Can't I another's face commend,

And to her virtues be a friend,

But instantly your forehead lowers,

As if her merit lessen'd yours?

Edward Moore (1712-1757): The Farmer, the Spaniel, and the Cat. Fable ix.

Thy modesty's a candle to thy merit.

Henry Fielding (1707-1754): Tom Thumb the Great. Act i. Sc. 3.

Whoe'er amidst the sons

Of reason, valour, liberty, and virtue

Displays distinguish'd merit, is a noble

Of Nature's own creating.

James Thomson (1700-1748): Coriolanus. Act iii. Sc. 3.

Envy will merit as its shade pursue,

But like a shadow proves the substance true.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 266.

In hope to merit heaven by making earth a hell.

Lord Byron 1788-1824: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Canto i. Stanza 20.

High on a throne of royal state, which far

Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,

Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand

Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,

Satan exalted sat, by merit rais'd

To that bad eminence.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book ii. Line 1.

The man that hails you Tom or Jack,

And proves, by thumping on your back,

His sense of your great merit,

Is such a friend that one had need

Be very much his friend indeed

To pardon or to bear it.

William Cowper (1731-1800): On Friendship.

Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Rape of the Lock. Canto v. Line 34.