# William Shenstone

William Shenstone (18 November 1714 – 11 February 1763) was an English poet, essayist and one of the earliest practitoners of landscape gardening through the development of his estate, The Leasowes.

## Quotes

* Oft has good-nature been the fool's defence, And honest meaning gilded want of sense.
** "Verses to a Lady" (1736), in Poems upon Various Occasions (Oxford: Leon Lichfield, 1737), p. 65.

### The Schoolmistress (1737-48)

    Full text online
* 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.

## External links

* Shenstone and the Leasowes at the Revolutionary Players website
* Text of The Schoolmistress
* Essay, William Shenstone and the Leasowes: the English Landscape Garden in Transition, c.1740-1763
* Complete text, with annotations, of Shenstone's Unconnected Thoughts on Gardening (1764)
* Selected Works
* Free eBook of Familiar Quotation at Project Gutenberg has quotations by William Shenstone