Disport

Afterward, as appeareth by Euſtachius, there was ſome Greekes diſported themſelues herein, as he which turned Atlas for his heauie burthen in ſupporting Heauen, to Talas, that is, Wretched; Arete, Vertue, into Erate, that is, Louely; Ilaros, Merrie, into Liaros, that is, warme.

For my part, I love not to disport myself at the weakness of any man, or to turn his folly into laughter: for what were this, but to reflect dishonour upon the same nature, wherein he partakes with myself?

He ſummons ſtrait his Denizens of air; / The lucid ſquadrons round the ſails repair: / [...] / Looſe to the wind their airy garments flew, / Thin glitt'ring textures of the filmy dew; / Dipt in the richeſt tincture of the skies, / Where light diſports in ever-mingling dies, [...]

Childe Harold bask'd him in the noon-tide sun, / Disporting there like any other fly; / Nor deem'd before his little day was done / One blast might chill him into misery.

In the silent watches of the night, calm night that breedeth thoughts, / When the task-weary mind disporteth in the careless play-hours of sleep, / I dreamed; [...]

What generous, ardent, imaginative soul has not a secret pleasure-place in which it disports?

[B]eautiful bays, where the transparent waves leap one after another on the sand, leaving behind them wreaths of foam, or playfully clasp the pointed rocks, like beautiful sea-nymphs disporting themselves in the joyous sunlight; [...]

[T]he political activity which produced the rebellion against the Stuarts, saved the Scotch mind from stagnating, [...] When the contest was ended, and peace was restored, the faculties which, for three generations, had been exercised in resisting the executive authority, sought other employment, and found another field in which they could disport themselves. Hence it was, that the boldness which, in the seventeenth century, was practical, became, in the eighteenth century, speculative, and produced a literature, which attempted to unsettle former opinions, and to disturb the ancient landmarks of the human mind.