Familiar Quotations A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature (part 3 of 8)
O'er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare, With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, And swims or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.
Paradise Lost. Book ii. Line 948.
With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout, Confusion worse confounded.
Paradise Lost. Book ii. Line 995.
So he with difficulty and labour hard Mov'd on, with difficulty and labour he.
Paradise Lost. Book ii. Line 1021.
And fast by, hanging in a golden chain, This pendent world, in bigness as a star Of smallest magnitude, close by the moon.
Paradise Lost. Book ii. Line 1051.
Hail holy light! offspring of heav'n first-born.
Paradise Lost. Book iii. Line 1.
The rising world of waters dark and deep.
Paradise Lost. Book iii. Line 11.
Thoughts that voluntary move Harmonious numbers.
Paradise Lost. Book iii. Line 37.
Thus with the year Seasons return; but not to me returns Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn, Or sight of vernal bloom or summer's rose, Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine; But cloud instead, and ever-during dark Surrounds me; from the cheerful ways of men Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair Presented with a universal blank Of Nature's works, to me expung'd and raz'd, And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.
Paradise Lost. Book iii. Line 40.
Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.
Paradise Lost. Book iii. Line 99.
See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds, With joy and love triumphing.
Paradise Lost. Book iii. Line 337.
Dark with excessive bright.
Paradise Lost. Book iii. Line 380.
Embryos and idiots, eremites and friars, White, black, and gray, with all their trumpery.
Paradise Lost. Book iii. Line 474.
Since call'd The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown.
Paradise Lost. Book iii. Line 495.
And oft, though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps At wisdom's gate, and to simplicity Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill Where no ill seems.
Paradise Lost. Book iii. Line 686.
The hell within him.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 20.
Now conscience wakes despair That slumber'd,--wakes the bitter memory Of what he was, what is, and what must be Worse.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 23.
At whose sight all the stars Hide their diminish'd heads.[231-1]
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 34.
A grateful mind By owing owes not, but still pays, at once Indebted and discharg'd.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 55.
Which way shall I fly Infinite wrath and infinite despair? Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell; And in the lowest deep a lower deep, Still threat'ning to devour me, opens wide, To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 73.
Such joy ambition finds.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 92.
Ease would recant Vows made in pain, as violent and void.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 96.
So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear, Farewell remorse; all good to me is lost. Evil, be thou my good.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 108.
That practis'd falsehood under saintly shew, Deep malice to conceal, couch'd with revenge.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 122.
Sabean odours from the spicy shore Of Araby the Blest.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 162.
And on the Tree of Life, The middle tree and highest there that grew, Sat like a cormorant.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 194.
A heaven on earth.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 208.
Flowers worthy of paradise.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 241.
Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose.[232-1]
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 256.
Proserpine gathering flowers, Herself a fairer flower.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 269.
For contemplation he and valour form'd, For softness she and sweet attractive grace; He for God only, she for God in him. His fair large front and eye sublime declar'd Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks Round from his parted forelock manly hung Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 297.
Implied Subjection, but requir'd with gentle sway, And by her yielded, by him best receiv'd,-- Yielded with coy submission, modest pride, And sweet, reluctant, amorous delay.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 307.
Adam the goodliest man of men since born His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 323.
And with necessity, The tyrant's plea,[232-2] excus'd his devilish deeds.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 393.
As Jupiter On Juno smiles, when he impregns the clouds That shed May flowers.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 499.
Imparadis'd in one another's arms.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 506.
Live while ye may, Yet happy pair.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 533.
Now came still evening on, and twilight gray Had in her sober livery all things clad; Silence accompany'd; for beast and bird, They to their grassy couch, these to their nests, Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale; She all night long her amorous descant sung; Silence was pleas'd. Now glow'd the firmament With living sapphires; Hesperus, that led The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon, Rising in clouded majesty, at length Apparent queen unveil'd her peerless light, And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 598.
The timely dew of sleep.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 614.
With thee conversing I forget all time, All seasons, and their change,--all please alike. Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet, With charm of earliest birds; pleasant the sun When first on this delightful land he spreads His orient beams on herb, tree, fruit, and flower, Glist'ring with dew; fragrant the fertile earth After soft showers; and sweet the coming on Of grateful ev'ning mild; then silent night With this her solemn bird and this fair moon, And these the gems of heaven, her starry train: But neither breath of morn when she ascends With charm of earliest birds, nor rising sun On this delightful land, nor herb, fruit, flower, Glist'ring with dew, nor fragrance after showers, Nor grateful ev'ning mild, nor silent night With this her solemn bird, nor walk by moon Or glittering starlight, without thee is sweet.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 639.
Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 677.
In naked beauty more adorn'd, More lovely than Pandora.[234-1]
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 713.
Eas'd the putting off These troublesome disguises which we wear.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 739.
Hail wedded love, mysterious law, true source Of human offspring.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 750.
Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 800.
Him thus intent Ithuriel with his spear Touch'd lightly; for no falsehood can endure Touch of celestial temper.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 810.
Not to know me argues yourselves unknown, The lowest of your throng.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 830.
Abash'd the devil stood, And felt how awful goodness is, and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 846.
All hell broke loose.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 918.
Like Teneriff or Atlas unremoved.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 987.
The starry cope Of heaven.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 992.
Fled Murmuring, and with him fled the shades of night.
Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 1014.
Now morn, her rosy steps in th' eastern clime Advancing, sow'd the earth with orient pearl, When Adam wak'd, so custom'd; for his sleep Was aery light, from pure digestion bred.
Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 1.
Hung over her enamour'd, and beheld Beauty, which, whether waking or asleep, Shot forth peculiar graces.
Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 13.
My latest found, Heaven's last, best gift, my ever new delight!
Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 18.
Good, the more Communicated, more abundant grows.
Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 71.
These are thy glorious works, Parent of good!
Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 153.
Fairest of stars, last in the train of night, If better thou belong not to the dawn.
Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 166.
A wilderness of sweets.
Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 294.
Another morn Ris'n on mid-noon.
Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 310.
So saying, with despatchful looks in haste She turns, on hospitable thoughts intent.
Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 331.
Nor jealousy Was understood, the injur'd lover's hell.
Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 449.
The bright consummate flower.
Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 481.
Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers.
Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 601.
They eat, they drink, and in communion sweet Quaff immortality and joy.
Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 637.
Satan; so call him now, his former name Is heard no more in heaven.
Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 658.
Midnight brought on the dusky hour Friendliest to sleep and silence.
Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 667.
Innumerable as the stars of night, Or stars of morning, dewdrops which the sun Impearls on every leaf and every flower.
Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 745.
So spake the seraph Abdiel, faithful found; Among the faithless, faithful only he.
Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 896.
Morn, Wak'd by the circling hours, with rosy hand Unbarr'd the gates of light.
Paradise Lost. Book vi. Line 2.
Servant of God, well done; well hast thou fought The better fight.
Paradise Lost. Book vi. Line 29.
Arms on armour clashing bray'd Horrible discord, and the madding wheels Of brazen chariots rag'd: dire was the noise Of conflict.
Paradise Lost. Book vi. Line 209.
Spirits that live throughout, Vital in every part, not as frail man, In entrails, heart or head, liver or reins, Cannot but by annihilating die.
Paradise Lost. Book vi. Line 345.
Far off his coming shone.
Paradise Lost. Book vi. Line 768.
More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchang'd To hoarse or mute, though fall'n on evil days, On evil days though fall'n, and evil tongues.
Paradise Lost. Book vii. Line 24.
Still govern thou my song, Urania, and fit audience find, though few.
Paradise Lost. Book vii. Line 30.
Heaven open'd wide Her ever during gates, harmonious sound, On golden hinges moving.
Paradise Lost. Book vii. Line 205.
Hither, as to their fountain, other stars Repairing, in their golden urns draw light.
Paradise Lost. Book vii. Line 364.
Now half appear'd The tawny lion, pawing to get free His hinder parts.
Paradise Lost. Book vii. Line 463.
Indu'd With sanctity of reason.
Paradise Lost. Book vii. Line 507.
A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold, And pavement stars,--as stars to thee appear Seen in the galaxy, that milky way Which nightly as a circling zone thou seest Powder'd with stars.
Paradise Lost. Book vii. Line 577.
The Angel ended, and in Adam's ear So charming left his voice, that he awhile Thought him still speaking, still stood fix'd to hear.
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 1.
There swift return Diurnal, merely to officiate light Round this opacous earth, this punctual spot.
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 21.
And grace that won who saw to wish her stay.
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 43.
And touch'd by her fair tendance, gladlier grew.
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 47.
With centric and eccentric scribbled o'er, Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb.
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 83.
Her silent course advance With inoffensive pace, that spinning sleeps On her soft axle.
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 163.
Be lowly wise: Think only what concerns thee and thy being.
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 173.
To know That which before us lies in daily life Is the prime wisdom.
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 192.
Liquid lapse of murmuring streams.
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 263.
And feel that I am happier than I know.
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 282.
Among unequals what society Can sort, what harmony, or true delight?
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 383.
Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye, In every gesture dignity and love.
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 488.
Her virtue and the conscience of her worth, That would be woo'd, and not unsought be won.
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 502.
She what was honour knew, And with obsequious majesty approv'd My pleaded reason. To the nuptial bower I led her blushing like the morn; all heaven And happy constellations on that hour Shed their selectest influence; the earth Gave sign of gratulation, and each hill; Joyous the birds; fresh gales and gentle airs Whisper'd it to the woods, and from their wings Flung rose, flung odours from the spicy shrub.
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 508.
The sum of earthly bliss.
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 522.
So well to know Her own, that what she wills to do or say Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best.
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 548.
Accuse not Nature: she hath done her part; Do thou but thine.
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 561.
Oft times nothing profits more Than self-esteem, grounded on just and right Well manag'd.[238-1]
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 571.
Those graceful acts, Those thousand decencies that daily flow From all her words and actions.
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 600.
With a smile that glow'd Celestial rosy red, love's proper hue.
Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 618.
My unpremeditated verse.
Paradise Lost. Book ix. Line 24.
Pleas'd me, long choosing and beginning late.
Paradise Lost. Book ix. Line 26.
Unless an age too late, or cold Climate, or years, damp my intended wing.
Paradise Lost. Book ix. Line 44.
Revenge, at first though sweet, Bitter ere long back on itself recoils.
Paradise Lost. Book ix. Line 171.
The work under our labour grows, Luxurious by restraint.
Paradise Lost. Book ix. Line 208.
Smiles from reason flow, To brute deny'd, and are of love the food.
Paradise Lost. Book ix. Line 239.
For solitude sometimes is best society, And short retirement urges sweet return.
Paradise Lost. Book ix. Line 249.
At shut of evening flowers.
Paradise Lost. Book ix. Line 278.
As one who long in populous city pent, Where houses thick and sewers annoy the air.
Paradise Lost. Book ix. Line 445.
So gloz'd the tempter.
Paradise Lost. Book ix. Line 549.
Hope elevates, and joy Brightens his crest.
Paradise Lost. Book ix. Line 633.
Left that command Sole daughter of his voice.[239-1]
Paradise Lost. Book ix. Line 652.
Earth felt the wound; and Nature from her seat, Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe That all was lost.
Paradise Lost. Book ix. Line 782.
In her face excuse Came prologue, and apology too prompt.
Paradise Lost. Book ix. Line 853.
A pillar'd shade High overarch'd, and echoing walks between.
Paradise Lost. Book ix. Line 1106.
Yet I shall temper so Justice with mercy, as may illustrate most Them fully satisfy'd, and thee appease.
Paradise Lost. Book x. Line 77.
So scented the grim Feature, and upturn'd His nostril wide into the murky air, Sagacious of his quarry from so far.
Paradise Lost. Book x. Line 279.
How gladly would I meet Mortality my sentence, and be earth Insensible! how glad would lay me down As in my mother's lap!
Paradise Lost. Book x. Line 775.
Must I thus leave thee, Paradise?--thus leave Thee, native soil, these happy walks and shades?
Paradise Lost. Book xi. Line 269.
Then purg'd with euphrasy and rue The visual nerve, for he had much to see.
Paradise Lost. Book xi. Line 414.
Moping melancholy And moon-struck madness.
Paradise Lost. Book xi. Line 485.
And over them triumphant Death his dart Shook, but delay'd to strike, though oft invok'd.
Paradise Lost. Book xi. Line 491.
So may'st thou live, till like ripe fruit thou drop Into thy mother's lap.
Paradise Lost. Book xi. Line 535.
Nor love thy life, nor hate; but what thou liv'st Live well: how long or short permit to heaven.[240-1]
Paradise Lost. Book xi. Line 553.
A bevy of fair women.
Paradise Lost. Book xi. Line 582.
The brazen throat of war.
Paradise Lost. Book xi. Line 713.
Some natural tears they dropp'd, but wip'd them soon; The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide. They hand in hand, with wand'ring steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way.
Paradise Lost. Book xii. Line 645.
Beauty stands In the admiration only of weak minds Led captive.
Paradise Regained. Book ii. Line 220.
Rocks whereon greatest men have oftest wreck'd.
Paradise Regained. Book ii. Line 228.
Of whom to be disprais'd were no small praise.
Paradise Regained. Book iii. Line 56.
Elephants endors'd with towers.
Paradise Regained. Book iii. Line 329.
Syene, and where the shadow both way falls, Meroe, Nilotic isle.
Paradise Regained. Book iv. Line 70.
Dusk faces with white silken turbans wreath'd.
Paradise Regained. Book iv. Line 76.
The childhood shows the man, As morning shows the day.[241-1]
Paradise Regained. Book iv. Line 220.
Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts And eloquence.
Paradise Regained. Book iv. Line 240.
The olive grove of Academe, Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird Trills her thick-warbled notes the summer long.
Paradise Regained. Book iv. Line 244.
Thence to the famous orators repair, Those ancient, whose resistless eloquence Wielded at will that fierce democratie, Shook the arsenal, and fulmin'd over Greece, To Macedon, and Artaxerxes' throne.
Paradise Regained. Book iv. Line 267.
Socrates . . . Whom well inspir'd the oracle pronounc'd Wisest of men.
Paradise Regained. Book iv. Line 274.
Deep vers'd in books, and shallow in himself.
Paradise Regained. Book iv. Line 327.
As children gath'ring pebbles on the shore. Or if I would delight my private hours With music or with poem, where so soon As in our native language can I find That solace?
Paradise Regained. Book iv. Line 330.
Till morning fair Came forth with pilgrim steps in amice gray.
Paradise Regained. Book iv. Line 426.
O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse Without all hope of day!
Samson Agonistes. Line 80.
The sun to me is dark And silent as the moon, When she deserts the night Hid in her vacant interlunar cave.
Samson Agonistes. Line 86.
Ran on embattled armies clad in iron, And, weaponless himself, Made arms ridiculous.
Samson Agonistes. Line 129.
Just are the ways of God, And justifiable to men; Unless there be who think not God at all.
Samson Agonistes. Line 293.
What boots it at one gate to make defence, And at another to let in the foe?
Samson Agonistes. Line 560.
But who is this, what thing of sea or land,-- Female of sex it seems,-- That so bedeck'd, ornate, and gay, Comes this way sailing Like a stately ship Of Tarsus, bound for th' isles Of Javan or Gadire, With all her bravery on, and tackle trim, Sails fill'd, and streamers waving, Courted by all the winds that hold them play, An amber scent of odorous perfume Her harbinger?
Samson Agonistes. Line 710.
Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power, After offence returning, to regain Love once possess'd.
Samson Agonistes. Line 1003.
He 's gone, and who knows how he may report Thy words by adding fuel to the flame?
Samson Agonistes. Line 1350.
For evil news rides post, while good news baits.
Samson Agonistes. Line 1538.
And as an ev'ning dragon came, Assailant on the perched roosts And nests in order rang'd Of tame villatic fowl.
Samson Agonistes. Line 1692.
Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail Or knock the breast, no weakness, no contempt, Dispraise, or blame,--nothing but well and fair, And what may quiet us in a death so noble.
Samson Agonistes. Line 1721.
Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot Which men call earth.
Comus. Line 5.
That golden key That opes the palace of eternity.
Comus. Line 13.
The nodding horror of whose shady brows Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger.
Comus. Line 38.
I will tell you now What never yet was heard in tale or song, From old or modern bard, in hall or bower.
Comus. Line 43.
Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape Crush'd the sweet poison of misused wine.
Comus. Line 46.
These my sky-robes spun out of Iris' woof.
Comus. Line 83.
The star that bids the shepherd fold.
Comus. Line 93.
Midnight shout and revelry, Tipsy dance and jollity.
Comus. Line 103.
Ere the blabbing eastern scout, The nice morn, on th' Indian steep From her cabin'd loop-hole peep.
Comus. Line 138.
When the gray-hooded Even, Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed, Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phoebus' wain.
Comus. Line 188.
A thousand fantasies Begin to throng into my memory, Of calling shapes, and beck'ning shadows dire, And airy tongues that syllable men's names On sands and shores and desert wildernesses.
Comus. Line 205.
O welcome, pure-ey'd Faith, white-handed Hope, Thou hovering angel, girt with golden wings!
Comus. Line 213.
Was I deceiv'd, or did a sable cloud Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
Comus. Line 221.
Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment?
Comus. Line 244.
How sweetly did they float upon the wings Of silence through the empty-vaulted night, At every fall smoothing the raven down Of darkness till it smil'd!
Comus. Line 249.
Who, as they sung, would take the prison'd soul And lap it in Elysium.
Comus. Line 256.
Such sober certainty of waking bliss.
Comus. Line 263.
I took it for a faery vision Of some gay creatures of the element, That in the colours of the rainbow live, And play i' th' plighted clouds.
Comus. Line 298.
It were a journey like the path to heaven, To help you find them.
Comus. Line 303.
With thy long levell'd rule of streaming light.
Comus. Line 340.
Virtue could see to do what virtue would By her own radiant light, though sun and moon Were in the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom's self Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude, Where with her best nurse Contemplation She plumes her feathers and lets grow her wings, That in the various bustle of resort Were all-to ruffled, and sometimes impair'd. He that has light within his own clear breast May sit i' th' centre and enjoy bright day; But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts Benighted walks under the midday sun.
Comus. Line 373.
The unsunn'd heaps Of miser's treasure.
Comus. Line 398.
'T is chastity, my brother, chastity: She that has that is clad in complete steel.
Comus. Line 420.
Some say no evil thing that walks by night, In fog or fire, by lake or moorish fen, Blue meagre hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost That breaks his magic chains at curfew time, No goblin, or swart fairy of the mine, Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity.
Comus. Line 432.
So dear to heav'n is saintly chastity, That when a soul is found sincerely so, A thousand liveried angels lackey her, Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt, And in clear dream and solemn vision Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear, Till oft converse with heav'nly habitants Begin to cast a beam on th' outward shape.
Comus. Line 453.
How charming is divine philosophy! Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, But musical as is Apollo's lute,[245-1] And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets Where no crude surfeit reigns.
Comus. Line 476.
And sweeten'd every musk-rose of the dale.
Comus. Line 496.
Fill'd the air with barbarous dissonance.
Comus. Line 550.
I was all ear, And took in strains that might create a soul Under the ribs of death.
Comus. Line 560.
That power Which erring men call Chance.
Comus. Line 587.
If this fail, The pillar'd firmament is rottenness, And earth's base built on stubble.
Comus. Line 597.
The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it, But in another country, as he said, Bore a bright golden flow'r, but not in this soil; Unknown, and like esteem'd, and the dull swain Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon.
Comus. Line 631.
Enter'd the very lime-twigs of his spells, And yet came off.
Comus. Line 646.
This cordial julep here, That flames and dances in his crystal bounds.
Comus. Line 672.
Budge doctors of the Stoic fur.
Comus. Line 707.
And live like Nature's bastards, not her sons.
Comus. Line 727.
It is for homely features to keep home,-- They had their name thence; coarse complexions And cheeks of sorry grain will serve to ply The sampler and to tease the huswife's wool. What need a vermeil-tinctur'd lip for that, Love-darting eyes, or tresses like the morn?
Comus. Line 748.
Swinish gluttony Ne'er looks to heav'n amidst his gorgeous feast, But with besotted base ingratitude Crams, and blasphemes his feeder.
Comus. Line 776.
Enjoy your dear wit and gay rhetoric, That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence.
Comus. Line 790.
His rod revers'd, And backward mutters of dissevering power.
Comus. Line 816.
Sabrina fair, Listen where thou art sitting Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave, In twisted braids of lilies knitting The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair.
Comus. Line 859.
But now my task is smoothly done, I can fly, or I can run.
Comus. Line 1012.
Or if Virtue feeble were, Heav'n itself would stoop to her.
Comus. Line 1022.
I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude, And with forc'd fingers rude Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year.
Lycidas. Line 3.
He knew Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.
Lycidas. Line 10.
Without the meed of some melodious tear.
Lycidas. Line 14.
Under the opening eyelids of the morn.
Lycidas. Line 26.
But oh the heavy change, now thou art gone, Now thou art gone and never must return!
Lycidas. Line 37.
The gadding vine.
Lycidas. Line 40.
And strictly meditate the thankless Muse.
Lycidas. Line 66.
To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, Or with the tangles of Neæra's hair.
Lycidas. Line 68.
Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise[247-1] (That last infirmity of noble mind) To scorn delights, and live laborious days; But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, And think to burst out into sudden blaze, Comes the blind Fury with th' abhorred shears And slits the thin-spun life.
Lycidas. Line 70.
Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil.
Lycidas. Line 78.
It was that fatal and perfidious bark, Built in th' eclipse, and rigg'd with curses dark.
Lycidas. Line 100.
The pilot of the Galilean lake; Two massy keys he bore, of metals twain (The golden opes, the iron shuts amain).
Lycidas. Line 109.
But that two-handed engine at the door Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more.
Lycidas. Line 130.
Throw hither all your quaint enamell'd eyes That on the green turf suck the honied showers, And purple all the ground with vernal flowers. Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies, The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine, The white pink, and the pansy freakt with jet, The glowing violet, The musk-rose, and the well-attir'd woodbine, With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head, And every flower that sad embroidery wears.
Lycidas. Line 139.
So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed, And yet anon repairs his drooping head, And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore Flames in the forehead of the morning sky.
Lycidas. Line 168.
He touch'd the tender stops of various quills, With eager thought warbling his Doric lay.
Lycidas. Line 188.
To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new.
Lycidas. Line 193.
Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee Jest and youthful Jollity, Quips and Cranks and wanton Wiles, Nods and Becks and wreathed Smiles.
L'Allegro. Line 25.
Sport, that wrinkled Care derides, And Laughter holding both his sides. Come and trip it as ye go, On the light fantastic toe.
L'Allegro. Line 31.
The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty.
L'Allegro. Line 36.
And every shepherd tells his tale Under the hawthorn in the dale.
L'Allegro. Line 67.
Meadows trim with daisies pied, Shallow brooks and rivers wide; Towers and battlements it sees Bosom'd high in tufted trees, Where perhaps some beauty lies, The cynosure of neighboring eyes.
L'Allegro. Line 75.
Herbs, and other country messes, Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses.
L'Allegro. Line 85.
To many a youth and many a maid Dancing in the chequer'd shade.
L'Allegro. Line 95.
Then to the spicy nut-brown ale.
L'Allegro. Line 100.
Tower'd cities please us then, And the busy hum of men.
L'Allegro. Line 117.
Ladies, whose bright eyes Rain influence, and judge the prize.
L'Allegro. Line 121.
Such sights as youthful poets dream On summer eyes by haunted stream. Then to the well-trod stage anon, If Jonson's learned sock be on, Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child, Warble his native wood-notes wild.
L'Allegro. Line 129.
And ever against eating cares Lap me in soft Lydian airs, Married to immortal verse,[249-1] Such as the meeting soul may pierce, In notes with many a winding bout Of linked sweetness long drawn out.
L'Allegro. Line 135.
Untwisting all the chains that tie The hidden soul of harmony.
L'Allegro. Line 143.
The gay motes that people the sunbeams.
Il Penseroso. Line 8.
And looks commercing with the skies, Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes.
Il Penseroso. Line 39.
Forget thyself to marble.
Il Penseroso. Line 42.
And join with thee calm Peace and Quiet, Spare Fast, that oft with gods doth diet.
Il Penseroso. Line 45.
And add to these retired Leisure, That in trim gardens takes his pleasure.
Il Penseroso. Line 49.
Sweet bird, that shun'st the noise of folly, Most musical, most melancholy!
Il Penseroso. Line 61.
I walk unseen On the dry smooth-shaven green, To behold the wandering moon Riding near her highest noon, Like one that had been led astray Through the heav'n's wide pathless way; And oft, as if her head she bow'd, Stooping through a fleecy cloud.
Il Penseroso. Line 65.
Where glowing embers through the room Teach light to counterfeit a gloom.
Il Penseroso. Line 79.
Far from all resort of mirth Save the cricket on the hearth.
Il Penseroso. Line 81.
Sometime let gorgeous Tragedy In sceptred pall come sweeping by, Presenting Thebes, or Pelops' line, Or the tale of Troy divine.
Il Penseroso. Line 97.
Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing Such notes as, warbled to the string, Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek.
Il Penseroso. Line 105.
Or call up him that left half told The story of Cambuscan bold.
Il Penseroso. Line 109.
Where more is meant than meets the ear.
Il Penseroso. Line 120.
When the gust hath blown his fill, Ending on the rustling leaves With minute drops from off the eaves.
Il Penseroso. Line 128.
Hide me from day's garish eye.
Il Penseroso. Line 141.
And storied windows richly dight, Casting a dim religious light.
Il Penseroso. Line 159.
Till old experience do attain To something like prophetic strain.
Il Penseroso. Line 173.
Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie.
Arcades. Line 68.
Under the shady roof Of branching elm star-proof.
Arcades. Line 88.
O fairest flower! no sooner blown but blasted, Soft silken primrose fading timelessly.
Ode on the Death of a fair Infant, dying of a Cough.
Such as may make thee search the coffers round.
At a Vacation Exercise. Line 31.
No war or battle's sound Was heard the world around.
Hymn on Christ's Nativity. Line 53.
Time will run back and fetch the age of gold.
Hymn on Christ's Nativity. Line 135.
Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail.
Hymn on Christ's Nativity. Line 172.
The oracles are dumb, No voice or hideous hum Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving. Apollo from his shrine Can no more divine, With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving. No nightly trance or breathed spell Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell.
Hymn on Christ's Nativity. Line 173.
From haunted spring and dale Edg'd with poplar pale The parting genius is with sighing sent.
Hymn on Christ's Nativity. Line 184.
Peor and Baälim Forsake their temples dim.
Hymn on Christ's Nativity. Line 197.
What needs my Shakespeare for his honour'd bones,-- The labour of an age in piled stones? Or that his hallow'd relics should be hid Under a star-y-pointing pyramid? Dear son of memory, great heir of fame, What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name?
Epitaph on Shakespeare.
And so sepúlchred in such pomp dost lie, That kings for such a tomb would wish to die.
Epitaph on Shakespeare.
Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day.[251-1]
Sonnet to the Nightingale.
As ever in my great Taskmaster's eye.
On his being arrived to the Age of Twenty-three.
The great Emathian conqueror bid spare The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower Went to the ground.
When the Assault was intended to the City.
That old man eloquent.
To the Lady Margaret Ley.
That would have made Quintilian stare and gasp.
On the Detraction which followed upon my writing certain Treatises.
License they mean when they cry, Liberty! For who loves that must first be wise and good.
On the Detraction which followed upon my writing certain Treatises.
Peace hath her victories No less renown'd than war.
To the Lord General Cromwell.
Ev'n them who kept thy truth so pure of old, When all our fathers worshipp'd stocks and stones.
On the late Massacre in Piedmont.
Thousands at his bidding speed, And post o'er land and ocean without rest; They also serve who only stand and wait.
On his Blindness.
What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice, Of Attic taste?
To Mr. Lawrence.
In mirth that after no repenting draws.
Sonnet xxi. To Cyriac Skinner.
For other things mild Heav'n a time ordains, And disapproves that care, though wise in show, That with superfluous burden loads the day, And when God sends a cheerful hour, refrains.
Sonnet xxi. To Cyriac Skinner.
Yet I argue not Against Heav'n's hand or will, nor bate a jot Of heart or hope; but still bear up and steer Right onward.
Sonnet xxii. To Cyriac Skinner.
Of which all Europe rings from side to side.
Sonnet xxii. To Cyriac Skinner.
But oh! as to embrace me she inclin'd, I wak'd, she fled, and day brought back my night.
On his Deceased Wife.
Have hung My dank and dropping weeds To the stern god of sea.
Translation of Horace. Book i. Ode 5.
For such kind of borrowing as this, if it be not bettered by the borrower, among good authors is accounted Plagiarè.
Iconoclastes. xxiii.
Truth is as impossible to be soiled by any outward touch as the sunbeam.[253-1]
Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce.
A poet soaring in the high reason of his fancies, with his garland and singing robes about him.
The Reason of Church Government. Introduction, Book ii.
By labour and intent study (which I take to be my portion in this life), joined with the strong propensity of nature, I might perhaps leave something so written to after times as they should not willingly let it die.
The Reason of Church Government. Introduction, Book ii.
Beholding the bright countenance of truth in the quiet and still air of delightful studies.
The Reason of Church Government. Introduction, Book ii.
He who would not be frustrate of his hope to write well hereafter in laudable things ought himself to be a true poem.
Apology for Smectymnuus.
His words, like so many nimble and airy servitors, trip about him at command.
Apology for Smectymnuus.
Litigious terms, fat contentions, and flowing fees.
Tractate of Education.
I shall detain you no longer in the demonstration of what we should not do, but straight conduct ye to a hillside, where I will point ye out the right path of a virtuous and noble education; laborious indeed at the first ascent, but else so smooth, so green, so full of goodly prospect and melodious sounds on every side that the harp of Orpheus was not more charming.
Tractate of Education.
Enflamed with the study of learning and the admiration of virtue; stirred up with high hopes of living to be brave men and worthy patriots, dear to God, and famous to all ages.
Tractate of Education.
Ornate rhetorick taught out of the rule of Plato. . . . To which poetry would be made subsequent, or indeed rather precedent, as being less suttle and fine, but more simple, sensuous, and passionate.
Tractate of Education.
In those vernal seasons of the year, when the air is calm and pleasant, it were an injury and sullenness against Nature not to go out and see her riches, and partake in her rejoicing with heaven and earth.
Tractate of Education.
Attic tragedies of stateliest and most regal argument.
Tractate of Education.
As good almost kill a man as kill a good book: who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book kills reason itself.
Areopagitica.
A good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.
Areopagitica.
Seasoned life of man preserved and stored up in books.
Areopagitica.
I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat.
Areopagitica.
Who shall silence all the airs and madrigals that whisper softness in chambers?
Areopagitica.
Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks; methinks I see her as an eagle mewing her mighty youth, and kindling her undazzled eyes at the full midday beam.
Areopagitica.
Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do ingloriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple: who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?[255-1]
Areopagitica.
Men of most renowned virtue have sometimes by transgressing most truly kept the law.
Tetrachordon.
By this time, like one who had set out on his way by night, and travelled through a region of smooth or idle dreams, our history now arrives on the confines, where daylight and truth meet us with a clear dawn, representing to our view, though at a far distance, true colours and shapes.
The History of England. Book i.
Such bickerings to recount, met often in these our writers, what more worth is it than to chronicle the wars of kites or crows flocking and fighting in the air?
The History of England. Book iv.
FOOTNOTES:
[223-1] But vindicate the ways of God to man.--POPE: _Essay on Man, epistle i. line 16._
[224-1] See Book iv. line 75.
[224-2] Stream'd like a meteor to the troubled air.--GRAY: _The Bard, i. 2, line 6._
[226-1] Aristophanes turns Socrates into ridicule . . . as making the worse appear the better reason.--DIOGENES LAERTIUS: _Socrates, v._
[226-2] Our hope is loss, our hope but sad despair.--SHAKESPEARE: Henry VI. part iii. act ii. sc. 3.
[227-1] Rubente dextera.--HORACE: Ode i. 2, 2.
[230-1] Compare great things with small.--VIRGIL: Eclogues, i. 24; Georgics, iv. 176. COWLEY: The Motto. DRYDEN: Ovid, Metamorphoses, book i. line 727. TICKELL: Poem on Hunting. POPE: Windsor Forest.
[231-1] Ye little stars! hide your diminished rays.--POPE: Moral Essays, epistle iii. line 282.
[232-1] See Herrick, page 203.
[232-2] Necessity is the argument of tyrants, it is the creed of slaves.--WILLIAM PITT: Speech on the India Bill, November, 1783.
[234-1] When unadorned, adorned the most.--THOMSON: Autumn, line 204.
[238-1] "But most of all respect thyself."--A precept of the Pythagoreans.
[239-1] Stern daughter of the voice of God.--WORDSWORTH: Ode to Duty.
[240-1] Summum nec metuas diem, nec optes (Neither fear nor wish for your last day).--MARTIAL: lib. x. epigram 47, line 13.
[241-1] The child is father of the man.--WORDSWORTH: _My Heart Leaps up._
[245-1] See Shakespeare, page 56.
[247-1] Erant quibus appetentior famæ videretur, quando etiam sapientibus cupido gloriæ novissima exuitur (Some might consider him as too fond of fame, for the desire of glory clings even to the best of men longer than any other passion) [said of Helvidius Priscus].--TACITUS: Historia, iv. 6.
[249-1] Wisdom married to immortal verse.--WORDSWORTH: _The Excursion, book vii._
[251-1] See Chaucer, page 6.
[253-1] See Bacon, page 169.
[255-1] Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.--JEFFERSON: Inaugural Address.
EDWARD HYDE CLARENDON. 1608-1674.
He [Hampden] had a head to contrive, a tongue to persuade, and a hand to execute any mischief.[255-2]
History of the Rebellion. Vol. iii. Book vii. § 84.
FOOTNOTES:
[255-2] In every deed of mischief he had a heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute.--GIBBON: _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xlviii._
Heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, or the hand to execute.--From Junius, letter xxxvii. Feb. 14, 1770.
SIR JOHN SUCKLING. 1609-1641.
Her feet beneath her petticoat Like little mice stole in and out,[256-1] As if they feared the light; But oh, she dances such a way! No sun upon an Easter-day Is half so fine a sight.
Ballad upon a Wedding.
Her lips were red, and one was thin; Compared with that was next her chin,-- Some bee had stung it newly.
Ballad upon a Wedding.
Why so pale and wan, fond lover? Prithee, why so pale? Will, when looking well can't move her, Looking ill prevail? Prithee, why so pale?
Song.
'T is expectation makes a blessing dear; Heaven were not heaven if we knew what it were.
Against Fruition.
She is pretty to walk with, And witty to talk with, And pleasant, too, to think on.
Brennoralt. Act ii.
Her face is like the milky way i' the sky,-- A meeting of gentle lights without a name.
Brennoralt. Act iii.
But as when an authentic watch is shown, Each man winds up and rectifies his own, So in our very judgments.[256-2]
Aglaura. Epilogue.
The prince of darkness is a gentleman.[256-3]
The Goblins.
Nick of time.
The Goblins.
"High characters," cries one, and he would see Things that ne'er were, nor are, nor e'er will be.[257-1]
The Goblins. Epilogue.
FOOTNOTES:
[256-1] See Herrick, page 202.
[256-2] 'T is with our judgments as our watches,--none Go just alike, yet each believes his own.
POPE: Essay on Criticism, part i. line 9.
[256-3] See Shakespeare, page 147.
[257-1] Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see, Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be.
POPE: Essay on Criticism, part ii. line 53.
There 's no such thing in Nature, and you 'll draw A faultless monster which the world ne'er saw.
SHEFFIELD: Essay on Poetry.
MARQUIS OF MONTROSE. 1612-1650.
He either fears his fate too much, Or his deserts are small, That dares not put it to the touch To gain or lose it all.[257-2]
My Dear and only Love.
I 'll make thee glorious by my pen, And famous by my sword.[257-3]
My Dear and only Love.
FOOTNOTES:
[257-2] That puts it not unto the touch To win or lose it all.
NAPIER: Montrose and the Covenanters, vol. ii. p. 566.
[257-3] I 'll make thee famous by my pen, And glorious by my sword.
SCOTT: Legend of Montrose, chap. xv.
SIR JOHN DENHAM. 1615-1668.
Though with those streams he no resemblance hold, Whose foam is amber and their gravel gold; His genuine and less guilty wealth t' explore, Search not his bottom, but survey his shore.
Cooper's Hill. Line 165.
Oh, could I flow like thee, and make thy stream My great example, as it is my theme! Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull; Strong without rage; without o'erflowing, full.
Cooper's Hill. Line 189.
Actions of the last age are like almanacs of the last year.
The Sophy. A Tragedy.
But whither am I strayed? I need not raise Trophies to thee from other men's dispraise; Nor is thy fame on lesser ruins built; Nor needs thy juster title the foul guilt Of Eastern kings, who, to secure their reign, Must have their brothers, sons, and kindred slain.[258-1]
On Mr. John Fletcher's Works.
FOOTNOTES:
[258-1] Poets are sultans, if they had their will; For every author would his brother kill.
ORRERY: Prologues (according to Johnson).
Should such a man, too fond to rule alone, Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne.
POPE: Prologue to the Satires, line 197.
RICHARD CRASHAW. Circa 1616-1650.
The conscious water saw its God and blushed.[258-2]
Epigram.
Whoe'er she be, That not impossible she, That shall command my heart and me.
Wishes to his Supposed Mistress.
Where'er she lie, Locked up from mortal eye, In shady leaves of destiny.
Wishes to his Supposed Mistress.
Days that need borrow No part of their good morrow From a fore-spent night of sorrow.
Wishes to his Supposed Mistress.
Life that dares send A challenge to his end, And when it comes, say, Welcome, friend!
Wishes to his Supposed Mistress.
Sydneian showers Of sweet discourse, whose powers Can crown old Winter's head with flowers.
Wishes to his Supposed Mistress.
A happy soul, that all the way To heaven hath a summer's day.
In Praise of Lessius's Rule of Health.
The modest front of this small floor, Believe me, reader, can say more Than many a braver marble can,-- "Here lies a truly honest man!"
Epitaph upon Mr. Ashton.
FOOTNOTES:
[258-2] Nympha pudica Deum vidit, et erubuit (The modest Nymph saw the god, and blushed).--_Epigrammationa Sacra. Aquæ in vinum versæ, p. 299._
RICHARD LOVELACE. 1618-1658.
Oh, could you view the melody Of every grace And music of her face,[259-1] You 'd drop a tear; Seeing more harmony In her bright eye Than now you hear.
Orpheus to Beasts.
I could not love thee, dear, so much, Lov'd I not honour more.
To Lucasta, on going to the Wars.
When flowing cups pass swiftly round With no allaying Thames.[259-2]
To Althea from Prison, ii.
Fishes that tipple in the deep, Know no such liberty.
To Althea from Prison, ii.
Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take That for an hermitage; If I have freedom in my love, And in my soul am free, Angels alone that soar above Enjoy such liberty.
To Althea from Prison, iv.
FOOTNOTES:
[259-1] See Browne, page 218.
The mind, the music breathing from her face.--BYRON: Bride of Abydos, canto i. stanza 6.
[259-2] See Shakespeare, page 103.
ABRAHAM COWLEY. 1618-1667.
What shall I do to be forever known, And make the age to come my own?
The Motto.
His time is forever, everywhere his place.
Friendship in Absence.
We spent them not in toys, in lusts, or wine, But search of deep philosophy, Wit, eloquence, and poetry; Arts which I lov'd, for they, my friend, were thine.
On the Death of Mr. William Harvey.
His faith, perhaps, in some nice tenets might Be wrong; his life, I 'm sure, was in the right.[260-1]
On the Death of Crashaw.
The thirsty earth soaks up the rain, And drinks, and gapes for drink again; The plants suck in the earth, and are With constant drinking fresh and fair.
From Anacreon, ii. Drinking.
Fill all the glasses there, for why Should every creature drink but I? Why, man of morals, tell me why?
From Anacreon, ii. Drinking.
A mighty pain to love it is, And 't is a pain that pain to miss; But of all pains, the greatest pain It is to love, but love in vain.
From Anacreon, vii. Gold.
Hope, of all ills that men endure, The only cheap and universal cure.
The Mistress. For Hope.
Th' adorning thee with so much art Is but a barb'rous skill; 'T is like the pois'ning of a dart, Too apt before to kill.
The Waiting Maid.
Nothing is there to come, and nothing past, But an eternal now does always last.[261-1]
Davideis. Book i. Line 25.
When Israel was from bondage led, Led by the Almighty's hand From out of foreign land, The great sea beheld and fled.
Davideis. Book i. Line 41.
An harmless flaming meteor shone for hair, And fell adown his shoulders with loose care.[261-2]
Davideis. Book ii. Line 95.
The monster London laugh at me.
Of Solitude, xi.
Let but thy wicked men from out thee go, And all the fools that crowd thee so, Even thou, who dost thy millions boast, A village less than Islington wilt grow, A solitude almost.
Of Solitude, vii.
The fairest garden in her looks, And in her mind the wisest books.
The Garden, i.
God the first garden made, and the first city Cain.[261-3]
The Garden, ii.
Hence, ye profane! I hate ye all, Both the great vulgar and the small.
Horace. Book iii. Ode 1.
Charm'd with the foolish whistling of a name.[262-1]
Virgil, Georgics. Book ii. Line 72.
Words that weep and tears that speak.[262-2]
The Prophet.
We griev'd, we sigh'd, we wept; we never blush'd before.
