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Analysis of Epigraphs

Where did Combe get his inspiration to write so much? Authors commonly used quotes from works that they had read to demonstrate their literary knowledge as a sort of credential for their own writings. What was Combe reading?

THE MODERN SPECTATOR Vol. V No. II

1811-05

Blest is the maid, and worthy to be blest,

Whose soul entire by him she loves possest,

Feels ev'ry vanity in fondness lost,

And asks no pow'r but that of pleasing most:

Her's is the bliss in just return to prove

The honest warmth of undissembled love.

For her inconstant man might cease to range,

And gratitude forbid desire to change.

Lyttelton.

THE MODERN SPECTATOR Vol. V No. III

1811-06

O rus, quando ego te aspiciam, quandoque licebit,

Ducere solicitae jucunda oblivia vitae?

VIRG.

Whenshall I to the shades retire,

And bid adieu to worldly care;

The country’s tranquil charms admire,

And find the peace that’s treasur’d there>

THE MODERN SPECTATOR Vol. V No. IV

1811-07

An elegant sufficiency, content,

Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books,

Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven.

Thomson

THE MODERN SPECTATOR No. V

1811-08

Qui vult decipi, decipiatur.

For sure the pleasure is as great

Of being cheated, as to cheat.

BUTLER

THE MODERN SPECTATOR No. VI

1811-09

------------------A merrier man,

Within the limits of becoming mirth,

I never spent an hour’s talk withal.

His eye begets occasion for his wit;

And every object that the one doth catch,

The other turns to a mirth-moving jest.

SHAKSPEARE.

THE MODERN SPECTATOR No. VII

1811-10

Last week was married at Snoring church, in this country, Mr. Snow to Miss Frost.

Hail, wedded love!

A Country Newspaper.

THE MODERN SPECTATOR No. VIII

1811-11

Money being the common scale

Of things by measure, weight, and tale;

In all th’ affairs of church and state,

Is both the balance and the weight.

Money is the sov’reign power

That all mankind fall down before:

’Tis virtue, wit, and worth, and all

That men divine and sacred call.

Does more than beauty’s utmost charms

T’ extend the lover’s longing arms:

For what’s the worth of any thing,

But so much money as ‘twill bring?

Hudibras

THE MODERN SPECTATOR No. IX

1811-12

Navigia atque agri culturas, moenia, leges,

Arma, vias, vestes, et caetera de genere horum,

Praemia, delicias, quoque vitae funditus omnes,

Carmiua, picturas et daedela signa polire,

Usus et impigra: simul experentia mentis,

Paulatim docuit pedetentim progredientes;

Sic unum quicquid paulatim protrahit aetas

In medium, ratioque in luminis eruit oras:

Namque aliud ex alio clarescere corde videmus

Artibus ad summum donec venere cacumen.

Lucretius, liber v.

THE MODERN SPECTATOR No. XXII

1813-01

Constiterant hine Thisbe, Pyramus illine,

Inque vicem fuerat captatus anhelitus oris.

OVID Met. l. iv. V.71.

Here Pyramus, there gentle Thisbe strove

To catch each other’s breath, the balmy breeze of love.

THE MODERN SPECTATOR No. XXIII

1813-02

A curious wish which did corrupt their will.

DAVIES.

THE MODERN SPECTATOR No. XXIV

1813-03

Non ego illam mihi dotem esse puto, quae dos dieitur,

Sed pudicitiam et pudorem et sedatam cupidinem.

Plaut.

THE MODERN SPECTATOR No. XXV

1813-04

Necte tribus nodis ternos, Amarylli, colores:

Necte, Amarylli, modo, et Veneris, dic, vincula necto,

Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina ducite Daphnin.

Limus ut his durescit, et haec ut cera liquescit,

Uno eodemque igni; sic nostro Daphnis amore.

--------VIRGIL

Three colours weave in threefold knots, and cry,

”In threefold bond this true-love’s knot I tie.”

As the same fire makes hard this cake of clay,

In which this waxen image melts away;

Thus, god of love, be my true shepherd’s breast

Soft to my flame, but hard to all the rest

Ye songs, spells, philters, amulets, and charms,

Bring, quickly bring my Daphnis to my arms.

THE MODERN SPECTATOR No. XXVI

1813-05

Iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore,

Eet tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri

Telephus ae Peleus, quum pauper et exul uterque

Projicit ampullas ac sesquipedalian verba,

Si curat cor spectantis tetigisse querela.

--------HOR. Ars. Poet.

Yet Comedy sometimes her voice may raise,

And angry Chremes rail in swelling phrase:

As oft the tragic language humbly flows;

For Telephus or Peleus, midst the woes

Of poverty or exile, must complain

In prose-like style, must quit the swelling strain,

And words gigantic, if with Nature’s art

They hope to touch the melting hearer’s heart.

THE MODERN SPECTATOR No. XXVII

1813-06

Permittes ipsis expendere numinibus, quid

Conveniat nobis, bebusque sit utile nostris.

Nam pro jucundis aptissima quaeque dabunt dii.

Charior est illis homo, quam sibi. Nos animorum

Impulsu, et caeca magnaque cupidine ducti,

Conjugum petimus, partumque uxoris; ut illis

Notum, qui pueri, qualisque future sit uxor.

--------JUV. Sat. X.ver. 347

Entrust thy fortune to the powers above;

Leave them to manage for thee, and to grant

What their unerring wisdom sees thee want:

In goodness, as in greatness they excel:

Ah! that we lov’d ourselves but half so well!

We, blindly by our headstrong passions led,

Are not for action, and desire to wed;

Then wish for heirs, but to the gods alone

Our future offspring and our wives are known.

-------DYRDEN.