William Shenstone
William Shenstone
William Shenstonewas an English poet and one of the earliest practitioners of landscape gardening through the development of his estate, The Leasowes...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth18 November 1714
enemy may littles
A rich dress adds but little to the beauty of a person. It may possibly create a deference, but that is rather an enemy to love.
mean people littles
The love of popularity seems little else than the love of being beloved; and is only blamable when a person aims at the affections of a people by means in appearance honest, but in their end pernicious and destructive.
tree littles village
In every village marked with little spire, Embowered in trees, and hardly known to fame.
money littles infinite
It happens a little unluckily that the persons who have the most infinite contempt of money are the same that have the strongest appetite for the pleasures it procures.
reads thy verses
Thy verses are eternal, O my friend, For he who reads them, reads them to no end
hear seldom shall
For seldom shall she hear a taleSo sad, so tender, and so true.
hear seldom shall tale
For seldom shall she hear a tale So sad, so tender, and so true.
found gift
I have found out a gift for my fair;I have found where the wood-pigeons breed.
found gift
I have found out a gift for my fair; I have found where the wood-pigeons breed.
birth claims gives politeness source surest
Of all that gives politeness birth,Of all that claims to please,In motion, manners, or in mirth,The surest source is ease.
claims gives politeness source surest
Of all that gives politeness birth, Of all that claims to please, In motion, manners, or in mirth, The surest source is ease.
art fair found humble low thou
To thee, fair Freedom! I retireFrom flattery, cards, and dice, and din:Nor art thou found in mansions higherThan the low cot, or humble inn.
essence bears virtue
Virtues, like essences, lose their fragrance when exposed. They are sensitive plants, which will not bear too familiar approaches.
imagination perfection tree
The works of a person that begin immediately to decay, while those of him who plants begin directly to improve. In this, planting promises a more lasting pleasure than building; which, were it to remain in equal perfection, would at best begin to moulder and want repairs in imagination. Now trees have a circumstance that suits our taste, and that is annual variety.