Discourse concerning the Government of Oliver Cromwell.
Thus would I double my life's fading space; For he that runs it well, runs twice his race.[262-3]
Discourse xi. Of Myself. St. xi.
FOOTNOTES:
[260-1] For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight, He can't be wrong whose life is in the right.
POPE: Essay on Man, epilogue iii. line 303.
[261-1] One of our poets (which is it?) speaks of an everlasting now.--SOUTHEY: The Doctor, chap. xxv. p. 1.
[261-2] Loose his beard and hoary hair Stream'd like a meteor to the troubled air.
GRAY: The Bard, i. 2.
[261-3] See Bacon, page 167.
[262-1] Ravish'd with the whistling of a name.--POPE: _Essay on Man, epistle iv. line 281._
[262-2] Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.--GRAY: Progress of Poesy, iii. 3, 4.
[262-3] For he lives twice who can at once employ The present well, and ev'n the past enjoy.
POPE: Imitation of Martial.
RALPH VENNING. 1620(?)-1673.
All the beauty of the world, 't is but skin deep.[262-4]
Orthodoxe Paradoxes. (Third edition, 1650.) The Triumph of Assurance, p. 41.
They spare the rod, and spoyle the child.[262-5]
Mysteries and Revelations, p. 5. (1649.)
FOOTNOTES:
[262-4] Many a dangerous temptation comes to us in fine gay colours that are but skin-deep.--HENRY: _Commentaries. Genesis iii._
[262-5] See Skelton, page 8.
ANDREW MARVELL. 1620-1678.
Orange bright, Like golden lamps in a green night.
Bermudas.
And all the way, to guide their chime, With falling oars they kept the time.
Bermudas.
In busy companies of men.
The Garden. (Translated.)
Annihilating all that 's made To a green thought in a green shade.
The Garden. (Translated.)
The world in all doth but two nations bear,-- The good, the bad; and these mixed everywhere.
The Loyal Scot.
The inglorious arts of peace.
Upon Cromwell's return from Ireland.
He nothing common did, or mean, Upon that memorable scene.
Upon Cromwell's return from Ireland.
So much one man can do, That does both act and know.
Upon Cromwell's return from Ireland.
To make a bank was a great plot of state; Invent a shovel, and be a magistrate.
The Character of Holland.
JOSEPH HENSHAW.[263-1] ---- -1678.
Man's life is like unto a winter's day,-- Some break their fast and so depart away; Others stay dinner, then depart full fed; The longest age but sups and goes to bed. O reader, then behold and see! As we are now, so must you be.
Horæ Sucissive (1631).
FOOTNOTES:
[263-1] Bishop of Peterborough, 1663.
HENRY VAUGHAN. 1621-1695.
But felt through all this fleshly dress Bright shoots of everlastingness.
The Retreat.
I see them walking in an air of glory Whose light doth trample on my days,-- My days, which are at best but dull and hoary, Mere glimmering and decays.
They are all gone.
Dear, beauteous death, the jewel of the just! Shining nowhere but in the dark; What mysteries do lie beyond thy dust, Could man outlook that mark!
They are all gone.
And yet, as angels in some brighter dreams Call to the soul when man doth sleep, So some strange thoughts transcend our wonted themes, And into glory peep.
They are all gone.
Then bless thy secret growth, nor catch At noise, but thrive unseen and dumb; Keep clean, be as fruit, earn life, and watch Till the white-wing'd reapers come!
The Seed growing secretly.
ALGERNON SIDNEY. 1622-1683.
Manus haec inimica tyrannis Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem.[264-1]
From the Life and Memoirs of Algernon Sidney.
Liars ought to have good memories.[264-2]
Discourses on Government. Chap. ii. Sect. xv.
Men lived like fishes; the great ones devoured the small.[264-3]
Discourses on Government. Chap. ii. Sect. xviii.
God helps those who help themselves.[265-1]
Discourses on Government. Chap. ii. Sect. xxiii.
It is not necessary to light a candle to the sun.[265-2]
Discourses on Government. Chap. ii. Sect. xxiii.
FOOTNOTES:
[264-1] His father writes to him, Aug. 30, 1660: "It is said that the University of Copenhagen brought their album unto you, desiring you to write something; and that you did scribere in albo these words." It is said that the first line is to be found in the patent granted in 1616 by Camden (Clarencieux).--Notes and Queries, March 10, 1866.
[264-2] He who has not a good memory should never take upon him the trade of lying.--MONTAIGNE: Book i. chap. ix. Of Liars.
[264-3] See Shakespeare, page 161.
[265-1] See Herbert, page 206.
Heaven ne'er helps the man who will not act--SOPHOCLES: Fragment 288 (Plumptre's Translation).
Help thyself, Heaven will help thee.--LA FONTAINE: Book vi. fable 18.
[265-2] Like his that lights a candle to the sun.--FLETCHER: Letter to Sir Walter Aston.
And hold their farthing candle to the sun.--YOUNG: Satire vii. line 56.
WILLIAM WALKER. 1623-1684.
Learn to read slow: all other graces Will follow in their proper places.[265-3]
The Art of Reading.
FOOTNOTES:
[265-3] Take time enough; all other graces Will soon fill up their proper places.
BYROM: Advice to preach slow.
JOHN BUNYAN. 1628-1688.
And so I penned It down, until at last it came to be, For length and breadth, the bigness which you see.
Pilgrim's Progress. Apology for his Book.
Some said, "John, print it;" others said, "Not so." Some said, "It might do good;" others said, "No."
Pilgrim's Progress. Apology for his Book.
The name of the slough was Despond.
Pilgrim's Progress. Part i.
Every fat must stand upon his bottom.[265-4]
Pilgrim's Progress. Part i.
Dark as pitch.[265-5]
Pilgrim's Progress. Part i.
It beareth the name of Vanity Fair, because the town where 't is kept is lighter than vanity.
Pilgrim's Progress. Part i.
The palace Beautiful.
Pilgrim's Progress. Part i.
They came to the Delectable Mountains.
Pilgrim's Progress. Part i.
Some things are of that nature as to make One's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache.
Pilgrim's Progress. The Author's Way of sending forth his Second Part of the Pilgrim.
He that is down needs fear no fall.[266-1]
Pilgrim's Progress. Part ii.
FOOTNOTES:
[265-4] Every tub must stand upon its bottom.--MACKLIN: _The Man of the World, act i. sc. 2._
[265-5] RAY: Proverbs. GAY: The Shepherd's Week. Wednesday.
[266-1] See Butler, page 212.
SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 1628-1699.
Books, like proverbs, receive their chief value from the stamp and esteem of ages through which they have passed.
Ancient and Modern Learning.
No clap of thunder in a fair frosty day could more astonish the world than our declaration of war against Holland in 1672.
Memoirs. Vol. ii. p. 255.
When all is done, human life is, at the greatest and the best, but like a froward child, that must be played with and humoured a little to keep it quiet till it falls asleep, and then the care is over.
Miscellanea. Part ii. Of Poetry.
JOHN TILLOTSON. 1630-1694.
If God were not a necessary Being of himself, he might almost seem to be made for the use and benefit of men.[266-2]
FOOTNOTES:
[266-2] If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.--VOLTAIRE: A l' Auteur du Livre des trois Imposteurs, épître cxl.
WILLIAM STOUGHTON. 1631-1701.
God sifted a whole nation that he might send choice grain over into this wilderness.[266-3]
Election Sermon at Boston, April 29, 1669.
FOOTNOTES:
[266-3] God had sifted three kingdoms to find the wheat for this planting.--LONGFELLOW: Courtship of Miles Standish, iv.
JOHN DRYDEN. 1631-1701.
Above any Greek or Roman name.[267-1]
Upon the Death of Lord Hastings. Line 76.
And threat'ning France, plac'd like a painted Jove, Kept idle thunder in his lifted hand.
Annus Mirabilis. Stanza 39.
Whate'er he did was done with so much ease, In him alone 't was natural to please.
Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 27.
A fiery soul, which, working out its way, Fretted the pygmy-body to decay, And o'er-inform'd the tenement of clay.[267-2] A daring pilot in extremity; Pleas'd with the danger, when the waves went high He sought the storms.
Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 156.
Great wits are sure to madness near allied, And thin partitions do their bounds divide.[267-3]
Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 163.
And all to leave what with his toil he won To that unfeather'd two-legged thing, a son.
Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 169.
Resolv'd to ruin or to rule the state.
Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 174.
And heaven had wanted one immortal song.
Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 197.
But wild Ambition loves to slide, not stand, And Fortune's ice prefers to Virtue's land.[267-4]
Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 198.
The people's prayer, the glad diviner's theme, The young men's vision, and the old men's dream![268-1]
Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 238.
Behold him setting in his western skies, The shadows lengthening as the vapours rise.[268-2]
Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 268.
Than a successive title long and dark, Drawn from the mouldy rolls of Noah's ark.
Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 301.
Not only hating David, but the king.
Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 512.
Who think too little, and who talk too much.[268-3]
Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 534.
A man so various, that he seem'd to be Not one, but all mankind's epitome; Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong, Was everything by starts, and nothing long; But in the course of one revolving moon Was chymist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon.[268-4]
Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 545.
So over violent, or over civil, That every man with him was God or Devil.
Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 557.
His tribe were God Almighty's gentlemen.[268-5]
Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 645.
Him of the western dome, whose weighty sense Flows in fit words and heavenly eloquence.
Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 868.
Beware the fury of a patient man.[269-1]
Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 1005.
Made still a blund'ring kind of melody; Spurr'd boldly on, and dashed through thick and thin,[269-2] Through sense and nonsense, never out nor in.
Absalom and Achitophel. Part ii. Line 413.
For every inch that is not fool is rogue.
Absalom and Achitophel. Part ii. Line 463.
Men met each other with erected look, The steps were higher that they took; Friends to congratulate their friends made haste, And long inveterate foes saluted as they pass'd.
Threnodia Augustalis. Line 124.
For truth has such a face and such a mien, As to be lov'd needs only to be seen.[269-3]
The Hind and the Panther. Part i. Line 33.
And kind as kings upon their coronation day.
The Hind and the Panther. Part i. Line 271.
For those whom God to ruin has design'd, He fits for fate, and first destroys their mind.[269-4]
The Hind and the Panther. Part iii. Line 2387.
But Shadwell never deviates into sense.
Mac Flecknoe. Line 20.
Our vows are heard betimes! and Heaven takes care To grant, before we can conclude the prayer: Preventing angels met it half the way, And sent us back to praise, who came to pray.[269-5]
Britannia Rediviva. Line 1.
And torture one poor word ten thousand ways.
Britannia Rediviva. Line 208.
Thus all below is strength, and all above is grace.
Epistle to Congreve. Line 19.
Be kind to my remains; and oh defend, Against your judgment, your departed friend!
Epistle to Congreve. Line 72.
Better to hunt in fields for health unbought Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught. The wise for cure on exercise depend; God never made his work for man to mend.
Epistle to John Dryden of Chesterton. Line 92.
Wit will shine Through the harsh cadence of a rugged line.
To the Memory of Mr. Oldham. Line 15.
So softly death succeeded life in her, She did but dream of heaven, and she was there.
Eleonora. Line 315.
Since heaven's eternal year is thine.
Elegy on Mrs. Killegrew. Line 15.
O gracious God! how far have we Profan'd thy heavenly gift of poesy!
Elegy on Mrs. Killegrew. Line 56.
Her wit was more than man, her innocence a child.[270-1]
Elegy on Mrs. Killegrew. Line 70.
He was exhal'd; his great Creator drew His spirit, as the sun the morning dew.[270-2]
On the Death of a very young Gentleman.
Three poets, in three distant ages born, Greece, Italy, and England did adorn. The first in loftiness of thought surpass'd; The next, in majesty; in both the last. The force of Nature could no further go; To make a third, she join'd the former two.[271-1]
Under Mr. Milton's Picture.
From harmony, from heavenly harmony, This universal frame began: From harmony to harmony Through all the compass of the notes it ran, The diapason closing full in Man.
A Song for St. Cecilia's Day. Line 11.
None but the brave deserves the fair.
Alexander's Feast. Line 15.
With ravish'd ears The monarch hears; Assumes the god, Affects to nod, And seems to shake the spheres.
Alexander's Feast. Line 37.
Bacchus, ever fair and ever young.
Alexander's Feast. Line 54.
Rich the treasure, Sweet the pleasure,-- Sweet is pleasure after pain.
Alexander's Feast. Line 58.
Sooth'd with the sound, the king grew vain; Fought all his battles o'er again; And thrice he routed all his foes, and thrice he slew the slain.
Alexander's Feast. Line 66.
Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen, Fallen from his high estate, And welt'ring in his blood; Deserted, at his utmost need, By those his former bounty fed, On the bare earth expos'd he lies, With not a friend to close his eyes.
Alexander's Feast. Line 77.
For pity melts the mind to love.[272-1]
Alexander's Feast. Line 96.
Softly sweet, in Lydian measures, Soon he sooth'd his soul to pleasures. War, he sung, is toil and trouble; Honour but an empty bubble; Never ending, still beginning, Fighting still, and still destroying. If all the world be worth the winning, Think, oh think it worth enjoying: Lovely Thais sits beside thee, Take the good the gods provide thee.
Alexander's Feast. Line 97.
Sigh'd and look'd, and sigh'd again.
Alexander's Feast. Line 120.
And, like another Helen, fir'd another Troy.
Alexander's Feast. Line 154.
Could swell the soul to rage, or kindle soft desire.
Alexander's Feast. Line 160.
He rais'd a mortal to the skies, She drew an angel down.
Alexander's Feast. Line 169.
A very merry, dancing, drinking, Laughing, quaffing, and unthinking time.
The Secular Masque. Line 40.
Fool, not to know that love endures no tie, And Jove but laughs at lovers' perjury.[272-2]
Palamon and Arcite. Book ii. Line 758.
For Art may err, but Nature cannot miss.
The Cock and the Fox. Line 452.
And that one hunting, which the Devil design'd For one fair female, lost him half the kind.
Theodore and Honoria. Line 227.
Old as I am, for ladies' love unfit, The power of beauty I remember yet.
Cymon and Iphigenia. Line 1.
When beauty fires the blood, how love exalts the mind!
Cymon and Iphigenia. Line 41.
He trudg'd along unknowing what he sought, And whistled as he went, for want of thought.
Cymon and Iphigenia. Line 84.
The fool of nature stood with stupid eyes And gaping mouth, that testified surprise.
Cymon and Iphigenia. Line 107.
Love taught him shame; and shame, with love at strife, Soon taught the sweet civilities of life.
Cymon and Iphigenia. Line 133.
She hugg'd the offender, and forgave the offence: Sex to the last.[273-1]
Cymon and Iphigenia. Line 367.
And raw in fields the rude militia swarms, Mouths without hands; maintain'd at vast expense, In peace a charge, in war a weak defence; Stout once a month they march, a blustering band, And ever but in times of need at hand.
Cymon and Iphigenia. Line 400.
Of seeming arms to make a short essay, Then hasten to be drunk,--the business of the day.
Cymon and Iphigenia. Line 407.
Happy who in his verse can gently steer From grave to light, from pleasant to severe.[273-2]
The Art of Poetry. Canto i. Line 75.
Happy the man, and happy he alone, He who can call to-day his own; He who, secure within, can say, To-morrow, do thy worst, for I have liv'd to-day.[273-3]
Imitation of Horace. Book iii. Ode 29, Line 65.
Not heaven itself upon the past has power; But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.
Imitation of Horace. Book iii. Ode 29, Line 71.
I can enjoy her while she 's kind; But when she dances in the wind, And shakes the wings and will not stay, I puff the prostitute away.
Imitation of Horace. Book iii. Ode 29, Line 81.
And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm.
Imitation of Horace. Book iii. Ode 29, Line 87.
Arms and the man I sing, who, forced by fate And haughty Juno's unrelenting hate.
Virgil, Æneid, Line 1.
And new-laid eggs, which Baucis' busy care Turn'd by a gentle fire and roasted rare.[274-1]
Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book viii. Baucis and Philemon, Line 97.
Ill habits gather by unseen degrees,-- As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas.
Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book xv. The Worship of Æsculapius, Line 155.
She knows her man, and when you rant and swear, Can draw you to her with a single hair.[274-2]
Persius. Satire v. Line 246.
Look round the habitable world: how few Know their own good, or knowing it, pursue.
Juvenal. Satire x.
Our souls sit close and silently within, And their own web from their own entrails spin; And when eyes meet far off, our sense is such, That, spider-like, we feel the tenderest touch.[274-3]
Mariage à la Mode. Act ii. Sc. 1.
Thespis, the first professor of our art, At country wakes sung ballads from a cart.
Prologue to Lee's Sophonisba.
Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow; He who would search for pearls must dive below.
All for Love. Prologue.
Men are but children of a larger growth.
All for Love. Act iv. Sc. 1.
Your ignorance is the mother of your devotion to me.[275-1]
The Maiden Queen. Act i. Sc. 2.
Burn daylight.
The Maiden Queen. Act ii. Sc. 1.
I am resolved to grow fat, and look young till forty.[275-2]
The Maiden Queen. Act iii. Sc. 1.
But Shakespeare's magic could not copied be; Within that circle none durst walk but he.
The Tempest. Prologue.
I am as free as Nature first made man, Ere the base laws of servitude began, When wild in woods the noble savage ran.
The Conquest of Granada. Part i. Act i. Sc. 1.
Forgiveness to the injured does belong; But they ne'er pardon who have done the wrong.[275-3]
The Conquest of Granada. Part ii. Act i. Sc. 2.
What precious drops are those Which silently each other's track pursue, Bright as young diamonds in their infant dew?
The Conquest of Granada. Part ii. Act iii. Sc. 1.
Fame then was cheap, and the first comer sped; And they have kept it since by being dead.
The Conquest of Granada. Epilogue.
Death in itself is nothing; but we fear To be we know not what, we know not where.
Aurengzebe. Act iv. Sc. 1.
When I consider life, 't is all a cheat. Yet fool'd with hope, men favour the deceit; Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay. To-morrow 's falser than the former day; Lies worse, and while it says we shall be blest With some new joys, cuts off what we possest. Strange cozenage! none would live past years again, Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain;[276-1] And from the dregs of life think to receive What the first sprightly running could not give.
Aurengzebe. Act iv. Sc. 1.
'T is not for nothing that we life pursue; It pays our hopes with something still that 's new.
Aurengzebe. Act iv. Sc. 1.
All delays are dangerous in war.
Tyrannic Love. Act i. Sc. 1.
Pains of love be sweeter far Than all other pleasures are.
Tyrannic Love. Act iv. Sc. 1.
Whatever is, is in its causes just.[276-2]
OEdipus. Act iii. Sc. 1.
His hair just grizzled, As in a green old age.[276-3]
OEdipus. Act iii. Sc. 1.
Of no distemper, of no blast he died, But fell like autumn fruit that mellow'd long,-- Even wonder'd at, because he dropp'd no sooner. Fate seem'd to wind him up for fourscore years, Yet freshly ran he on ten winters more; Till like a clock worn out with eating time, The wheels of weary life at last stood still.
OEdipus. Act iv. Sc. 1.
She, though in full-blown flower of glorious beauty, Grows cold even in the summer of her age.
OEdipus. Act iv. Sc. 1.
There is a pleasure sure In being mad which none but madmen know.[277-1]
The Spanish Friar. Act ii. Sc. 1.
Lord of humankind.[277-2]
The Spanish Friar. Act ii. Sc. 1.
Bless the hand that gave the blow.[277-3]
The Spanish Friar. Act ii. Sc. 1.
Second thoughts, they say, are best.[277-4]
The Spanish Friar. Act ii. Sc. 2.
He 's a sure card.
The Spanish Friar. Act ii. Sc. 2.
As sure as a gun.[277-5]
The Spanish Friar. Act iii. Sc. 2.
Nor can his blessed soul look down from heaven, Or break the eternal sabbath of his rest.
The Spanish Friar. Act v. Sc. 2.
This is the porcelain clay of humankind.[277-6]
Don Sebastian. Act i. Sc. 1.
I have a soul that like an ample shield Can take in all, and verge enough for more.[277-7]
Don Sebastian. Act i. Sc. 1.
A knock-down argument: 't is but a word and a blow.
Amphitryon. Act i. Sc. 1.
Whistling to keep myself from being afraid.[277-8]
Amphitryon. Act iii. Sc. 1.
The true Amphitryon.[277-9]
Amphitryon. Act iv. Sc. 1.
The spectacles of books.
Essay on Dramatic Poetry.
FOOTNOTES:
[267-1] Above all Greek, above all Roman fame.--POPE: _epistle i. book ii. line 26._
[267-2] See Fuller, page 221.
[267-3] No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness.--ARISTOTLE: Problem, sect. 30.
Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiæ (There is no great genius without a tincture of madness).--SENECA: De Tranquillitate Animi, 15.
What thin partitions sense from thought divide!--POPE: Essay on Man, epistle i. line 226.
[267-4] Greatnesse on Goodnesse loves to slide, not stand, And leaves, for Fortune's ice, Vertue's ferme land.
KNOLLES: History (under a portrait of Mustapha I.)
[268-1] Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.--Joel ii. 28.
[268-2] Like our shadows, Our wishes lengthen as our sun declines.
YOUNG: Night Thoughts, night v. line 661.
[268-3] They always talk who never think.--PRIOR: _Upon a Passage in the Scaligerana._
[268-4] Grammaticus, rhetor, geometres, pictor, aliptes, Augur, schoenobates, medicus, magus, omnia novit
(Grammarian, orator, geometrician; painter, gymnastic teacher, physician; fortune-teller, rope-dancer, conjurer,--he knew everything).--JUVENAL: Satire iii. line 76.
[268-5] A Christian is God Almighty's gentleman.--JULIUS HARE: Guesses at Truth.
A Christian is the highest style of man.--YOUNG: Night Thoughts, night iv. line 788.
[269-1] Furor fit læsa sæpius patientia (An over-taxed patience gives way to fierce anger).--PUBLIUS SYRUS: Maxim 289.
[269-2] See Spenser, page 28.
[269-3] Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, As to be hated needs but to be seen.
POPE: Essay on Man, epistle ii. line 217.
[269-4] Quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat (Whom God wishes to destroy he first deprives of reason). The author of this saying is unknown. Barnes erroneously ascribes it to Euripides.
[269-5] And fools who came to scoff remain'd to pray.--GOLDSMITH: The Deserted Village, line 180.
[270-1] Of manners gentle, of affections mild, In wit a man, simplicity a child.
POPE: Epitaph on Gay.
[270-2] Early, bright, transient, chaste as morning dew, She sparkl'd, was exhal'd, and went to heaven.
YOUNG: Night Thoughts, night v. line 600.
[271-1] Græcia Mæonidam, jactet sibi Roma Maronem, Anglia Miltonum jactat utrique parem
(Greece boasts her Homer, Rome can Virgil claim; England can either match in Milton's fame).
SELVAGGI: Ad Joannem Miltonum.
[272-1] See Beaumont and Fletcher, page 198.
[272-2] This proverb Dryden repeats in Amphitryon, act i. sc. 2.
See Shakespeare, page 106.
[273-1] And love the offender, yet detest the offence.--POPE: Eloisa to Abelard, line 192.
[273-2] Heureux qui, dans ses vers, sait d'une voix légère, Passer du grave au doux, du plaisant au sévère.
BOILEAU: L' Art Poétique, chant 1^er.
Formed by thy converse, happily to steer From grave to gay, from lively to severe.
POPE: Essay on Man, epistle iv. line 379.
[273-3] Serenely full, the epicure would say, Fate cannot harm me; I have dined to-day.
SYDNEY SMITH: Recipe for Salad.
[274-1] Our scanty mutton scrags on Fridays, and rather more savoury, but grudging, portions of the same flesh, rotten-roasted or rare, on the Tuesdays.--CHARLES LAMB: Christ's Hospital five-and-thirty Years Ago.
[274-2] See Burton, page 191.
[274-3] See Davies, page 176.
[275-1] See Burton, page 193.
[275-2] Fat, fair, and forty.--SCOTT: _St. Ronan's Well, chap. vii._
Mrs. Trench, in a letter, Feb. 18, 1816, writes: "Lord ---- is going to marry Lady ----, a fat, fair, and fifty card-playing resident of the Crescent."
[275-3] Quos læserunt et oderunt (Whom they have injured they also hate).--SENECA: De Ira, lib. ii. cap. 33.
Proprium humani ingenii est odisse quem læseris (It belongs to human nature to hate those you have injured).--TACITUS: Agricola, 42. 4.
Chi fa ingiuria non perdona mai (He never pardons those he injures).--Italian Proverb.
[276-1] There are not eight finer lines in Lucretius.--MACAULAY: History of England, chap. xviii.
[276-2] Whatever is, is right.--POPE: _Essay on Man, epistle i. line 289._
[276-3] A green old age unconscious of decay.--POPE: _The Iliad, book xxiii. line 929._
[277-1] There is a pleasure in poetic pains. Which only poets know.
COWPER: The Timepiece, line 285.
[277-2] Lords of humankind.--GOLDSMITH: The Traveller, line 327.
[277-3] Adore the hand that gives the blow.--POMFRET: _Verses to his Friend._
[277-4] Among mortals second thoughts are the wisest.--EURIPIDES: Hippolytus, 438.
[277-5] See Butler, page 211.
[277-6] The precious porcelain of human clay.--BYRON: _Don Juan, canto iv. stanza 11._
[277-7] Give ample room and verge enough.--GRAY: _The Bard, ii. 1._
[277-8] Whistling aloud to bear his courage up.--BLAIR: _The Grave, line 58._
[277-9] Le véritable Amphitryon Est l'Amphitryon où l'on dîne (The true Amphitryon is the Amphitryon where we dine).
MOLIÈRE: Amphitryon, act iii. sc. 5.
EARL OF ROSCOMMON. 1633-1684.
Remember Milo's end, Wedged in that timber which he strove to rend.
Essay on Translated Verse. Line 87.
And choose an author as you choose a friend.
Essay on Translated Verse. Line 96.
Immodest words admit of no defence, For want of decency is want of sense.
Essay on Translated Verse. Line 113.
The multitude is always in the wrong.
Essay on Translated Verse. Line 184.
My God, my Father, and my Friend, Do not forsake me at my end.
Translation of Dies Iræ.
THOMAS KEN. 1637-1711.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow! Praise Him, all creatures here below! Praise Him above, ye heavenly host! Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
Morning and Evening Hymn.
SIR JOHN POWELL. ---- -1713.
Let us consider the reason of the case. For nothing is law that is not reason.[278-1]
Coggs vs. Bernard, 2 Lord Raymond, 911.
FOOTNOTES:
[278-1] See Coke, page 24.
ISAAC NEWTON. 1642-1727.
I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.[278-2]
Brewster's Memoirs of Newton. Vol. ii. Chap. xxvii.
FOOTNOTES:
[278-2] See Milton, page 241.
EARL OF ROCHESTER. 1647-1680.
Angels listen when she speaks: She 's my delight, all mankind's wonder; But my jealous heart would break Should we live one day asunder.
Song.
Here lies our sovereign lord the king, Whose word no man relies on; He never says a foolish thing, Nor ever does a wise one.
Written on the Bedchamber Door of Charles II.
And ever since the Conquest have been fools.
Artemisia in the Town to Chloe in the Country.
For pointed satire I would Buckhurst choose, The best good man with the worst-natured muse.[279-1]
An allusion to Horace, Satire x. Book i.
A merry monarch, scandalous and poor.
On the King.
It is a very good world to live in, To lend, or to spend, or to give in; But to beg or to borrow, or to get a man's own, It is the very worst world that ever was known.[279-2]
FOOTNOTES:
[279-1] Thou best-humour'd man with the worst-humour'd muse!--GOLDSMITH: Retaliation. Postscript.
[279-2] These last four lines are attributed to Rochester.
SHEFFIELD, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. 1649-1720.
Of all those arts in which the wise excel, Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.
Essay on Poetry.
There 's no such thing in Nature; and you 'll draw A faultless monster which the world ne'er saw.[279-3]
Essay on Poetry.
Read Homer once, and you can read no more; For all books else appear so mean, so poor, Verse will seem prose; but still persist to read, And Homer will be all the books you need.
Essay on Poetry.
FOOTNOTES:
[279-3] See Suckling, page 257.
THOMAS OTWAY. 1651-1685.
O woman! lovely woman! Nature made thee To temper man: we had been brutes without you. Angels are painted fair, to look like you: There 's in you all that we believe of heaven,-- Amazing brightness, purity, and truth, Eternal joy, and everlasting love.
Venice Preserved. Act i. Sc. 1.
Dear as the vital warmth that feeds my life; Dear as these eyes, that weep in fondness o'er thee.[280-1]
Venice Preserved. Act v. Sc. 1.
And die with decency.
Venice Preserved. Act v. Sc. 3.
What mighty ills have not been done by woman! Who was 't betrayed the Capitol?--A woman! Who lost Mark Antony the world?--A woman! Who was the cause of a long ten years' war, And laid at last old Troy in ashes?--Woman! Destructive, damnable, deceitful woman![280-2]
The Orphan. Act iii. Sc. 1.
Let us embrace, and from this very moment, vow an eternal misery together.[280-3]
The Orphan. Act iv. Sc. 2.
FOOTNOTES:
[280-1] See Shakespeare, page 112.
Dear as the light that visits these sad eyes; Dear as the ruddy drops that warm my heart.
GRAY: The Bard, part i. stanza 3.
[280-2] O woman, woman! when to ill thy mind Is bent, all hell contains no fouler fiend.
POPE: Homer's Odyssey, book xi. line 531.
[280-3] Let us swear an eternal friendship.--FRERE: _The Rovers, act i. sc. 1._
ANDREW FLETCHER OF SALTOUN. 1653-1716.
I knew a very wise man that believed that if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation.
Letter to the Marquis of Montrose, the Earl of Rothes, etc.
NATHANIEL LEE. 1655-1692.
Then he will talk--good gods! how he will talk![281-1]
Alexander the Great. Act i. Sc. 3.
Vows with so much passion, swears with so much grace, That 't is a kind of heaven to be deluded by him.
Alexander the Great. Act i. Sc. 3.
When Greeks joined Greeks, then was the tug of war.
Alexander the Great. Act iv. Sc. 2.
'T is beauty calls, and glory shows the way.[281-2]
Alexander the Great. Act iv. Sc. 2.
Man, false man, smiling, destructive man!
Theodosius. Act iii. Sc. 2.
FOOTNOTES:
[281-1] See Beaumont and Fletcher, page 197.
[281-2] "Leads the way" in the stage editions, which contain various interpolations, among them--
See the conquering hero comes! Sound the trumpet, beat the drums!--
which was first used by Handel in "Joshua," and afterwards transferred to "Judas Maccabæus." The text of both oratorios was written by Dr. Thomas Morell, a clergyman.
JOHN NORRIS. 1657-1711.
How fading are the joys we dote upon! Like apparitions seen and gone. But those which soonest take their flight Are the most exquisite and strong,-- Like angels' visits, short and bright;[281-3] Mortality 's too weak to bear them long.
The Parting.
FOOTNOTES:
[281-3] Like those of angels, short and far between.--BLAIR: The Grave, line 588.
Like angel visits, few and far between.--CAMPBELL: Pleasures of Hope, part ii. line 378.
JOHN DENNIS. 1657-1734.
A man who could make so vile a pun would not scruple to pick a pocket.
The Gentleman's Magazine. Vol. li. Page 324.
They will not let my play run; and yet they steal my thunder.[282-1]
FOOTNOTES:
[282-1] Our author, for the advantage of this play ("Appius and Virginia"), had invented a new species of thunder, which was approved of by the actors, and is the very sort that at present is used in the theatre. The tragedy however was coldly received, notwithstanding such assistance, and was acted but a short time. Some nights after, Mr. Dennis, being in the pit at the representation of "Macbeth," heard his own thunder made use of; upon which he rose in a violent passion, and exclaimed, with an oath, that it was his thunder. "See," said he, "how the rascals use me! They will not let my play run, and yet they steal my thunder!"--Biographia Britannica, vol. v. p. 103.
THOMAS SOUTHERNE. 1660-1746.
Pity 's akin to love.[282-2]
Oroonoka. Act ii. Sc. 1.
Of the king's creation you may be; but he who makes a count ne'er made a man.[282-3]
Sir Anthony Love. Act ii. Sc. 1.
FOOTNOTES:
[282-2] See Beaumont and Fletcher, page 198.
[282-3] I weigh the man, not his title; 't is not the king's stamp can make the metal better.--WYCHERLEY: _The Plaindealer, act i. sc. 1._
A prince can make a belted knight, A marquis, duke, and a' that; But an honest man 's aboon his might: Guid faith, he maunna fa' that.
BURNS: For a' that and a' that.
MATHEW HENRY.[282-4] 1662-1714.
The better day, the worse deed.[282-5]
Commentaries. Genesis iii.
Many a dangerous temptation comes to us in fine gay colours that are but skin-deep.[282-6]
Commentaries. Genesis iii.
So great was the extremity of his pain and anguish that he did not only sigh but roar.[283-1]
Commentaries. Job iii.
To their own second thoughts.[283-2]
Commentaries. Job vi.
He rolls it under his tongue as a sweet morsel.
Commentaries. Psalm xxxvi.
Our creature comforts.
Commentaries. Psalm xxxvii.
None so deaf as those that will not hear.[283-3]
Commentaries. Psalm lviii.
They that die by famine die by inches.
Commentaries. Psalm lix.
To fish in troubled waters.
Commentaries. Psalm lx.
Here is bread, which strengthens man's heart, and therefore called the staff of life.[283-4]
Commentaries. Psalm civ.
Hearkners, we say, seldom hear good of themselves.
Commentaries. Ecclesiastes vii.
It was a common saying among the Puritans, "Brown bread and the Gospel is good fare."
Commentaries. Isaiah xxx.
Blushing is the colour of virtue.[283-5]
Commentaries. Jeremiah iii.
It is common for those that are farthest from God, to boast themselves most of their being near to the Church.[283-6]
Commentaries. Jeremiah vii.
None so blind as those that will not see.[283-7]
Commentaries. Jeremiah xx.
Not lost, but gone before.[283-8]
Commentaries. Matthew ii.
Those that are above business.
Commentaries. Matthew xx.
Better late than never.[284-1]
Commentaries. Matthew xxi.
Saying and doing are two things.
Commentaries. Matthew xxi.
Judas had given them the slip.
Commentaries. Matthew xxii.
After a storm comes a calm.
Commentaries. Acts ix.
Men of polite learning and a liberal education.
Commentaries. Acts x.
It is good news, worthy of all acceptation; and yet not too good to be true.
Commentaries. Timothy i.
It is not fit the public trusts should be lodged in the hands of any, till they are first proved and found fit for the business they are to be entrusted with.[284-2]
Commentaries. Timothy iii.
FOOTNOTES:
[282-4] Mathew Henry says of his father, Rev. Philip Henry (1631-1691): "He would say sometimes, when he was in the midst of the comforts of this life, 'All this, and heaven too!'"--Life of Rev. Philip Henry, p. 70. (London, 1830.)
[282-5] See Middleton, page 172.
[282-6] See Venning, page 262.
[283-1] Nature says best; and she says, Roar!--EDGEWORTH: Ormond, chap. v. (King Corny in a paroxysm of gout.)
[283-2] I consider biennial elections as a security that the sober second thought of the people shall be law.--FISHER AMES: On Biennial Elections, 1788.
[283-3] See Heywood, page 19.
[283-4] Bread is the staff of life.--SWIFT: Tale of a Tub.
Corne, which is the staffe of life.--WINSLOW: Good Newes from New England, p. 47. (London, 1624.)
The stay and the staff, the whole staff of bread.--Isaiah iii. 1.
[283-5] Diogenes once saw a youth blushing, and said: "Courage, my boy! that is the complexion of virtue."--DIOGENES LAERTIUS: Diogenes, vi.
[283-6] See Heywood, page 12.
[283-7] There is none so blind as they that won't see.--SWIFT: Polite Conversation, dialogue iii.
[283-8] Literally from Seneca, Epistola lxiii. 16.
Not dead, but gone before.--ROGERS: Human Life.
[284-1] See Heywood, page 13.
[284-2] See Appendix, page 859.
RICHARD BENTLEY. 1662-1742.
It is a maxim with me that no man was ever written out of reputation but by himself.
Monk's Life of Bentley. Page 90.
"Whatever is, is not," is the maxim of the anarchist, as often as anything comes across him in the shape of a law which he happens not to like.[284-3]
Declaration of Rights.
The fortuitous or casual concourse of atoms.[284-4]
Sermons, vii. Works, Vol. iii. p. 147 (1692).
FOOTNOTES:
[284-3] See Dryden, page 276.
[284-4] That fortuitous concourse of atoms.--Review of Sir Robert Peel's Address. Quarterly Review, vol. liii. p. 270 (1835).
In this article a party was described as a fortuitous concourse of atoms,--a phrase supposed to have been used for the first time many years afterwards by Lord John Russell.--Croker Papers, vol. ii. p. 54.
HENRY CAREY. 1663-1743.
God save our gracious king! Long live our noble king! God save the king!
God save the King.
Aldeborontiphoscophornio! Where left you Chrononhotonthologos?
Chrononhotonthologos. Act i. Sc. 1.
His cogitative faculties immersed In cogibundity of cogitation.
Chrononhotonthologos. Act i. Sc. 1.
Let the singing singers With vocal voices, most vociferous, In sweet vociferation out-vociferize Even sound itself.
Chrononhotonthologos. Act i. Sc. 1.
To thee, and gentle Rigdom Funnidos, Our gratulations flow in streams unbounded.
Chrononhotonthologos. Act i. Sc. 3.
Go call a coach, and let a coach be called; And let the man who calleth be the caller; And in his calling let him nothing call But "Coach! Coach! Coach! Oh for a coach, ye gods!"
Chrononhotonthologos. Act ii. Sc. 4.
Genteel in personage, Conduct, and equipage; Noble by heritage, Generous and free.
The Contrivances. Act i. Sc. 2.
What a monstrous tail our cat has got!
The Dragon of Wantley. Act ii. Sc. 1.
Of all the girls that are so smart, There 's none like pretty Sally.[285-1]
Sally in our Alley.
Of all the days that 's in the week I dearly love but one day, And that 's the day that comes betwixt A Saturday and Monday.
Sally in our Alley.
FOOTNOTES:
[285-1] Of all the girls that e'er was seen, There 's none so fine as Nelly.
SWIFT: Ballad on Miss Nelly Bennet.
DANIEL DEFOE. 1663-1731.
Wherever God erects a house of prayer, The Devil always builds a chapel there;[286-1] And 't will be found, upon examination, The latter has the largest congregation.
The True-Born Englishman. Part i. Line 1.
Great families of yesterday we show, And lords, whose parents were the Lord knows who.
The True-Born Englishman. Part i. Line 1.
FOOTNOTES:
[286-1] See Burton, page 192.
TOM BROWN. 1663-1704.
I do not love thee, Doctor Fell, The reason why I cannot tell; But this alone I know full well, I do not love thee, Doctor Fell.[286-2]
Laconics.
To treat a poor wretch with a bottle of Burgundy, and fill his snuff-box, is like giving a pair of laced ruffles to a man that has never a shirt on his back.[286-3]
Laconics.
In the reign of Charles II. a certain worthy divine at Whitehall thus addressed himself to the auditory at the conclusion of his sermon: "In short, if you don't live up to the precepts of the Gospel, but abandon yourselves to your irregular appetites, you must expect to receive your reward in a certain place which 't is not good manners to mention here."[287-1]
Laconics.
FOOTNOTES:
[286-2] A slightly different version is found in Brown's Works collected and published after his death:--
Non amo te, Sabidi, nec possum dicere quare; Hoc tantum possum dicere, non amo te
(I do not love thee, Sabidius, nor can I say why; this only I can say, I do not love thee).--MARTIAL: Epigram i. 33.
Je ne vous aime pas, Hylas; Je n'en saurois dire la cause, Je sais seulement une chose; C'est que je ne vous aime pas.
BUSSY: Comte de Rabutin. (1618-1693.)
[286-3] Like sending them ruffles, when wanting a shirt.--SORBIENNE (1610-1670).
GOLDSMITH: The Haunch of Venison.
[287-1] Who never mentions hell to ears polite.--POPE: _Moral Essays, epistle iv. line 149._
MATTHEW PRIOR. 1664-1721.
All jargon of the schools.[287-2]
I am that I am. An Ode.
Our hopes, like towering falcons, aim At objects in an airy height; The little pleasure of the game Is from afar to view the flight.[287-3]
To the Hon. Charles Montague.
From ignorance our comfort flows. The only wretched are the wise.[287-4]
To the Hon. Charles Montague.
Odds life! must one swear to the truth of a song?
A Better Answer.
Be to her virtues very kind; Be to her faults a little blind.
An English Padlock.
That if weak women went astray, Their stars were more in fault than they.
Hans Carvel.
The end must justify the means.
Hans Carvel.
And thought the nation ne'er would thrive Till all the whores were burnt alive.
Paulo Purganti.
They never taste who always drink; They always talk who never think.[287-5]
Upon a passage in the Scaligerana.
That air and harmony of shape express, Fine by degrees, and beautifully less.[287-6]
Henry and Emma.
Now fitted the halter, now traversed the cart, And often took leave, but was loth to depart.[288-1]
The Thief and the Cordelier.
Nobles and heralds, by your leave, Here lies what once was Matthew Prior; The son of Adam and of Eve: Can Bourbon or Nassau claim higher?[288-2]
Epitaph. Extempore.
