VISIONS.

  My thoughts by night are often filled
    With visions false as fair: 
  For in the past alone I build
    My castles in the air.
Castles in the Air.  T.L.  PEACOCK.

  It is a dream, sweet child! a waking dream,
  A blissful certainty, a vision bright,
  Of that rare happiness, which even on earth
  Heaven gives to those it loves.
The Spanish Student, Act iii.  Sc. 5.  H.W.  LONGFELLOW.

  Hence the fool’s paradise, the statesman’s scheme,
  The air-built castle, and the golden dream. 
  The maid’s romantic wish, the chemist’s flame,
  And poet’s vision of eternal fame.
Dunciad, Bk.  III.  A. POPE.

And still they dream, that they shall still succeed;
And still are disappointed.  Rings the world
With the vain stir.  I sum up half mankind,
And add two-thirds of the remaining half,
And find the total of their hopes and fears
Dreams, empty dreams.
The Task, Bk.  VI.  W. COWPER.

                             [Witches vanish. 
    BANQUO.—­The earth hath bubbles as the water has,
  And these are of them.  Whither are they vanished? 
    MACBETH.—­Into the air; and what seemed corporal melted
  As breath into the wind.
Macbeth, Act i.  Sc. 3.  SHAKESPEARE.

Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds,
In ranks and squadrons, and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol. 
O Caesar! these things are beyond all use,
And I do fear them.
Julius Caesar, Act ii.  Sc. 2.  SHAKESPEARE.

  Lochiel, Lochiel! beware of the day;
  For, dark and despairing, my sight I may seal,
  But man cannot cover what God would reveal;
  ’T is the sunset of life gives me mystical lore,
  And coming events cast their shadows before.
Lochiel’s Warning.  T. CAMPBELL.

WAR.

  My sentence is for open war; of wiles
  More unexpert I boast not:  then let those
  Contrive who need, or when they need, not now.
Paradise Lost, Bk.  II.  MILTON.

  And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge,

* * * * *

Cry “Havock!” and let slip the dogs of war. Julius Caesar, Act iii.  Sc. 1.  SHAKESPEARE.

      In every heart
  Are sown the sparks that kindle fiery war;
  Occasion needs but fan them, and they blaze.
The Task:  Winter Morning Walk.  W. COWPER.

       Long peace, I find,
  But nurses dangerous humors up to strength,
  License and wanton rage, which war alone
  Can purge away.
Mustapha.  D. MALLET.

          The fire-eyed maid of smoky war
  All hot and bleeding will we offer them.
King Henry IV., Pt.  I. Act iv.  Sc. 1.  SHAKESPEARE.

Lochiel, Lochiel! beware of the day
When the Lowlands shall meet thee in battle array! 
For a field of the dead rushes red on my sight,
And the clans of Culloden are scattered in fight. 
They rally, they bleed, for their kingdom and crown;
Woe, woe to the riders that trample them down! 
Proud Cumberland prances, insulting the slain,
And their hoof-beaten bosoms are trod to the plain.
Lochiel’s Warning.  T. CAMPBELL.