The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

sick men’s dreams, dreams out of the ivory gate, and visions before midnight.
S. Wilkin (ed.) ‘Sir Thomas Browne’s Works’ (1835) vol. 4, p. 359 ‘On Dreams’
2.220 William Browne c.1590-1643
Underneath this sable hearse
Lies the subject of all verse;
Sidney’s sister, Pembroke’s mother,
Death, ere thou hast slain another,
Fair and learn’d, and good as she,
Time shall throw a dart at thee.
‘Epitaph on the Countess Dowager of Pembroke’
2.221 Sir William Browne 1692-1774
The King to Oxford sent a troop of horse,
For Tories own no argument but force:
With equal skill to Cambridge books he sent,
For Whigs admit no force but argument.
Reply to Trapp’s epigram, in J. Nichols ‘Literary Anecdotes’ vol. 3 (1812) p. 330.
2.222 Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806-61
The works of women are symbolical.
We sew, sew, prick our fingers, dull our sight,
Producing what? A pair of slippers, sir,
To put on when you’re weary.
‘Aurora Leigh’ (1857) bk. 1, l. 456
Near all the birds
Will sing at dawn,—and yet we do not take
The chaffering swallow for the holy lark.
‘Aurora Leigh’ (1857) bk. 1, l. 951
God answers sharp and sudden on some prayers,
And thrusts the thing we have prayed for in our face,
A gauntlet with a gift in’t.
‘Aurora Leigh’ (1857) bk. 2, l. 952
I think it frets the saints in heaven to see
How many desolate creatures on the earth
Have learnt the simple dues of fellowship
and social comfort, in a hospital.
‘Aurora Leigh’ (1857) bk. 3, l. 1121
Nay, if there’s room for poets in this world
A little overgrown (I think there is)