Soft peace she brings; wherever she arrives She builds our quiet as she forms our lives; Lays the rough paths of peevish Nature even, And opens in each heart a little heaven.
Charity.
His noble negligences teach What others' toils despair to reach.
Alma. Canto ii. Line 7.
Till their own dreams at length deceive 'em, And oft repeating, they believe 'em.
Alma. Canto iii. Line 13.
Abra was ready ere I called her name; And though I called another, Abra came.
Solomon on the Vanity of the World. Book ii. Line 364.
For hope is but the dream of those that wake.[288-3]
Solomon on the Vanity of the World. Book iii. Line 102.
Who breathes must suffer, and who thinks must mourn; And he alone is bless'd who ne'er was born.
Solomon on the Vanity of the World. Book iii. Line 240.
A Rechabite poor Will must live, And drink of Adam's ale.[289-1]
The Wandering Pilgrim.
FOOTNOTES:
[287-2] Noisy jargon of the schools.--POMFRET: Reason.
The sounding jargon of the schools.--COWPER: Truth, line 367.
[287-3] But all the pleasure of the game Is afar off to view the flight.
Variations in a copy dated 1692.
[287-4] See Davenant, page 217.
[287-5] See Jonson, page 180. Also Dryden, page 268.
[287-6] Fine by defect, and delicately weak.--POPE: Moral Essays, epistle ii. line 43.
[288-1] As men that be lothe to departe do often take their leff. [John Clerk to Wolsey.]--ELLIS: _Letters, third series, vol. i. p. 262._
"A loth to depart" was the common term for a song, or a tune played, on taking leave of friends. TARLTON: News out of Purgatory (about 1689). CHAPMAN: Widow's Tears. MIDDLETON: The Old Law, act iv. sc. 1. BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER: Wit at Several Weapons, act ii. sc. 2.
[288-2] The following epitaph was written long before the time of Prior:--
Johnnie Carnegie lais heer, Descendit of Adam and Eve. Gif ony con gang hieher, Ise willing give him leve.
[288-3] This thought is ascribed to Aristotle by Diogenes Laertius (Aristotle, v. xi.), who, when asked what hope is, answered, "The dream of a waking man." Menage, in his "Observations upon Laertius," says that Stobæus (Serm. cix.) ascribes it to Pindar, while Ælian (Var. Hist. xiii. 29) refers it to Plato.
Et spes inanes, et velut somnia quædam, vigilantium (Vain hopes are like certain dreams of those who wake).--QUINTILIAN: vi. 2, 27.
[289-1] A cup of cold Adam from the next purling stream.--TOM BROWN: Works, vol. iv. p. 11.
JOHN POMFRET. 1667-1703.
We bear it calmly, though a ponderous woe, And still adore the hand that gives the blow.[289-2]
Verses to his Friend under Affliction.
Heaven is not always angry when he strikes, But most chastises those whom most he likes.
Verses to his Friend under Affliction.
FOOTNOTES:
[289-2] See Dryden, page 277.
JONATHAN SWIFT. 1667-1745.
I 've often wish'd that I had clear, For life, six hundred pounds a year; A handsome house to lodge a friend; A river at my garden's end; A terrace walk, and half a rood Of land set out to plant a wood.
Imitation of Horace, Book ii. Sat. 6.
So geographers, in Afric maps, With savage pictures fill their gaps, And o'er unhabitable downs Place elephants for want of towns.[289-3]
Poetry, a Rhapsody.
Where Young must torture his invention To flatter knaves, or lose his pension.
Poetry, a Rhapsody.
Hobbes clearly proves that every creature Lives in a state of war by nature.
Poetry, a Rhapsody.
So, naturalists observe, a flea Has smaller fleas that on him prey; And these have smaller still to bite 'em; And so proceed ad infinitum.[290-1]
Poetry, a Rhapsody.
Libertas et natale solum: Fine words! I wonder where you stole 'em.
Verses occasioned by Whitshed's Motto on his Coach.
A college joke to cure the dumps.
Cassinus and Peter.
'T is an old maxim in the schools, That flattery 's the food of fools; Yet now and then your men of wit Will condescend to take a bit.
Cadenus and Vanessa.
Hail fellow, well met.[290-2]
My Lady's Lamentation.
Big-endians and small-endians.[290-3]
Gulliver's Travels. Part i. Chap. iv. Voyage to Lilliput.
And he gave it for his opinion, that whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.
Gulliver's Travels. Part ii. Chap. vii. Voyage to Brobdingnag.
He had been eight years upon a project for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which were to be put in phials hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air in raw inclement summers.
Gulliver's Travels. Part iii. Chap. v. Voyage to Laputa.
It is a maxim, that those to whom everybody allows the second place have an undoubted title to the first.
Tale of a Tub. Dedication.
Seamen have a custom, when they meet a whale, to fling him out an empty tub by way of amusement, to divert him from laying violent hands upon the ship.[291-1]
Tale of a Tub. Preface.
Bread is the staff of life.[291-2]
Tale of a Tub. Preface.
Books, the children of the brain.
Tale of a Tub. Sect. i.
As boys do sparrows, with flinging salt upon their tails.[291-3]
Tale of a Tub. Sect. vii.
He made it a part of his religion never to say grace to his meat.
Tale of a Tub. Sect. xi.
How we apples swim![291-4]
Brother Protestants.
The two noblest things, which are sweetness and light.
Battle of the Books.
The reason why so few marriages are happy is because young ladies spend their time in making nets, not in making cages.
Thoughts on Various Subjects.
Censure is the tax a man pays to the public for being eminent.
Thoughts on Various Subjects.
A nice man is a man of nasty ideas.
Thoughts on Various Subjects.
If Heaven had looked upon riches to be a valuable thing, it would not have given them to such a scoundrel.
Letter to Miss Vanbromrigh, Aug. 12, 1720.
Not die here in a rage, like a poisoned rat in a hole.
Letter to Bolingbroke, March 21, 1729.
A penny for your thoughts.[292-1]
Introduction to Polite Conversation.
Do you think I was born in a wood to be afraid of an owl?
Polite Conversation. Dialogue i.
The sight of you is good for sore eyes.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue i.
'T is as cheap sitting as standing.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue i.
I hate nobody: I am in charity with the world.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue i.
I won't quarrel with my bread and butter.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue i.
She 's no chicken; she 's on the wrong side of thirty, if she be a day.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue i.
She looks as if butter wou'dn't melt in her mouth.[292-2]
Polite Conversation. Dialogue i.
If it had been a bear it would have bit you.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue i.
She wears her clothes as if they were thrown on with a pitchfork.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue i.
I mean you lie--under a mistake.[292-3]
Polite Conversation. Dialogue i.
Lord M. What religion is he of?
Lord Sp. Why, he is an Anythingarian.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue i.
He was a bold man that first eat an oyster.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue ii.
That is as well said as if I had said it myself.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue ii.
You must take the will for the deed.[292-4]
Polite Conversation. Dialogue ii.
Fingers were made before forks, and hands before knives.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue ii.
She has more goodness in her little finger than he has in his whole body.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue ii.
Lord! I wonder what fool it was that first invented kissing.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue ii.
They say a carpenter 's known by his chips.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue ii.
The best doctors in the world are Doctor Diet, Doctor Quiet, and Doctor Merryman.[293-1]
Polite Conversation. Dialogue ii.
I 'll give you leave to call me anything, if you don't call me "spade."
Polite Conversation. Dialogue ii.
May you live all the days of your life.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue ii.
I have fed like a farmer: I shall grow as fat as a porpoise.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue ii.
I always like to begin a journey on Sundays, because I shall have the prayers of the Church to preserve all that travel by land or by water.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue ii.
I know Sir John will go, though he was sure it would rain cats and dogs.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue ii.
I thought you and he were hand-in-glove.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue ii.
'T is happy for him that his father was before him.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue iii.
There is none so blind as they that won't see.[293-2]
Polite Conversation. Dialogue iii.
She watches him as a cat would watch a mouse.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue iii.
She pays him in his own coin.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue iii.
There was all the world and his wife.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue iii.
Sharp 's the word with her.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue iii.
There 's two words to that bargain.
Polite Conversation. Dialogue iii.
I shall be like that tree,--I shall die at the top.
Scott's Life of Swift.[294-1]
FOOTNOTES:
[289-3] As geographers, Sosius, crowd into the edges of their maps parts of the world which they do not know about, adding notes in the margin to the effect that beyond this lies nothing but sandy deserts full of wild beasts and unapproachable bogs.--PLUTARCH: Theseus.
[290-1] Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em, And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum. And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on; While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on.
DE MORGAN: A Budget of Paradoxes, p. 377.
[290-2] ROWLAND: Knave of Hearts (1612). RAY: Proverbs. TOM BROWN: Amusement, viii.
[290-3] As the political parties of Whig and Tory are pointed out by the high and low heels of the Lilliputians (Framecksan and Hamecksan), those of Papist and Protestant are designated under the Big-endians and Small-endians.
[291-1] In Sebastian Munster's "Cosmography" there is a cut of a ship to which a whale was coming too close for her safety, and of the sailors throwing a tub to the whale, evidently to play with. This practice is also mentioned in an old prose translation of the "Ship of Fools."--Sir JAMES MACKINTOSH: Appendix to the Life of Sir Thomas More.
[291-2] See Mathew Henry, page 283.
[291-3] Till they be bobbed on the tails after the manner of sparrows.--RABELAIS: book ii. chap. xiv.
[291-4] RAY: Proverbs. MALLET: Tyburn.
[292-1] See Heywood, page 16.
[292-2] See Heywood, page 13.
[292-3] You lie--under a mistake.--SHELLEY: _Magico Prodigioso, scene 1_ (a translation of Calderon).
[292-4] The will for deed I doe accept.--DU BARTAS: _Divine Weeks and Works, third day, week ii. part 2._
The will for the deed.--CIBBER: The Rival Fools, act iii.
[293-1] Use three physicians Still: first, Dr. Quiet; Next, Dr. Merryman, And Dr. Dyet.
Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum (edition 1607).
[293-2] See Mathew Henry, page 283.
[294-1] When the poem of "Cadenus and Vanessa" was the general topic of conversation, some one said, "Surely that Vanessa must be an extraordinary woman that could inspire the Dean to write so finely upon her." Mrs. Johnson smiled, and answered that "she thought that point not quite so clear; for it was well known the Dean could write finely upon a broomstick."--JOHNSON: Life of Swift.
WILLIAM CONGREVE. 1670-1729.
Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.
The Mourning Bride. Act i. Sc. 1.
By magic numbers and persuasive sound.
The Mourning Bride. Act i. Sc. 1.
Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.[294-2]
The Mourning Bride. Act iii. Sc. 8.
For blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds, And though a late, a sure reward succeeds.
The Mourning Bride. Act v. Sc. 12.
If there 's delight in love, 't is when I see That heart which others bleed for, bleed for me.
The Way of the World. Act iii. Sc. 12.
Ferdinand Mendez Pinto was but a type of thee, thou liar of the first magnitude.
Love for Love. Act ii. Sc. 5.
I came up stairs into the world, for I was born in a cellar.[294-3]
Love for Love. Act ii. Sc. 7.
Hannibal was a very pretty fellow in those days.
The Old Bachelor. Act ii. Sc. 2.
Thus grief still treads upon the heels of pleasure; Married in haste, we may repent at leisure.[295-1]
The Old Bachelor. Act v. Sc. 1.
Defer not till to-morrow to be wise, To-morrow's sun to thee may never rise.[295-2]
Letter to Cobham.
FOOTNOTES:
[294-2] We shall find no fiend in hell can match the fury of a disappointed woman.--CIBBER: Love's Last Shift, act iv.
[294-3] Born in a cellar, and living in a garret.--FOOTE: _The Author, act 2._
Born in the garret, in the kitchen bred.--BYRON: A Sketch.
[295-1] See Shakespeare, page 72.
[295-2] Be wise to-day, 't is madness to defer.--YOUNG: Night Thoughts, night i. line 390.
SAMUEL GARTH.[295-3] 1670-1719.
To die is landing on some silent shore Where billows never break, nor tempests roar; Ere well we feel the friendly stroke, 't is o'er.
The Dispensary. Canto iii. Line 225.
I see the right, and I approve it too, Condemn the wrong, and yet the wrong pursue.[295-4]
Ovid, Metamorphoses, vii. 20 (translated by Tate and Stonestreet, edited by Garth).
For all their luxury was doing good.[295-5]
Claremont. Line 149.
FOOTNOTES:
[295-3] Thou hast no faults, or I no faults can spy; Thou art all beauty, or all blindness I.
CHRISTOPHER CODRINGTON: Lines addressed to Garth on his Dispensary.
[295-4] I know and love the good, yet, ah! the worst pursue.--PETRARCH: Sonnet ccxxv. canzone xxi. To Laura in Life.
See Shakespeare, page 60.
[295-5] And learn the luxury of doing good.--GOLDSMITH: The Traveller, line 22. CRABBE: Tales of the Hall, book iii. GRAVES: The Epicure.
COLLEY CIBBER. 1671-1757.
So mourn'd the dame of Ephesus her love, And thus the soldier arm'd with resolution Told his soft tale, and was a thriving wooer.
Richard III. (altered). Act ii. Sc. 1.
Now, by St. Paul, the work goes bravely on.
Richard III. (altered). Act iii. Sc. 1.
The aspiring youth that fired the Ephesian dome Outlives in fame the pious fool that rais'd it.[296-1]
Richard III. (altered). Act iii. Sc. 1.
I 've lately had two spiders Crawling upon my startled hopes. Now though thy friendly hand has brush'd 'em from me, Yet still they crawl offensive to my eyes: I would have some kind friend to tread upon 'em.
Richard III. (altered). Act iv. Sc. 3.
Off with his head! so much for Buckingham!
Richard III. (altered). Act iv. Sc. 3.
And the ripe harvest of the new-mown hay Gives it a sweet and wholesome odour.
Richard III. (altered). Act v. Sc. 3.
With clink of hammers closing rivets up.[296-2]
Richard III. (altered). Act v. Sc. 3.
Perish that thought! No, never be it said That Fate itself could awe the soul of Richard. Hence, babbling dreams! you threaten here in vain! Conscience, avaunt! Richard 's himself again! Hark! the shrill trumpet sounds to horse! away! My soul 's in arms, and eager for the fray.
Richard III. (altered). Act v. Sc. 3.
A weak invention of the enemy.[296-3]
Richard III. (altered). Act v. Sc. 3.
As good be out of the world as out of the fashion.
Love's Last Shift. Act ii.
We shall find no fiend in hell can match the fury of a disappointed woman,--scorned, slighted, dismissed without a parting pang.[296-4]
Love's Last Shift. Act iv.
Old houses mended, Cost little less than new before they 're ended.
Prologue to the Double Gallant.
Possession is eleven points in the law.
Woman's Wit. Act i.
Words are but empty thanks.
Woman's Wit. Act v.
This business will never hold water.
She Wou'd and She Wou'd Not. Act iv.
Losers must have leave to speak.
The Rival Fools. Act i.
Stolen sweets are best.
The Rival Fools. Act i.
The will for the deed.[297-1]
The Rival Fools. Act iii.
Within one of her.
The Rival Fools. Act v.
I don't see it.
The Careless Husband. Act ii. Sc. 2.
Persuasion tips his tongue whene'er he talks, And he has chambers in King's Bench walks.[297-2]
FOOTNOTES:
[296-1] See Sir Thomas Browne, page 219.
[296-2] See Shakespeare, page 92.
[296-3] See Shakespeare, page 98.
[296-4] See Congreve, page 294.
[297-1] See Swift, page 292.
[297-2] A parody on Pope's lines:--
Graced as thou art with all the power of words, So known, so honoured at the House of Lords.
SIR RICHARD STEELE. 1671-1729.
Though her mien carries much more invitation than command, to behold her is an immediate check to loose behaviour; to love her was a liberal education.[297-3]
Tatler. No. 49.
Will. Honeycomb calls these over-offended ladies the outrageously virtuous.
Spectator. No. 266.
FOOTNOTES:
[297-3] Lady Elizabeth Hastings.
JOSEPH ADDISON. 1672-1719.
The dawn is overcast, the morning lowers, And heavily in clouds brings on the day, The great, the important day, big with the fate Of Cato and of Rome.
Cato. Act i. Sc. 1.
Thy steady temper, Portius, Can look on guilt, rebellion, fraud, and Cæsar, In the calm lights of mild philosophy.
Cato. Act i. Sc. 1.
'T is not in mortals to command success, But we 'll do more, Sempronius,--we 'll deserve it.
Cato. Act i. Sc. 2.
Blesses his stars and thinks it luxury.
Cato. Act i. Sc. 4.
'T 's pride, rank pride, and haughtiness of soul; I think the Romans call it stoicism.
Cato. Act i. Sc. 4.
Were you with these, my prince, you 'd soon forget The pale, unripened beauties of the north.
Cato. Act i. Sc. 4.
Beauty soon grows familiar to the lover, Fades in his eye, and palls upon the sense. The virtuous Marcia towers above her sex.
Cato. Act i. Sc. 4.
My voice is still for war. Gods! can a Roman senate long debate Which of the two to choose, slavery or death?
Cato. Act ii. Sc. 1.
Great Pompey's shade complains that we are slow, And Scipio's ghost walks unaveng'd amongst us!
Cato. Act ii. Sc. 1.
A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty Is worth a whole eternity in bondage.
Cato. Act ii. Sc. 1.
The woman that deliberates is lost.
Cato. Act iv. Sc. 1.
Curse all his virtues! they 've undone his country.
Cato. Act iv. Sc. 4.
What a pity is it That we can die but once to save our country!
Cato. Act iv. Sc. 4.
When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, The post of honour is a private station.[298-1]
Cato. Act iv. Sc. 4.
It must be so,--Plato, thou reasonest well! Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality? Or whence this secret dread and inward horror Of falling into naught? Why shrinks the soul Back on herself, and startles at destruction? 'T is the divinity that stirs within us; 'T is Heaven itself that points out an hereafter, And intimates eternity to man. Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought!
Cato. Act v. Sc. 1.
I 'm weary of conjectures,--this must end 'em. Thus am I doubly armed: my death and life, My bane and antidote, are both before me: This in a moment brings me to an end; But this informs me I shall never die. The soul, secured in her existence, smiles At the drawn dagger, and defies its point. The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and Nature sink in years; But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,[299-1] Unhurt amidst the war of elements, The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.
Cato. Act v. Sc. 1.
Sweet are the slumbers of the virtuous man.
Cato. Act v. Sc. 4.
From hence, let fierce contending nations know What dire effects from civil discord flow.
Cato. Act v. Sc. 4.
For wheresoe'er I turn my ravish'd eyes, Gay gilded scenes and shining prospects rise, Poetic fields encompass me around, And still I seem to tread on classic ground.[299-2]
A Letter from Italy.
Unbounded courage and compassion join'd, Tempering each other in the victor's mind, Alternately proclaim him good and great, And make the hero and the man complete.
The Campaign. Line 219.
And, pleased the Almighty's orders to perform, Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm.[299-3]
The Campaign. Line 291.
And those that paint them truest praise them most.[300-1]
The Campaign. Last line.
The spacious firmament on high, With all the blue ethereal sky, And spangled heavens, a shining frame, Their great Original proclaim.
Ode.
Soon as the evening shades prevail, The moon takes up the wondrous tale, And nightly to the listening earth Repeats the story of her birth; While all the stars that round her burn, And all the planets in their turn, Confirm the tidings as they roll, And spread the truth from pole to pole.
Ode.
For ever singing as they shine, The hand that made us is divine.
Ode.
Should the whole frame of Nature round him break, In ruin and confusion hurled, He, unconcerned, would hear the mighty crack, And stand secure amidst a falling world.
Horace. Ode iii. Book iii.
In all thy humours, whether grave or mellow, Thou 'rt such a touchy, testy, pleasant fellow, Hast so much wit and mirth and spleen about thee, There is no living with thee, nor without thee.[300-2]
Spectator. No. 68.
Much may be said on both sides.[300-3]
Spectator. No. 122.
The Lord my pasture shall prepare, And feed me with a shepherd's care; His presence shall my wants supply, And guard me with a watchful eye.
Spectator. No. 444.
Round-heads and wooden-shoes are standing jokes.
Prologue to The Drummer.
FOOTNOTES:
[298-1] Give me, kind Heaven, a private station, A mind serene for contemplation! Title and profit I resign; The post of honour shall be mine.
GAY: Fables, Part ii. The Vulture, the Sparrow, and other Birds.
[299-1] Smiling always with a never fading serenity of countenance, and flourishing in an immortal youth.--ISAAC BARROW (1630-1677): Duty of Thanksgiving, Works, vol. i. p. 66.
[299-2] Malone states that this was the first time the phrase "classic ground," since so common, was ever used.
[299-3] This line is frequently ascribed to Pope, as it is found in the "Dunciad," book iii. line 264.
[300-1] He best can paint them who shall feel them most.--POPE: Eloisa to Abelard, last line.
[300-2] A translation of Martial, xii. 47, who imitated Ovid, Amores iii. 11, 39.
[300-3] Much may be said on both sides.--FIELDING: _The Covent Garden Tragedy, act i. sc. 8._
NICHOLAS ROWE. 1673-1718.
As if Misfortune made the throne her seat, And none could be unhappy but the great.[301-1]
The Fair Penitent. Prologue.
At length the morn and cold indifference came.[301-2]
The Fair Penitent. Act i. Sc. 1.
Is she not more than painting can express, Or youthful poets fancy when they love?
The Fair Penitent. Act iii. Sc. 1.
Is this that haughty gallant, gay Lothario?
The Fair Penitent. Act v. Sc. i.
FOOTNOTES:
[301-1] None think the great unhappy, but the great.--YOUNG: _The Love of Fame, satire 1, line 238._
[301-2] But with the morning cool reflection came.--SCOTT: Chronicles of the Canongate, chap. iv.
Scott also quotes it in his notes to "The Monastery," chap. iii. note 11; and with "calm" substituted for "cool" in "The Antiquary," chap. v.; and with "repentance" for "reflection" in "Rob Roy," chap. xii.
ISAAC WATTS. 1674-1748.
Whene'er I take my walks abroad, How many poor I see! What shall I render to my God For all his gifts to me?
Divine Songs. Song iv.
A flower, when offered in the bud, Is no vain sacrifice.
Divine Songs. Song xii.
And he that does one fault at first And lies to hide it, makes it two.[301-3]
Divine Songs. Song xv.
Let dogs delight to bark and bite, For God hath made them so; Let bears and lions growl and fight, For 't is their nature too.
Divine Songs. Song xvi.
But, children, you should never let Such angry passions rise; Your little hands were never made To tear each other's eyes.
Divine Songs. Song xvi.
Birds in their little nests agree; And 't is a shameful sight When children of one family Fall out, and chide, and fight.
Divine Songs. Song xvii.
How doth the little busy bee Improve each shining hour, And gather honey all the day From every opening flower!
Divine Songs. Song xx.
For Satan finds some mischief still For idle hands to do.
Divine Songs. Song xx.
In books, or work, or healthful play.
Divine Songs. Song xx.
I have been there, and still would go; 'T is like a little heaven below.
Divine Songs. Song xxviii.
Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber! Holy angels guard thy bed! Heavenly blessings without number Gently falling on thy head.
A Cradle Hymn.
'T is the voice of the sluggard; I heard him complain, "You have wak'd me too soon, I must slumber again."
The Sluggard.
Lord, in the morning thou shalt hear My voice ascending high.
Psalm v.
From all who dwell below the skies Let the Creator's praise arise; Let the Redeemer's name be sung Through every land, by every tongue.
Psalm cxvii.
Fly, like a youthful hart or roe, Over the hills where spices grow.
Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Book i. Hymn 79.
And while the lamp holds out to burn, The vilest sinner may return.
Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Book i. Hymn 88.
Strange that a harp of thousand strings Should keep in tune so long!
Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Book ii. Hymn 19.
Hark! from the tombs a doleful sound.
Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Book ii. Hymn 63.
The tall, the wise, the reverend head Must lie as low as ours.
Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Book ii. Hymn 63.
When I can read my title clear To mansions in the skies, I 'll bid farewell to every fear, And wipe my weeping eyes.
Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Book ii. Hymn 65.
There is a land of pure delight, Where saints immortal reign; Infinite day excludes the night, And pleasures banish pain.
Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Book ii. Hymn 66.
So, when a raging fever burns, We shift from side to side by turns; And 't is a poor relief we gain To change the place, but keep the pain.
Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Book ii. Hymn 146.
Were I so tall to reach the pole, Or grasp the ocean with my span, I must be measured by my soul: The mind 's the standard of the man.[303-1]
Horæ Lyricæ. Book ii. False Greatness.
To God the Father, God the Son, And God the Spirit, Three in One, Be honour, praise, and glory given By all on earth, and all in heaven.
Doxology.
FOOTNOTES:
[301-3] See Herbert, page 205.
[303-1] I do not distinguish by the eye, but by the mind, which is the proper judge of the man.--SENECA: On a Happy Life (L'Estrange's Abstract), chap. i.
It is the mind that makes the man, and our vigour is in our immortal soul.--OVID: Metamorphoses, xiii.
SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. 1676-1745.
The balance of power.
Speech, 1741.
Flowery oratory he despised. He ascribed to the interested views of themselves or their relatives the declarations of pretended patriots, of whom he said, "All those men have their price."[304-1]
COXE: Memoirs of Walpole. Vol. iv. p. 369.
Anything but history, for history must be false.
Walpoliana. No. 141.
The gratitude of place-expectants is a lively sense of future favours.[304-2]
FOOTNOTES:
[304-1] "All men have their price" is commonly ascribed to Walpole.
[304-2] Hazlitt, in his "Wit and Humour," says, "This is Walpole's phrase."
The gratitude of most men is but a secret desire of receiving greater benefits.--ROCHEFOUCAULD: Maxim 298.
VISCOUNT BOLINGBROKE. 1678-1751.
I have read somewhere or other,--in Dionysius of Halicarnassus, I think,--that history is philosophy teaching by examples.[304-3]
On the Study and Use of History. Letter 2.
The dignity of history.[304-4]
On the Study and Use of History. Letter v.
It is the modest, not the presumptuous, inquirer who makes a real and safe progress in the discovery of divine truths. One follows Nature and Nature's God; that is, he follows God in his works and in his word.[304-5]
Letter to Mr. Pope.
FOOTNOTES:
[304-3] Dionysius of Halicarnassus (quoting Thucydides), Ars Rhet. xi. 2, says: "The contact with manners then is education; and this Thucydides appears to assert when he says history is philosophy learned from examples."
[304-4] HENRY FIELDING: Tom Jones, book xi. chap. ii. HORACE WALPOLE: Advertisement to Letter to Sir Horace Mann. MACAULAY: History of England, vol. i. chap. i.
[304-5] Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, But looks through Nature up to Nature's God.
POPE: Essay on Man, epistle iv. line 331.
GEORGE FARQUHAR. 1678-1707.
Cos. Pray now, what may be that same bed of honour?
Kite. Oh, a mighty large bed! bigger by half than the great bed at Ware: ten thousand people may lie in it together, and never feel one another.
The Recruiting Officer. Act i. Sc. 1.
I believe they talked of me, for they laughed consumedly.
The Beaux' Stratagem. Act iii. Sc. 1.
'T was for the good of my country that I should be abroad.[305-1]
The Beaux' Stratagem. Act iii. Sc. 2.
Necessity, the mother of invention.[305-2]
The Twin Rivals. Act i.
FOOTNOTES:
[305-1] Leaving his country for his country's sake.--FITZ-GEFFREY: The Life and Death of Sir Francis Drake, stanza 213 (1596).
True patriots all; for, be it understood, We left our country for our country's good.
GEORGE BARRINGTON: Prologue written for the opening of the Play-house at New South Wales, Jan. 16, 1796. New South Wales, p. 152.
[305-2] Art imitates Nature, and necessity is the mother of invention.--RICHARD FRANCK: Northern Memoirs (written in 1658, printed in 1694).
Necessity is the mother of invention.--WYCHERLEY: Love in a Wood, act iii. sc. 3 (1672).
Magister artis ingenique largitor Venter (Hunger is the teacher of the arts and the bestower of invention).
PERSIUS: Prolog. line 10.
THOMAS PARNELL. 1679-1717.
Still an angel appear to each lover beside, But still be a woman to you.
When thy Beauty appears.
Remote from man, with God he passed the days; Prayer all his business, all his pleasure praise.
The Hermit. Line 5.
We call it only pretty Fanny's way.
An Elegy to an Old Beauty.
Let those love now who never loved before; Let those who always loved, now love the more.
Translation of the Pervigilium Veneris.[306-1]
FOOTNOTES:
[306-1] Written in the time of Julius Cæsar, and by some ascribed to Catullus:
Cras amet qui numquam amavit; Quique amavit, cras amet
(Let him love to-morrow who never loved before; and he as well who has loved, let him love to-morrow).
BARTON BOOTH. 1681-1733.
True as the needle to the pole, Or as the dial to the sun.[306-2]
Song.
FOOTNOTES:
[306-2] See Butler, page 215.
EDWARD YOUNG. 1684-1765.
Tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep!
Night thoughts. Night i. Line 1.
Night, sable goddess! from her ebon throne, In rayless majesty, now stretches forth Her leaden sceptre o'er a slumbering world.
Night thoughts. Night i. Line 18.
Creation sleeps! 'T is as the general pulse Of life stood still, and Nature made a pause,-- An awful pause! prophetic of her end.
Night thoughts. Night i. Line 23.
The bell strikes one. We take no note of time But from its loss.
Night thoughts. Night i. Line 55.
Poor pensioner on the bounties of an hour.
Night thoughts. Night i. Line 67.
To waft a feather or to drown a fly.
Night thoughts. Night i. Line 154.
Insatiate archer! could not one suffice? Thy shaft flew thrice, and thrice my peace was slain; And thrice, ere thrice yon moon had filled her horn.
Night thoughts. Night i. Line 212.
Be wise to-day; 't is madness to defer.[306-3]
Night thoughts. Night i. Line 390.
Procrastination is the thief of time.
Night Thoughts. Night i. Line 393.
At thirty, man suspects himself a fool; Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan.
Night thoughts. Night i. Line 417.
All men think all men mortal but themselves.
Night thoughts. Night i. Line 424.
He mourns the dead who lives as they desire.
Night thoughts. Night ii. Line 24.
And what its worth, ask death-beds; they can tell.
Night thoughts. Night ii. Line 51.
Thy purpose firm is equal to the deed: Who does the best his circumstance allows Does well, acts nobly; angels could no more.
Night thoughts. Night ii. Line 90.
"I 've lost a day!"--the prince who nobly cried, Had been an emperor without his crown.[307-1]
Night thoughts. Night ii. Line 99.
Ah, how unjust to Nature and himself Is thoughtless, thankless, inconsistent man!
Night thoughts. Night ii. Line 112.
The spirit walks of every day deceased.
Night thoughts. Night ii. Line 180.
Time flies, death urges, knells call, Heaven invites, Hell threatens.
Night thoughts. Night ii. Line 292.
Whose yesterdays look backwards with a smile.
Night thoughts. Night ii. Line 334.
'T is greatly wise to talk with our past hours, And ask them what report they bore to heaven.
Night thoughts. Night ii. Line 376.
Thoughts shut up want air, And spoil, like bales unopen'd to the sun.
Night thoughts. Night ii. Line 466.
How blessings brighten as they take their flight!
Night thoughts. Night ii. Line 602.
The chamber where the good man meets his fate Is privileg'd beyond the common walk Of virtuous life, quite in the verge of heaven.
Night thoughts. Night ii. Line 633.
A death-bed 's a detector of the heart.
Night thoughts. Night ii. Line 641.
Woes cluster. Rare are solitary woes; They love a train, they tread each other's heel.[308-1]
Night Thoughts. Night iii. Line 63.
Beautiful as sweet, And young as beautiful, and soft as young, And gay as soft, and innocent as gay!
Night Thoughts. Night iii. Line 81.
Lovely in death the beauteous ruin lay; And if in death still lovely, lovelier there; Far lovelier! pity swells the tide of love.[308-2]
Night Thoughts. Night iii. Line 104.
Heaven's Sovereign saves all beings but himself That hideous sight,--a naked human heart.
Night Thoughts. Night iii. Line 226.
The knell, the shroud, the mattock, and the grave, The deep damp vault, the darkness and the worm.
Night Thoughts. Night iv. Line 10.
Man makes a death which Nature never made.
Night Thoughts. Night iv. Line 15.
And feels a thousand deaths in fearing one.
Night Thoughts. Night iv. Line 17.
Wishing, of all employments, is the worst.
Night Thoughts. Night iv. Line 71.
Man wants but little, nor that little long.[308-3]
Night Thoughts. Night iv. Line 118.
A God all mercy is a God unjust.
Night Thoughts. Night iv. Line 233.
'T is impious in a good man to be sad.
Night Thoughts. Night iv. Line 676.
A Christian is the highest style of man.[308-4]
Night Thoughts. Night iv. Line 788.
Men may live fools, but fools they cannot die.
Night Thoughts. Night iv. Line 843.
By night an atheist half believes a God.
Night Thoughts. Night v. Line 177.
Early, bright, transient, chaste as morning dew, She sparkled, was exhal'd and went to heaven.[308-5]
Night Thoughts. Night v. Line 600.
We see time's furrows on another's brow, And death intrench'd, preparing his assault; How few themselves in that just mirror see!
Night Thoughts. Night v. Line 627.
Like our shadows, Our wishes lengthen as our sun declines.[309-1]
Night Thoughts. Night v. Line 661.
While man is growing, life is in decrease; And cradles rock us nearer to the tomb. Our birth is nothing but our death begun.[309-2]
Night Thoughts. Night v. Line 717.
That life is long which answers life's great end.
Night Thoughts. Night v. Line 773.
The man of wisdom is the man of years.
Night Thoughts. Night v. Line 775.
Death loves a shining mark, a signal blow.[309-3]
Night Thoughts. Night v. Line 1011.
Pygmies are pygmies still, though percht on Alps; And pyramids are pyramids in vales. Each man makes his own stature, builds himself. Virtue alone outbuilds the Pyramids; Her monuments shall last when Egypt's fall.
Night Thoughts. Night vi. Line 309.
And all may do what has by man been done.
Night Thoughts. Night vi. Line 606.
The man that blushes is not quite a brute.
Night Thoughts. Night vii. Line 496.
Too low they build, who build beneath the stars.
Night Thoughts. Night viii. Line 215.
Prayer ardent opens heaven.
Night Thoughts. Night viii. Line 721.
A man of pleasure is a man of pains.
Night Thoughts. Night viii. Line 793.
To frown at pleasure, and to smile in pain.
Night Thoughts. Night viii. Line 1045.
Final Ruin fiercely drives Her ploughshare o'er creation.[309-4]
Night Thoughts. Night ix. Line 167.
'T is elder Scripture, writ by God's own hand,-- Scripture authentic! uncorrupt by man.
Night Thoughts. Night ix. Line 644.
An undevout astronomer is mad.
Night Thoughts. Night ix. Line 771.
The course of Nature is the art of God.[310-1]
Night Thoughts. Night ix. Line 1267.
The love of praise, howe'er conceal'd by art, Reigns more or less, and glows in ev'ry heart.
Love of Fame. Satire i. Line 51.
Some for renown, on scraps of learning dote, And think they grow immortal as they quote.
Love of Fame. Satire i. Line 89.
Titles are marks of honest men, and wise; The fool or knave that wears a title lies.
Love of Fame. Satire i. Line 145.
They that on glorious ancestors enlarge, Produce their debt instead of their discharge.
Love of Fame. Satire i. Line 147.
None think the great unhappy but the great.[310-2]
Love of Fame. Satire i. Line 238.
Unlearned men of books assume the care, As eunuchs are the guardians of the fair.
Love of Fame. Satire ii. Line 83.
The booby father craves a booby son, And by Heaven's blessing thinks himself undone.
Love of Fame. Satire ii. Line 165.
Where Nature's end of language is declin'd, And men talk only to conceal the mind.[310-3]
Love of Fame. Satire ii. Line 207.
Be wise with speed; A fool at forty is a fool indeed.
Love of Fame. Satire ii. Line 282.
And waste their music on the savage race.[311-1]
Love of Fame. Satire v. Line 228.
For her own breakfast she 'll project a scheme, Nor take her tea without a stratagem.
Love of Fame. Satire vi. Line 190.
Think naught a trifle, though it small appear; Small sands the mountain, moments make the year, And trifles life.
Love of Fame. Satire vi. Line 208.
One to destroy is murder by the law, And gibbets keep the lifted hand in awe; To murder thousands takes a specious name, War's glorious art, and gives immortal fame.
Love of Fame. Satire vii. Line 55.
How commentators each dark passage shun, And hold their farthing candle to the sun.
Love of Fame. Satire vii. Line 97.
The man that makes a character makes foes.
To Mr. Pope. Epistle i. Line 28.
Their feet through faithless leather met the dirt, And oftener chang'd their principles than shirt.
To Mr. Pope. Epistle i. Line 277.
Accept a miracle instead of wit,-- See two dull lines with Stanhope's pencil writ.
Lines written with the Diamond Pencil of Lord Chesterfield.
Time elaborately thrown away.
The Last Day. Book i.
There buds the promise of celestial worth.
The Last Day. Book iii.
In records that defy the tooth of time.
The Statesman's Creed.
Great let me call him, for he conquered me.
The Revenge. Act i. Sc. 1.
Souls made of fire, and children of the sun, With whom revenge is virtue.
The Revenge. Act v. Sc. 2.
The blood will follow where the knife is driven, The flesh will quiver where the pincers tear.
The Revenge. Act v. Sc. 2.
And friend received with thumps upon the back.[312-1]
Universal Passion.
FOOTNOTES:
[306-3] See Congreve, page 295.
[307-1] Suetonius says of the Emperor Titus: "Once at supper, reflecting that he had done nothing for any that day, he broke out into that memorable and justly admired saying, 'My friends, I have lost a day!'"--SUETONIUS: Lives of the Twelve Cæsars. (Translation by Alexander Thomson.)
[308-1] See Shakespeare, page 143.
[308-2] See Beaumont and Fletcher, page 198. Dryden, page 272.
[308-3] Man wants but little here below, Nor wants that little long.
GOLDSMITH: The Hermit, stanza 8.
[308-4] See Dryden, page 268.
[308-5] See Dryden, page 270.
[309-1] See Dryden, page 268.
[309-2] See Bishop Hall, page 182.
[309-3] See Quarles, page 203.
[309-4] Stern Ruin's ploughshare drives elate Full on thy bloom.
BURNS: To a Mountain Daisy.
[310-1] See Sir Thomas Browne, page 218.
[310-2] See Nicholas Rowe, page 301.
[310-3] Speech was made to open man to man, and not to hide him; to promote commerce, and not betray it.--LLOYD: State Worthies (1665; edited by Whitworth), vol. i. p. 503.
Speech was given to the ordinary sort of men whereby to communicate their mind; but to wise men, whereby to conceal it.--ROBERT SOUTH: Sermon, April 30, 1676.
The true use of speech is not so much to express our wants as to conceal them.--GOLDSMITH: The Bee, No. 3. (Oct. 20, 1759.)
Ils ne se servent de la pensée que pour autoriser leurs injustices, et emploient les paroles que pour déguiser leurs pensées (Men use thought only to justify their wrong doings, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts).--VOLTAIRE: Dialogue xiv. Le Chapon et la Poularde (1766).
When Harel wished to put a joke or witticism into circulation, he was in the habit of connecting it with some celebrated name, on the chance of reclaiming it if it took. Thus he assigned to Talleyrand, in the "Nain Jaune," the phrase, "Speech was given to man to disguise his thoughts."--FOURNIER: L'Esprit dans l'Histoire.
[311-1] And waste their sweetness on the desert air.--GRAY: Elegy, stanza 14. CHURCHILL: Gotham, book ii. line 20.
[312-1] The man that hails you Tom or Jack, And proves, by thumping on your back.
COWPER: On Friendship.
BISHOP BERKELEY. 1684-1753.
Westward the course of empire takes its way;[312-2] The four first acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day: Time's noblest offspring is the last.
On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America.
Our youth we can have but to-day, We may always find time to grow old.
Can Love be controlled by Advice?[312-3]
[Tar water] is of a nature so mild and benign and proportioned to the human constitution, as to warm without heating, to cheer but not inebriate.[312-4]
Siris. Par. 217.
FOOTNOTES:
[312-2] See Daniel, page 39.
Westward the star of empire takes its way.--JOHN QUINCY ADAMS: Oration at Plymouth, 1802.
[312-3] AIKEN: Vocal Poetry (London, 1810).
[312-4] Cups That cheer but not inebriate.
COWPER: The Task, book iv.
JANE BRERETON. 1685-1740.
The picture placed the busts between Adds to the thought much strength; Wisdom and Wit are little seen, But Folly 's at full length.
On Beau Nash's Picture at full length between the Busts of Sir Isaac Newton and Mr. Pope.[312-5]
FOOTNOTES:
[312-5] DYCE: Specimens of British Poetesses. (This epigram is generally ascribed to Chesterfield. See Campbell, "English Poets," note, p. 521.)
AARON HILL. 1685-1750.
First, then, a woman will or won't, depend on 't; If she will do 't, she will; and there 's an end on 't. But if she won't, since safe and sound your trust is, Fear is affront, and jealousy injustice.[313-1]
Zara. Epilogue.
