Careful Words

box (n.)

box (v.)

And all Arabia breathes from yonder box.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Rape of the Lock. Canto i. Line 134.

  In my mind, he was guilty of no error, he was chargeable with no exaggeration, he was betrayed by his fancy into no metaphor, who once said that all we see about us, kings, lords, and Commons, the whole machinery of the State, all the apparatus of the system, and its varied workings, end in simply bringing twelve good men into a box.

Lord Brougham (1779-1868): Present State of the Law, Feb. 7, 1828.

Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses,

A box where sweets compacted lie.

George Herbert (1593-1632): Virtue.