress (1737-48)

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• Her cap, far whiter than the driven snow,
  Emblem right meet of decency does yield.
  • Stanza 6

• Pun-provoking thyme.
  • Stanza 11

• A little bench of heedless bishops here,
  And there a chancellor in embryo.
  • Stanza 28

Works, Vol. I: Verse (1764)

The Works in Verse and Prose of William Shenstone, Vol. I (London: R. and J. Dodsley, 1764)

• Love is a pleasing, but a various clime!
  • "Elegy V", st. 3; p. 23.

• I trimm'd my lamp, consumed the midnight oil.
  • "Elegy XI", st. 7; p. 41.

• Perish the lover, whose imperfect flame
  Forgets one feature of the nymph he lov'd.
  • "Elegy XXII", st. 6; p. 82.

• For seldom shall she hear a tale
  So sad, so tender, yet so true.
  • Jemmy Dawson: A Ballad (1745), st. 20; p. 188.

• So sweetly she bade me adieu,
  I thought that she bade me return.
  • "A Pastoral Ballad" (1743), Part I: Absence; p. 190.

• My banks they are furnish’d with bees,
  Whose murmur invites one to sleep.
  • "A Pastoral Ballad" (1743), Part II: Hope; p. 191.

• I have found out a gift for my fair;
  I have found where the wood-pigeons breed.
  • "A Pastoral Ballad" (1743), Part II: Hope; p. 192.

• Whoe'er has travell'd life's dull round,
  Where'er his stages may have been,
  May sigh to think he still has found
  The warmest welcome, at an inn.
  • "Written at an Inn at Henley" (1758), st. 6; p. 228.
  • Compare: " From thee, great God, we spring, to thee we tend,— Path, motive, guide, original, and end", Samuel Johnson, Motto to the Rambler, No. 7.

• She pleas'd while distant, but, when near, she charm'd.
  • "The Judgment of Hercules", p. 246.

• Let the gull'd fool the toil of war pursue,
  Where bleed the many to enrich the few.
  • "The Judgment of Hercules", p. 249.

• Theirs is the present who can praise the past.
  • "The Judgment of Hercules", p. 258.

• Sloth views the tow'rs of fame with envious eyes;
  Desirous still, still impotent to rise.
  • "The Judgment of Hercules", p. 259.

Essays on Men and Manners (1764)

Shenstone's Essays on Men and Manners in One Volume (1804), online

• Let us be careful to distinguish modesty, which is ever amiable, from reserve, which is only prudent.
  • "On Reserve, a Fragment", p. 42.

• A large, branching, aged oak, is perhaps the most venerable of all inanimate objects.
  • "Unconnected Thoughts on Gardening", p. 90.

• A man of remarkable genius may afford to pass by a piece of wit, if it happens to border on abuse. A little genius is obliged to catch at every witticism indiscriminately.
  • "On Politics", p. 98.

• Laws are generally found to be nets of such a texture, as the little creep through, the great break through, and the middle size are alone entangled in.
  • "On Politics", p. 99.

• It is a miserable thing to love where one hates; and yet it is not inconsistent.
  • "Egotisms, from my own sensations" XI, p. 102.

• Love can be founded upon nature only; or the appearance of it.
  • "On Dress" VII, p. 109.

• Every good poet includes a critic; the reverse will not hold.
  • "On Writing and Books" LXXIX, p. 128

• Necessity may be the mother of lucrative invention, but it is the death of poetical invention.
  • "On Writing and Books" LXXXIV, p. 129

• Zealous men are ever displaying to you the strength of their belief, while judicious men are shewing you the grounds of it.
  • "Of Men and Manners" XIV, p. 138.

• While we labour to subdue our passions, we should take care not to extinguish them. Subduing our passions, is disengaging ourselves from the world; to which however, Whilst we reside in it, we must always bear relation; and we may detach ourselves to such a degree as to pass an useless and insipid life, which we were not meant to do. Our existence here is at least one part of a system.

  A man has generally the good or ill qualities which he attributes to mankind.

  • "Of Men and Manners" XLIV, p. 143.

• A fool and his words are soon parted; a man of genius and his money.
  • "Of Men and Manners" LIX, p. 147.

• Some men are called sagacious, merely on account of their avarice: whereas a child can clench its fist the moment it is born.
  • "Of Men and Manners" LXXXVI, p. 155.

• There seem near as many people that want passion as want reason.
  • "Of Men and Manners" LXXXVI, p. 162.

• Independency may be found in comparative, as well as absolute abundance: I mean when a person contracts his desires within the limits of his fortune.
  • "Of Men and Manners" LXXXVI, p. 164.

• Second thoughts are oftentimes the very worst of all thoughts.
  • "Of Men and Manners" LXXXVI, p. 166.

• The fund of sensible discourse is limited; that of jest and badinerie is infinite.
  • "On Men and Manners", p. 176.

• Prudent men should lock up their motives, giving only their intimates a key.
  • "On Men and Manners", p. 178.

• Health is beauty, and the most perfect health is the most perfect beauty.
  • "On Taste", p. 197.