Tender-handed stroke a nettle, And it stings you for your pains; Grasp it like a man of mettle, And it soft as silk remains.
'T is the same with common natures: Use 'em kindly, they rebel; But be rough as nutmeg-graters, And the rogues obey you well.
Verses written on a window in Scotland.
FOOTNOTES:
[313-1] The following lines are copied from the pillar erected on the mount in the Dane John Field, Canterbury:--
Where is the man who has the power and skill To stem the torrent of a woman's will? For if she will, she will, you may depend on 't; And if she won't, she won't; so there 's an end on 't.
The Examiner, May 31, 1829.
THOMAS TICKELL. 1686-1740.
Just men, by whom impartial laws were given; And saints who taught and led the way to heaven.
On the Death of Mr. Addison. Line 41.
Nor e'er was to the bowers of bliss conveyed A fairer spirit or more welcome shade.
On the Death of Mr. Addison. Line 45.
There taught us how to live; and (oh, too high The price for knowledge!) taught us how to die.[313-2]
On the Death of Mr. Addison. Line 81.
The sweetest garland to the sweetest maid.
To a Lady with a Present of Flowers.
I hear a voice you cannot hear, Which says I must not stay; I see a hand you cannot see, Which beckons me away.
Colin and Lucy.
FOOTNOTES:
[313-2] He who should teach men to die, would at the same time teach them to live.--MONTAIGNE: Essays, book i. chap. ix.
I have taught you, my dear flock, for above thirty years how to live; and I will show you in a very short time how to die.--SANDYS: Anglorum Speculum, p. 903.
Teach him how to live, And, oh still harder lesson! how to die.
PORTEUS: Death, line 316.
He taught them how to live and how to die.--SOMERVILLE: In Memory of the Rev. Mr. Moore.
SAMUEL MADDEN. 1687-1765.
Some write their wrongs in marble: he more just, Stoop'd down serene and wrote them in the dust,-- Trod under foot, the sport of every wind, Swept from the earth and blotted from his mind. There, secret in the grave, he bade them lie, And grieved they could not 'scape the Almighty eye.
Boulter's Monument.
Words are men's daughters, but God's sons are things.[314-1]
Boulter's Monument.
FOOTNOTES:
[314-1] See Herbert, page 206.
ALEXANDER POPE. 1688-1744.
Awake, my St. John! leave all meaner things To low ambition and the pride of kings. Let us (since life can little more supply Than just to look about us, and to die) Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man; A mighty maze! but not without a plan.[314-2]
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 1.
Together let us beat this ample field, Try what the open, what the covert yield.
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 9.
Eye Nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies, And catch the manners living as they rise; Laugh where we must, be candid where we can, But vindicate the ways of God to man.[315-1]
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 13.
Say first, of God above or man below, What can we reason but from what we know?
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 17.
'T is but a part we see, and not a whole.
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 60.
Heaven from all creatures hides the book of Fate, All but the page prescrib'd, their present state.
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 77.
Pleased to the last, he crops the flowery food, And licks the hand just raised to shed his blood.
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 83.
Who sees with equal eye, as God of all, A hero perish or a sparrow fall, Atoms or systems into ruin hurl'd, And now a bubble burst, and now a world.
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 87.
Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always to be blest.[315-2] The soul, uneasy and confined from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come.
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 95.
Lo, the poor Indian! whose untutor'd mind Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind; His soul proud Science never taught to stray Far as the solar walk or milky way.
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 99.
But thinks, admitted to that equal sky, His faithful dog shall bear him company.
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 111.
In pride, in reasoning pride, our error lies; All quit their sphere, and rush into the skies. Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes: Men would be angels, angels would be gods. Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell, Aspiring to be angels, men rebel.
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 123.
Seas roll to waft me, suns to light me rise; My footstool earth, my canopy the skies.[316-1]
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 139.
Why has not man a microscopic eye? For this plain reason,--man is not a fly.
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 193.
Die of a rose in aromatic pain.
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 200.
The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine! Feels at each thread, and lives along the line.[316-2]
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 217.
Remembrance and reflection how allied! What thin partitions sense from thought divide![316-3]
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 225.
All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body Nature is, and God the soul.
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 267.
Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees.
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 271.
As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns As the rapt seraph that adores and burns: To Him no high, no low, no great, no small;[316-4] He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all!
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 277.
All nature is but art, unknown to thee; All chance, direction, which thou canst not see; All discord, harmony not understood; All partial evil, universal good; And spite of pride, in erring reason's spite, One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right.[316-5]
Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 289.
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man.[317-1]
Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 1.
Chaos of thought and passion, all confused; Still by himself abused or disabused; Created half to rise, and half to fall; Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all; Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled,-- The glory, jest, and riddle of the world.[317-2]
Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 13.
Fix'd like a plant on his peculiar spot, To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot.
Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 63.
In lazy apathy let stoics boast Their virtue fix'd: 't is fix'd as in a frost; Contracted all, retiring to the breast; But strength of mind is exercise, not rest.
Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 101.
On life's vast ocean diversely we sail, Reason the card, but passion is the gale.
Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 107.
And hence one master-passion in the breast, Like Aaron's serpent, swallows up the rest.
Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 131.
The young disease, that must subdue at length, Grows with his growth, and strengthens with his strength.
Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 135.
Extremes in nature equal ends produce; In man they join to some mysterious use.
Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 205.
Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, As to be hated needs but to be seen;[317-3] Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace.
Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 217.
Ask where 's the North? At York 't is on the Tweed; In Scotland at the Orcades; and there, At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where.
Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 222.
Virtuous and vicious every man must be,-- Few in the extreme, but all in the degree.
Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 231.
Hope travels through, nor quits us when we die. Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law, Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw; Some livelier plaything gives his youth delight, A little louder, but as empty quite; Scarfs, garters, gold, amuse his riper stage, And beads and prayer-books are the toys of age. Pleased with this bauble still, as that before, Till tired he sleeps, and life's poor play is o'er.
Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 274.
While man exclaims, "See all things for my use!" "See man for mine!" replies a pamper'd goose.[318-1]
Essay on Man. Epistle iii. Line 45.
Learn of the little nautilus to sail, Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale.
Essay on Man. Epistle iii. Line 177.
The enormous faith of many made for one.
Essay on Man. Epistle iii. Line 242.
For forms of government let fools contest; Whate'er is best administer'd is best. For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight; His can't be wrong whose life is in the right.[318-2] In faith and hope the world will disagree, But all mankind's concern is charity.
Essay on Man. Epistle iii. Line 303.
O happiness! our being's end and aim! Good, pleasure, ease, content! whate'er thy name: That something still which prompts the eternal sigh, For which we bear to live, or dare to die.
Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 1.
Order is Heaven's first law.
Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 49.
Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, Lie in three words,--health, peace, and competence.
Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 79.
The soul's calm sunshine and the heartfelt joy.
Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 168.
Honour and shame from no condition rise; Act well your part, there all the honour lies.
Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 193.
Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow; The rest is all but leather or prunello.
Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 203.
What can ennoble sots or slaves or cowards? Alas! not all the blood of all the Howards.
Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 215.
A wit 's a feather, and a chief a rod; An honest man 's the noblest work of God.[319-1]
Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 247.
Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart. One self-approving hour whole years outweighs Of stupid starers and of loud huzzas; And more true joy Marcellus exil'd feels Than Cæsar with a senate at his heels. In parts superior what advantage lies? Tell (for you can) what is it to be wise? 'T is but to know how little can be known; To see all others' faults, and feel our own.
Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 254.
Truths would you teach, or save a sinking land? All fear, none aid you, and few understand.
Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 261.
If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shin'd, The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind! Or ravish'd with the whistling of a name,[319-2] See Cromwell, damn'd to everlasting fame![319-3]
Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 281.
Know then this truth (enough for man to know),-- "Virtue alone is happiness below."
Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 309.
Never elated when one man 's oppress'd; Never dejected while another 's bless'd.
Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 323.
Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, But looks through Nature up to Nature's God.[320-1]
Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 331.
Form'd by thy converse, happily to steer From grave to gay, from lively to severe.[320-2]
Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 379.
Say, shall my little bark attendant sail, Pursue the triumph and partake the gale?
Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 385.
Thou wert my guide, philosopher, and friend.
Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 390.
That virtue only makes our bliss below,[320-3] And all our knowledge is ourselves to know.
Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 397.
To observations which ourselves we make, We grow more partial for th' observer's sake.
Moral Essays. Epistle i. Line 11.
Like following life through creatures you dissect, You lose it in the moment you detect.
Moral Essays. Epistle i. Line 20.
In vain sedate reflections we would make When half our knowledge we must snatch, not take.
Moral Essays. Epistle i. Line 39.
Not always actions show the man; we find Who does a kindness is not therefore kind.
Moral Essays. Epistle i. Line 109.
Who combats bravely is not therefore brave, He dreads a death-bed like the meanest slave: Who reasons wisely is not therefore wise,-- His pride in reasoning, not in acting lies.
Moral Essays. Epistle i. Line 115.
'T is from high life high characters are drawn; A saint in crape is twice a saint in lawn.
Moral Essays. Epistle i. Line 135.
'T is education forms the common mind: Just as the twig is bent the tree 's inclined.
Moral Essays. Epistle i. Line 149.
Manners with fortunes, humours turn with climes, Tenets with books, and principles with times.[321-1]
Moral Essays. Epistle i. Line 172.
"Odious! in woollen! 't would a saint provoke," Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke.
Moral Essays. Epistle i. Line 246.
And you, brave Cobham! to the latest breath Shall feel your ruling passion strong in death.
Moral Essays. Epistle i. Line 262.
Whether the charmer sinner it or saint it, If folly grow romantic, I must paint it.
Moral Essays. Epistle ii. Line 15.
Choose a firm cloud before it fall, and in it Catch, ere she change, the Cynthia of this minute.
Moral Essays. Epistle ii. Line 19.
Fine by defect, and delicately weak.[321-2]
Moral Essays. Epistle ii. Line 43.
With too much quickness ever to be taught; With too much thinking to have common thought.
Moral Essays. Epistle ii. Line 97.
Atossa, cursed with every granted prayer, Childless with all her children, wants an heir; To heirs unknown descends the unguarded store, Or wanders heaven-directed to the poor.
Moral Essays. Epistle ii. Line 147.
Virtue she finds too painful an endeavour, Content to dwell in decencies forever.
Moral Essays. Epistle ii. Line 163.
Men, some to business, some to pleasure take; But every woman is at heart a rake.
Moral Essays. Epistle ii. Line 215.
See how the world its veterans rewards! A youth of frolics, an old age of cards.
Moral Essays. Epistle ii. Line 243.
Oh, blest with temper whose unclouded ray Can make to-morrow cheerful as to-day!
Moral Essays. Epistle ii. Line 257.
Most women have no characters at all.
Moral Essays. Epistle ii. Line 2.
She who ne'er answers till a husband cools, Or if she rules him, never shows she rules.
Moral Essays. Epistle ii. Line 261.
And mistress of herself though china fall.
Moral Essays. Epistle ii. Line 268.
Woman 's at best a contradiction still.
Moral Essays. Epistle ii. Line 270.
Who shall decide when doctors disagree, And soundest casuists doubt, like you and me?
Moral Essays. Epistle iii. Line 1.
Blest paper-credit! last and best supply! That lends corruption lighter wings to fly.
Moral Essays. Epistle iii. Line 39.
P. What riches give us let us then inquire: Meat, fire, and clothes. B. What more? P. Meat, fine clothes, and fire.
Moral Essays. Epistle iii. Line 79.
But thousands die without or this or that,-- Die, and endow a college or a cat.
Moral Essays. Epistle iii. Line 95.
The ruling passion, be it what it will, The ruling passion conquers reason still.
Moral Essays. Epistle iii. Line 153.
Extremes in Nature equal good produce; Extremes in man concur to general use.
Moral Essays. Epistle iii. Line 161.
Rise, honest muse! and sing The Man of Ross.
Moral Essays. Epistle iii. Line 250.
Ye little stars! hide your diminish'd rays.[322-1]
Moral Essays. Epistle iii. Line 282.
Who builds a church to God and not to fame, Will never mark the marble with his name.
Moral Essays. Epistle iii. Line 285.
In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half hung.
Moral Essays. Epistle iii. Line 299.
Where London's column, pointing at the skies, Like a tall bully, lifts the head and lies.
Moral Essays. Epistle iii. Line 339.
Good sense, which only is the gift of Heaven, And though no science, fairly worth the seven.
Moral Essays. Epistle iv. Line 43.
To rest, the cushion and soft dean invite, Who never mentions hell to ears polite.[322-2]
Moral Essays. Epistle iv. Line 149.
Statesman, yet friend to truth! of soul sincere, In action faithful, and in honour clear; Who broke no promise, serv'd no private end, Who gain'd no title, and who lost no friend.
Epistle to Mr. Addison. Line 67.
'T is with our judgments as our watches,--none Go just alike, yet each believes his own.[323-1]
Essay on Criticism. Part i. Line 9.
One science only will one genius fit: So vast is art, so narrow human wit.
Essay on Criticism. Part i. Line 60.
From vulgar bounds with brave disorder part, And snatch a grace beyond the reach of art.
Essay on Criticism. Part i. Line 152.
Those oft are stratagems which errors seem, Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream.[323-2]
Essay on Criticism. Part i. Line 177.
Of all the causes which conspire to blind Man's erring judgment, and misguide the mind; What the weak head with strongest bias rules,-- Is pride, the never-failing vice of fools.
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 1.
A little learning is a dangerous thing;[323-3] Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again.
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 15.
Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise!
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 32.
Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see, Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be.[323-4]
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 53.
True wit is Nature to advantage dress'd, What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd.
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 97.
Words are like leaves; and where they most abound, Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 109.
Such labour'd nothings, in so strange a style, Amaze th' unlearn'd and make the learned smile.
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 126.
In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold, Alike fantastic if too new or old: Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 133.
Some to church repair, Not for the doctrine, but the music there. These equal syllables alone require, Though oft the ear the open vowels tire; While expletives their feeble aid to join, And ten low words oft creep in one dull line.
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 142.
A needless Alexandrine ends the song, That like a wounded snake drags its slow length along.
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 156.
True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance. 'T is not enough no harshness gives offence,-- The sound must seem an echo to the sense.
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 162.
Soft is the strain when zephyr gently blows, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows; But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar. When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, The line too labours, and the words move slow: Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the main.
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 166.
Yet let not each gay turn thy rapture move; For fools admire, but men of sense approve.
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 190.
But let a lord once own the happy lines, How the wit brightens! how the style refines!
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 220.
Envy will merit as its shade pursue, But like a shadow proves the substance true.
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 266.
To err is human, to forgive divine.[325-1]
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 325.
All seems infected that th' infected spy, As all looks yellow to the jaundic'd eye.
Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 358.
And make each day a critic on the last.
Essay on Criticism. Part iii. Line 12.
Men must be taught as if you taught them not, And things unknown propos'd as things forgot.
Essay on Criticism. Part iii. Line 15.
The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, With loads of learned lumber in his head.
Essay on Criticism. Part iii. Line 53.
Most authors steal their works, or buy; Garth did not write his own Dispensary.
Essay on Criticism. Part iii. Line 59.
For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.[325-2]
Essay on Criticism. Part iii. Line 66.
Led by the light of the Mæonian star.
Essay on Criticism. Part iii. Line 89.
Content if hence th' unlearn'd their wants may view, The learn'd reflect on what before they knew.[325-3]
Essay on Criticism. Part iii. Line 180.
What dire offence from amorous causes springs! What mighty contests rise from trivial things!
The Rape of the Lock. Canto i. Line 1.
And all Arabia breathes from yonder box.
The Rape of the Lock. Canto i. Line 134.
On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore.
The Rape of the Lock. Canto ii. Line 7.
If to her share some female errors fall, Look on her face, and you 'll forget them all.
The Rape of the Lock. Canto ii. Line 17.
Fair tresses man's imperial race insnare, And beauty draws us with a single hair.[326-1]
The Rape of the Lock. Canto ii. Line 27.
Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey, Dost sometimes counsel take--and sometimes tea.
The Rape of the Lock. Canto iii. Line 7.
At every word a reputation dies.
The Rape of the Lock. Canto iii. Line 16.
The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, And wretches hang that jurymen may dine.
The Rape of the Lock. Canto iii. Line 21.
Coffee, which makes the politician wise, And see through all things with his half-shut eyes.
The Rape of the Lock. Canto iii. Line 117.
The meeting points the sacred hair dissever From the fair head, forever, and forever!
The Rape of the Lock. Canto iii. Line 153.
Sir Plume, of amber snuff-box justly vain, And the nice conduct of a clouded cane.
The Rape of the Lock. Canto iv. Line 123.
Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.
The Rape of the Lock. Canto v. Line 34.
Shut, shut the door, good John! fatigued, I said; Tie up the knocker! say I 'm sick, I 'm dead.
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 1.
Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand, They rave, recite, and madden round the land.
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 5.
E'en Sunday shines no Sabbath day to me.
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 12.
Is there a parson much bemused in beer, A maudlin poetess, a rhyming peer, A clerk foredoom'd his father's soul to cross, Who pens a stanza when he should engross?
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 15.
Friend to my life, which did not you prolong, The world had wanted many an idle song.
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 27.
Obliged by hunger and request of friends.
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 44.
Fired that the house rejects him, "'Sdeath! I 'll print it, And shame the fools."
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 61.
No creature smarts so little as a fool.
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 84.
Destroy his fib or sophistry--in vain! The creature 's at his dirty work again.
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 91.
As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame, I lisp'd in numbers, for the numbers came.
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 127.
Pretty! in amber to observe the forms Of hairs, or straws, or dirt, or grubs, or worms![327-1] The things, we know, are neither rich nor rare, But wonder how the devil they got there.
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 169.
Means not, but blunders round about a meaning; And he whose fustian 's so sublimely bad, It is not poetry, but prose run mad.
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 186.
Should such a man, too fond to rule alone, Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne.[327-2]
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 197.
Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, And without sneering teach the rest to sneer;[327-3] Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 201.
By flatterers besieg'd, And so obliging that he ne'er oblig'd; Like Cato, give his little senate laws,[327-4] And sit attentive to his own applause.
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 207.
Who but must laugh, if such a man there be? Who would not weep, if Atticus were he?
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 213.
"On wings of winds came flying all abroad."[327-5]
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 218.
Cursed be the verse, how well so e'er it flow, That tends to make one worthy man my foe.
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 283.
Satire or sense, alas! can Sporus feel? Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 307.
Eternal smiles his emptiness betray, As shallow streams run dimpling all the way.
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 315.
Wit that can creep, and pride that licks the dust.
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 333.
That not in fancy's maze he wander'd long, But stoop'd to truth, and moraliz'd his song.[328-1]
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 340.
Me let the tender office long engage To rock the cradle of reposing age; With lenient arts extend a mother's breath, Make languor smile, and smooth the bed of death; Explore the thought, explain the asking eye, And keep awhile one parent from the sky.
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 408.
Lord Fanny spins a thousand such a day.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Satire i. Book ii. Line 6.
Satire 's my weapon, but I 'm too discreet To run amuck, and tilt at all I meet.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Satire i. Book ii. Line 69.
But touch me, and no minister so sore; Whoe'er offends at some unlucky time Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme, Sacred to ridicule his whole life long, And the sad burden of some merry song.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Satire i. Book ii. Line 76.
Bare the mean heart that lurks behind a star.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Satire i. Book ii. Line 110.
There St. John mingles with my friendly bowl, The feast of reason and the flow of soul.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Satire i. Book ii. Line 127.
For I, who hold sage Homer's rule the best, Welcome the coming, speed the going guest.[328-2]
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Satire ii. Book ii. Line 159.
Give me again my hollow tree, A crust of bread, and liberty.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Satire vi. Book ii. Line 220.
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epilogue to the Satires. Dialogue i. Line 136.
To Berkeley every virtue under heaven.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epilogue to the Satires. Dialogue ii. Line 73.
When the brisk minor pants for twenty-one.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle i. Book i. Line 38.
He 's armed without that 's innocent within.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle i. Book i. Line 94.
Get place and wealth, if possible, with grace; If not, by any means get wealth and place.[329-1]
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle i. Book i. Line 103.
Above all Greek, above all Roman fame.[329-2]
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle i. Book ii. Line 26.
Authors, like coins, grow dear as they grow old.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle i. Book ii. Line 35.
The mob of gentlemen who wrote with ease.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle i. Book ii. Line 108.
One simile that solitary shines In the dry desert of a thousand lines.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle i. Book ii. Line 111.
Then marble soften'd into life grew warm, And yielding, soft metal flow'd to human form.[329-3]
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle i. Book ii. Line 147.
Who says in verse what others say in prose.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle i. Book ii. Line 202.
Waller was smooth; but Dryden taught to join The varying verse, the full resounding line, The long majestic march, and energy divine.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle i. Book ii. Line 267.
E'en copious Dryden wanted or forgot The last and greatest art,--the art to blot.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle i. Book ii. Line 280.
Who pants for glory finds but short repose: A breath revives him, or a breath o'erthrows.[329-4]
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle i. Book ii. Line 300.
There still remains to mortify a wit The many-headed monster of the pit.[329-5]
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle i. Book ii. Line 304.
Praise undeserv'd is scandal in disguise.[330-1]
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle i. Book ii. Line 413.
Years following years steal something every day; At last they steal us from ourselves away.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle ii. Book ii. Line 72.
The vulgar boil, the learned roast, an egg.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle ii. Book ii. Line 85.
Words that wise Bacon or brave Raleigh spoke.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle ii. Book ii. Line 168.
Grac'd as thou art with all the power of words, So known, so honour'd at the House of Lords.[330-2]
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle vi. Book i. To Mr. Murray.
Vain was the chief's the sage's pride! They had no poet, and they died.
Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Odes. Book iv. Ode 9.
Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night: God said, "Let Newton be!" and all was light.
Epitaph intended for Sir Isaac Newton.
Ye Gods! annihilate but space and time, And make two lovers happy.
Martinus Scriblerus on the Art of Sinking in Poetry. Chap. xi.
O thou! whatever title please thine ear, Dean, Drapier, Bickerstaff, or Gulliver! Whether thou choose Cervantes' serious air, Or laugh and shake in Rabelais' easy-chair.
The Dunciad. Book i. Line 19.
Poetic Justice, with her lifted scale, Where in nice balance truth with gold she weighs, And solid pudding against empty praise.
The Dunciad. Book i. Line 52.
Now night descending, the proud scene was o'er, But lived in Settle's numbers one day more.
The Dunciad. Book i. Line 89.
While pensive poets painful vigils keep, Sleepless themselves to give their readers sleep.
The Dunciad. Book i. Line 93.
Next o'er his books his eyes begin to roll, In pleasing memory of all he stole.
The Dunciad. Book i. Line 127.
Or where the pictures for the page atone, And Quarles is sav'd by beauties not his own.
The Dunciad. Book i. Line 139.
How index-learning turns no student pale, Yet holds the eel of science by the tail.
The Dunciad. Book i. Line 279.
And gentle Dulness ever loves a joke.
The Dunciad. Book ii. Line 34.
Another, yet the same.[331-1]
The Dunciad. Book iii. Line 90.
Till Peter's keys some christen'd Jove adorn, And Pan to Moses lends his pagan horn.
The Dunciad. Book iii. Line 109.
All crowd, who foremost shall be damn'd to fame.[331-2]
The Dunciad. Book iii. Line 158.
Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls, And makes night hideous;[331-3]--answer him, ye owls!
The Dunciad. Book iii. Line 165.
And proud his mistress' order to perform, Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm.[331-4]
The Dunciad. Book iii. Line 263.
A wit with dunces, and a dunce with wits.[331-5]
The Dunciad. Book iv. Line 90.
How sweet an Ovid, Murray was our boast!
The Dunciad. Book iv. Line 169.
The right divine of kings to govern wrong.
The Dunciad. Book iv. Line 188.
Stuff the head With all such reading as was never read: For thee explain a thing till all men doubt it, And write about it, goddess, and about it.
The Dunciad. Book iv. Line 249.
To happy convents bosom'd deep in vines, Where slumber abbots purple as their wines.
The Dunciad. Book iv. Line 301.
Led by my hand, he saunter'd Europe round, And gather'd every vice on Christian ground.
The Dunciad. Book iv. Line 311.
Judicious drank, and greatly daring din'd.
The Dunciad. Book iv. Line 318.
Stretch'd on the rack of a too easy chair, And heard thy everlasting yawn confess The pains and penalties of idleness.
The Dunciad. Book iv. Line 342.
E'en Palinurus nodded at the helm.
The Dunciad. Book iv. Line 614.
Religion blushing, veils her sacred fires, And unawares Morality expires. Nor public flame nor private dares to shine; Nor human spark is left, nor glimpse divine! Lo! thy dread empire Chaos is restor'd, Light dies before thy uncreating word; Thy hand, great Anarch, lets the curtain fall, And universal darkness buries all.
The Dunciad. Book iv. Line 649.
Heaven first taught letters for some wretch's aid, Some banish'd lover, or some captive maid.
Eloisa to Abelard. Line 51.
Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul, And waft a sigh from Indus to the Pole.
Eloisa to Abelard. Line 57.
And truths divine came mended from that tongue.
Eloisa to Abelard. Line 66.
Curse on all laws but those which love has made! Love, free as air at sight of human ties, Spreads his light wings, and in a moment flies.
Eloisa to Abelard. Line 74.
And love the offender, yet detest the offence.[333-1]
Eloisa to Abelard. Line 192.
How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eloisa to Abelard. Line 207.
One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight; Priests, tapers, temples, swim before my sight.[333-2]
Eloisa to Abelard. Line 273.
See my lips tremble and my eyeballs roll, Suck my last breath, and catch my flying soul.
Eloisa to Abelard. Line 323.
He best can paint them who shall feel them most.[333-3]
Eloisa to Abelard. Last line.
Not chaos-like together crush'd and bruis'd, But as the world, harmoniously confus'd, Where order in variety we see, And where, though all things differ, all agree.
Windsor Forest. Line 13.
A mighty hunter, and his prey was man.
Windsor Forest. Line 61.
From old Belerium to the northern main.
Windsor Forest. Line 316.
Nor Fame I slight, nor for her favours call; She comes unlooked for if she comes at all.
The Temple of Fame. Line 513.
Unblemish'd let me live, or die unknown; O grant an honest fame, or grant me none!
The Temple of Fame. Last line.
I am his Highness' dog at Kew; Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?
On the Collar of a Dog.
There, take (says Justice), take ye each a shell: We thrive at Westminster on fools like you; 'T was a fat oyster,--live in peace,--adieu.[334-1]
Verbatim from Boileau.
Father of all! in every age, In every clime adored, By saint, by savage, and by sage, Jehovah, Jove, or Lord.
The Universal Prayer. Stanza 1.
Thou great First Cause, least understood.
The Universal Prayer. Stanza 2.
And binding Nature fast in fate, Left free the human will.
The Universal Prayer. Stanza 3.
And deal damnation round the land.
The Universal Prayer. Stanza 7.
Teach me to feel another's woe, To hide the fault I see; That mercy I to others show, That mercy show to me.[334-2]
The Universal Prayer. Stanza 10.
Happy the man whose wish and care A few paternal acres bound.
Ode on Solitude.
Thus let me live, unseen, unknown, Thus unlamented let me die; Steal from the world, and not a stone Tell where I lie.
Ode on Solitude.
Vital spark of heavenly flame! Quit, O quit this mortal frame!
The Dying Christian to his Soul.
Hark! they whisper; angels say, Sister spirit, come away!
The Dying Christian to his Soul.
Tell me, my soul, can this be death?
The Dying Christian to his Soul.
Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly! O grave! where is thy victory? O death! where is thy sting?
The Dying Christian to his Soul.
What beckoning ghost along the moonlight shade Invites my steps, and points to yonder glade?[335-1]
To the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady. Line 1.
Is there no bright reversion in the sky For those who greatly think, or bravely die?
To the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady. Line 9.
The glorious fault of angels and of gods.
To the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady. Line 14.
So perish all, whose breast ne'er learn'd to glow For others' good, or melt at others' woe.[335-2]
To the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady. Line 45.
By foreign hands thy dying eyes were clos'd, By foreign hands thy decent limbs compos'd, By foreign hands thy humble grave adorn'd, By strangers honoured, and by strangers mourn'd!
To the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady. Line 51.
And bear about the mockery of woe To midnight dances and the public show.
To the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady. Line 57.
How lov'd, how honour'd once avails thee not, To whom related, or by whom begot; A heap of dust alone remains of thee: 'T is all thou art, and all the proud shall be!
To the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady. Line 71.
Such were the notes thy once lov'd poet sung, Till death untimely stopp'd his tuneful tongue.
Epistle to Robert, Earl of Oxford.
Who ne'er knew joy but friendship might divide, Or gave his father grief but when he died.
Epitaph on the Hon. S. Harcourt.
The saint sustain'd it, but the woman died.
Epitaph on Mrs. Corbet.
Of manners gentle, of affections mild; In wit a man, simplicity a child.[335-3]
Epitaph on Gay.
A brave man struggling in the storms of fate, And greatly falling with a falling state. While Cato gives his little senate laws, What bosom beats not in his country's cause?
Prologue to Mr. Addison's Cato.
The mouse that always trusts to one poor hole Can never be a mouse of any soul.[336-1]
The Wife of Bath. Her Prologue. Line 298.
Love seldom haunts the breast where learning lies, And Venus sets ere Mercury can rise.
The Wife of Bath. Her Prologue. Line 369.
You beat your pate, and fancy wit will come; Knock as you please, there 's nobody at home.[336-2]
Epigram.
For he lives twice who can at once employ The present well, and e'en the past enjoy.[336-3]
Imitation of Martial.
Who dared to love their country, and be poor.
On his Grotto at Twickenham.
Party is the madness of many for the gain of a few.[336-4]
Thoughts on Various Subjects.
I never knew any man in my life who could not bear another's misfortunes perfectly like a Christian.
Thoughts on Various Subjects.
Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring Of woes unnumber'd, heavenly goddess, sing!
The Iliad of Homer. Book i. Line 1.
The distant Trojans never injur'd me.
The Iliad of Homer. Book i. Line 200.
Words sweet as honey from his lips distill'd.
The Iliad of Homer. Book i. Line 332.
Shakes his ambrosial curls, and gives the nod,-- The stamp of fate, and sanction of the god.
The Iliad of Homer. Book i. Line 684.
And unextinguish'd laughter shakes the skies.[337-1]
The Iliad of Homer. Book i. Line 771.
Thick as autumnal leaves or driving sand.
The Iliad of Homer. Book ii. Line 970.
Chiefs who no more in bloody fights engage, But wise through time, and narrative with age, In summer-days like grasshoppers rejoice,-- A bloodless race, that send a feeble voice.
The Iliad of Homer. Book iii. Line 199.
She moves a goddess, and she looks a queen.
The Iliad of Homer. Book iii. Line 208.
Ajax the great . . . Himself a host.
The Iliad of Homer. Book iii. Line 293.
Plough the watery deep.
The Iliad of Homer. Book iii. Line 357.
The day shall come, that great avenging day Which Troy's proud glories in the dust shall lay, When Priam's powers and Priam's self shall fall, And one prodigious ruin swallow all.
The Iliad of Homer. Book iv. Line 196.
First in the fight and every graceful deed.
The Iliad of Homer. Book iv. Line 295.
The first in banquets, but the last in fight.
The Iliad of Homer. Book iv. Line 401.
Gods! How the son degenerates from the sire!
The Iliad of Homer. Book iv. Line 451.
With all its beauteous honours on its head.
The Iliad of Homer. Book iv. Line 557.
A wealthy priest, but rich without a fault.
The Iliad of Homer. Book v. Line 16.
Not two strong men the enormous weight could raise,-- Such men as live in these degenerate days.[337-2]
The Iliad of Homer. Book v. Line 371.
Whose little body lodg'd a mighty mind.
The Iliad of Homer. Book v. Line 999.
He held his seat,--a friend to human race.
The Iliad of Homer. Book vi. Line 18.
Like leaves on trees the race of man is found,-- Now green in youth, now withering on the ground;[338-1] Another race the following spring supplies: They fall successive, and successive rise.
The Iliad of Homer. Book vi. Line 181.
Inflaming wine, pernicious to mankind.
The Iliad of Homer. Book vi. Line 330.
If yet not lost to all the sense of shame.
The Iliad of Homer. Book vi. Line 350.
'T is man's to fight, but Heaven's to give success.
The Iliad of Homer. Book vi. Line 427.
The young Astyanax, the hope of Troy.
The Iliad of Homer. Book vi. Line 467.
Yet while my Hector still survives, I see My father, mother, brethren, all, in thee.
The Iliad of Homer. Book vi. Line 544.
Andromache! my soul's far better part.
The Iliad of Homer. Book vi. Line 624.
He from whose lips divine persuasion flows.
The Iliad of Homer. Book vii. Line 143.
Not hate, but glory, made these chiefs contend; And each brave foe was in his soul a friend.
The Iliad of Homer. Book vii. Line 364.
I war not with the dead.
The Iliad of Homer. Book vii. Line 485.
Aurora now, fair daughter of the dawn, Sprinkled with rosy light the dewy lawn.
The Iliad of Homer. Book viii. Line 1.
As full-blown poppies, overcharg'd with rain, Decline the head, and drooping kiss the plain,-- So sinks the youth; his beauteous head, deprest Beneath his helmet, drops upon his breast.
The Iliad of Homer. Book viii. Line 371.
Who dares think one thing, and another tell, My heart detests him as the gates of hell.[338-2]
The Iliad of Homer. Book ix. Line 412.
Life is not to be bought with heaps of gold: Not all Apollo's Pythian treasures hold, Or Troy once held, in peace and pride of sway, Can bribe the poor possession of a day.
The Iliad of Homer. Book ix. Line 524.
Short is my date, but deathless my renown.
The Iliad of Homer. Book ix. Line 535.
Injustice, swift, erect, and unconfin'd, Sweeps the wide earth, and tramples o'er mankind.
The Iliad of Homer. Book ix. Line 628.
A generous friendship no cold medium knows, Burns with one love, with one resentment glows.
The Iliad of Homer. Book ix. Line 725.
To labour is the lot of man below; And when Jove gave us life, he gave us woe.
The Iliad of Homer. Book x. Line 78.
Content to follow when we lead the way.
The Iliad of Homer. Book x. Line 141.
He serves me most who serves his country best.[339-1]
The Iliad of Homer. Book x. Line 201.
Praise from a friend, or censure from a foe, Are lost on hearers that our merits know.
The Iliad of Homer. Book x. Line 293.
The rest were vulgar deaths, unknown to fame.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xi. Line 394.
Without a sign his sword the brave man draws, And asks no omen but his country's cause.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xii. Line 283.
The life which others pay let us bestow, And give to fame what we to nature owe.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xii. Line 393.
And seem to walk on wings, and tread in air.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xiii. Line 106.
The best of things beyond their measure cloy.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xiii. Line 795.
To hide their ignominious heads in Troy.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xiv. Line 170.
Persuasive speech, and more persuasive sighs, Silence that spoke, and eloquence of eyes.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xiv. Line 251.
Heroes as great have died, and yet shall fall.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xv. Line 157.
And for our country 't is a bliss to die.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xv. Line 583.
Like strength is felt from hope and from despair.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xv. Line 852.
Two friends, two bodies with one soul inspir'd.[340-1]
The Iliad of Homer. Book xvi. Line 267.
Dispel this cloud, the light of Heaven restore; Give me to see, and Ajax asks no more.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xvii. Line 730.
The mildest manners, and the gentlest heart.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xvii. Line 756.
In death a hero, as in life a friend!
The Iliad of Homer. Book xvii. Line 758.
Patroclus, lov'd of all my martial train, Beyond mankind, beyond myself, is slain!
The Iliad of Homer. Book xviii. Line 103.
I live an idle burden to the ground.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xviii. Line 134.
Ah, youth! forever dear, forever kind.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xix. Line 303.
Accept these grateful tears! for thee they flow,-- For thee, that ever felt another's woe!
The Iliad of Homer. Book xix. Line 319.
Where'er he mov'd, the goddess shone before.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xx. Line 127.
The matchless Ganymed, divinely fair.[340-2]
The Iliad of Homer. Book xx. Line 278.
'T is fortune gives us birth, But Jove alone endues the soul with worth.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xx. Line 290.
Our business in the field of fight Is not to question, but to prove our might.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xx. Line 304.
A mass enormous! which in modern days No two of earth's degenerate sons could raise.[341-1]
The Iliad of Homer. Book xx. Line 337.
The bitter dregs of fortune's cup to drain.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xxii. Line 85.
Who dies in youth and vigour, dies the best.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xxii. Line 100.
This, this is misery! the last, the worst That man can feel.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xxii. Line 106.
No season now for calm familiar talk.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xxii. Line 169.
Jove lifts the golden balances that show The fates of mortal men, and things below.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xxii. Line 271.
Achilles absent was Achilles still.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xxii. Line 418.
Forever honour'd, and forever mourn'd.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xxii. Line 422.
Unwept, unhonour'd, uninterr'd he lies![341-2]
The Iliad of Homer. Book xxii. Line 484.
Grief tears his heart, and drives him to and fro In all the raging impotence of woe.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xxii. Line 526.
Sinks my sad soul with sorrow to the grave.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xxii. Line 543.
'T is true, 't is certain; man though dead retains Part of himself: the immortal mind remains.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xxiii. Line 122.
Base wealth preferring to eternal praise.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xxiii. Line 368.
It is not strength, but art, obtains the prize,[341-3] And to be swift is less than to be wise. 'T is more by art than force of num'rous strokes.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xxiii. Line 383.
A green old age,[341-4] unconscious of decays, That proves the hero born in better days.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xxiii. Line 929.
Two urns by Jove's high throne have ever stood,-- The source of evil one, and one of good.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xxiv. Line 663.
The mildest manners with the bravest mind.
The Iliad of Homer. Book xxiv. Line 963.
Fly, dotard, fly! With thy wise dreams and fables of the sky.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book ii. Line 207.
And what he greatly thought, he nobly dar'd.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book ii. Line 312.
Few sons attain the praise Of their great sires, and most their sires disgrace.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book ii. Line 315.
For never, never, wicked man was wise.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book ii. Line 320.
Urge him with truth to frame his fair replies; And sure he will: for Wisdom never lies.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book iii. Line 25.
The lot of man,--to suffer and to die.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book iii. Line 117.
A faultless body and a blameless mind.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book iii. Line 138.
The long historian of my country's woes.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book iii. Line 142.
Forgetful youth! but know, the Power above With ease can save each object of his love; Wide as his will extends his boundless grace.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book iii. Line 285.
When now Aurora, daughter of the dawn, With rosy lustre purpled o'er the lawn.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book iii. Line 516.
These riches are possess'd, but not enjoy'd!
The Odyssey of Homer. Book iv. Line 118.
Mirror of constant faith, rever'd and mourn'd!
The Odyssey of Homer. Book iv. Line 229.
There with commutual zeal we both had strove In acts of dear benevolence and love: Brothers in peace, not rivals in command.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book iv. Line 241.
The glory of a firm, capacious mind.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book iv. Line 262.
Wise to resolve, and patient to perform.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book iv. Line 372.
The leader, mingling with the vulgar host, Is in the common mass of matter lost.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book iv. Line 397.
O thou, whose certain eye foresees The fix'd events of fate's remote decrees.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book iv. Line 627.
Forget the brother, and resume the man.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book iv. Line 732.
Gentle of speech, beneficent of mind.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book iv. Line 917.
The people's parent, he protected all.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book iv. Line 921.
The big round tear stands trembling in her eye.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book iv. Line 936.
The windy satisfaction of the tongue.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book iv. Line 1092.
Heaven hears and pities hapless men like me, For sacred ev'n to gods is misery.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book v. Line 572.
The bank he press'd, and gently kiss'd the ground.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book v. Line 596.
A heaven of charms divine Nausicaa lay.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book vi. Line 22.
Jove weighs affairs of earth in dubious scales, And the good suffers while the bad prevails.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book vi. Line 229.
By Jove the stranger and the poor are sent, And what to those we give, to Jove is lent.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book vi. Line 247.
A decent boldness ever meets with friends.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book vii. Line 67.
To heal divisions, to relieve th' opprest; In virtue rich; in blessing others, blest.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book vii. Line 95.
Oh, pity human woe! 'T is what the happy to the unhappy owe.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book vii. Line 198.
Whose well-taught mind the present age surpast.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book vii. Line 210.
For fate has wove the thread of life with pain, And twins ev'n from the birth are misery and man!
The Odyssey of Homer. Book vii. Line 263.
In youth and beauty wisdom is but rare!
The Odyssey of Homer. Book vii. Line 379.
And every eye Gaz'd, as before some brother of the sky.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book viii. Line 17.
Nor can one word be chang'd but for a worse.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book viii. Line 192.
And unextinguish'd laughter shakes the sky.[344-1]
The Odyssey of Homer. Book viii. Line 366.
Behold on wrong Swift vengeance waits; and art subdues the strong!
The Odyssey of Homer. Book viii. Line 367.
A gen'rous heart repairs a sland'rous tongue.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book viii. Line 432.
Just are the ways of Heaven: from Heaven proceed The woes of man; Heaven doom'd the Greeks to bleed,-- A theme of future song!
The Odyssey of Homer. Book viii. Line 631.
Earth sounds my wisdom and high heaven my fame.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book ix. Line 20.
Strong are her sons, though rocky are her shores.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book ix. Line 28.
Lotus, the name; divine, nectareous juice!
The Odyssey of Homer. Book ix. Line 106.
Respect us human, and relieve us poor.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book ix. Line 318.
Rare gift! but oh what gift to fools avails!
The Odyssey of Homer. Book x. Line 29.
Our fruitless labours mourn, And only rich in barren fame return.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book x. Line 46.
No more was seen the human form divine.[344-2]
The Odyssey of Homer. Book x. Line 278.
And not a man appears to tell their fate.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book x. Line 308.
Let him, oraculous, the end, the way, The turns of all thy future fate display.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book x. Line 642.
Born but to banquet, and to drain the bowl.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book x. Line 662.
Thin airy shoals of visionary ghosts.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xi. Line 48.
Who ne'er knew salt, or heard the billows roar.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xi. Line 153.
Heav'd on Olympus tott'ring Ossa stood; On Ossa, Pelion nods with all his wood.[344-3]
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xi. Line 387.
The first in glory, as the first in place.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xi. Line 441.
Soft as some song divine thy story flows.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xi. Line 458.
Oh woman, woman! when to ill thy mind Is bent, all hell contains no fouler fiend.[345-1]
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xi. Line 531.
What mighty woes To thy imperial race from woman rose!
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xi. Line 541.
But sure the eye of time beholds no name So blest as thine in all the rolls of fame.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xi. Line 591.
And pines with thirst amidst a sea of waves.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xi. Line 722.
Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xi. Line 736.
There in the bright assemblies of the skies.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xi. Line 745.
Gloomy as night he stands.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xi. Line 749.
All, soon or late, are doom'd that path to tread.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xii. Line 31.
And what so tedious as a twice-told tale.[345-2]
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xii. Line 538.
He ceas'd; but left so pleasing on their ear His voice, that list'ning still they seem'd to hear.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xiii. Line 1.
His native home deep imag'd in his soul.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xiii. Line 38.
And bear unmov'd the wrongs of base mankind, The last and hardest conquest of the mind.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xiii. Line 353.
How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise!
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xiii. Line 375.
It never was our guise To slight the poor, or aught humane despise.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xiv. Line 65.
The sex is ever to a soldier kind.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xiv. Line 246.
Far from gay cities and the ways of men.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xiv. Line 410.
And wine can of their wits the wise beguile, Make the sage frolic, and the serious smile.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xiv. Line 520.
Who love too much, hate in the like extreme, And both the golden mean alike condemn.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xv. Line 79.
True friendship's laws are by this rule exprest,-- Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest.[346-1]
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xv. Line 83.
For too much rest itself becomes a pain.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xv. Line 429.
Discourse, the sweeter banquet of the mind.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xv. Line 433.
And taste The melancholy joy of evils past: For he who much has suffer'd, much will know.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xv. Line 434.
For love deceives the best of womankind.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xv. Line 463.
And would'st thou evil for his good repay?
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xvi. Line 448.
Whatever day Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xvii. Line 392.
In ev'ry sorrowing soul I pour'd delight, And poverty stood smiling in my sight.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xvii. Line 505.
Unbless'd thy hand, if in this low disguise Wander, perhaps, some inmate of the skies.[346-2]
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xvii. Line 576.
Know from the bounteous heaven all riches flow; And what man gives, the gods by man bestow.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xviii. Line 26.
Yet taught by time, my heart has learn'd to glow For others' good, and melt at others' woe.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xviii. Line 269.
A winy vapour melting in a tear.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xix. Line 143.
But he whose inborn worth his acts commend, Of gentle soul, to human race a friend.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xix. Line 383.
The fool of fate,--thy manufacture, man.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xx. Line 254.
Impatient straight to flesh his virgin sword.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xx. Line 461.
Dogs, ye have had your day!
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xxii. Line 41.
For dear to gods and men is sacred song. Self-taught I sing; by Heaven, and Heaven alone, The genuine seeds of poesy are sown.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xxii. Line 382.
So ends the bloody business of the day.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xxii. Line 516.
And rest at last where souls unbodied dwell, In ever-flowing meads of Asphodel.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xxiv. Line 19.
The ruins of himself! now worn away With age, yet still majestic in decay.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xxiv. Line 271.
And o'er the past Oblivion stretch her wing.
The Odyssey of Homer. Book xxiv. Line 557.
Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.[347-1]
Letter to Gay, Oct. 6, 1727.
This is the Jew That Shakespeare drew.[347-2]
FOOTNOTES:
[314-2] See Milton, page 223.
There is no theme more plentiful to scan Than is the glorious goodly frame of man.
DU BARTAS: Days and Weeks, third day.
[315-1] See Milton, page 242.
[315-2] Thus we never live, but we hope to live; and always disposing ourselves to be happy.--PASCAL: Thoughts, chap. v. 2.
[316-1] All the parts of the universe I have an interest in: the earth serves me to walk upon; the sun to light me; the stars have their influence upon me.--MONTAIGNE: Apology for Raimond Sebond.
[316-2] See Sir John Davies, page 176.
[316-3] See Dryden, page 267.
[316-4] There is no great and no small.--EMERSON: Epigraph to History.
[316-5] See Dryden, page 276.
[317-1] La vray science et le vray étude de l'homme c'est l'homme (The true science and the true study of man is man).--CHARRON: _De la Sagesse, lib. i. chap. 1._
Trees and fields tell me nothing: men are my teachers.--PLATO: Phædrus.
[317-2] What a chimera, then, is man! what a novelty, what a monster, what a chaos, what a subject of contradiction, what a prodigy! A judge of all things, feeble worm of the earth, depositary of the truth, cloaca of uncertainty and error, the glory and the shame of the universe.--PASCAL: Thoughts, chap. x.
[317-3] See Dryden, page 269.
[318-1] Why may not a goose say thus? . . . there is nothing that yon heavenly roof looks upon so favourably as me; I am the darling of Nature. Is it not man that keeps and serves me?--MONTAIGNE: Apology for Raimond Sebond.
[318-2] See Cowley, page 260.
[319-1] See Fletcher, page 183.
[319-2] See Cowley, page 262.
[319-3] May see thee now, though late, redeem thy name, And glorify what else is damn'd to fame.
SAVAGE: Character of Foster.
[320-1] See Bolingbroke, page 304.
[320-2] See Dryden, page 273.
[320-3] 'T is virtue makes the bliss where'er we dwell.--COLLINS: Oriental Eclogues, i. line 5.
[321-1] Omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis (All things change, and we change with them).--MATTHAIS BORBONIUS: _Deliciæ Poetarum Germanorum, i. 685._
[321-2] See Prior, page 287.
[322-1] See Milton, page 231.
[322-2] See Brown, page 287.
[323-1] See Suckling, page 256.
[323-2] Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus (Even the worthy Homer sometimes nods).--HORACE: De Arte Poetica, 359.
[323-3] See Bacon, page 166.
[323-4] See Suckling, page 257.
[325-1] Then gently scan your brother man, Still gentler sister woman; Though they may gang a kennin' wrang, To step aside is human.
BURNS: Address to the Unco Guid.
[325-2] See Shakespeare, page 96.
[325-3] Indocti discant et ament meminisse periti (Let the unlearned learn, and the learned delight in remembering). This Latin hexameter, which is commonly ascribed to Horace, appeared for the first time as an epigraph to President Hénault's "Abrégé Chronologique," and in the preface to the third edition of this work Hénault acknowledges that he had given it as a translation of this couplet.
[326-1] See Burton, page 191.
[327-1] See Bacon, page 168.
[327-2] See Denham, page 258.
[327-3] When needs he must, yet faintly then he praises; Somewhat the deed, much more the means he raises: So marreth what he makes, and praising most, dispraises.
P. FLETCHER: The Purple Island, canto vii.
[327-4] See page 336.
[327-5] See Sternhold, page 23.
[328-1] See Spenser, page 27.
[328-2] This line is repeated in the translation of the Odyssey, book xv. line 83, with "parting" instead of "going."
[329-1] See Ben Jonson, page 177.
[329-2] See Dryden, page 267.
[329-3] The canvas glow'd beyond ev'n Nature warm; The pregnant quarry teem'd with human form.
GOLDSMITH: The Traveller, line 137.
[329-4] A breath can make them as a breath has made.--GOLDSMITH: The Deserted Village, line 54.
[329-5] See Sidney, page 34.
[330-1] This line is from a poem entitled "To the Celebrated Beauties of the British Court," given in Bell's "Fugitive Poetry," vol. iii. p. 118.
The following epigram is from "The Grove," London, 1721:--
When one good line did much my wonder raise, In Br--st's works, I stood resolved to praise, And had, but that the modest author cries, "Praise undeserved is scandal in disguise."
On a certain line of Mr. Br----, Author of a Copy of Verses called the British Beauties.
[330-2] See Cibber, page 297.
[331-1] Another, yet the same.--TICKELL: From a Lady in England. JOHNSON: Life of Dryden. DARWIN: Botanic Garden, part i. canto iv. line 380. WORDSWORTH: The Excursion, Book ix. SCOTT: The Abbot, chap. i. HORACE: carmen secundum, line 10.
[331-2] May see thee now, though late, redeem thy name, And glorify what else is damn'd to fame.
SAVAGE: Character of Foster.
[331-3] See Shakespeare, page 131.
[331-4] See Addison, page 299.
[331-5] See Shakespeare, page 93.
This man [Chesterfield], I thought, had been a lord among wits; but I find he is only a wit among lords.--JOHNSON (Boswell's Life): vol. ii. ch. i.
A fool with judges, amongst fools a judge.--COWPER: Conversation, line 298.
Although too much of a soldier among sovereigns, no one could claim with better right to be a sovereign among soldiers.--WALTER SCOTT: Life of Napoleon.
He [Steele] was a rake among scholars, and a scholar among rakes.--MACAULAY: Review of Aikin's Life of Addison.
Temple was a man of the world among men of letters, a man of letters among men of the world.--MACAULAY: Review of Life and Writings of Sir William Temple.
Greswell in his "Memoirs of Politian" says that Sannazarius himself, inscribing to this lady [Cassandra Marchesia] an edition of his Italian Poems, terms her "delle belle eruditissima, delle erudite bellissima" (most learned of the fair; fairest of the learned).
Qui stultis videri eruditi volunt stulti eruditis videntur (Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish).--QUINTILIAN, x. 7. 22.
[333-1] See Dryden, page 273.
[333-2] Priests, altars, victims, swam before my sight.--EDMUND SMITH: Phædra and Hippolytus, act i. sc. 1.
[333-3] See Addison, page 300.
[334-1] "Tenez voilà," dit-elle, "à chacun une écaille, Des sottises d'autrui nous vivons au Palais; Messieurs, l'huître étoit bonne. Adieu. Vivez en paix."
BOILEAU: Epître ii. (à M. l' Abbé des Roches).
[334-2] See Spenser, page 29.
[335-1] See Ben Jonson, page 180.
[335-2] See page 346.
[335-3] See Dryden, page 270.
[336-1] See Chaucer, page 4. Herbert, page 206.
[336-2] His wit invites you by his looks to come, But when you knock, it never is at home.
COWPER: Conversation, line 303.
[336-3] Ampliat ætatis spatium sibi vir bonus; hoc est Vivere bis vita posse priore frui
(The good man prolongs his life; to be able to enjoy one's past life is to live twice).--MARTIAL: x. 237.
See Cowley, page 262.
[336-4] From Roscoe's edition of Pope, vol. v. p. 376; originally printed in Motte's "Miscellanies," 1727. In the edition of 1736 Pope says, "I must own that the prose part (the Thought on Various Subjects), at the end of the second volume, was wholly mine. January, 1734."
[337-1] The same line occurs in the translation of the Odyssey, book viii. line 366.
[337-2] A mass enormous! which in modern days No two of earth's degenerate sons could raise.
Book xx. line 337.
[338-1] As of the green leaves on a thick tree, some fall, and some grow.--Ecclesiasticus xiv. 18.
[338-2] The same line, with "soul" for "heart," occurs in the translation of the Odyssey, book xiv. line 181.
[339-1] He serves his party best who serves the country best.--RUTHERFORD B. HAYES: Inaugural Address, March 5, 1877.
[340-1] A friend is one soul abiding in two bodies.--DIOGENES LAERTIUS: On Aristotle.
Two souls with but a single thought, Two hearts that beat as one.
BELLINGHAUSEN: Ingomar the Barbarian, act ii.
[340-2] Divinely fair.--TENNYSON: A Dream of Fair Women, xxii.
[341-1] See page 337.
[341-2] Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung.--SCOTT: Lay of the Last Minstrel.
Unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown.--BYRON: Childe Harold, canto iv. stanza 179.
[341-3] See Middleton, page 172.
[341-4] See Dryden, page 276.
[344-1] See page 337.
[344-2] Human face divine.--MILTON: Paradise Lost, book iii. line 44.
[344-3] Then the Omnipotent Father with his thunder made Olympus tremble, and from Ossa hurled Pelion.--OVID: Metamorphoses i.
[345-1] See Otway, page 280.
[345-2] See Shakespeare, page 79.
[346-1] See page 328.
[346-2] Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.--Hebrews xiii. 2.
[347-1] Pope calls this the eighth beatitude (Roscoe's edition of Pope, vol. x. page 184).
[347-2] On the 14th of February, 1741, Macklin established his fame as an actor in the character of Shylock, in the "Merchant of Venice." . . . Macklin's performance of this character so forcibly struck a gentleman in the pit that he, as it were involuntarily, exclaimed,--
"This is the Jew That Shakespeare drew!"
It has been said that this gentleman was Mr. Pope, and that he meant his panegyric on Macklin as a satire against Lord Lansdowne.--Biographia Dramatica, vol. i. part ii. p. 469.
JOHN GAY. 1688-1732.
'T was when the sea was roaring With hollow blasts of wind, A damsel lay deploring, All on a rock reclin'd.
The What d' ye call it. Act ii. Sc. 8.
So comes a reckoning when the banquet 's o'er,-- The dreadful reckoning, and men smile no more.[348-1]
The What d' ye call it. Act ii. Sc. 9.
'T is woman that seduces all mankind; By her we first were taught the wheedling arts.
The Beggar's Opera. Act i. Sc. 1.
Over the hills and far away.[348-2]
The Beggar's Opera. Act i. Sc. 1.
If the heart of a man is depress'd with cares, The mist is dispell'd when a woman appears.
The Beggar's Opera. Act ii. Sc. 1.
The fly that sips treacle is lost in the sweets.
The Beggar's Opera. Act ii. Sc. 2.
Brother, brother! we are both in the wrong.
The Beggar's Opera. Act ii. Sc. 2.
How happy could I be with either, Were t' other dear charmer away!
The Beggar's Opera. Act ii. Sc. 2.
The charge is prepar'd, the lawyers are met, The judges all ranged,--a terrible show!
The Beggar's Opera. Act iii. Sc. 2.
All in the Downs the fleet was moor'd.
Sweet William's Farewell to Black-eyed Susan.
Adieu, she cried, and waved her lily hand.
Sweet William's Farewell to Black-eyed Susan.
Remote from cities liv'd a swain, Unvex'd with all the cares of gain; His head was silver'd o'er with age, And long experience made him sage.
Fables. Part i. The Shepherd and the Philosopher.
Whence is thy learning? Hath thy toil O'er books consum'd the midnight oil?[348-3]
Fables. Part i. The Shepherd and the Philosopher.
Where yet was ever found a mother Who 'd give her booby for another?
Fables. Part i. The Mother, the Nurse, and the Fairy.
No author ever spar'd a brother.
Fables. The Elephant and the Bookseller.
Lest men suspect your tale untrue, Keep probability in view.
Fables. Part i. The Painter who pleased Nobody and Everybody.
In ev'ry age and clime we see Two of a trade can never agree.[349-1]
Fables. Part i. The Rat-catcher and Cats.
Is there no hope? the sick man said; The silent doctor shook his head.
Fables. Part i. The Sick Man and the Angel.
While there is life there 's hope, he cried.[349-2]
Fables. Part i. The Sick Man and the Angel.
Those who in quarrels interpose Must often wipe a bloody nose.
Fables. Part i. The Mastiffs.
That raven on yon left-hand oak (Curse on his ill-betiding croak!) Bodes me no good.[349-3]
Fables. Part i. The Farmer's Wife and the Raven.
And when a lady 's in the case, You know all other things give place.
Fables. Part i. The Hare and many Friends.
Give me, kind Heaven, a private station, A mind serene for contemplation: Title and profit I resign; The post of honour shall be mine.[349-4]
Fables. Part ii. The Vulture, the Sparrow, and other Birds.
From wine what sudden friendship springs!
Fables. Part ii. The Squire and his Cur.
Life is a jest, and all things show it; I thought so once, but now I know it.
My own Epitaph.
FOOTNOTES:
[348-1] The time of paying a shot in a tavern among good fellows, or Pantagruelists, is still called in France a "quart d'heure de Rabelais,"--that is, Rabelais's quarter of an hour, when a man is uneasy or melancholy.--Life of Rabelais (Bohn's edition), p. 13.
[348-2] O'er the hills and far away.--D'URFEY: Pills to purge Melancholy (1628-1723).
[348-3] "Midnight oil,"--a common phrase, used by Quarles, Shenstone, Cowper, Lloyd, and others.
[349-1] Potter is jealous of potter, and craftsman of craftsman; and poor man has a grudge against poor man, and poet against poet.--HESIOD: Works and Days, 24.
Le potier au potier porte envie (The potter envies the potter).--BOHN: Handbook of Proverbs.
MURPHY: The Apprentice, act iii.
[349-2] Elpides en zôoisin, anelpistoi de thanontes (For the living there is hope, but for the dead there is none.)--THEOCRITUS: Idyl iv. 42.
Ægroto, dum anima est, spes est (While the sick man has life, there is hope).--CICERO: Epistolarum ad Atticum, ix. 10.
[349-3] It was n't for nothing that the raven was just now croaking on my left hand.--PLAUTUS: Aulularia, act iv. sc. 3.
[349-4] See Addison, page 298.
LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU. 1690-1762.
Let this great maxim be my virtue's guide,-- In part she is to blame that has been tried: He comes too near that comes to be denied.[350-1]
The Lady's Resolve.
And we meet, with champagne and a chicken, at last.[350-2]
The Lover.
Be plain in dress, and sober in your diet; In short, my deary, kiss me, and be quiet.
A Summary of Lord Lyttelton's Advice.
Satire should, like a polished razor keen, Wound with a touch that 's scarcely felt or seen.
To the Imitator of the First Satire of Horace. Book ii.
But the fruit that can fall without shaking Indeed is too mellow for me.
The Answer.
FOOTNOTES:
[350-1] A fugitive piece, written on a window by Lady Montagu, after her marriage (1713). See Overbury, page 193.
[350-2] What say you to such a supper with such a woman?--BYRON: Note to a Second Letter on Bowles.
CHARLES MACKLIN. 1690-1797.
The law is a sort of hocus-pocus science, that smiles in yer face while it picks yer pocket; and the glorious uncertainty of it is of mair use to the professors than the justice of it.
Love à la Mode. Act ii. Sc. 1.
Every tub must stand upon its bottom.[350-3]
The Man of the World. Act i. Sc. 2.
FOOTNOTES:
[350-3] See Bunyan, page 265.
JOHN BYROM. 1691-1763.
God bless the King,--I mean the faith's defender! God bless--no harm in blessing--the Pretender! But who pretender is, or who is king,-- God bless us all!--that 's quite another thing.
To an Officer of the Army, extempore.
Take time enough: all other graces Will soon fill up their proper places.[351-1]
Advice to Preach Slow.
Some say, compar'd to Bononcini, That Mynheer Handel 's but a ninny; Others aver that he to Handel Is scarcely fit to hold a candle. Strange all this difference should be 'Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
On the Feuds between Handel and Bononcini.[351-2]
As clear as a whistle.
Epistle to Lloyd. I.
The point is plain as a pike-staff.[351-3]
Epistle to a Friend.
Bone and Skin, two millers thin, Would starve us all, or near it; But be it known to Skin and Bone That Flesh and Blood can't bear it.
Epigram on Two Monopolists.
Thus adorned, the two heroes, 'twixt shoulder and elbow, Shook hands and went to 't; and the word it was bilbow.
Upon a Trial of Skill between the Great Masters of the Noble Science of Defence, Messrs. Figg and Sutton.
FOOTNOTES:
[351-1] See Walker, page 265.
[351-2] Nourse asked me if I had seen the verses upon Handel and Bononcini, not knowing that they were mine.--Byrom's Remains (Chetham Soc.), vol. i. p. 173.
The last two lines have been attributed to Swift and Pope (see Scott's edition of Swift, and Dyce's edition of Pope).
[351-3] See Middleton, page 172.
LOUIS THEOBALD. 1691-1744.
None but himself can be his parallel.[352-1]
The Double Falsehood.
FOOTNOTES:
[352-1] Quæris Alcidæ parem? Nemo est nisi ipse
(Do you seek Alcides' equal? None is, except himself).--SENECA: Hercules Furens, i. 1; 84.
And but herself admits no parallel.--MASSINGER: Duke of Milan, act iv. sc. 3.
JAMES BRAMSTON. ---- -1744.
What 's not devoured by Time's devouring hand? Where 's Troy, and where 's the Maypole in the Strand?
Art of Politics.
But Titus said, with his uncommon sense, When the Exclusion Bill was in suspense: "I hear a lion in the lobby roar; Say, Mr. Speaker, shall we shut the door And keep him there, or shall we let him in To try if we can turn him out again?"[352-2]
Art of Politics.
So Britain's monarch once uncovered sat, While Bradshaw bullied in a broad-brimmed hat.
Man of Taste.
FOOTNOTES:
[352-2] I hope, said Colonel Titus, we shall not be wise as the frogs to whom Jupiter gave a stork for their king. To trust expedients with such a king on the throne would be just as wise as if there were a lion in the lobby, and we should vote to let him in and chain him, instead of fastening the door to keep him out.--On the Exclusion Bill, Jan. 7, 1681.
EARL OF CHESTERFIELD. 1694-1773.
Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
Letter, March 10, 1746.
I knew once a very covetous, sordid fellow,[352-3] who used to say, "Take care of the pence, for the pounds will take care of themselves."
Letter, Nov. 6, 1747.
Sacrifice to the Graces.[353-1]
Letter, March 9, 1748.
Manners must adorn knowledge, and smooth its way through the world. Like a great rough diamond, it may do very well in a closet by way of curiosity, and also for its intrinsic value.
Letter, July 1, 1748.
Style is the dress of thoughts.
Letter, Nov. 24, 1749.
Despatch is the soul of business.
Letter, Feb. 5, 1750.
Chapter of accidents.[353-2]
Letter, Feb. 16, 1753.
I assisted at the birth of that most significant word "flirtation," which dropped from the most beautiful mouth in the world.
The World. No. 101.
Unlike my subject now shall be my song; It shall be witty, and it sha'n't be long.
Impromptu Lines.
The dews of the evening most carefully shun,-- Those tears of the sky for the loss of the sun.
Advice to a Lady in Autumn.
The nation looked upon him as a deserter, and he shrunk into insignificancy and an earldom.
Character of Pulteney.
He adorned whatever subject he either spoke or wrote upon, by the most splendid eloquence.[353-3]
Character of Bolingbroke.
FOOTNOTES:
[352-3] W. Lowndes, Secretary of the Treasury in the reigns of King William, Queen Anne, and King George the Third.
[353-1] Plato was continually saying to Xenocrates, "Sacrifice to the Graces."--DIOGENES LAERTIUS: Xenocrates, book iv. sect. 2.
Let us sacrifice to the Muses.--PLUTARCH: The Banquet of the Seven Wise Men. (A saying of Solon.)
[353-2] Chapter of accidents.--BURKE: Notes for Speeches (edition 1852), vol. ii. p. 426.
John Wilkes said that "the Chapter of Accidents is the longest chapter in the book."--SOUTHEY: The Doctor, chap. cxviii.
[353-3] Who left scarcely any style of writing untouched, And touched nothing that he did not adorn.
JOHNSON: Epitaph on Goldsmith.
Il embellit tout ce qu'il touche (He adorned whatever he touched).--FÉNELON: Lettre sur les Occupations de l' Académie Française, sect. iv.
MATTHEW GREEN. 1696-1737.
Fling but a stone, the giant dies.
The Spleen. Line 93.
Thus I steer my bark, and sail On even keel, with gentle gale.
The Spleen.
Though pleased to see the dolphins play, I mind my compass and my way.
The Spleen.
RICHARD SAVAGE. 1698-1743.
He lives to build, not boast, a generous race; No tenth transmitter of a foolish face.
The Bastard. Line 7.
May see thee now, though late, redeem thy name, And glorify what else is damn'd to fame.[354-1]
Character of Foster.
FOOTNOTES:
[354-1] See Pope, page 331.
ROBERT BLAIR. 1699-1747.
The Grave, dread thing! Men shiver when thou 'rt named: Nature, appall'd, Shakes off her wonted firmness.
The Grave. Part i. Line 9.
The schoolboy, with his satchel in his hand, Whistling aloud to bear his courage up.[354-2]
The Grave. Part i. Line 58.
Friendship! mysterious cement of the soul! Sweetener of life! and solder of society!
The Grave. Part i. Line 88.
Of joys departed, Not to return, how painful the remembrance!
The Grave. Part i. Line 109.
The cup goes round: And who so artful as to put it by! 'T is long since Death had the majority.
The Grave. Part ii. Line 449.
The good he scorn'd Stalk'd off reluctant, like an ill-used ghost, Not to return; or if it did, in visits Like those of angels, short and far between.[355-1]
The Grave. Part ii. Line 586.
FOOTNOTES:
[354-2] See Dryden, page 277.
[355-1] See Norris, page 281.
JAMES THOMSON. 1700-1748.
Come, gentle Spring! ethereal Mildness! come.
The Seasons. Spring. Line 1.
Base Envy withers at another's joy, And hates that excellence it cannot reach.
The Seasons. Spring. Line 283.
But who can paint Like Nature? Can imagination boast, Amid its gay creation, hues like hers?
The Seasons. Spring. Line 465.
Amid the roses fierce Repentance rears Her snaky crest.
The Seasons. Spring. Line 996.
Delightful task! to rear the tender thought, To teach the young idea how to shoot.
The Seasons. Spring. Line 1149.
An elegant sufficiency, content, Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, Ease and alternate labour, useful life, Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven!
The Seasons. Spring. Line 1158.
The meek-ey'd Morn appears, mother of dews.
The Seasons. Summer. Line 47.
Falsely luxurious, will not man awake?
The Seasons. Summer. Line 67.
But yonder comes the powerful king of day, Rejoicing in the east.
The Seasons. Summer. Line 81.
Ships dim-discover'd dropping from the clouds.
The Seasons. Summer. Line 946.
And Mecca saddens at the long delay.
The Seasons. Summer. Line 979.
For many a day, and many a dreadful night, Incessant lab'ring round the stormy cape.
The Seasons. Summer. Line 1003.
Sigh'd and look'd unutterable things.
The Seasons. Summer. Line 1188.
A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate Of mighty monarchs.
The Seasons. Summer. Line 1285.
So stands the statue that enchants the world, So bending tries to veil the matchless boast, The mingled beauties of exulting Greece.
The Seasons. Summer. Line 1346.
Who stemm'd the torrent of a downward age.
The Seasons. Summer. Line 1516.
Autumn nodding o'er the yellow plain.
The Seasons. Autumn. Line 2.
Loveliness Needs not the foreign aid of ornament, But is when unadorn'd, adorn'd the most.[356-1]
The Seasons. Autumn. Line 204.
He saw her charming, but he saw not half The charms her downcast modesty conceal'd.
The Seasons. Autumn. Line 229.
For still the world prevail'd, and its dread laugh, Which scarce the firm philosopher can scorn.
The Seasons. Autumn. Line 233.
See, Winter comes to rule the varied year.[356-2]
The Seasons. Winter. Line 1.
Cruel as death, and hungry as the grave.
The Seasons. Winter. Line 393.
There studious let me sit, And hold high converse with the mighty dead.
The Seasons. Winter. Line 431.
The kiss, snatch'd hasty from the sidelong maid.
The Seasons. Winter. Line 625.
These as they change, Almighty Father! these Are but the varied God. The rolling year Is full of Thee.
Hymn. Line 1.
Shade, unperceiv'd, so softening into shade.
Hymn. Line 25.
From seeming evil still educing good.
Hymn. Line 114.
Come then, expressive silence, muse His praise.
Hymn. Line 118.
A pleasing land of drowsyhed it was, Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye; And of gay castles in the clouds that pass, Forever flushing round a summer sky: There eke the soft delights that witchingly Instil a wanton sweetness through the breast, And the calm pleasures always hover'd nigh; But whate'er smack'd of noyance or unrest Was far, far off expell'd from this delicious nest.
The Castle of Indolence. Canto i. Stanza 6.
O fair undress, best dress! it checks no vein, But every flowing limb in pleasure drowns, And heightens ease with grace.
The Castle of Indolence. Canto i. Stanza 26.
Plac'd far amid the melancholy main.
The Castle of Indolence. Canto i. Stanza 30.
Scoundrel maxim.
The Castle of Indolence. Canto i. Stanza 30.
A bard here dwelt, more fat than bard beseems.
The Castle of Indolence. Canto i. Stanza 68.
A little round, fat, oily man of God.
The Castle of Indolence. Canto i. Stanza 69.
I care not, Fortune, what you me deny: You cannot rob me of free Nature's grace, You cannot shut the windows of the sky Through which Aurora shows her brightening face; You cannot bar my constant feet to trace The woods and lawns, by living stream, at eve: Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace, And I their toys to the great children leave: Of fancy, reason, virtue, naught can me bereave.
The Castle of Indolence. Canto ii. Stanza 3.
Health is the vital principle of bliss, And exercise, of health.
The Castle of Indolence. Canto ii. Stanza 55.
Forever, Fortune, wilt thou prove An unrelenting foe to love; And when we meet a mutual heart, Come in between and bid us part?
Song.
Whoe'er amidst the sons Of reason, valour, liberty, and virtue Displays distinguish'd merit, is a noble Of Nature's own creating.
Coriolanus. Act iii. Sc. 3.
O Sophonisba! Sophonisba, O![358-1]
Sophonisba. Act iii. Sc. 2.
When Britain first, at Heaven's command, Arose from out the azure main, This was the charter of her land, And guardian angels sung the strain: Rule, Britannia! Britannia rules the waves! Britons never shall be slaves.
Alfred. Act ii. Sc. 5.
FOOTNOTES:
[356-1] See Milton, page 234.
Nam ut mulieres esse dicuntur nonnullæ inornatæ, quas id ipsum diceat, sic hæc subtilis oratio etiam incompta delectat (For as lack of adornment is said to become some women; so this subtle oration, though without embellishment, gives delight).--CICERO: Orator, 23, 78.
[356-2] O Winter, ruler of the inverted year.--COWPER: _The Task, book iv. Winter Evening, line 34._
[358-1] The line was altered after the second edition to "O Sophonisba! I am wholly thine."
JOHN DYER. 1700-1758.
A little rule, a little sway, A sunbeam in a winter's day, Is all the proud and mighty have Between the cradle and the grave.
Grongar Hill. Line 88.
Ever charming, ever new, When will the landscape tire the view?
Grongar Hill. Line 102.
Disparting towers Trembling all precipitate down dash'd, Rattling around, loud thundering to the moon.
The Ruins of Rome. Line 40.
PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 1702-1751.
Live while you live, the epicure would say, And seize the pleasures of the present day; Live while you live, the sacred preacher cries, And give to God each moment as it flies. Lord, in my views, let both united be: I live in pleasure when I live to thee.
Epigram on his Family Arms.[359-1]
Awake, my soul! stretch every nerve, And press with vigour on; A heavenly race demands thy zeal, And an immortal crown.
Zeal and Vigour in the Christian Race.
FOOTNOTES:
[359-1] Dum vivimus vivamus (Let us live while we live).--ORTON: Life of Doddridge.
JOHN WESLEY. 1703-1791.
That execrable sum of all villanies commonly called a Slave Trade.
Journal. Feb. 12, 1772.
Certainly this is a duty, not a sin. "Cleanliness is indeed next to godliness."[359-2]
Sermon xciii. On Dress.
I am always in haste, but never in a hurry.[359-3]
FOOTNOTES:
[359-2] See Bacon, page 170.
[359-3] Given as a saying of Wesley, in the "Saturday Review," Nov. 28, 1874.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.[359-4] 1706-1790.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.[359-5]
Historical Review of Pennsylvania.
God helps them that help themselves.[360-1]
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard's Almanac, 1757.
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard's Almanac, 1757.
Early to bed and early to rise, Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.[360-2]
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard's Almanac, 1757.
Plough deep while sluggards sleep.
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard's Almanac, 1757.
Never leave that till to-morrow which you can do to-day.
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard's Almanac, 1757.
Three removes are as bad as a fire.
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard's Almanac, 1757.
Little strokes fell great oaks.[360-3]
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard's Almanac, 1757.
A little neglect may breed mischief: for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost.
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard's Almanac, 1757.
He that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing.[360-4]
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard's Almanac, 1757.
A man may, if he knows not how to save as he gets, keep his nose to the grindstone.[360-5]
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard's Almanac, 1757.
Vessels large may venture more, But little boats should keep near shore.
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard's Almanac, 1757.
It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard's Almanac, 1757.
Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard's Almanac, 1757.
We are a kind of posterity in respect to them.[361-1]
Letter to William Strahan, 1745.
Remember that time is money.
Advice to a Young Tradesman, 1748.
Idleness and pride tax with a heavier hand than kings and parliaments. If we can get rid of the former, we may easily bear the latter.
Letter on the Stamp Act, July 1, 1765.
Here Skugg lies snug As a bug in a rug.[361-2]
Letter to Miss Georgiana Shipley, September, 1772.
There never was a good war or a bad peace.[361-3]
Letter to Josiah Quincy, Sept. 11, 1773.
You and I were long friends: you are now my enemy, and I am yours.
Letter to William Strahan, July 5, 1775.
We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.
At the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.
He has paid dear, very dear, for his whistle.
The Whistle. November, 1779.
Here you would know and enjoy what posterity will say of Washington. For a thousand leagues have nearly the same effect with a thousand years.
Letter to Washington, March 5, 1780.
Our Constitution is in actual operation; everything appears to promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.
Letter to M. Leroy, 1789.
FOOTNOTES:
[359-4] Eripuit coelo fulmen sceptrumque tyrannis (He snatched the lightning from heaven, and the sceptre from tyrants),--a line attributed to Turgot, and inscribed on Houdon's bust of Franklin. Frederick von der Trenck asserted on his trial, 1794, that he was the author of this line.
[359-5] This sentence was much used in the Revolutionary period. It occurs even so early as November, 1755, in an answer by the Assembly of Pennsylvania to the Governor, and forms the motto of Franklin's "Historical Review," 1759, appearing also in the body of the work.--FROTHINGHAM: Rise of the Republic of the United States, p. 413.
[360-1] See Herbert, page 206.
[360-2] CLARKE: Paræmiolgia, 1639.
My hour is eight o'clock, though it is an infallible rule, "Sanat, sanctificat, et ditat, surgere mane" (That he may be healthy, happy, and wise, let him rise early).--A Health to the Gentle Profession of Serving-men, 1598 (reprinted in Roxburghe Library), p. 121.
[360-3] See Lyly, page 32.
[360-4] See Tusser, page 21.
[360-5] See Heywood, page 11.
[361-1] Byron's European fame is the best earnest of his immortality, for a foreign nation is a kind of contemporaneous posterity.--HORACE BINNEY WALLACE: Stanley, or the Recollections of a Man of the World, vol. ii. p. 89.
[361-2] Snug as a bug in a rug.--_The Stratford Jubilee, ii. 1, 1779._
[361-3] It hath been said that an unjust peace is to be preferred before a just war.--SAMUEL BUTLER: Speeches in the Rump Parliament. Butler's Remains.
NATHANIEL COTTON. 1707-1788.
If solid happiness we prize, Within our breast this jewel lies, And they are fools who roam. The world has nothing to bestow; From our own selves our joys must flow, And that dear hut, our home.
The Fireside. Stanza 3.
To be resign'd when ills betide, Patient when favours are deni'd, And pleas'd with favours given,-- Dear Chloe, this is wisdom's part; This is that incense of the heart[362-1] Whose fragrance smells to heaven.
The Fireside. Stanza 11.
Thus hand in hand through life we 'll go; Its checker'd paths of joy and woe With cautious steps we 'll tread.
The Fireside. Stanza 31.
Yet still we hug the dear deceit.
Content. Vision iv.
Hold the fleet angel fast until he bless thee.
To-morrow.
HENRY FIELDING. 1707-1754.
All Nature wears one universal grin.
Tom Thumb the Great. Act i. Sc. 1.
Petition me no petitions, sir, to-day; Let other hours be set apart for business. To-day it is our pleasure to be drunk; And this our queen shall be as drunk as we.
Tom Thumb the Great. Act i. Sc. 2.
When I 'm not thank'd at all, I 'm thank'd enough; I 've done my duty, and I 've done no more.
Tom Thumb the Great. Act i. Sc. 3.
Thy modesty 's a candle to thy merit.
Tom Thumb the Great. Act i. Sc. 3.
To sun myself in Huncamunca's eyes.
Tom Thumb the Great. Act i. Sc. 3.
Lo, when two dogs are fighting in the streets, With a third dog one of the two dogs meets; With angry teeth he bites him to the bone, And this dog smarts for what that dog has done.[363-1]
Tom Thumb the Great. Act i. Sc. 6.
I am as sober as a judge.[363-2]
Don Quixote in England. Act iii. Sc. 14.
Much may be said on both sides.[363-3]
The Covent Garden Tragedy. Act i. Sc. 8.
Enough is equal to a feast.[363-4]
The Covent Garden Tragedy. Act v. Sc. 1.
We must eat to live and live to eat.[363-5]
The Miser. Act iii. Sc. 3.
Penny saved is a penny got.[363-6]
The Miser. Act iii. Sc. 12.
Oh, the roast beef of England, And old England's roast beef!
The Grub Street Opera. Act iii. Sc. 2.
This story will not go down.
Tumble-down Dick.
Can any man have a higher notion of the rule of right and the eternal fitness of things?
Tom Jones. Book iv. Chap. iv.
Distinction without a difference.
Tom Jones. Book vi. Chap. xiii.
Amiable weakness.[364-1]
Tom Jones. Book x. chap. viii.
The dignity of history.[364-2]
Tom Jones. Book xi. Chap. ii.
Republic of letters.
Tom Jones. Book xiv. Chap. i.
Illustrious predecessors.[364-3]
Covent Garden Journal. Jan. 11, 1752.
FOOTNOTES:
[362-1] The incense of the heart may rise.--PIERPONT: _Every Place a Temple._
[363-1] Thus when a barber and a collier fight, The barber beats the luckless collier--white; The dusty collier heaves his ponderous sack, And big with vengeance beats the barber--black. In comes the brick-dust man, with grime o'erspread, And beats the collier and the barber--red: Black, red, and white in various clouds are tost, And in the dust they raise the combatants are lost.
CHRISTOPHER SMART: The Trip to Cambridge (on "Campbell's Specimens of the British Poets," vol. vi. p. 185).
[363-2] Sober as a judge.--CHARLES LAMB: Letter to Mr. and Mrs. Moxon.
[363-3] See Addison, page 300.
[363-4] See Heywood, page 20.
[363-5] Socrates said, Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.--PLUTARCH: How a Young Man ought to hear Poems.
[363-6] A penny saved is twopence dear; A pin a day 's a groat a year.
FRANKLIN: Hints to those that would be Rich (1736).
[364-1] Amiable weaknesses of human nature.--GIBBON: _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xiv._
[364-2] See Bolingbroke, page 304.
[364-3] Illustrious predecessor.--BURKE: _The Present Discontents._
I tread in the footsteps of illustrious men. . . . In receiving from the people the sacred trust confided to my illustrious predecessor.--MARTIN VAN BUREN: Inaugural Address, March 4, 1837.
WILLIAM PITT, EARL OF CHATHAM. 1708-1778.
Confidence is a plant of slow growth in an aged bosom.
Speech, Jan. 14, 1766.
A long train of these practices has at length unwillingly convinced me that there is something behind the throne greater than the King himself.[364-4]
Chatham Correspondence. Speech, March 2, 1770.
Where law ends, tyranny begins.
Case of Wilkes. Speech, Jan. 9, 1770.
Reparation for our rights at home, and security against the like future violations.[364-5]
Letter to the Earl of Shelburne, Sept. 29, 1770.
If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country I never would lay down my arms,--never! never! never!
Speech, Nov. 18, 1777.
The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the force of the Crown. It may be frail; its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storms may enter, the rain may enter,--but the King of England cannot enter; all his forces dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement!
Speech on the Excise Bill.
We have a Calvinistic creed, a Popish liturgy, and an Arminian clergy.
Prior's Life of Burke (1790).
FOOTNOTES:
[364-4] Quoted by Lord Mahon, "greater than the throne itself."--History of England, vol. v. p. 258.
[364-5] "Indemnity for the past and security for the future."--RUSSELL: Memoir of Fox, vol. iii. p. 345, Letter to the Hon. T. Maitland.
SAMUEL JOHNSON. 1709-1784.
Let observation with extensive view Survey mankind, from China to Peru.[365-1]
Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 1.
There mark what ills the scholar's life assail,-- Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail.
Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 159.
He left the name at which the world grew pale, To point a moral, or adorn a tale.
Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 221.
Hides from himself his state, and shuns to know That life protracted is protracted woe.
Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 257.
An age that melts in unperceiv'd decay, And glides in modest innocence away.
Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 293.
Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage.
Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 308.
Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise! From Marlb'rough's eyes the streams of dotage flow, And Swift expires, a driv'ler and a show.
Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 316.
Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate, Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?
Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 345.
For patience, sov'reign o'er transmuted ill.
Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 362.
Of all the griefs that harass the distrest, Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest.[366-1]
London. Line 166.
This mournful truth is ev'rywhere confess'd,-- Slow rises worth by poverty depress'd.[366-2]
London. Line 176.
Studious to please, yet not ashamed to fail.
Prologue to the Tragedy of Irene.
Each change of many-colour'd life he drew, Exhausted worlds, and then imagin'd new.
Prologue on the Opening of Drury Lane Theatre.
And panting Time toil'd after him in vain.
Prologue on the Opening of Drury Lane Theatre.
For we that live to please must please to live.
Prologue on the Opening of Drury Lane Theatre.
Catch, then, oh catch the transient hour; Improve each moment as it flies! Life 's a short summer, man a flower; He dies--alas! how soon he dies!
Winter. An Ode.
Officious, innocent, sincere, Of every friendless name the friend.
Verses on the Death of Mr. Robert Levet. Stanza 2.
In misery's darkest cavern known, His useful care was ever nigh[366-3] Where hopeless anguish pour'd his groan, And lonely want retir'd to die.
Verses on the Death of Mr. Robert Levet. Stanza 5.
And sure th' Eternal Master found His single talent well employ'd.
Verses on the Death of Mr. Robert Levet. Stanza 7.
Then with no throbs of fiery pain,[367-1] No cold gradations of decay, Death broke at once the vital chain, And freed his soul the nearest way.
Verses on the Death of Mr. Robert Levet. Stanza 9.
That saw the manners in the face.
Lines on the Death of Hogarth.
Philips, whose touch harmonious could remove The pangs of guilty power and hapless love! Rest here, distressed by poverty no more; Here find that calm thou gav'st so oft before; Sleep undisturb'd within this peaceful shrine, Till angels wake thee with a note like thine!
Epitaph on Claudius Philips, the Musician.
A Poet, Naturalist, and Historian, Who left scarcely any style of writing untouched, And touched nothing that he did not adorn.[367-2]
Epitaph on Goldsmith.
How small of all that human hearts endure, That part which laws or kings can cause or cure! Still to ourselves in every place consigned, Our own felicity we make or find. With secret course, which no loud storms annoy, Glides the smooth current of domestic joy.
Lines added to Goldsmith's Traveller.
Trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay.
Line added to Goldsmith's Deserted Village.
From thee, great God, we spring, to thee we tend,-- Path, motive, guide, original, and end.[367-3]
Motto to the Rambler. No. 7.
Ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the morrow,--attend to the history of Rasselas, Prince Of Abyssinia.
Rasselas. Chap. i.
"I fly from pleasure," said the prince, "because pleasure has ceased to please; I am lonely because I am miserable, and am unwilling to cloud with my presence the happiness of others."
Rasselas. Chap. iii.
A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected.
Rasselas. Chap. xii.
Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.
Rasselas. Chap. xii.
Knowledge is more than equivalent to force.[368-1]
Rasselas. Chap. xiii.
I live in the crowd of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to shun myself.
Rasselas. Chap. xvi.
Many things difficult to design prove easy to performance.
Rasselas. Chap. xvi.
The first years of man must make provision for the last.
Rasselas. Chap. xvii.
Example is always more efficacious than precept.
Rasselas. Chap. xxx.
The endearing elegance of female friendship.
Rasselas. Chap. xlvi.
I am not so lost in lexicography as to forget that words are the daughters of earth, and that things are the sons of heaven.[368-2]
Preface to his Dictionary.
Words are men's daughters, but God's sons are things.[368-3]
Boulter's Monument. (Supposed to have been inserted by Dr. Johnson, 1745.)
Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.
Life of Addison.
To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.
Life of Milton.
The trappings of a monarchy would set up an ordinary commonwealth.
Life of Milton.
His death eclipsed the gayety of nations, and impoverished the public stock of harmless pleasure.
Life of Edmund Smith (alluding to the death of Garrick).
That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona.
Journey to the Western Islands: Inch Kenneth.
He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty.
The Idler. No. 57.
What is read twice is commonly better remembered than what is transcribed.
The Idler. No. 74.
Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation; but no sooner does he take a pen in his hand than it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs all his faculties.
Life of Johnson (Boswell).[369-1] Vol. i. Chap. vii. 1743.
Wretched un-idea'd girls.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. i. Chap. x. 1752.
This man [Chesterfield], I thought, had been a lord among wits; but I find he is only a wit among lords.[369-2]
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ii. Chap. i. 1754.
Sir, he [Bolingbroke] was a scoundrel and a coward: a scoundrel for charging a blunderbuss against religion and morality; a coward, because he had not resolution to fire it off himself, but left half a crown to a beggarly Scotchman to draw the trigger at his death.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ii. Chap. i. 1754.
Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and when he has reached ground encumbers him with help?
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ii. Chap. ii. 1755.
I am glad that he thanks God for anything.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ii. Chap. ii. 1755.
If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ii. Chap. ii. 1755.
Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ii. Chap. iii. 1759.
Sir, I think all Christians, whether Papists or Protestants, agree in the essential articles, and that their differences are trivial, and rather political than religious.[370-1]
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ii. Chap. v. 1763.
The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high-road that leads him to England.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ii. Chap. v. 1763.
If he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ii. Chap. v. 1763.
Sir, your levellers wish to level down as far as themselves; but they cannot bear levelling up to themselves.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ii. Chap. v. 1763.
A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ii. Chap. vi. 1763.
Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it must have taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an access of stupidity, sir, is not in Nature.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ii. Chap. ix.
Sir, a woman preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ii. Chap. ix.
I look upon it, that he who does not mind his belly will hardly mind anything else.[371-1]
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ii. Chap. ix.
This was a good dinner enough, to be sure, but it was not a dinner to ask a man to.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ii. Chap. ix.
A very unclubable man.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ii. Chap. ix. 1764.
I do not know, sir, that the fellow is an infidel; but if he be an infidel, he is an infidel as a dog is an infidel; that is to say, he has never thought upon the subject.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. iii. Chap. iii. 1769.
It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. iii. Chap. iv.
That fellow seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one.[371-2]
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. iii. Chap. v. 1770.
I am a great friend to public amusements; for they keep people from vice.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. iii. Chap. viii. 1772.
A cow is a very good animal in the field; but we turn her out of a garden.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. iii. Chap. viii. 1772.
Much may be made of a Scotchman if he be caught young.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. iii. Chap. viii. 1772.
A man may write at any time if he will set himself doggedly to it.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. iv. Chap. ii. 1773.
Let him go abroad to a distant country; let him go to some place where he is not known. Don't let him go to the devil, where he is known.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. iv. Chap. ii. 1773.
Was ever poet so trusted before?
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. v. Chap. vi. 1774.
Attack is the reaction. I never think I have hit hard unless it rebounds.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. v. Chap. vi. 1775.
A man will turn over half a library to make one book.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. v. Chap. viii. 1775.
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. v. Chap. ix.
Hell is paved with good intentions.[372-1]
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. v. Chap. ix.
Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.[372-2]
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. v. Chap. ix.
I never take a nap after dinner but when I have had a bad night; and then the nap takes me.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vi. Chap. i. 1775.
In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vi. Chap. i. 1775.
There is now less flogging in our great schools than formerly,--but then less is learned there; so that what the boys get at one end they lose at the other.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vi. Chap. i. 1775.
There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.[372-3]
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vi. Chap. iii. 1776.
No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vi. Chap. iii. 1776.
Questioning is not the mode of conversation among gentlemen.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vi. Chap. iv. 1776.
A man is very apt to complain of the ingratitude of those who have risen far above him.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vi. Chap. iv. 1776.
All this [wealth] excludes but one evil,--poverty.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vi. Chap. ix. 1777.
Employment, sir, and hardships prevent melancholy.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vi. Chap. ix. 1777.
When a man is tired of London he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vi. Chap. ix. 1777.
He was so generally civil that nobody thanked him for it.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vi. Chap. ix. 1777.
Goldsmith, however, was a man who whatever he wrote, did it better than any other man could do.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vii. Chap. iii. 1778.
Johnson had said that he could repeat a complete chapter of "The Natural History of Iceland," from the Danish of Horrebow, the whole of which was exactly (Ch. lxxii. Concerning snakes) thus: "There are no snakes to be met with throughout the whole island."[373-1]
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vii. Chap. iv. 1778.
As the Spanish proverb says, "He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him," so it is in travelling,--a man must carry knowledge with him if he would bring home knowledge.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vii. Chap. v. 1778.
The true, strong, and sound mind is the mind that can embrace equally great things and small.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vii. Chap. vi. 1778.
I remember a passage in Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield," which he was afterwards fool enough to expunge: "I do not love a man who is zealous for nothing." . . . There was another fine passage too which he struck out: "When I was a young man, being anxious to distinguish myself, I was perpetually starting new propositions. But I soon gave this over; for I found that generally what was new was false."
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vii. Chap. viii. 1779.
Claret is the liquor for boys, port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vii. Chap. viii. 1779.
A Frenchman must be always talking, whether he knows anything of the matter or not; an Englishman is content to say nothing when he has nothing to say.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vii. Chap. x.
Of Dr. Goldsmith he said, "No man was more foolish when he had not a pen in his hand, or more wise when he had."
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vii. Chap. x.
The applause of a single human being is of great consequence.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vii. Chap. x.
The potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice.[374-1]
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. viii. Chap. ii.
Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. viii. Chap. iii. 1781.
My friend was of opinion that when a man of rank appeared in that character [as an author], he deserved to have his merits handsomely allowed.[374-2]
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. viii. Chap. iii. 1781.
I never have sought the world; the world was not to seek me.[374-3]
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. viii. Chap. v. 1783.
He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others.[374-4]
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. viii. Chap. v. 1784.
You see they 'd have fitted him to a T.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. viii. Chap. ix. 1784.
I have found you an argument; I am not obliged to find you an understanding.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. viii. Chap. ix. 1784.
Who drives fat oxen should himself be fat.[375-1]
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. viii. Chap. ix. 1784.
Blown about with every wind of criticism.[375-2]
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. viii. Chap. x. 1784.
If the man who turnips cries Cry not when his father dies, 'T is a proof that he had rather Have a turnip than his father.
Johnsoniana. Piozzi, 30.
He was a very good hater.
Johnsoniana. Piozzi, 39.
The law is the last result of human wisdom acting upon human experience for the benefit of the public.
Johnsoniana. Piozzi, 58.
The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.
Johnsoniana. Piozzi, 154.
Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.
Johnsoniana. Piozzi, 178.
Books that you may carry to the fire and hold readily in your hand, are the most useful after all.
Johnsoniana. Hawkins. 197.
Round numbers are always false.
Johnsoniana. Hawkins. 235.
As with my hat[375-3] upon my head I walk'd along the Strand, I there did meet another man With his hat in his hand.[375-4]
Johnsoniana. George Steevens. 310.
Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance would be difficult.
Johnsoniana. Hannah More. 467.
The limbs will quiver and move after the soul is gone.
Johnsoniana. Northcote. 487.
Hawkesworth said of Johnson, "You have a memory that would convict any author of plagiarism in any court of literature in the world."
Johnsoniana. Kearsley. 600.
His conversation does not show the minute-hand, but he strikes the hour very correctly.
Johnsoniana. Kearsley. 604.
Hunting was the labour of the savages of North America, but the amusement of the gentlemen of England.
Johnsoniana. Kearsley. 606.
I am very fond of the company of ladies. I like their beauty, I like their delicacy, I like their vivacity, and I like their silence.
Johnsoniana. Seward. 617.
This world, where much is to be done and little to be known.
Prayers and Meditations. Against inquisitive and perplexing Thoughts.
Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation; you do not find it among gross people.
Tour to the Hebrides. Sept. 20, 1773.
A fellow that makes no figure in company, and has a mind as narrow as the neck of a vinegar-cruet.
Tour to the Hebrides. Sept. 30, 1773.
The atrocious crime of being a young man, which the honourable gentleman has with such spirit and decency charged upon me, I shall neither attempt to palliate nor deny; but content myself with wishing that I may be one of those whose follies may cease with their youth, and not of that number who are ignorant in spite of experience.[376-1]
Pitt's Reply to Walpole. Speech, March 6, 1741.
Towering in the confidence of twenty-one.
Letter to Bennet Langton. Jan. 9, 1758.
Gloomy calm of idle vacancy.
Letter to Boswell. Dec. 8, 1763.
Wharton quotes Johnson as saying of Dr. Campbell, "He is the richest author that ever grazed the common of literature."
FOOTNOTES:
[365-1] All human race, from China to Peru, Pleasure, howe'er disguised by art, pursue.
THOMAS WARTON: Universal Love of Pleasure.
De Quincey (Works, vol. x. p. 72) quotes the criticism of some writer, who contends with some reason that this high-sounding couplet of Dr. Johnson amounts in effect to this: Let observation with extensive observation observe mankind extensively.
[366-1] Nothing in poverty so ill is borne As its exposing men to grinning scorn.
OLDHAM (1653-1683): Third Satire of Juvenal.
[366-2] Three years later Johnson wrote, "Mere unassisted merit advances slowly, if--what is not very common--it advances at all."
[366-3] Var. His ready help was always nigh.
[367-1] Var. Then with no fiery throbbing pain.
[367-2] Qui nullum fere scribendi genus Non tetigit, Nullum quod tetigit non ornavit.
See Chesterfield, page 353.
[367-3] A translation of Boethius's "De Consolatione Philosophiæ," iii. 9, 27.
[368-1] See Bacon, page 168.
[368-2] The italics and the word "forget" would seem to imply that the saying was not his own.
[368-3] Sir William Jones gives a similar saying in India: "Words are the daughters of earth, and deeds are the sons of heaven."
See Herbert, page 206. Sir THOMAS BODLEY: Letter to his Librarian, 1604.
[369-1] From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835.
Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell's intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell's!--CARLYLE: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter.
[369-2] See Pope, page 331.
[370-1] I do not find that the age or country makes the least difference; no, nor the language the actor spoke, nor the religion which they professed,--whether Arab in the desert, or Frenchman in the Academy. I see that sensible men and conscientious men all over the world were of one religion of well-doing and daring.--EMERSON: The Preacher. Lectures and Biographical Sketches, p. 215.
[371-1] Every investigation which is guided by principles of nature fixes its ultimate aim entirely on gratifying the stomach.--ATHENÆUS: Book vii. chap. ii.
[371-2] Mr. Kremlin was distinguished for ignorance; for he had only one idea, and that was wrong.--DISRAELI: _Sybil, book iv. chap. 5._
[372-1] See Herbert, page 205.
Do not be troubled by Saint Bernard's saying that hell is full of good intentions and wills.--FRANCIS DE SALES: Spiritual Letters. Letter xii. (Translated by the author of "A Dominican Artist.") 1605.
[372-2] Scire ubi aliquid invenire possis, ea demum maxima pars eruditionis est (To know where you can find anything, that in short is the largest part of learning).--ANONYMOUS.
[372-3] 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.
SHENSTONE: Written on a Window of an Inn.
[373-1] Chapter xlii. is still shorter: "There are no owls of any kind in the whole island."
[374-1] I am rich beyond the dreams of avarice.--EDWARD MOORE: The Gamester, act ii. sc. 2. 1753.
[374-2] Usually quoted as "When a nobleman writes a book, he ought to be encouraged."
[374-3] I have not loved the world, nor the world me.--BYRON: Childe Harold, canto iii. stanza 113.
[374-4] See Shakespeare, page 88.
[375-1] A parody on "Who rules o'er freemen should himself be free," from Brooke's "Gustavus Vasa," first edition.
[375-2] Carried about with every wind of doctrine.--Ephesians iv. 14.
[375-3] Elsewhere found, "I put my hat."
[375-4] A parody on Percy's "Hermit of Warkworth."
[376-1] This is the composition of Johnson, founded on some note or statement of the actual speech. Johnson said, "That speech I wrote in a garret, in Exeter Street." BOSWELL: Life of Johnson, 1741.
LORD LYTTLETON. 1709-1773.
For his chaste Muse employ'd her heaven-taught lyre None but the noblest passions to inspire, Not one immoral, one corrupted thought, One line which, dying, he could wish to blot.
Prologue to Thomson's Coriolanus.
Women, like princes, find few real friends.
Advice to a Lady.
What is your sex's earliest, latest care, Your heart's supreme ambition? To be fair.
Advice to a Lady.
The lover in the husband may be lost.
Advice to a Lady.
How much the wife is dearer than the bride.
An Irregular Ode.
None without hope e'er lov'd the brightest fair, But love can hope where reason would despair.
Epigram.
Where none admire, 't is useless to excel; Where none are beaux, 't is vain to be a belle.
Soliloquy on a Beauty in the Country.
Alas! by some degree of woe We every bliss must gain; The heart can ne'er a transport know That never feels a pain.
Song.
EDWARD MOORE. 1712-1757.
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?
The Farmer, the Spaniel, and the Cat. Fable ix.
The maid who modestly conceals Her beauties, while she hides, reveals; Give but a glimpse, and fancy draws Whate'er the Grecian Venus was.
The Spider and the Bee. Fable x.
But from the hoop's bewitching round, Her very shoe has power to wound.
The Spider and the Bee. Fable x.
Time still, as he flies, brings increase to her truth, And gives to her mind what he steals from her youth.
The Happy Marriage.
I am rich beyond the dreams of avarice.[378-1]
The Gamester. Act ii. Sc. 2.
'T is now the summer of your youth. Time has not cropt the roses from your cheek, though sorrow long has washed them.
The Gamester. Act iii. Sc. 4.
Labour for his pains.[378-2]
The Boy and the Rainbow.
FOOTNOTES:
[378-1] See Johnson, page 374.
[378-2] See Shakespeare, page 101.
LAURENCE STERNE. 1713-1768.
Go, poor devil, get thee gone! Why should I hurt thee? This world surely is wide enough to hold both thee and me.
Tristram Shandy (orig. ed.). Vol. ii. chap. xii.
Great wits jump.[378-3]
Tristram Shandy (orig. ed.). Vol. iii. Chap. ix.
"Our armies swore terribly in Flanders," cried my Uncle Toby, "but nothing to this."
Tristram Shandy (orig. ed.). Vol. iii. Chap. xi.
Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world, though the cant of hypocrites may be the worst, the cant of criticism is the most tormenting!
Tristram Shandy (orig. ed.). Vol. iii. Chap. xii.
The accusing spirit, which flew up to heaven's chancery with the oath, blushed as he gave it in; and the recording angel as he wrote it down dropped a tear upon the word and blotted it out forever.[379-1]
Tristram Shandy (orig. ed.). Vol. vi. Chap. viii.
I am sick as a horse.
Tristram Shandy (orig. ed.). Vol. vii. Chap. xi.
"They order," said I, "this matter better in France."
Sentimental Journey. Page 1.
I pity the man who can travel from Dan to Beersheba and cry, "'T is all barren!"
In the Street. Calais.
God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb.[379-2]
Maria.
"Disguise thyself as thou wilt, still, Slavery," said I, "still thou art a bitter draught."
The Passport. The Hotel at Paris.
The sad vicissitude of things.[379-3]
Sermon xvi.
Trust that man in nothing who has not a conscience in everything.
Sermon xxvii.
FOOTNOTES:
[378-3] Great wits jump.--BYROM: The Nimmers. BUCKINGHAM: The Chances, act. iv. sc. 1.
Good wits jump.--CERVANTES: Don Quixote, part ii. Chap. xxxviii.
[379-1] But sad as angels for the good man's sin, Weep to record, and blush to give it in.
CAMPBELL: Pleasures of Hope, part ii. line 357.
[379-2] Dieu mésure le froid à la brebis tondue (God measures the cold to the shorn lamb).--HENRI ESTIENNE (1594): _Prémices, etc. p. 47._
See Herbert, page 206.
[379-3] Revolves the sad vicissitudes of things.--R. GIFFORD: Contemplation.
WILLIAM SHENSTONE. 1714-1763.
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.[379-4]
Written on a Window of an Inn.
So sweetly she bade me adieu, I thought that she bade me return.
A Pastoral. Part i.
I have found out a gift for my fair; I have found where the wood-pigeons breed.
A Pastoral. Part i.
My banks they are furnish'd with bees, Whose murmur invites one to sleep.
A Pastoral. Part ii. Hope.
For seldom shall she hear a tale So sad, so tender, and so true.
Jemmy Dawson.
Her cap, far whiter than the driven snow, Emblems right meet of decency does yield.
The Schoolmistress. Stanza 6.
Pun-provoking thyme.
The Schoolmistress. Stanza 11.
A little bench of heedless bishops here, And there a chancellor in embryo.
The Schoolmistress. Stanza 28.
FOOTNOTES:
[379-4] See Johnson, page 372.
Archbishop Leighton often said that if he were to choose a place to die in, it should be an inn.--Works, vol. i. p. 76.
JOHN BROWN. 1715-1766.
Now let us thank the Eternal Power: convinced That Heaven but tries our virtue by affliction,-- That oft the cloud which wraps the present hour Serves but to brighten all our future days.
Barbarossa. Act v. Sc. 3.
And coxcombs vanquish Berkeley by a grin.
An Essay on Satire, occasioned by the Death of Mr. Pope.[380-1]
FOOTNOTES:
[380-1] ANDERSON: British Poets, vol. x. p. 879. See note in "Contemporary Review," September, 1867, p. 4.
JAMES TOWNLEY. 1715-1778.
Kitty. Shikspur? Shikspur? Who wrote it? No, I never read Shikspur.
Lady Bab. Then you have an immense pleasure to come.
High Life below Stairs. Act ii. Sc. 1.
From humble Port to imperial Tokay.
High Life below Stairs. Act ii. Sc. 1.
THOMAS GRAY. 1716-1771.
What female heart can gold despise? What cat 's averse to fish?
On the death of a Favourite Cat.
A fav'rite has no friend!
On the death of a Favourite Cat.
Ye distant spires, ye antique towers.
On a Distant Prospect of Eton College. Stanza 1.
Ah, happy hills! ah, pleasing shade! Ah, fields beloved in vain! Where once my careless childhood stray'd, A stranger yet to pain! I feel the gales that from ye blow A momentary bliss bestow.
On a Distant Prospect of Eton College. Stanza 2.
They hear a voice in every wind, And snatch a fearful joy.
On a Distant Prospect of Eton College. Stanza 4.
Gay hope is theirs by fancy fed, Less pleasing when possest; The tear forgot as soon as shed, The sunshine of the breast.
On a Distant Prospect of Eton College. Stanza 5.
Alas! regardless of their doom, The little victims play; No sense have they of ills to come, Nor care beyond to-day.
On a Distant Prospect of Eton College. Stanza 6.
Ah, tell them they are men!
On a Distant Prospect of Eton College. Stanza 6.
And moody madness laughing wild Amid severest woe.
On a Distant Prospect of Eton College. Stanza 8.
To each his suff'rings; all are men, Condemn'd alike to groan,-- The tender for another's pain, Th' unfeeling for his own. Yet ah! why should they know their fate, Since sorrow never comes too late, And happiness too swiftly flies? Thought would destroy their paradise. No more; where ignorance is bliss, 'T is folly to be wise.[382-1]
On a Distant Prospect of Eton College. Stanza 10.
Daughter of Jove, relentless power, Thou tamer of the human breast, Whose iron scourge and tort'ring hour The bad affright, afflict the best!
Hymn to Adversity.
From Helicon's harmonious springs A thousand rills their mazy progress take.
The Progress of Poesy. I. 1, Line 3.
Glance their many-twinkling feet.
The Progress of Poesy. I. 3, Line 11.
O'er her warm cheek and rising bosom move The bloom of young Desire and purple light of Love.[382-2]
The Progress of Poesy. I. 3, Line 16.
Her track, where'er the goddess roves, Glory pursue, and gen'rous shame, Th' unconquerable mind,[382-3] and freedom's holy flame.
The Progress of Poesy. II. 2, Line 10.
Or ope the sacred source of sympathetic tears.
The Progress of Poesy. III. 1, Line 12.
He pass'd the flaming bounds of place and time: The living throne, the sapphire blaze, Where angels tremble while they gaze, He saw; but blasted with excess of light, Closed his eyes in endless night.
The Progress of Poesy. III. 2, Line 4.
Bright-eyed Fancy, hov'ring o'er, Scatters from her pictured urn Thoughts that breathe and words that burn.[382-4]
The Progress of Poesy. III. 3, Line 2.
Beyond the limits of a vulgar fate, Beneath the good how far,--but far above the great.
The Progress of Poesy. III. 3, Line 16.
Ruin seize thee, ruthless king! Confusion on thy banners wait! Though fann'd by Conquest's crimson wing, They mock the air with idle state.
The Bard. I. 1, Line 1.
Loose his beard, and hoary hair Stream'd like a meteor to the troubled air.[383-1]
The Bard. I. 2, Line 5.
To high-born Hoel's harp, or soft Llewellyn's lay.
The Bard. I. 2, Line 14.
Dear as the light that visits these sad eyes; Dear as the ruddy drops that warm my heart.[383-2]
The Bard. I. 3, Line 12.
Weave the warp, and weave the woof, The winding-sheet of Edward's race. Give ample room and verge enough[383-3] The characters of hell to trace.
The Bard. II. 1, Line 1.
Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows; While proudly riding o'er the azure realm In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes, Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm; Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind's sway, That hush'd in grim repose expects his evening prey.
The Bard. II. 2, Line 9.
Ye towers of Julius, London's lasting shame, With many a foul and midnight murder fed.
The Bard. II. 3, Line 11.
Visions of glory, spare my aching sight! Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my soul!
The Bard. III. 1, Line 11.
And truth severe, by fairy fiction drest.
The Bard. III. 3, Line 3.
Comus and his midnight crew.
Ode for Music. Line 2.
While bright-eyed Science watches round.
Ode for Music. Chorus. Line 3.
The still small voice of gratitude.
Ode for Music. V. Line 8.
Iron sleet of arrowy shower Hurtles in the darken'd air.
The Fatal Sisters. Line 3.
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,[384-1] The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 1.
Each in his narrow cell forever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 4.
The breezy call of incense-breathing morn.
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 5.
Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile The short and simple annals of the poor.
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 8.
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Await alike the inevitable hour. The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 9.
Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault, The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 10.
Can storied urn, or animated bust, Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Can honour's voice provoke the silent dust, Or flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of death?
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 11.
Hands that the rod of empire might have sway'd, Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre.
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 12.
But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page, Rich with the spoils of time, did ne'er unroll;[384-2] Chill penury repress'd their noble rage, And froze the genial current of the soul.
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 13.
Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air.[385-1]
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 14.
Some village Hampden, that with dauntless breast The little tyrant of his fields withstood, Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest, Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 15.
The applause of list'ning senates to command, The threats of pain and ruin to despise, To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, And read their history in a nation's eyes.
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 16.
Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne, And shut the gates of mercy on mankind.
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 17.
Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray; Along the cool sequester'd vale of life They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.[385-2]
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 19.
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 20.
And many a holy text around she strews, That teach the rustic moralist to die.
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 21.
For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd, Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, Nor cast one longing ling'ring look behind?
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 22.
E'en from the tomb the voice of nature cries, E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires.[385-3]
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 23.
Brushing with hasty steps the dews away, To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 25.
One morn I miss'd him on the custom'd hill, Along the heath, and near his fav'rite tree: Another came; nor yet beside the rill, Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he.
Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 28.
Here rests his head upon the lap of earth, A youth to fortune and to fame unknown: Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth, And Melancholy mark'd him for her own.[386-1]
The Epitaph.
Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere, Heaven did a recompense as largely send: He gave to mis'ry (all he had) a tear, He gained from Heav'n ('t was all he wish'd) a friend.
The Epitaph.
No further seek his merits to disclose, Or draw his frailties from their dread abode (There they alike in trembling hope repose), The bosom of his Father and his God.
The Epitaph.
And weep the more, because I weep in vain.
Sonnet. On the Death of Mr. West.
Rich windows that exclude the light, And passages that lead to nothing.
A Long Story.
The hues of bliss more brightly glow, Chastised by sabler tints of woe.
Ode on the Pleasure arising from Vicissitude. Line 45.
The meanest floweret of the vale, The simplest note that swells the gale, The common sun, the air, the skies, To him are opening paradise.
Ode on the Pleasure arising from Vicissitude. Line 53.
And hie him home, at evening's close, To sweet repast and calm repose.
Ode on the Pleasure arising from Vicissitude. Line 87.
From toil he wins his spirits light, From busy day the peaceful night; Rich, from the very want of wealth, In heaven's best treasures, peace and health.
Ode on the Pleasure arising from Vicissitude. Line 93.
The social smile, the sympathetic tear.
Education and Government.
When love could teach a monarch to be wise, And gospel-light first dawn'd from Bullen's eyes.[387-1]
Too poor for a bribe, and too proud to importune; He had not the method of making a fortune.
On his own Character.
Now as the Paradisiacal pleasures of the Mahometans consist in playing upon the flute and lying with Houris, be mine to read eternal new romances of Marivaux and Crebillon.
To Mr. West. Letter iv. Third Series.
FOOTNOTES:
[382-1] See Davenant, page 217.
He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.--Ecclesiastes i. 18.
[382-2] The light of love.--BYRON: _Bride of Abydos, canto i. stanza 6._
[382-3] Unconquerable mind.--WORDSWORTH: _To Toussaint L' Ouverture._
[382-4] See Cowley, page 262.
[383-1] See Cowley, page 261. Milton, page 224.
[383-2] See Shakespeare, page 112. Otway, page 280.
[383-3] See Dryden, page 277.
[384-1] The first edition reads,--
"The lowing herds wind slowly o'er the lea."
[384-2] See Sir Thomas Browne, page 217.
[385-1] See Young, page 311.
Nor waste their sweetness in the desert air.--CHURCHILL: Gotham, book ii. line 20.
[385-2] Usually quoted "even tenor of their way."
[385-3] See Chaucer, page 3.
[386-1] See Walton, page 208.
[387-1] This was intended to be introduced in the "Alliance of Education and Government."--Mason's edition of Gray, vol. iii. p. 114.
DAVID GARRICK. 1716-1779.
Corrupted freemen are the worst of slaves.
Prologue to the Gamesters.
Their cause I plead,--plead it in heart and mind; A fellow-feeling makes one wondrous kind.[387-2]
Prologue on Quitting the Stage in 1776.
Prologues like compliments are loss of time; 'T is penning bows and making legs in rhyme.
Prologue to Crisp's Tragedy of Virginia.
Let others hail the rising sun: I bow to that whose course is run.[387-3]
On the Death of Mr. Pelham.
This scholar, rake, Christian, dupe, gamester, and poet.
Jupiter and Mercury.
Hearts of oak are our ships, Hearts of oak are our men.[388-1]
Hearts of Oak.
Here lies James Quinn. Deign, reader, to be taught, Whate'er thy strength of body, force of thought, In Nature's happiest mould however cast, To this complexion thou must come at last.
Epitaph on Quinn. Murphy's Life of Garrick, Vol. ii. p. 38.
Are these the choice dishes the Doctor has sent us? Is this the great poet whose works so content us? This Goldsmith's fine feast, who has written fine books? Heaven sends us good meat, but the Devil sends cooks?[388-2]
Epigram on Goldsmith's Retaliation. Vol. ii. p. 157.
Here lies Nolly Goldsmith, for shortness called Noll, Who wrote like an angel, and talk'd like poor Poll.
Impromptu Epitaph on Goldsmith.
FOOTNOTES:
[387-2] See Burton, page 185.
[387-3] Pompey bade Sylla recollect that more worshipped the rising than the setting sun.--PLUTARCH: Life of Pompey.
[388-1] Our ships were British oak, And hearts of oak our men.
S. J. ARNOLD: Death of Nelson.
[388-2] See Tusser, page 20.
WILLIAM B. RHODES. Circa 1790.
Who dares this pair of boots displace, Must meet Bombastes face to face.[388-3]
Bombastes Furioso. Act i. Sc. 4.
Bom. So have I heard on Afric's burning shore A hungry lion give a grievous roar; The grievous roar echoed along the shore.
Artax. So have I heard on Afric's burning shore Another lion give a grievous roar; And the first lion thought the last a bore.
Bombastes Furioso. Act i. Sc. 4.
FOOTNOTES:
[388-3] Let none but he these arms displace, Who dares Orlando's fury face.
CERVANTES: Don Quixote, part ii. chap. lxvi.
RAY: Proverbs. THOMAS: English Prose Romance, page 85.
MRS. GREVILLE.[389-1] Circa 1793.
Nor peace nor ease the heart can know Which, like the needle true, Turns at the touch of joy or woe, But turning, trembles too.
A Prayer for Indifference.
FOOTNOTES:
[389-1] The pretty Fanny Macartney.--WALPOLE: Memoirs.
HORACE WALPOLE. 1717-1797.
Harry Vane, Pulteney's toad-eater,
Letter to Sir Horace Mann, 1742.
The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those who feel.
Letter to Sir Horace Mann, 1770.
A careless song, with a little nonsense in it now and then, does not misbecome a monarch.[389-2]
Letter to Sir Horace Mann, 1774.
The whole [Scotch] nation hitherto has been void of wit and humour, and even incapable of relishing it.[389-3]
Letter to Sir Horace Mann, 1778.
FOOTNOTES:
[389-2] A little nonsense now and then Is relished by the wisest men.
ANONYMOUS.
[389-3] It requires a surgical operation to get a joke well into a Scotch understanding.--SYDNEY SMITH: Lady Holland's Memoir, vol i. p. 15.
WILLIAM COLLINS. 1720-1756.
In numbers warmly pure and sweetly strong.
Ode to Simplicity.
Well may your hearts believe the truths I tell: 'T is virtue makes the bliss, where'er we dwell.[389-4]
Oriental Eclogues. 1, Line 5.
How sleep the brave who sink to rest By all their country's wishes bless'd!
Ode written in the year 1746.
By fairy hands their knell is rung;[389-5] By forms unseen their dirge is sung; There Honour comes, a pilgrim gray, To bless the turf that wraps their clay; And Freedom shall awhile repair, To dwell a weeping hermit there!
Ode written in the year 1746.
When Music, heavenly maid, was young, While yet in early Greece she sung.
The Passions. Line 1.
Fill'd with fury, rapt, inspired.
The Passions. Line 10.
'T was sad by fits, by starts 't was wild.
The Passions. Line 28.
In notes by distance made more sweet.[390-1]
The Passions. Line 60.
In hollow murmurs died away.
The Passions. Line 68.
O Music! sphere-descended maid, Friend of Pleasure, Wisdom's aid!
The Passions. Line 95.
In yonder grave a Druid lies.
Death of Thomson.
Too nicely Jonson knew the critic's part; Nature in him was almost lost in Art.
To Sir Thomas Hammer on his Edition of Shakespeare.
Each lonely scene shall thee restore; For thee the tear be duly shed, Belov'd till life can charm no more, And mourn'd till Pity's self be dead.
Dirge in Cymbeline.
FOOTNOTES:
[389-4] See Pope, page 320.
[389-5] Var. By hands unseen the knell is rung; By fairy forms their dirge is sung.
[390-1] Sweetest melodies Are those that are by distance made more sweet.
WORDSWORTH: Personal Talk, stanza 2.
JAMES MERRICK. 1720-1769.
Not what we wish, but what we want, Oh, let thy grace supply![390-2]
Hymn.
Oft has it been my lot to mark A proud, conceited, talking spark.
The Chameleon.
FOOTNOTES:
[390-2] Mê moi genoith' a boulom' all' a sympherei (Let not that happen which I wish, but that which is right).--MENANDER: Fragment.
SAMUEL FOOTE. 1720-1777.
He made him a hut, wherein he did put The carcass of Robinson Crusoe. O poor Robinson Crusoe!
The Mayor of Garratt. Act i. Sc. 1.
Born in a cellar, and living in a garret.[391-1]
The Author. Act ii.
FOOTNOTES:
[391-1] See Congreve, page 294.
Born in the garret, in the kitchen bred.--BYRON: A Sketch.
JAMES FORDYCE. 1720-1796.
Henceforth the majesty of God revere; Fear Him, and you have nothing else to fear.[391-2]
Answer to a Gentleman who apologized to the Author for Swearing.
FOOTNOTES:
[391-2] Je crains Dieu, cher Abner, et n'ai point d'autre crainte (I fear God, dear Abner, and I have no other fear).--RACINE: Athalie, act i. sc. 1 (1639-1699).
From Piety, whose soul sincere Fears God, and knows no other fear.
W. SMYTH: Ode for the Installation of the Duke of Gloucester as Chancellor of Cambridge.
MARK AKENSIDE. 1721-1770.
Such and so various are the tastes of men.
Pleasures of the Imagination. Book iii. Line 567.
Than Timoleon's arms require, And Tully's curule chair, and Milton's golden lyre.
Ode. On a Sermon against Glory. Stanza ii.
The man forget not, though in rags he lies, And know the mortal through a crown's disguise.
Epistle to Curio.
Seeks painted trifles and fantastic toys, And eagerly pursues imaginary joys.
The Virtuoso. Stanza x.
TOBIAS SMOLLETT. 1721-1771.
Thy spirit, Independence, let me share; Lord of the lion heart and eagle eye, Thy steps I follow with my bosom bare, Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky.
Ode to Independence.
Thy fatal shafts unerring move, I bow before thine altar, Love!
Roderick Random. Chap. xl.
Facts are stubborn things.[392-1]
Translation of Gil Blas. Book x. Chap. 1.
FOOTNOTES:
[392-1] Facts are stubborn things.--ELLIOT: _Essay on Field Husbandry, p. 35_ (1747).
SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE. 1723-1780.
The royal navy of England hath ever been its greatest defence and ornament; it is its ancient and natural strength,--the floating bulwark of our island.
Commentaries. Vol. i. Book i. Chap. xiii. § 418.
Time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary.
Commentaries. Vol. i. Book i. Chap. xviii. § 472.
JOHN HOME. 1724-1808.
In the first days Of my distracting grief, I found myself As women wish to be who love their lords.
Douglas. Act i. Sc. 1.
I 'll woo her as the lion wooes his brides.
Douglas. Act i. Sc. 1.
My name is Norval; on the Grampian hills My father feeds his flocks; a frugal swain, Whose constant cares were to increase his store, And keep his only son, myself, at home.
Douglas. Act ii. Sc. 1.
A rude and boisterous captain of the sea.
Douglas. Act iv. Sc. 1.
Like Douglas conquer, or like Douglas die.
Douglas. Act v. Sc. 1.
WILLIAM MASON. 1725-1797.
The fattest hog in Epicurus' sty.[393-1]
Heroic Epistle.
FOOTNOTES:
[393-1] Me pinguem et nitidum bene curata cute vises, . . . Epicuri de grege porcum
(You may see me, fat and shining, with well-cared for hide,-- . . . a hog from Epicurus' herd).--HORACE: Epistolæ, lib. i. iv. 15, 16.
RICHARD GIFFORD. 1725-1807.
Verse sweetens toil, however rude the sound; She feels no biting pang the while she sings; Nor, as she turns the giddy wheel around,[393-2] Revolves the sad vicissitudes of things.[393-3]
Contemplation.
FOOTNOTES:
[393-2] Thus altered by Johnson,--
All at her work the village maiden sings, Nor, while she turns the giddy wheel around.
[393-3] See Sterne, page 379.
ARTHUR MURPHY. 1727-1805.
Thus far we run before the wind.
The Apprentice. Act v. Sc. 1.
Above the vulgar flight of common souls.
Zenobia. Act v.
Picked up his crumbs.
The Upholsterer. Act i.
JANE ELLIOTT. 1727-1805.
The flowers of the forest are a' wide awae.[393-4]
The Flowers of the Forest.
FOOTNOTES:
[393-4] This line appears in the "Flowers of the Forest," part second, a later poem by Mrs. Cockburn. See Dyce's "Specimens of British Poetesses," p. 374.
OLIVER GOLDSMITH. 1728-1774.
Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow, Or by the lazy Scheld or wandering Po.
The Traveller. Line 1.
Where'er I roam, whatever realms to see, My heart untravell'd fondly turns to thee; Still to my brother turns with ceaseless pain, And drags at each remove a lengthening chain.
The Traveller. Line 7.
And learn the luxury of doing good.[394-1]
The Traveller. Line 22.
Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view.
The Traveller. Line 26.
These little things are great to little man.
The Traveller. Line 42.
Creation's heir, the world, the world is mine!
The Traveller. Line 50.
Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roam,-- His first, best country ever is at home.
The Traveller. Line 73.
Where wealth and freedom reign contentment fails, And honour sinks where commerce long prevails.
The Traveller. Line 91.
Man seems the only growth that dwindles here.
The Traveller. Line 126.
The canvas glow'd beyond ev'n Nature warm, The pregnant quarry teem'd with human form.[394-2]
The Traveller. Line 137.
By sports like these are all their cares beguil'd; The sports of children satisfy the child.
The Traveller. Line 153.
But winter lingering chills the lap of May.
The Traveller. Line 172.
Cheerful at morn, he wakes from short repose, Breasts the keen air, and carols as he goes.
The Traveller. Line 185.
So the loud torrent and the whirlwind's roar But bind him to his native mountains more.
The Traveller. Line 217.
Alike all ages. Dames of ancient days Have led their children through the mirthful maze, And the gay grandsire, skill'd in gestic lore, Has frisk'd beneath the burden of threescore.
The Traveller. Line 251.
They please, are pleas'd; they give to get esteem, Till seeming blest, they grow to what they seem.[395-1]
The Traveller. Line 266.
Embosom'd in the deep where Holland lies. Methinks her patient sons before me stand, Where the broad ocean leans against the land.
The Traveller. Line 282.
Pride in their port, defiance in their eye, I see the lords of humankind pass by.[395-2]
The Traveller. Line 327.
The land of scholars and the nurse of arms.
The Traveller. Line 356.
For just experience tells, in every soil, That those that think must govern those that toil.
The Traveller. Line 372.
Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.
The Traveller. Line 386.
Forc'd from their homes, a melancholy train, To traverse climes beyond the western main; Where wild Oswego spreads her swamps around, And Niagara stuns with thundering sound.
The Traveller. Line 409.
Vain, very vain, my weary search to find That bliss which only centres in the mind.
The Traveller. Line 423.
Luke's iron crown, and Damien's bed of steel.[395-3]
The Traveller. Line 436.
Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain.
The Deserted Village. Line 1.
The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade, For talking age and whispering lovers made.
The Deserted Village. Line 13.
The bashful virgin's sidelong looks of love.
The Deserted Village. Line 29.
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay. Princes and lords may flourish or may fade,-- A breath can make them, as a breath has made;[396-1] But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, When once destroy'd, can never be supplied.
The Deserted Village. Line 51.
His best companions, innocence and health; And his best riches, ignorance of wealth.
The Deserted Village. Line 61.
How blest is he who crowns in shades like these A youth of labour with an age of ease!
The Deserted Village. Line 99.
While Resignation gently slopes away, And all his prospects brightening to the last, His heaven commences ere the world be past.
The Deserted Village. Line 110.
The watch-dog's voice that bay'd the whispering wind, And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.
The Deserted Village. Line 121.
A man he was to all the country dear, And passing rich with forty pounds a year.
The Deserted Village. Line 141.
Wept o'er his wounds, or tales of sorrow done, Shoulder'd his crutch, and shew'd how fields were won.
The Deserted Village. Line 157.
Careless their merits or their faults to scan, His pity gave ere charity began. Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride, And even his failings lean'd to Virtue's side.
The Deserted Village. Line 161.
And as a bird each fond endearment tries To tempt its new-fledg'd offspring to the skies, He tried each art, reprov'd each dull delay, Allur'd to brighter worlds, and led the way.
The Deserted Village. Line 167.
Truth from his lips prevail'd with double sway, And fools who came to scoff, remain'd to pray.[397-1]
The Deserted Village. Line 179.
Even children follow'd with endearing wile, And pluck'd his gown, to share the good man's smile.
The Deserted Village. Line 183.
As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm,-- Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head.
The Deserted Village. Line 189.
Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace The day's disasters in his morning face; Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee At all his jokes, for many a joke had he; Full well the busy whisper circling round Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frown'd. Yet was he kind, or if severe in aught, The love he bore to learning was in fault; The village all declar'd how much he knew, 'T was certain he could write and cipher too.
The Deserted Village. Line 199.
In arguing too, the parson own'd his skill, For e'en though vanquish'd he could argue still; While words of learned length and thundering sound Amaz'd the gazing rustics rang'd around; And still they gaz'd, and still the wonder grew That one small head could carry all he knew.
The Deserted Village. Line 209.
Where village statesmen talk'd with looks profound, And news much older than their ale went round.
The Deserted Village. Line 223.
The whitewash'd wall, the nicely sanded floor, The varnish'd clock that click'd behind the door; The chest, contriv'd a double debt to pay,-- A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day.[397-2]
The Deserted Village. Line 227.
The twelve good rules, the royal game of goose.[398-1]
The Deserted Village. Line 232.
To me more dear, congenial to my heart, One native charm, than all the gloss of art.
The Deserted Village. Line 253.
And e'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy, The heart distrusting asks if this be joy.
The Deserted Village. Line 263.
Her modest looks the cottage might adorn, Sweet as the primrose peeps beneath the thorn.
The Deserted Village. Line 329.
Through torrid tracts with fainting steps they go, Where wild Altama murmurs to their woe.
The Deserted Village. Line 344.
In all the silent manliness of grief.
The Deserted Village. Line 384.
O Luxury! thou curst by Heaven's decree!
The Deserted Village. Line 385.
Thou source of all my bliss and all my woe, That found'st me poor at first, and keep'st me so.
The Deserted Village. Line 413.
Such dainties to them, their health it might hurt; It 's like sending them ruffles when wanting a shirt.[398-2]
The Haunch of Venison.
As aromatic plants bestow No spicy fragrance while they grow; But crush'd or trodden to the ground, Diffuse their balmy sweets around.[398-3]
The Captivity. Act i.
To the last moment of his breath, On hope the wretch relies; And even the pang preceding death Bids expectation rise.[398-4]
The Captivity. Act ii.
Hope, like the gleaming taper's light, Adorns and cheers our way;[399-1] And still, as darker grows the night, Emits a brighter ray.
The Captivity. Act ii.
Our Garrick 's a salad; for in him we see Oil, vinegar, sugar, and saltness agree!
Retaliation. Line 11.
Who mix'd reason with pleasure, and wisdom with mirth: If he had any faults, he has left us in doubt.
Retaliation. Line 24.
Who, born for the universe, narrow'd his mind, And to party gave up what was meant for mankind; Though fraught with all learning, yet straining his throat To persuade Tommy Townshend to lend him a vote. Who too deep for his hearers still went on refining, And thought of convincing while they thought of dining: Though equal to all things, for all things unfit; Too nice for a statesman, too proud for a wit.
Retaliation. Line 31.
His conduct still right, with his argument wrong.
Retaliation. Line 46.
A flattering painter, who made it his care To draw men as they ought to be, not as they are.
Retaliation. Line 63.
Here lies David Garrick, describe me who can, An abridgment of all that was pleasant in man.
Retaliation. Line 93.
As a wit, if not first, in the very first line.
Retaliation. Line 96.
On the stage he was natural, simple, affecting; 'T was only that when he was off he was acting.
Retaliation. Line 101.
He cast off his friends as a huntsman his pack, For he knew when he pleas'd he could whistle them back.
Retaliation. Line 107.
Who pepper'd the highest was surest to please.
Retaliation. Line 112.
When they talk'd of their Raphaels, Correggios, and stuff, He shifted his trumpet and only took snuff.
Retaliation. Line 145.
The best-humour'd man, with the worst-humour'd Muse.[400-1]
Postscript.
Good people all, with one accord, Lament for Madam Blaize, Who never wanted a good word From those who spoke her praise.
Elegy on Mrs. Mary Blaize.[400-2]
The king himself has followed her When she has walk'd before.
Elegy on Mrs. Mary Blaize.
A kind and gentle heart he had, To comfort friends and foes; The naked every day he clad When he put on his clothes.
Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog.
And in that town a dog was found, As many dogs there be, Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound, And curs of low degree.
Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog.
The dog, to gain his private ends, Went mad, and bit the man.
Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog.
The man recovered of the bite, The dog it was that died.[400-3]
Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog.
A night-cap deck'd his brows instead of bay,-- A cap by night, a stocking all the day.[401-1]
Description of an Author's Bed-chamber.
This same philosophy is a good horse in the stable, but an arrant jade on a journey.[401-2]
The Good-Natured Man. Act i.
All his faults are such that one loves him still the better for them.
The Good-Natured Man. Act i.
Silence gives consent.[401-3]
The Good-Natured Man. Act ii.
Measures, not men, have always been my mark.[401-4]
The Good-Natured Man. Act ii.
I love everything that 's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine.[401-5]
She Stoops to Conquer. Act i.
The very pink of perfection.
She Stoops to Conquer. Act i.
The genteel thing is the genteel thing any time, if as be that a gentleman bees in a concatenation accordingly.
She Stoops to Conquer. Act i.
I 'll be with you in the squeezing of a lemon.
She Stoops to Conquer. Act i.
Ask me no questions, and I 'll tell you no fibs.
She Stoops to Conquer. Act iii.
We sometimes had those little rubs which Providence sends to enhance the value of its favours.
Vicar of Wakefield. Chap. i.
Handsome is that handsome does.[401-6]
Vicar of Wakefield. Chap. i.
The premises being thus settled, I proceed to observe that the concatenation of self-existence, proceeding in a reciprocal duplicate ratio, naturally produces a problematical dialogism, which in some measure proves that the essence of spirituality may be referred to the second predicable.
Vicar of Wakefield. Chap. vii.
I find you want me to furnish you with argument and intellect too.
Vicar of Wakefield. Chap. vii.
Turn, gentle Hermit of the Dale, And guide my lonely way To where yon taper cheers the vale With hospitable ray.
The Hermit. Chap. viii. Stanza 1.
Taught by that Power that pities me, I learn to pity them.[402-1]
The Hermit. Chap. viii. Stanza 6.
Man wants but little here below, Nor wants that little long.[402-2]
The Hermit. Chap. viii. Stanza 8.
And what is friendship but a name, A charm that lulls to sleep, A shade that follows wealth or fame, And leaves the wretch to weep?
The Hermit. Chap. viii. Stanza 19.
The sigh that rends thy constant heart Shall break thy Edwin's too.
The Hermit. Chap. viii. Stanza 33.
By the living jingo, she was all of a muck of sweat.
The Hermit. Chap. ix.
They would talk of nothing but high life, and high-lived company, with other fashionable topics, such as pictures, taste, Shakespeare, and the musical glasses.
The Hermit. Chap. ix.
It has been a thousand times observed, and I must observe it once more, that the hours we pass with happy prospects in view are more pleasing than those crowned with fruition.[402-3]
The Hermit. Chap. x.
To what happy accident[402-4] is it that we owe so unexpected a visit?
The Hermit. Chap. xix.
When lovely woman stoops to folly, And finds too late that men betray, What charm can soothe her melancholy? What art can wash her guilt away?
The Hermit. On Woman. Chap. xxiv.
The only art her guilt to cover, To hide her shame from every eye, To give repentance to her lover, And wring his bosom, is--to die.
The Hermit. On Woman. Chap. xxiv.
To what fortuitous occurrence do we not owe every pleasure and convenience of our lives.
The Hermit. On Woman. Chap. xxi.
For he who fights and runs away May live to fight another day; But he who is in battle slain Can never rise and fight again.[403-1]
The Art of Poetry on a New Plan (1761). Vol. ii. p. 147.
One writer, for instance, excels at a plan or a title-page, another works away the body of the book, and a third is a dab at an index.[403-2]
The Bee. No. 1, Oct. 6, 1759.
The true use of speech is not so much to express our wants as to conceal them.[403-3]
The Bee. No. iii. Oct. 20, 1759.
FOOTNOTES:
[394-1] See Garth, page 295.
CRABBE: Tales of the Hall, book iii. GRAVES: The Epicure.
[394-2] See Pope, page 329.
[395-1] The character of the French.
[395-2] See Dryden, page 277.
[395-3] When Davies asked for an explanation of "Luke's iron crown," Goldsmith referred him to a book called "Géographie Curieuse," and added that by "Damien's bed of steel" he meant the rack.--GRANGER: Letters, (1805), p. 52.
[396-1] See Pope, page 329.
C'est un verre qui luit, Qu'un souffle peut détruire, et qu'un souffle a produit
(It is a shining glass, which a breath may destroy, and which a breath has produced).--DE CAUX (comparing the world to his hour-glass).
[397-1] See Dryden, page 269.
[397-2] A cap by night, a stocking all the day--GOLDSMITH: A Description of an Author's Bed-Chamber.
[398-1] The twelve good rules were ascribed to King Charles I.: 1. Urge no healths. 2. Profane no divine ordinances. 3. Touch no state matters. 4. Reveal no secrets. 5. Pick no quarrels. 6. Make no comparisons. 7. Maintain no ill opinions. 8. Keep no bad company. 9. Encourage no vice. 10. Make no long meals. 11. Repeat no grievances. 12. Lay no wagers.
[398-2] See Tom Brown, page 286.
[398-3] See Bacon, page 165.
[398-4] The wretch condemn'd with life to part Still, still on hope relies; And every pang that rends the heart Bid expectation rise.
Original MS.
[399-1] Hope, like the taper's gleamy light, Adorns the wretch's way.
Original MS.
[400-1] See Rochester, page 279.
[400-2] Written in imitation of "Chanson sur le fameux La Palisse," which is attributed to Bernard de la Monnoye:--
On dit que dans ses amours Il fut caressé des belles, Qui le suivirent toujours, Tant qu'il marcha devant elles
(They say that in his love affairs he was petted by beauties, who always followed him as long as he walked before them).
[400-3] While Fell was reposing himself in the hay, A reptile concealed bit his leg as he lay; But, all venom himself, of the wound he made light, And got well, while the scorpion died of the bite.
LESSING: Paraphrase of a Greek Epigram by Demodocus.
[401-1] See page 397.
[401-2] Philosophy triumphs easily over past evils and future evils, but present evils triumph over it.--ROCHEFOUCAULD: _Maxim 22._
[401-3] RAY: Proverbs. FULLER: Wise Sentences. Auto de to sigan omologountos esti sou.--EURIPIDES: Iph. Aul., 1142.
[401-4] Measures, not men.--CHESTERFIELD: Letter, Mar. 6, 1742. Not men, but measures.--BURKE: Present Discontents.
[401-5] See Bacon, page 171.
[401-6] See Chaucer, page 4.
[402-1] See Burton, page 185.
[402-2] See Young, page 308.
[402-3] An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit.--PLINY THE YOUNGER: _Letters, book ii. letter xv. 1._
[402-4] See Middleton, page 174.
[403-1] See Butler, pages 215, 216.
[403-2] There are two things which I am confident I can do very well: one is an introduction to any literary work, stating what it is to contain, and how it should be executed in the most perfect manner.
BOSWELL: Life of Johnson, An. 1775.
[403-3] See Young, page 310.
THOMAS WARTON. 1728-1790.
All human race, from China to Peru,[403-4] Pleasure, howe'er disguis'd by art, pursue.
Universal Love of Pleasure.
Nor rough, nor barren, are the winding ways Of hoar antiquity, but strewn with flowers.
Written on a Blank Leaf of Dugdale's Monasticon.
FOOTNOTES:
[403-4] See Johnson, page 365.
THOMAS PERCY. 1728-1811.
Every white will have its blacke, And every sweet its soure.
Reliques of Ancient Poetry. Sir Cauline.
Late, late yestreen I saw the new moone, Wi' the auld moon in hir arme.[404-1]
Sir Patrick Spens.
He that had neyther been kith nor kin Might have seen a full fayre sight.
Guy of Gisborne.
Have you not heard these many years ago Jeptha was judge of Israel? He had one only daughter and no mo, The which he loved passing well; And as by lott, God wot, It so came to pass, As God's will was.[404-2]
Jepthah, Judge of Israel.
A Robyn, Jolly Robyn, Tell me how thy leman does.[404-3]
A Robyn, Jolly Robyn.
Where gripinge grefes the hart wounde, And dolefulle dumps the mynde oppresse, There music with her silver sound[404-4] With spede is wont to send redresse.
A Song to the Lute in Musicke.
The blinded boy that shootes so trim, From heaven downe did hie.[405-1]
King Cophetua and the Beggar-maid.
"What is thy name, faire maid?" quoth he. "Penelophon, O King!" quoth she.[405-2]
King Cophetua and the Beggar-maid.
And how should I know your true love From many another one? Oh, by his cockle hat and staff, And by his sandal shoone.
The Friar of Orders Gray.
O Lady, he is dead and gone! Lady, he 's dead and gone! And at his head a green grass turfe, And at his heels a stone.[405-3]
The Friar of Orders Gray.
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more! Men were deceivers ever; One foot in sea and one on shore, To one thing constant never.[405-4]
The Friar of Orders Gray.
Weep no more, lady, weep no more, Thy sorrowe is in vaine; For violets pluckt, the sweetest showers Will ne'er make grow againe.[405-5]
The Friar of Orders Gray.
He that would not when he might, He shall not when he wolda.[405-6]
The Friar of Orders Gray.
We 'll shine in more substantial honours, And to be noble we 'll be good.[406-1]
Winifreda (1720).
And when with envy Time, transported, Shall think to rob us of our joys, You 'll in your girls again be courted, And I 'll go wooing in my boys.
Winifreda (1720).
King Stephen was a worthy peere, His breeches cost him but a croune; He held them sixpence all too deere, Therefore he call'd the taylor loune.
He was a wight of high renowne, And those but of a low degree; Itt 's pride that putts the countrye doune, Then take thine old cloake about thee.[406-2]
Take thy old Cloak about Thee.
A poore soule sat sighing under a sycamore tree; Oh willow, willow, willow! With his hand on his bosom, his head on his knee, Oh willow, willow, willow![406-3]
Willow, willow, willow.
When Arthur first in court began, And was approved king.[406-4]
Sir Launcelot du Lake.
Shall I bid her goe? What if I doe? Shall I bid her goe and spare not? Oh no, no, no! I dare not.[406-5]
Corydon's Farewell to Phillis.
But in vayne shee did conjure him To depart her presence soe; Having a thousand tongues to allure him, And but one to bid him goe.
Dulcina.
FOOTNOTES:
[404-1] I saw the new moon late yestreen, Wi' the auld moon in her arm.
From Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.
[404-2] "As by lot, God wot;" and then you know, "It came to pass, as most like it was."--SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet, act ii. sc. 2.
[404-3] Hey, Robin, Jolly Robin, Tell me how thy lady does.
SHAKESPEARE: Twelfth Night, act iv. sc. 2.
[404-4] When griping grief heart doth wound, And doleful dumps the mind oppress, Then music with her silver sound.
SHAKESPEARE: Romeo and Juliet, act iv. sc. 5.
[405-1] Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim, When King Cophetua loved the beggar-maid!
SHAKESPEARE: Romeo and Juliet, act ii. sc. 1.
[405-2] Shakespeare, who alludes to this ballad in "Love's Labour's Lost," act iv. sc. 1, gives the beggar's name Zenelophon. The story of the king and the beggar is also alluded to in "King Richard II.," act v. sc. 3.
[405-3] Quoted in "Hamlet," act iv. sc. 3.
[405-4] See Shakespeare, page 51.
[405-5] See John Fletcher, page 183.
[405-6] See Heywood, page 9.
He that will not when he may, When he would, he should have nay.
CERVANTES: Don Quixote, part i. book iii. chap. iv.
[406-1] See Chapman, page 37.
Nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus (Nobility is the one only virtue).--JUVENAL: Satire viii. line 20.
[406-2] The first stanza is quoted in full, and the last line of the second, by Shakespeare in "Othello," act ii. sc. 3.
[406-3] The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree, Sing all a green willow; Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee, Sing willow, willow, willow.
Othello, act iv. sc. 3.
[406-4] Quoted by Shakespeare in Second Part of "Henry IV.," act ii. sc. 4.
[406-5] Quoted by Shakespeare in "Twelfth Night," act ii. sc. 3.
EDMUND BURKE. 1729-1797.
The writers against religion, whilst they oppose every system, are wisely careful never to set up any of their own.
A Vindication of Natural Society.[407-1] Preface, vol. i. p. 7.
"War," says Machiavel, "ought to be the only study of a prince;" and by a prince he means every sort of state, however constituted. "He ought," says this great political doctor, "to consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes ability to execute military plans." A meditation on the conduct of political societies made old Hobbes imagine that war was the state of nature.
A Vindication of Natural Society. Vol. i. p. 15.
I am convinced that we have a degree of delight, and that no small one, in the real misfortunes and pains of others.[407-2]
On the Sublime and Beautiful. Sect. xiv. vol. 1. p. 118.
Custom reconciles us to everything.
On the Sublime and Beautiful. Sect. xviii. vol. i. p. 231.
There is, however, a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue.
Observations on a Late Publication on the Present State of the Nation. Vol. i. p. 273.
The wisdom of our ancestors.[407-3]
Observations on a Late Publication on the Present State of the Nation. Vol. i. p. 516. Also in the Discussion on the Traitorous Correspondence Bill, 1793.
Illustrious predecessor.[408-1]
Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents. Vol. i. p. 456.
In such a strait the wisest may well be perplexed and the boldest staggered.
Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents. Vol. i. p. 516.
When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.
Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents. Vol. i. p. 526.
Of this stamp is the cant of, Not men, but measures.[408-2]
Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents. Vol. i. p. 531.
The concessions of the weak are the concessions of fear.
Speech on the Conciliation of America. Vol. ii. p. 108.
There is America, which at this day serves for little more than to amuse you with stories of savage men and uncouth manners, yet shall, before you taste of death, show itself equal to the whole of that commerce which now attracts the envy of the world.
Speech on the Conciliation of America. Vol. ii. p. 115.
Fiction lags after truth, invention is unfruitful, and imagination cold and barren.
Speech on the Conciliation of America. Vol. ii. p. 116.
A people who are still, as it were, but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone of manhood.
Speech on the Conciliation of America. Vol. ii. p. 117.
A wise and salutary neglect.
Speech on the Conciliation of America. Vol. ii. p. 117.
My vigour relents,--I pardon something to the spirit of liberty.
Speech on the Conciliation of America. Vol. ii. p. 118.
The religion most prevalent in our northern colonies is a refinement on the principles of resistance: it is the dissidence of dissent, and the protestantism of the Protestant religion.
Speech on the Conciliation of America. Vol. ii. p. 123.
I do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against a whole people.
Speech on the Conciliation of America. Vol. ii. p. 136.
The march of the human mind is slow.[408-3]
Speech on the Conciliation of America. Vol. ii. p. 149.
All government,--indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act,--is founded on compromise and barter.
Speech on the Conciliation of America. Vol. ii. p. 169.
The worthy gentleman who has been snatched from us at the moment of the election, and in the middle of the contest, whilst his desires were as warm and his hopes as eager as ours, has feelingly told us what shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue.
Speech at Bristol on Declining the Poll. Vol. ii. p. 420.
They made and recorded a sort of institute and digest of anarchy, called the Rights of Man.
On the Army Estimates. Vol iii. p. 221.
People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.
Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 274.
You had that action and counteraction which, in the natural and in the political world, from the reciprocal struggle of discordant powers draws out the harmony of the universe.[409-1]
Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 277.
It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the Queen of France, then the Dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she just began to move in,--glittering like the morning star full of life and splendour and joy. . . . Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fallen upon her in a nation of gallant men,--in a nation of men of honour and of cavaliers. I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards to avenge even a look that threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded.
Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 331.
The unbought grace of life, the cheap defence of nations, the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise is gone.
Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 331.
That chastity of honour which felt a stain like a wound.
Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 332.
Vice itself lost half its evil by losing all its grossness.
Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 332.
Kings will be tyrants from policy, when subjects are rebels from principle.
Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 334.
Learning will be cast into the mire and trodden down under the hoofs of a swinish multitude.[410-1]
Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 335.
Because half-a-dozen grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their importunate chink, whilst thousands of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field; that of course they are many in number; or that, after all, they are other than the little shrivelled, meagre, hopping, though loud and troublesome insects of the hour.
Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 344.
In their nomination to office they will not appoint to the exercise of authority as to a pitiful job, but as to a holy function.
Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 356.
The men of England,--the men, I mean, of light and leading in England.
Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 365.
He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.
Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 453.
To execute laws is a royal office; to execute orders is not to be a king. However, a political executive magistracy, though merely such, is a great trust.[411-1]
Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 497.
You can never plan the future by the past.[411-2]
Letter to a Member of the National Assembly. Vol. iv. p. 55.
The cold neutrality of an impartial judge.
Preface to Brissot's Address. Vol. v. p. 67.
And having looked to Government for bread, on the very first scarcity they will turn and bite the hand that fed them.[411-3]
Thoughts and Details on Scarcity. Vol. v. p. 156.
All men that are ruined, are ruined on the side of their natural propensities.
Letter i. On a Regicide Peace. Vol. v. p. 286.
All those instances to be found in history, whether real or fabulous, of a doubtful public spirit, at which morality is perplexed, reason is staggered, and from which affrighted Nature recoils, are their chosen and almost sole examples for the instruction of their youth.
Letter i. On a Regicide Peace. Vol. v. p. 311.
Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other.
Letter i. On a Regicide Peace. Vol. v. p. 331.
Early and provident fear is the mother of safety.
Speech on the Petition of the Unitarians. Vol. vii. p. 50.
There never was a bad man that had ability for good service.
Speech in opening the Impeachment of Warren Hastings. Third Day. Vol. x. p. 54.
The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.
Speech at County Meeting of Bucks, 1784.
I would rather sleep in the southern corner of a little country churchyard than in the tomb of the Capulets.[412-1]
Letter to Matthew Smith.
It has all the contortions of the sibyl without the inspiration.[412-2]
Prior's Life of Burke.[412-3]
He was not merely a chip of the old block, but the old block itself.[412-4]
On Pitt's First Speech, Feb. 26, 1781. From Wraxall's Memoirs, First Series, vol. i. p. 342.
FOOTNOTES:
[407-1] Boston edition. 1865-1867.
[407-2] In the adversity of our best friends we always find something which is not wholly displeasing to us.--ROCHEFOUCAULD: Reflections, xv.
[407-3] Lord Brougham says of Bacon, "He it was who first employed the well-known phrase of 'the wisdom of our ancestors.'"
SYDNEY SMITH: Plymley's Letters, letter v. LORD ELDON: On Sir Samuel Romilly's Bill, 1815. CICERO: De Legibus, ii. 2, 3.
[408-1] See Fielding, page 364.
[408-2] See Goldsmith, page 401.
[408-3] The march of intellect.--SOUTHEY: _Progress and Prospects of Society, vol. ii. p. 360._
[409-1] Quid velit et possit rerum concordia discors (What the discordant harmony of circumstances would and could effect).--HORACE: Epistle i. 12, 19.
Mr. Breen, in his "Modern English Literature," says: "This remarkable thought Alison the historian has turned to good account; it occurs so often in his disquisitions that he seems to have made it the staple of all wisdom and the basis of every truth."
[410-1] This expression was tortured to mean that he actually thought the people no better than swine; and the phrase "the swinish multitude" was bruited about in every form of speech and writing, in order to excite popular indignation.
[411-1] See Appendix, page 859.
[411-2] I know no way of judging of the future but by the past.--PATRICK HENRY: Speech in the Virginia Convention, March, 1775.
[411-3] We set ourselves to bite the hand that feeds us.--_Cause of the Present Discontents, vol. i. p. 439._
[412-1] Family vault of "all the Capulets."--Reflections on the Revolution in France, vol. iii. p. 349.
[412-2] When Croft's "Life of Dr. Young" was spoken of as a good imitation of Dr. Johnson's style, "No, no," said he, "it is not a good imitation of Johnson; it has all his pomp without his force; it has all the nodosities of the oak, without its strength; it has all the contortions of the sibyl, without the inspiration."--PRIOR: Life of Burke.
The gloomy comparisons of a disturbed imagination, the melancholy madness of poetry without the inspiration.--JUNIUS: Letter No. viii. To Sir W. Draper.
[412-3] At the conclusion of one of Mr. Burke's eloquent harangues, Mr. Cruger, finding nothing to add, or perhaps as he thought to add with effect, exclaimed earnestly, in the language of the counting-house, "I say ditto to Mr. Burke! I say ditto to Mr. Burke!"--PRIOR: Life of Burke, p. 152.
[412-4] See Sir Thomas Browne, page 219.
CHARLES CHURCHILL. 1731-1764.
He mouths a sentence as curs mouth a bone.
The Rosciad. Line 322.
But, spite of all the criticising elves, Those who would make us feel--must feel themselves.[412-5]
The Rosciad. Line 961.
Who to patch up his fame, or fill his purse, Still pilfers wretched plans, and makes them worse; Like gypsies, lest the stolen brat be known, Defacing first, then claiming for his own.[413-1]
The Apology. Line 232.
No statesman e'er will find it worth his pains To tax our labours and excise our brains.
Night. Line 271.
Apt alliteration 's artful aid.
The Prophecy of Famine. Line 86.
There webs were spread of more than common size, And half-starved spiders prey'd on half-starved flies.
The Prophecy of Famine. Line 327.
With curious art the brain, too finely wrought, Preys on herself, and is destroyed by thought.
Epistle to William Hogarth. Line 645.
Men the most infamous are fond of fame, And those who fear not guilt yet start at shame.
The Author. Line 233.
Be England what she will, With all her faults she is my country still.[413-2]
The Farewell. Line 27.
Wherever waves can roll, and winds can blow.[413-3]
The Farewell. Line 38.
FOOTNOTES:
[412-5] Si vis me flere, dolendum est Primum ipsi tibi
(If you wish me to weep, you yourself must first feel grief).
HORACE: Ars Poetica, v. 102.
[413-1] Steal! to be sure they may; and, egad, serve your best thoughts as gypsies do stolen children,--disguise them to make 'em pass for their own.--SHERIDAN: The Critic, act. i. sc. i.
[413-2] England, with all thy faults I love thee still, My country!
COWPER: The Task, book ii. The Timepiece, line 206.
[413-3] Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam.--BYRON: The Corsair, canto i. stanza 1.
WILLIAM COWPER. 1731-1800.
Is base in kind, and born to be a slave.
Table Talk. Line 28.
As if the world and they were hand and glove.
Table Talk. Line 173.
Happiness depends, as Nature shows, Less on exterior things than most suppose.
Table Talk. Line 246.
Freedom has a thousand charms to show, That slaves, howe'er contented, never know.
Table Talk. Line 260.
Manner is all in all, whate'er is writ, The substitute for genius, sense, and wit.
Table Talk. Line 542.
Ages elapsed ere Homer's lamp appear'd, And ages ere the Mantuan swan was heard: To carry nature lengths unknown before, To give a Milton birth, ask'd ages more.
Table Talk. Line 556.
Elegant as simplicity, and warm As ecstasy.
Table Talk. Line 588.
Low ambition and the thirst of praise.[414-1]
Table Talk. Line 591.
Made poetry a mere mechanic art.
Table Talk. Line 654.
Nature, exerting an unwearied power, Forms, opens, and gives scent to every flower; Spreads the fresh verdure of the field, and leads The dancing Naiads through the dewy meads.
Table Talk. Line 690.
Lights of the world, and stars of human race.
The Progress of Error. Line 97.
How much a dunce that has been sent to roam Excels a dunce that has been kept at home!
The Progress of Error. Line 415.
Just knows, and knows no more, her Bible true,-- A truth the brilliant Frenchman never knew.
Truth. Line 327.
The sounding jargon of the schools.[414-2]
Truth. Line 367.
When one that holds communion with the skies Has fill'd his urn where these pure waters rise, And once more mingles with us meaner things, 'T is e'en as if an angel shook his wings.
Charity. Line 435.
A fool must now and then be right by chance.
Conversation. Line 96.
He would not, with a peremptory tone, Assert the nose upon his face his own.
Conversation. Line 121.
A moral, sensible, and well-bred man Will not affront me,--and no other can.
Conversation. Line 193.
Pernicious weed! whose scent the fair annoys, Unfriendly to society's chief joys: Thy worst effect is banishing for hours The sex whose presence civilizes ours.
Conversation. Line 251.
I cannot talk with civet in the room, A fine puss-gentleman that 's all perfume.
Conversation. Line 283.
The solemn fop; significant and budge; A fool with judges, amongst fools a judge.[415-1]
Conversation. Line 299.
His wit invites you by his looks to come, But when you knock, it never is at home.[415-2]
Conversation. Line 303.
Our wasted oil unprofitably burns, Like hidden lamps in old sepulchral urns.[415-3]
Conversation. Line 357.
That good diffused may more abundant grow.
Conversation. Line 443.
A business with an income at its heels Furnishes always oil for its own wheels.
Retirement. Line 614.
Absence of occupation is not rest, A mind quite vacant is a mind distress'd.
Retirement. Line 623.
An idler is a watch that wants both hands, As useless if it goes as if it stands.
Retirement. Line 681.
Built God a church, and laugh'd his word to scorn.
Retirement. Line 688.
Philologists, who chase A panting syllable through time and space, Start it at home, and hunt it in the dark To Gaul, to Greece, and into Noah's ark.
Retirement. Line 691.
I praise the Frenchman,[416-1] his remark was shrewd,-- How sweet, how passing sweet, is solitude! But grant me still a friend in my retreat, Whom I may whisper, Solitude is sweet.
Retirement. Line 739.
A kick that scarce would move a horse May kill a sound divine.
The Yearly Distress.
I am monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute.
Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk.
O Solitude! where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face?
Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk.
But the sound of the church-going bell These valleys and rocks never heard; Ne'er sigh'd at the sound of a knell, Or smiled when a Sabbath appear'd.
Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk.
How fleet is a glance of the mind! Compared with the speed of its flight The tempest itself lags behind, And the swift-winged, arrows of light.
Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk.
There goes the parson, O illustrious spark! And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk.
On observing some Names of Little Note.
But oars alone can ne'er prevail To reach the distant coast; The breath of heaven must swell the sail, Or all the toil is lost.
Human Frailty.
And the tear that is wiped with a little address, May be follow'd perhaps by a smile.
The Rose.
'T is Providence alone secures In every change both mine and yours.
A Fable. Moral.
I shall not ask Jean Jacques Rousseau If birds confabulate or no.
Pairing Time Anticipated.
Misses! the tale that I relate This lesson seems to carry,-- Choose not alone a proper mate, But proper time to marry.
Pairing Time Anticipated.
That though on pleasure she was bent, She had a frugal mind.
History of John Gilpin.
A hat not much the worse for wear.
History of John Gilpin.
Now let us sing, Long live the king! And Gilpin, Long live he! And when he next doth ride abroad, May I be there to see!
History of John Gilpin.
The path of sorrow, and that path alone, Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown.
To an Afflicted Protestant Lady.
United yet divided, twain at once: So sit two kings of Brentford on one throne.[417-1]
The Task. Book i. The Sofa. Line 77.
Nor rural sights alone, but rural sounds, Exhilarate the spirit, and restore The tone of languid nature.
The Task. Book i. The Sofa. Line 181.
The earth was made so various, that the mind Of desultory man, studious of change And pleased with novelty, might be indulged.
The Task. Book i. The Sofa. Line 506.
Doing good, Disinterested good, is not our trade.
The Task. Book i. The Sofa. Line 673.
God made the country, and man made the town.[417-2]
The Task. Book i. The Sofa. Line 749.
Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness,[418-1] Some boundless contiguity of shade, Where rumour of oppression and deceit, Of unsuccessful or successful war, Might never reach me more.
The Task. Book ii. The Timepiece. Line 1.
Mountains interposed Make enemies of nations who had else, Like kindred drops, been mingled into one.
The Task. Book ii. The Timepiece. Line 17.
I would not have a slave to till my ground, To carry me, to fan me while I sleep And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth That sinews bought and sold have ever earn'd.
The Task. Book ii. The Timepiece. Line 29.
Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs Receive our air, that moment they are free! They touch our country, and their shackles fall.[418-2]
The Task. Book ii. The Timepiece. Line 40.
Fast-anchor'd isle.
The Task. Book ii. The Timepiece. Line 151.
England, with all thy faults I love thee still, My country![418-3]
The Task. Book ii. The Timepiece. Line 206.
Presume to lay their hand upon the ark Of her magnificent and awful cause.
The Task. Book ii. The Timepiece. Line 231.
Praise enough To fill the ambition of a private man, That Chatham's language was his mother tongue.
The Task. Book ii. The Timepiece. Line 235.
There is a pleasure in poetic pains Which only poets know.[419-1]
The Task. Book ii. The Timepiece. Line 285.
Transforms old print To zigzag manuscript, and cheats the eyes Of gallery critics by a thousand arts.
The Task. Book ii. The Timepiece. Line 363.
Reading what they never wrote, Just fifteen minutes, huddle up their work, And with a well-bred whisper close the scene.
The Task. Book ii. The Timepiece. Line 411.
Whoe'er was edified, themselves were not.
The Task. Book ii. The Timepiece. Line 444.
Variety 's the very spice of life.[419-2]
The Task. Book ii. The Timepiece. Line 606.
She that asks Her dear five hundred friends.
The Task. Book ii. The Timepiece. Line 642.
His head, Not yet by time completely silver'd o'er, Bespoke him past the bounds of freakish youth, But strong for service still, and unimpair'd.
The Task. Book ii. The Timepiece. Line 702.
Domestic happiness, thou only bliss Of Paradise that has survived the fall!
The Task. Book iii. The Garden. Line 41.
Great contest follows, and much learned dust.
The Task. Book iii. The Garden. Line 161.
From reveries so airy, from the toil Of dropping buckets into empty wells, And growing old in drawing nothing up.[419-3]
The Task. Book iii. The Garden. Line 188.
How various his employments whom the world Calls idle, and who justly in return Esteems that busy world an idler too!
The Task. Book iii. The Garden. Line 352.
Who loves a garden loves a greenhouse too.
The Task. Book iii. The Garden. Line 566.
I burn to set the imprison'd wranglers free, And give them voice and utterance once again. Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round, And while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn Throws up a steamy column, and the cups That cheer but not inebriate[420-1] wait on each, So let us welcome peaceful evening in.
The Task. Book iv. The Winter Evening. Line 34.
Which not even critics criticise.
The Task. Book iv. The Winter Evening. Line 51.
What is it but a map of busy life, Its fluctuations, and its vast concerns?
The Task. Book iv. The Winter Evening. Line 55.
And Katerfelto, with his hair on end At his own wonders, wondering for his bread. 'T is pleasant, through the loopholes of retreat, To peep at such a world,--to see the stir Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd.
The Task. Book iv. The Winter Evening. Line 86.
While fancy, like the finger of a clock, Runs the great circuit, and is still at home.
The Task. Book iv. The Winter Evening. Line 118.
O Winter, ruler of the inverted year![420-2]
The Task. Book iv. The Winter Evening. Line 120.
With spots quadrangular of diamond form, Ensanguined hearts, clubs typical of strife, And spades, the emblems of untimely graves.
The Task. Book iv. The Winter Evening. Line 217.
In indolent vacuity of thought.
The Task. Book iv. The Winter Evening. Line 297.
It seems the part of wisdom.
The Task. Book iv. The Winter Evening. Line 336.
All learned, and all drunk!
The Task. Book iv. The Winter Evening. Line 478.
Gloriously drunk, obey the important call.
The Task. Book iv. The Winter Evening, Line 510.
Those golden times And those Arcadian scenes that Maro sings, And Sidney, warbler of poetic prose.
The Task. Book iv. The Winter Evening. Line 514.
The Frenchman's darling.[421-1]
The Task. Book iv. The Winter Evening. Line 765.
Some must be great. Great offices will have Great talents. And God gives to every man The virtue, temper, understanding, taste, That lifts him into life, and lets him fall Just in the niche he was ordain'd to fill.
The Task. Book iv. The Winter Evening. Line 788.
Silently as a dream the fabric rose, No sound of hammer or of saw was there.[421-2]
The Task. Book v. The Winter Morning Walk. Line 144.
But war 's a game which were their subjects wise Kings would not play at.
The Task. Book v. The Winter Morning Walk. Line 187.
The beggarly last doit.
The Task. Book v. The Winter Morning Walk. Line 316.
As dreadful as the Manichean god, Adored through fear, strong only to destroy.
The Task. Book v. The Winter Morning Walk. Line 444.
He is the freeman whom the truth makes free.
The Task. Book v. The Winter Morning Walk. Line 733.
With filial confidence inspired, Can lift to Heaven an unpresumptuous eye, And smiling say, My Father made them all!
The Task. Book v. The Winter Morning Walk. Line 745.
Give what thou canst, without Thee we are poor; And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away.
The Task. Book v. The Winter Morning Walk. Line 905.
There is in souls a sympathy with sounds; And as the mind is pitch'd the ear is pleased. With melting airs or martial, brisk or grave; Some chord in unison with what we hear Is touch'd within us, and the heart replies. How soft the music of those village bells Falling at intervals upon the ear In cadence sweet!
The Task. Book vi. Winter Walk at Noon. Line 1.
Here the heart May give a useful lesson to the head, And Learning wiser grow without his books.
The Task. Book vi. Winter Walk at Noon. Line 85.
Knowledge is proud that he has learn'd so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more. Books are not seldom talismans and spells.
The Task. Book vi. Winter Walk at Noon. Line 96.
Some to the fascination of a name Surrender judgment hoodwink'd.
The Task. Book vi. Winter Walk at Noon. Line 101.
I would not enter on my list of friends (Though graced with polish'd manners and fine sense, Yet wanting sensibility) the man Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.
The Task. Book vi. Winter Walk at Noon. Line 560.
An honest man, close-button'd to the chin, Broadcloth without, and a warm heart within.
Epistle to Joseph Hill.
Shine by the side of every path we tread With such a lustre, he that runs may read.[422-1]
Tirocinium. Line 79.
What peaceful hours I once enjoy'd! How sweet their memory still! But they have left an aching void The world can never fill.
Walking with God.
And Satan trembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees.
Exhortation to Prayer.
God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea And rides upon the storm.
Light shining out of Darkness.
Behind a frowning providence He hides a shining face.
Light shining out of Darkness.
Beware of desperate steps! The darkest day, Live till to-morrow, will have pass'd away.
The Needless Alarm. Moral.
Oh that those lips had language! Life has pass'd With me but roughly since I heard thee last.
On the Receipt of my Mother's Picture.
The son of parents pass'd into the skies.
On the Receipt of my Mother's Picture.
The man that hails you Tom or Jack, And proves, by thumping on your back,[423-1] His sense of your great merit,[423-2] Is such a friend that one had need Be very much his friend indeed To pardon or to bear it.
On Friendship.
A worm is in the bud of youth, And at the root of age.
Stanzas subjoined to a Bill of Mortality.
Toll for the brave!-- The brave that are no more! All sunk beneath the wave, Fast by their native shore!
On the Loss of the Royal George.
There is a bird who by his coat, And by the hoarseness of his note, Might be supposed a crow.
The Jackdaw. (Translation from Vincent Bourne.)
He sees that this great roundabout The world, with all its motley rout, Church, army, physic, law, Its customs and its businesses, Is no concern at all of his, And says--what says he?--Caw.
The Jackdaw. (Translation from Vincent Bourne.)
For 't is a truth well known to most, That whatsoever thing is lost, We seek it, ere it come to light, In every cranny but the right.
The Retired Cat.
He that holds fast the golden mean,[424-1] And lives contentedly between The little and the great, Feels not the wants that pinch the poor, Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door.
Translation of Horace. Book ii. Ode x.
But strive still to be a man before your mother.[424-2]
Connoisseur. Motto of No. iii.
FOOTNOTES:
[414-1] See Pope, page 314.
[414-2] See Prior, page 287.
[415-1] See Pope, page 331.
[415-2] See Pope, page 336.
[415-3] See Butler, page 213.
The story of a lamp which was supposed to have burned about fifteen hundred years in the sepulchre of Tullia, the daughter of Cicero, is told by Pancirollus and others.
[416-1] La Bruyère.
[417-1] BUCKINGHAM: The Rehearsal (the two Kings of Brentford).
[417-2] See Bacon, page 167.
[418-1] Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men!--Jeremiah ix. 2.
Oh that the desert were my dwelling-place!--BYRON: Childe Harold, canto iv. stanza 177.
[418-2] Servi peregrini, ut primum Galliæ fines penetraverint eodem momento liberi sunt (Foreign slaves, as soon as they come within the limits of Gaul, that moment they are free).--BODINUS: Liber i. c. 5.
Lord Campbell ("Lives of the Chief Justices," vol. ii. p. 418) says that "Lord Mansfield first established the grand doctrine that the air of England is too pure to be breathed by a slave." The words attributed to Lord Mansfield, however, are not found in his judgment. They are in Hargrave's argument, May 14, 1772, where he speaks of England as "a soil whose air is deemed too pure for slaves to breathe in."--LOFFT: Reports, p. 2.
[418-3] See Churchill, page 413.
[419-1] See Dryden, page 277.
[419-2] No pleasure endures unseasoned by variety--PUB. SYRUS: Maxim 406.
[419-3] He has spent all his life in letting down buckets into empty wells; and he is frittering away his age in trying to draw them up again.--Lady Holland's Memoir of Sydney Smith, vol. i. p. 259.
[420-1] See Bishop Berkeley, page 312.
[420-2] See Thomson, page 356.
[421-1] It was Cowper who gave this now common name to the mignonette.
[421-2] No hammers fell, no ponderous axes rung; Like some tall palm the mystic fabric sprung.
HEBER: Palestine.
So that there was neither hammer nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in building.--1 Kings vi. 7.
[422-1] Write the vision, and make it plain, upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.--Habakkuk ii. 2.
He that runs may read.--TENNYSON: The Flower.
[423-1] See Young, page 312.
[423-2] Var. How he esteems your merit.
[424-1] Keep the golden mean.--PUBLIUS SYRUS: Maxim 1072.
[424-2] See Beaumont and Fletcher, page 199.
ERASMUS DARWIN. 1731-1802.
Soon shall thy arm, unconquer'd steam! afar Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car; Or on wide-waving wings expanded bear The flying chariot through the field of air.
The Botanic Garden. Part i. Canto i. Line 289.
No radiant pearl which crested Fortune wears, No gem that twinkling hangs from Beauty's ears, Not the bright stars which Night's blue arch adorn, Nor rising suns that gild the vernal morn, Shine with such lustre as the tear that flows Down Virtue's manly cheek for others' woes.
The Botanic Garden. Part ii. Canto iii. Line 459.
BEILBY PORTEUS. 1731-1808.
In sober state, Through the sequestered vale of rural life, The venerable patriarch guileless held The tenor of his way.[425-1]
Death. Line 108.
One murder made a villain, Millions a hero. Princes were privileged To kill, and numbers sanctified the crime.[425-2]
Death. Line 154.
War its thousands slays, Peace its ten thousands.
Death. Line 178.
Teach him how to live, And, oh still harder lesson! how to die.[425-3]
Death. Line 316.
FOOTNOTES:
[425-1] See Gray, page 385.
[425-2] See Young, page 311.
[425-3] See Tickell, page 313.
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 1732-1799.
Labour to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire,--conscience.
Rule from the Copy-book of Washington when a schoolboy.
To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.[425-4]
Speech to both Houses of Congress, Jan. 8, 1790.
'T is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.
His Farewell Address.
FOOTNOTES:
[425-4] Qui desiderat pacem præparet bellum (Who would desire peace should be prepared for war).--VEGETIUS: _Rei Militari 3, Prolog._
In pace, ut sapiens, aptarit idonea bello (In peace, as a wise man, he should make suitable preparation for war).--HORACE: Book ii. satire ii.
LORD THURLOW. 1732-1806.
The accident of an accident.
Speech in Reply to the Duke of Grafton. Butler's Reminiscences, vol. i. p. 142.
When I forget my sovereign, may my God forget me.[426-1]
27 Parliamentary History, 680; Annual Register, 1789.
FOOTNOTES:
[426-1] Whereupon Wilkes is reported to have said, somewhat coarsely, but not unhappily it must be allowed, "Forget you! He'll see you d----d first." Burke also exclaimed, "The best thing that could happen to you!"--BROUGHAM: Statesman of the Time of George III. (Thurlow.)
JOHN DICKINSON. 1732-1808.
Then join in hand, brave Americans all! By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.
The Liberty Song (1768).
Our cause is just, our union is perfect.
Declaration on taking up Arms in 1775.[426-2]
FOOTNOTES:
[426-2] From the original manuscript draft in Dickinson's handwriting, which has given rise to the belief that he, not Jefferson (as formerly claimed), is the real author of this sentence.
W. J. MICKLE. 1734-1788.
The dews of summer nights did fall, The moon, sweet regent of the sky,[426-3] Silvered the walls of Cumnor Hall And many an oak that grew thereby.
Cumnor Hall.
For there 's nae luck about the house, There 's nae luck at a'; There 's little pleasure in the house When our gudeman 's awa'.
The Mariner's Wife.[427-1]
His very foot has music in 't As he comes up the stairs.
The Mariner's Wife.
FOOTNOTES:
[426-3] Jove, thou regent of the skies.--POPE: _The Odyssey, book ii. line 42._
Now Cynthia, named fair regent of the night.--GAY: Trivia, book iii.
And hail their queen, fair regent of the night.--DARWIN: The Botanic Garden, part i. canto ii. line 90.
[427-1] "The Mariner's Wife" is now given "by common consent," says Sarah Tytler, to Jean Adam (1710-1765).
JOHN LANGHORNE. 1735-1779.
Cold on Canadian hills or Minden's plain, Perhaps that parent mourned her soldier slain; Bent o'er her babe, her eye dissolved in dew, The big drops mingling with the milk he drew Gave the sad presage of his future years,-- The child of misery, baptized in tears.[427-2]
The Country Justice. Part i.
FOOTNOTES:
[427-2] This allusion to the dead soldier and his widow on the field of battle was made the subject of a print by Bunbury, under which were engraved the pathetic lines of Langhorne. Sir Walter Scott has mentioned that the only time he saw Burns this picture was in the room. Burns shed tears over it; and Scott, then a lad of fifteen, was the only person present who could tell him where the lines were to be found.--LOCKHART: Life of Scott, vol. i. chap. iv.
ISAAC BICKERSTAFF. 1735-1787.
Hope! thou nurse of young desire.
Love in a Village. Act i. Sc. 1.
There was a jolly miller once, Lived on the river Dee; He worked and sung from morn till night: No lark more blithe than he.
Love in a Village. Act i. Sc. 2.
And this the burden of his song Forever used to be,-- I care for nobody, no, not I, If no one cares for me.[427-3]
Love in a Village. Act i. Sc. 2.
Young fellows will be young fellows.
Love in a Village. Act ii. Sc. 2.
Ay, do despise me! I 'm the prouder for it; I like to be despised.
The Hypocrite. Act v. Sc. 1.
FOOTNOTES:
[427-3] If naebody care for me, I 'll care for naebody.
BURNS: I hae a Wife o' my Ain.
JAMES BEATTIE. 1735-1803.
Ah, who can tell how hard it is to climb The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar?
The Minstrel. Book i. Stanza 1.
Zealous, yet modest; innocent, though free; Patient of toil, serene amidst alarms; Inflexible in faith, invincible in arms.
The Minstrel. Book i. Stanza 11.
Old age comes on apace to ravage all the clime.
The Minstrel. Book i. Stanza 25.
Mine be the breezy hill that skirts the down, Where a green grassy turf is all I crave, With here and there a violet bestrewn, Fast by a brook or fountain's murmuring wave; And many an evening sun shine sweetly on my grave!
The Minstrel. Book ii. Stanza 17.
At the close of the day when the hamlet is still, And mortals the sweets of forgetfulness prove, When naught but the torrent is heard on the hill, And naught but the nightingale's song in the grove.
The Hermit.
He thought as a sage, though he felt as a man.
The Hermit.
But when shall spring visit the mouldering urn? Oh when shall it dawn on the night of the grave?
The Hermit.
By the glare of false science betray'd, That leads to bewilder, and dazzles to blind.
The Hermit.
And beauty immortal awakes from the tomb.
The Hermit.
JOHN ADAMS. 1735-1826.
Yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was debated in America; and a greater perhaps never was, nor will be, decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting colony, that those United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.
Letter to Mrs. Adams, July 3, 1776.
The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward for evermore.
Letter to Mrs. Adams, July 3, 1776.
PATRICK HENRY. 1736-1799.
Cæsar had his Brutus; Charles the First, his Cromwell; and George the Third ["Treason!" cried the Speaker]--may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it.
Speech in the Virginia Convention, 1765.
I am not a Virginian, but an American.[428-1]
Speech in the Virginia Convention. September, 1774.
I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past.[428-2]
Speech in the Virginia Convention. March, 1775.
Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!
Speech in the Virginia Convention. March, 1775.
FOOTNOTES:
[428-1] I was born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an American!--WEBSTER: Speech, July 17, 1850.
[428-2] See Burke, page 411.
EDWARD GIBBON. 1737-1794.
The reign of Antoninus is marked by the rare advantage of furnishing very few materials for history, which is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.[430-1]
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776). Chap. iii.
Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive.
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776). Chap. xi.
Amiable weaknesses of human nature.[430-2]
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776). Chap. xiv.
In every deed of mischief he had a heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute.[430-3]
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776). Chap. xlviii.
Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery.
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776). Chap. xlix.
The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.[430-4]
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776). Chap. lxviii.
Vicissitudes of fortune, which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave.
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776). Chap. lxxi.
All that is human must retrograde if it do not advance.
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776). Chap. lxxi.
I saw and loved.[430-5]
Memoirs. Vol. i. p. 106.
On the approach of spring I withdraw without reluctance from the noisy and extensive scene of crowds without company, and dissipation without pleasure.
Memoirs. Vol. i. p. 116.
I was never less alone than when by myself.[431-1]
Memoirs. Vol. i. p. 117.
FOOTNOTES:
[430-1] L'histoire n'est que le tableau des crimes et des malheurs (History is but the record of crimes and misfortunes).--VOLTAIRE: L' Ingénu, chap. x.
[430-2] See Fielding, page 364.
[430-3] See Clarendon, page 255.
[430-4] On dit que Dieu est toujours pour les gros bataillons (It is said that God is always on the side of the heaviest battalions).--VOLTAIRE: Letter to M. le Riche. 1770.
J'ai toujours vu Dieu du coté des gros bataillons (I have always noticed that God is on the side of the heaviest battalions).--De la Ferté to Anne of Austria.
[430-5] See Chapman, page 35.
[431-1] Never less alone than when alone.--ROGERS: Human Life.
THOMAS PAINE. 1737-1809.
And the final event to himself [Mr. Burke] has been, that, as he rose like a rocket, he fell like the stick.
Letter to the Addressers.
These are the times that try men's souls.
The American Crisis. No. 1.
The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related, that it is difficult to class them separately. One step above the sublime makes the ridiculous, and one step above the ridiculous makes the sublime again.[431-2]
Age of Reason. Part ii. note.
FOOTNOTES:
[431-2] Probably this is the original of Napoleon's celebrated mot, "Du sublime au ridicule il n'y a qu'un pas" (From the sublime to the ridiculous there is but one step).
JOHN WOLCOT. 1738-1819.
What rage for fame attends both great and small! Better be damned than mentioned not at all.
To the Royal Academicians.
No, let the monarch's bags and others hold The flattering, mighty, nay, al-mighty gold.[431-3]
To Kien Long. Ode iv.
Care to our coffin adds a nail, no doubt, And every grin so merry draws one out.
Expostulatory Odes. Ode xv.
A fellow in a market town, Most musical, cried razors up and down.
Farewell Odes. Ode iii.
FOOTNOTES:
[431-3] See Jonson, page 178.
MRS. THRALE. 1739-1821.
The tree of deepest root is found Least willing still to quit the ground: 'T was therefore said by ancient sages, That love of life increased with years So much, that in our latter stages, When pain grows sharp and sickness rages, The greatest love of life appears.
Three Warnings.
CHARLES MORRIS. 1739-1832.
Solid men of Boston, banish long potations! Solid men of Boston, make no long orations![432-1]
Pitt and Dundas's Return to London from Wimbledon. American Song. From Lyra Urbanica.
O give me the sweet shady side of Pall Mall!
Town and Country.
FOOTNOTES:
[432-1] Solid men of Boston, make no long orations! Solid men of Boston, banish strong potations!
Billy Pitt and the Farmer. From Debrett's Asylum for Fugitive Pieces, vol. ii. p. 250.
A. M. TOPLADY. 1740-1778.
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee.
Salvation through Christ.
THOMAS MOSS. 1740-1808.
Pity the sorrows of a poor old man, Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door, Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span; Oh give relief, and Heaven will bless your store.
The Beggar.
A pampered menial drove me from the door.[433-1]
The Beggar.
FOOTNOTES:
[433-1] This line stood originally, "A liveried servant," etc., and was altered as above by Goldsmith.--FORSTER: _Life of Goldsmith, vol. i. p. 215_ (fifth edition, 1871).
MRS. BARBAULD. 1743-1825.
Man is the nobler growth our realms supply, And souls are ripened in our northern sky.
The Invitation.
This dead of midnight is the noon of thought, And Wisdom mounts her zenith with the stars.
A Summer's Evening Meditation.
It is to hope, though hope were lost.[433-2]
Come here, Fond Youth.
Life! we 've been long together Through pleasant and through cloudy weather; 'T is hard to part when friends are dear,-- Perhaps 't will cost a sigh, a tear; Then steal away, give little warning, Choose thine own time; Say not "Good night," but in some brighter clime Bid me "Good morning."
Life.
So fades a summer cloud away; So sinks the gale when storms are o'er; So gently shuts the eye of day;[434-1] So dies a wave along the shore.
The Death of the Virtuous.
Child of mortality, whence comest thou? Why is thy countenance sad, and why are thine eyes red with weeping?
Hymns in Prose. xiii.
FOOTNOTES:
[433-2] Who against hope believed in hope.--Romans iv. 18.
Hope against hope, and ask till ye receive.--MONTGOMERY: The World before the Flood.
[434-1] See Chaucer, page 6.
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 1743-1826.
The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.
Summary View of the Rights of British America.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God[434-2] entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Declaration of Independence.
We hold these truths to be self-evident,--that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights;[434-3] that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Declaration of Independence.
We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.
Declaration of Independence.
Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.
First Inaugural Address. March 4, 1801.
Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations,--entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of the general government in its whole constitutional vigour, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; . . . freedom of religion; freedom of the press; freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected,--these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.
First Inaugural Address. March 4, 1801.
In the full tide of successful experiment.
First Inaugural Address. March 4, 1801.
Of the various executive abilities, no one excited more anxious concern than that of placing the interests of our fellow-citizens in the hands of honest men, with understanding sufficient for their stations.[435-1] No duty is at the same time more difficult to fulfil. The knowledge of character possessed by a single individual is of necessity limited. To seek out the best through the whole Union, we must resort to the information which from the best of men, acting disinterestedly and with the purest motives, is sometimes incorrect.
Letter to Elias Shipman and others of New Haven, July 12, 1801.
If a due participation of office is a matter of right, how are vacancies to be obtained? Those by death are few; by resignation, none.[435-2]
Letter to Elias Shipman and others of New Haven, July 12, 1801.
When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.[436-1]
Life of Jefferson (Rayner), p. 356.
Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.
Notes on Virginia. Query xviii. Manners.
FOOTNOTES:
[434-2] See Bolingbroke, page 304.
[434-3] All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights.--Constitution of Massachusetts.
[435-1] This passage is thus paraphrased by John B. McMaster in his "History of the People of the United States" (ii. 586): "One sentence will undoubtedly be remembered till our republic ceases to exist. 'No duty the Executive had to perform was so trying,' he observed, 'as to put the right man in the right place.'"
[435-2] Usually quoted, "Few die and none resign."
[436-1] See Appendix, page 859.
JOSIAH QUINCY, JR. 1744-1775.
Blandishments will not fascinate us, nor will threats of a "halter" intimidate. For, under God, we are determined that wheresoever, whensoever, or howsoever we shall be called to make our exit, we will die free men.
Observations on the Boston Port Bill, 1774.
CHARLES DIBDIN. 1745-1814.
There 's a sweet little cherub that sits up aloft, To keep watch for the life of poor Jack.
Poor Jack.
Did you ever hear of Captain Wattle? He was all for love, and a little for the bottle.
Captain Wattle and Miss Roe.
His form was of the manliest beauty, His heart was kind and soft; Faithful below he did his duty, But now he 's gone aloft.
Tom Bowling.
For though his body 's under hatches, His soul has gone aloft.
Tom Bowling.
Spanking Jack was so comely, so pleasant, so jolly, Though winds blew great guns, still he 'd whistle and sing; Jack loved his friend, and was true to his Molly, And if honour gives greatness, was great as a king.
The Sailor's Consolation.[436-2]
FOOTNOTES:
[436-2] A song with this title, beginning, "One night came on a hurricane," was written by William Pitt, of Malta, who died in 1840.
HANNAH MORE. 1745-1833.
To those who know thee not, no words can paint! And those who know thee, know all words are faint!
Sensibility.
Since trifles make the sum of human things, And half our misery from our foibles springs.
Sensibility.
In men this blunder still you find,-- All think their little set mankind.
Florio. Part i.
Small habits well pursued betimes May reach the dignity of crimes.
Florio. Part i.
LORD STOWELL. 1745-1836.
A dinner lubricates business.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. viii. p. 67, note.
The elegant simplicity of the three per cents.[437-1]
Lives of the Lord Chancellors (Campbell). Vol. x. Chap. 212.
FOOTNOTES:
[437-1] The sweet simplicity of the three per cents.--DISRAELI (Earl Beaconsfield): Endymion.
SIR WILLIAM JONES. 1746-1794.
Than all Bocara's vaunted gold, Than all the gems of Samarcand.
A Persian Song of Hafiz.
Go boldly forth, my simple lay, Whose accents flow with artless ease, Like orient pearls at random strung.[437-2]
A Persian Song of Hafiz.
On parent knees, a naked new-born child, Weeping thou sat'st while all around thee smiled; So live, that sinking in thy last long sleep, Calm thou mayst smile, while all around thee weep.
From the Persian.
What constitutes a state? . . . . . . . Men who their duties know, But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain. . . . . . . . And sovereign law, that state's collected will, O'er thrones and globes elate, Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill.[438-1]
Ode in Imitation of Alcæus.
Seven hours to law, to soothing slumber seven, Ten to the world allot, and all to heaven.[438-2]
FOOTNOTES:
[437-2] 'T was he that ranged the words at random flung, Pierced the fair pearls and them together strung.
EASTWICK: Anvari Suhaili. (Translated from Firdousi.)
[438-1] Neither walls, theatres, porches, nor senseless equipage, make states, but men who are able to rely upon themselves.--ARISTIDES: Orations (Jebb's edition), vol. i. (trans. by A. W. Austin).
By Themistocles alone, or with very few others, does this saying appear to be approved, which, though Alcæus formerly had produced, many afterwards claimed: "Not stones, nor wood, nor the art of artisans, make a state; but where men are who know how to take care of themselves, these are cities and walls."--Ibid. vol. ii.
[438-2] See Coke, page 24.
JOHN LOGAN. 1748-1788.
Thou hast no sorrow in thy song, No winter in thy year.
To the Cuckoo.
Oh could I fly, I 'd fly with thee! We 'd make with joyful wing Our annual visit o'er the globe, Companions of the spring.
To the Cuckoo.
JONATHAN M. SEWALL. 1748-1808.
No pent-up Utica contracts your powers, But the whole boundless continent is yours.
Epilogue to Cato.[439-1]
FOOTNOTES:
[439-1] Written for the Bow Street Theatre, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
JOHN EDWIN. 1749-1790.
A man's ingress into the world is naked and bare, His progress through the world is trouble and care; And lastly, his egress out of the world, is nobody knows where. If we do well here, we shall do well there: I can tell you no more if I preach a whole year.[439-2]
The Eccentricities of John Edwin (second edition), vol. i. p. 74. London, 1791.
FOOTNOTES:
[439-2] These lines Edwin offers as heads of a "sermon." Longfellow places them in the mouth of "The Cobbler of Hagenau," as a "familiar tune." See "The Wayside Inn, part ii. The Student's Tale."
JOHN TRUMBULL. 1750-1831.
But optics sharp it needs, I ween, To see what is not to be seen.
M^cFingal. Canto i. Line 67.
But as some muskets so contrive it As oft to miss the mark they drive at, And though well aimed at duck or plover, Bear wide, and kick their owners over.
M^cFingal. Canto i. Line 93.
As though there were a tie And obligation to posterity. We get them, bear them, breed, and nurse: What has posterity done for us That we, lest they their rights should lose, Should trust our necks to gripe of noose?
M^cFingal. Canto ii. Line 121.
No man e'er felt the halter draw, With good opinion of the law.
M^cFingal. Canto iii. Line 489.
RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 1751-1816.
Illiterate him, I say, quite from your memory.
The Rivals. Act i. Sc. 2.
'T is safest in matrimony to begin with a little aversion.
The Rivals. Act i. Sc. 2.
A progeny of learning.
The Rivals. Act i. Sc. 2.
A circulating library in a town is as an evergreen tree of diabolical knowledge.
The Rivals. Act iii. Sc. 1.
He is the very pine-apple of politeness!
The Rivals. Act iii. Sc. 3.
If I reprehend anything in this world, it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs!
The Rivals. Act iii. Sc. 3.
As headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile.
The Rivals. Act iii. Sc. 3.
Too civil by half.
The Rivals. Act iii. Sc. 4.
Our ancestors are very good kind of folks; but they are the last people I should choose to have a visiting acquaintance with.
The Rivals. Act iv. Sc. 1.
No caparisons, miss, if you please. Caparisons don't become a young woman.
The Rivals. Act iv. Sc. 2.
We will not anticipate the past; so mind, young people,--our retrospection will be all to the future.
The Rivals. Act iv. Sc. 2.
You are not like Cerberus, three gentlemen at once, are you?
The Rivals. Act iv. Sc. 2.
The quarrel is a very pretty quarrel as it stands; we should only spoil it by trying to explain it.
The Rivals. Act iv. Sc. 3.
You 're our enemy; lead the way, and we 'll precede.
The Rivals. Act v. Sc. 1.
There 's nothing like being used to a thing.[441-1]
The Rivals. Act v. Sc. 3.
As there are three of us come on purpose for the game, you won't be so cantankerous as to spoil the party by sitting out.
The Rivals. Act v. Sc. 3.
My valour is certainly going! it is sneaking off! I feel it oozing out, as it were, at the palm of my hands!
The Rivals. Act v. Sc. 3.
I own the soft impeachment.
The Rivals. Act v. Sc. 3.
Steal! to be sure they may; and, egad, serve your best thoughts as gypsies do stolen children,--disfigure them to make 'em pass for their own.[441-2]
The Critic. Act i. Sc. 1.
The newspapers! Sir, they are the most villanous, licentious, abominable, infernal-- Not that I ever read them! No, I make it a rule never to look into a newspaper.
The Critic. Act i. Sc. 2.
Egad, I think the interpreter is the hardest to be understood of the two!
The Critic. Act i. Sc. 2.
Sheer necessity,--the proper parent of an art so nearly allied to invention.
The Critic. Act i. Sc. 2.
No scandal about Queen Elizabeth, I hope?
The Critic. Act ii. Sc. 1.
Certainly nothing is unnatural that is not physically impossible.
The Critic. Act ii. Sc. 1.
Where they do agree on the stage, their unanimity is wonderful.
The Critic. Act ii. Sc. 2.
Inconsolable to the minuet in Ariadne.
The Critic. Act ii. Sc. 2.
The Spanish fleet thou canst not see, because--it is not yet in sight!
The Critic. Act ii. Sc. 2.
An oyster may be crossed in love.
The Critic. Act iii. Sc. 1.
You shall see them on a beautiful quarto page, where a neat rivulet of text shall meander through a meadow of margin.
School for Scandal. Act i. Sc. 1.
Here is the whole set! a character dead at every word.
School for Scandal. Act ii. Sc. 2.
I leave my character behind me.
School for Scandal. Act ii. Sc. 2.
Here 's to the maiden of bashful fifteen; Here 's to the widow of fifty; Here 's to the flaunting, extravagant quean, And here 's to the housewife that 's thrifty! Let the toast pass; Drink to the lass; I 'll warrant she 'll prove an excuse for the glass.
School for Scandal. Act iii. Sc. 3.
An unforgiving eye, and a damned disinheriting countenance.
School for Scandal. Act v. Sc. 1.
It was an amiable weakness.[442-1]
School for Scandal. Act v. Sc. 1.
I ne'er could any lustre see In eyes that would not look on me; I ne'er saw nectar on a lip But where my own did hope to sip.
The Duenna. Act i. Sc. 2.
Had I a heart for falsehood framed, I ne'er could injure you.
The Duenna. Act i. Sc. 5.
Conscience has no more to do with gallantry than it has with politics.
The Duenna. Act ii. Sc. 4.
While his off-heel, insidiously aside. Provokes the caper which he seems to chide.
Pizarro. The Prologue.
Such protection as vultures give to lambs.
Pizarro. Act ii. Sc. 2.
A life spent worthily should be measured by a nobler line,--by deeds, not years.[443-1]
Pizarro. Act iv. Sc. 1.
The Right Honorable gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests, and to his imagination for his facts.[443-2]
Speech in Reply to Mr. Dundas. Sheridaniana.
You write with ease to show your breeding, But easy writing 's curst hard reading.
Clio's Protest. Life of Sheridan (Moore). Vol. i. p. 155.
FOOTNOTES:
[441-1] 'T is nothing when you are used to it.--SWIFT: Polite Conversation, iii.
[441-2] See Churchill, page 413.
[442-1] See Fielding, page 364.
[443-1] He who grown aged in this world of woe, In deeds, not years, piercing the depths of life, So that no wonder waits him.
BYRON: Childe Harold, canto iii. stanza 5.
We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths.--BAILEY: Festus. A Country Town.
Who well lives, long lives; for this age of ours Should not be numbered by years, daies, and hours.
DU BARTAS: Days and Weekes. Fourth Day. Book ii.
[443-2] On peut dire que son esprit brille aux dépens de sa mémoire (One may say that his wit shines by the help of his memory).--LE SAGE: Gil Blas, livre iii. chap. xi.
PHILIP FRENEAU. 1752-1832.
The hunter and the deer a shade.[443-3]
The Indian Burying-Ground.
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe; They took the spear, but left the shield.[443-4]
To the Memory of the Americans who fell at Eutaw.
FOOTNOTES:
[443-3] This line was appropriated by Campbell in "O'Connor's Child."
[443-4] When Prussia hurried to the field, And snatched the spear, but left the shield.
SCOTT: Marmion, Introduction to canto iii.
GEORGE CRABBE. 1754-1832.
Oh, rather give me commentators plain, Who with no deep researches vex the brain; Who from the dark and doubtful love to run, And hold their glimmering tapers to the sun.[443-5]
The Parish Register. Part i. Introduction.
Her air, her manners, all who saw admir'd; Courteous though coy, and gentle though retir'd; The joy of youth and health her eyes display'd, And ease of heart her every look convey'd.
The Parish Register. Part ii. Marriages.
In this fool's paradise he drank delight.[444-1]
The Borough. Letter xii. Players.
Books cannot always please, however good; Minds are not ever craving for their food.
The Borough. Letter xxiv. Schools.
In idle wishes fools supinely stay; Be there a will, and wisdom finds a way.
The Birth of Flattery.
Cut and come again.
Tales. Tale vii. The Widow's Tale.
Better to love amiss than nothing to have loved.[444-2]
Tales. Tale xiv. The Struggles of Conscience.
But 't was a maxim he had often tried, That right was right, and there he would abide.[444-3]
Tales. Tale xv. The Squire and the Priest.
'T was good advice, and meant, my son, Be good.
Tales. Tale xxi. The Learned Boy.
He tried the luxury of doing good.[444-4]
Tales of the Hall. Book iii. Boys at School.
To sigh, yet not recede; to grieve, yet not repent.[444-5]
Tales of the Hall. Book iii. Boys at School.
And took for truth the test of ridicule.[444-6]
Tales of the Hall. Book viii. The Sisters.
Time has touched me gently in his race, And left no odious furrows in my face.[445-1]
Tales of the Hall. Book xvii. The Widow.
FOOTNOTES:
[443-5] See Young, page 311.
[444-1] See Appendix, page 858.
[444-2] 'T is better to have loved and lost, Than never to have loved at all.
TENNYSON: In Memoriam, xxvii.
[444-3] For right is right, since God is God.--FABER: _The Right must win._
[444-4] See Goldsmith, page 394.
[444-5] To sigh, yet feel no pain.--MOORE: The Blue Stocking.
[444-6] See Appendix, page 394.
[445-1] Touch us gently, Time.--B. W. PROCTER: Touch us gently, Time.
Time has laid his hand Upon my heart, gently.
LONGFELLOW: The Golden Legend, iv.
GEORGE BARRINGTON. 1755- ----.
True patriots all; for be it understood We left our country for our country's good.[445-2]
Prologue written for the Opening of the Play-house at New South Wales, Jan. 16, 1796.
FOOTNOTES:
[445-2] See Farquhar, page 305.
HENRY LEE. 1756-1816.
To the memory of the Man, first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.
Memoirs of Lee. Eulogy on Washington, Dec. 26, 1799.[445-3]
FOOTNOTES:
[445-3] To the memory of the Man, first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow-citizens.--Resolutions presented to the United States' House of Representatives, on the Death of Washington, December, 1799.
The eulogy was delivered a week later. Marshall, in his "Life of Washington," vol. v. p. 767, says in a note that these resolutions were prepared by Colonel Henry Lee, who was then not in his place to read them. General Robert E. Lee, in the Life of his father (1869), prefixed to the Report of his father's "Memoirs of the War of the Revolution," gives (p. 5) the expression "fellow-citizens;" but on p. 52 he says: "But there is a line, a single line, in the Works of Lee which would hand him over to immortality, though he had never written another: 'First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen' will last while language lasts."
J. P. KEMBLE. 1757-1823.
Perhaps it was right to dissemble your love, But--why did you kick me down stairs?[445-4]
The Panel. Act i. Sc. 1.
FOOTNOTES:
[445-4] Altered from Bickerstaff's "'T is Well 't is no Worse." The lines are also found in Debrett's "Asylum for Fugitive Pieces," vol. i. p. 15.
HORATIO NELSON. 1758-1805.
In the battle off Cape St. Vincent, Nelson gave orders for boarding the "San Josef," exclaiming "Westminster Abbey, or victory!"
Life of Nelson (Southey). Vol. i. p. 93.
England expects every man to do his duty.[446-1]
Life of Nelson (Southey). Vol. ii. p. 131.
FOOTNOTES:
[446-1] This famous sentence is thus first reported: "Say to the fleet, England confides that every man will do his duty." Captain Pasco, Nelson's flag-lieutenant, suggested to substitute "expects" for "confides," which was adopted. Captain Blackwood, who commanded the "Euryalis," says that the correction suggested was from "Nelson expects" to "England expects."
ROBERT BURNS. 1759-1796.
Auld Nature swears the lovely dears Her noblest work she classes, O; Her 'prentice han' she tried on man, And then she made the lasses, O![446-2]
Green grow the Rashes.
Some books are lies frae end to end.
Death and Dr. Hornbook.
Some wee short hours ayont the twal.
Death and Dr. Hornbook.
The best laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft a-gley; And leave us naught but grief and pain For promised joy.
To a Mouse.
When chill November's surly blast Made fields and forests bare.
Man was made to Mourn.
Man's inhumanity to man Makes countless thousands mourn.
Man was made to Mourn.
Gars auld claes look amaist as weel 's the new.
The Cotter's Saturday Night.
Beneath the milk-white thorn that scents the evening gale.
The Cotter's Saturday Night.
He wales a portion with judicious care; And "Let us worship God," he says with solemn air.
The Cotter's Saturday Night.
Perhaps Dundee's wild-warbling measures rise, Or plaintive Martyrs, worthy of the name.
The Cotter's Saturday Night.
From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs, That makes her loved at home, revered abroad: Princes and lords are but the breath of kings, "An honest man 's the noblest work of God."[447-1]
The Cotter's Saturday Night.
For a' that, and a' that, And twice as muckle 's a' that.
The Jolly Beggars.
O Life! how pleasant is thy morning, Young Fancy's rays the hills adorning! Cold-pausing Caution's lesson scorning, We frisk away, Like schoolboys at th' expected warning, To joy and play.
Epistle to James Smith.
Misled by fancy's meteor ray, By passion driven; But yet the light that led astray Was light from heaven.
The Vision.
And like a passing thought, she fled In light away.
The Vision.
Affliction's sons are brothers in distress; A brother to relieve,--how exquisite the bliss!
A Winter Night.
His locked, lettered, braw brass collar Showed him the gentleman and scholar.
The Twa Dogs.
And there began a lang digression About the lords o' the creation.
The Twa Dogs.
Oh wad some power the giftie gie us To see oursel's as others see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us, And foolish notion.
To a Louse.
Then gently scan your brother man, Still gentler sister woman; Though they may gang a kennin' wrang, To step aside is human.[448-1]
Address to the Unco Guid.
What 's done we partly may compute, But know not what 's resisted.
Address to the Unco Guid.
Stern Ruin's ploughshare drives elate Full on thy bloom.[448-2]
To a Mountain Daisy.
O life! thou art a galling load, Along a rough, a weary road, To wretches such as I!
Despondency.
Perhaps it may turn out a sang, Perhaps turn out a sermon.
Epistle to a Young Friend.
I waive the quantum o' the sin, The hazard of concealing; But, och! it hardens a' within, And petrifies the feeling!
Epistle to a Young Friend.
The fear o' hell 's a hangman's whip To haud the wretch in order;[448-3] But where ye feel your honour grip, Let that aye be your border.
Epistle to a Young Friend.
An atheist's laugh 's a poor exchange For Deity offended!
Epistle to a Young Friend.
And may you better reck the rede,[448-4] Than ever did the adviser!
Epistle to a Young Friend.
Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes; Flow gently, I 'll sing thee a song in thy praise.
Flow gently, sweet Afton.
Oh whistle, and I 'll come to ye, my lad.[449-1]
Whistle, and I 'll come to ye.
If naebody care for me, I 'll care for naebody.[449-2]
I hae a Wife o' my Ain.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And days o' lang syne?
Auld Lang Syne.
We twa hae run about the braes, And pu'd the gowans fine.
Auld Lang Syne.
Dweller in yon dungeon dark, Hangman of creation, mark! Who in widow weeds appears, Laden with unhonoured years, Noosing with care a bursting purse, Baited with many a deadly curse?
Ode on Mrs. Oswald.
To make a happy fireside clime To weans and wife,-- That 's the true pathos and sublime Of human life.
Epistle to Dr. Blacklock.
If there 's a hole in a' your coats, I rede ye tent it; A chiel 's amang ye takin' notes, And, faith, he 'll prent it.
On Captain Grose's Peregrinations through Scotland.
John Anderson my jo, John, When we were first acquent, Your locks were like the raven, Your bonny brow was brent.
John Anderson.
My heart 's in the Highlands, my heart is not here; My heart 's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer.[450-1]
My Heart 's in the Highlands.
She is a winsome wee thing, She is a handsome wee thing, She is a bonny wee thing, This sweet wee wife o' mine.
My Wife 's a Winsome Wee Thing.
The golden hours on angel wings Flew o'er me and my dearie; For dear to me as light and life Was my sweet Highland Mary.
Highland Mary.
But, oh! fell death's untimely frost That nipt my flower sae early.
Highland Mary.
It 's guid to be merry and wise,[450-2] It 's guid to be honest and true, It 's guid to support Caledonia's cause, And bide by the buff and the blue.
Here 's a Health to Them that 's Awa'.
Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled, Scots, wham Bruce has aften led, Welcome to your gory bed, Or to victory! Now 's the day and now 's the hour; See the front o' battle lour.
Bannockburn.
Liberty 's in every blow! Let us do or die.[450-3]
Bannockburn.
In durance vile[450-4] here must I wake and weep, And all my frowsy couch in sorrow steep.
Epistle from Esopus to Maria.
Oh, my luve 's like a red, red rose, That 's newly sprung in June; Oh, my luve 's like the melodie That 's sweetly played in tune.
A Red, Red Rose.
Contented wi' little, and cantie wi' mair.
Contented wi' Little.
Where sits our sulky, sullen dame, Gathering her brows like gathering storm, Nursing her wrath to keep it warm.
Tam o' Shanter.
Ah, gentle dames! it gars me greet To think how monie counsels sweet, How monie lengthened sage advices, The husband frae the wife despises.
Tam o' Shanter.
His ancient, trusty, drouthy crony; Tam lo'ed him like a vera brither,-- They had been fou for weeks thegither.
Tam o' Shanter.
The landlady and Tam grew gracious Wi' favours secret, sweet, and precious.
Tam o' Shanter.
The landlord's laugh was ready chorus.
Tam o' Shanter.
Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious, O'er a' the ills o' life victorious.
Tam o' Shanter.
But pleasures are like poppies spread, You seize the flower, its bloom is shed; Or, like the snow-fall in the river, A moment white, then melts forever.
Tam o' Shanter.
Nae man can tether time or tide.[451-1]
Tam o' Shanter.
That hour, o' night's black arch the keystane.
Tam o' Shanter.
Inspiring, bold John Barleycorn, What dangers thou canst make us scorn!
Tam o' Shanter.
As Tammie glow'red, amazed and curious, The mirth and fun grew fast and furious.
Tam o' Shanter.
But to see her was to love her,[452-1] Love but her, and love forever.
Ae Fond Kiss.
Had we never loved sae kindly, Had we never loved sae blindly, Never met or never parted, We had ne'er been broken-hearted!
Ae Fond Kiss.
To see her is to love her, And love but her forever; For Nature made her what she is, And never made anither!
Bonny Lesley.
Ye banks and braes o' bonny Doon, How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair? How can ye chant, ye little birds, And I sae weary fu' o' care?
The Banks of Doon.
Chords that vibrate sweetest pleasure Thrill the deepest notes of woe.
Sweet Sensibility.
The rank is but the guinea's stamp, The man 's the gowd for a' that.[452-2]
For a' that and a' that.
A prince can make a belted knight, A marquis, duke, and a' that; But an honest man 's aboon his might, Guid faith, he maunna fa' that.[452-3]
For a' that and a' that.
'T is sweeter for thee despairing Than aught in the world beside,--Jessy!
Jessy.
Some hae meat and canna eat, And some would eat that want it; But we hae meat, and we can eat, Sae let the Lord be thankit.
Grace before Meat.
It was a' for our rightfu' King We left fair Scotland's strand.
A' for our Rightfu' King.[452-4]
Now a' is done that men can do, And a' is done in vain.
A' for our Rightfu' King.
He turn'd him right and round about Upon the Irish shore, And gae his bridle reins a shake, With, "Adieu for evermore, my dear, And adieu for evermore."[453-1]
A' for our Rightfu' King.
FOOTNOTES:
[446-2] Man was made when Nature was But an apprentice, but woman when she Was a skilful mistress of her art.
Cupid's Whirligig (1607).
[447-1] See Fletcher, page 183.
[448-1] See Pope, page 325.
[448-2] See Young, page 309.
[448-3] See Burton, page 193.
[448-4] See Shakespeare, page 129.
[449-1] See Beaumont and Fletcher, page 198.
[449-2] See Bickerstaff, page 427.
[450-1] These lines from an old song, entitled "The Strong Walls of Derry," Burns made a basis for his own beautiful ditty.
[450-2] See Heywood, page 9.
[450-3] See Fletcher, page 183.
[450-4] Durance vile.--W. KENRICK (1766): _Falstaff's Wedding, act i. sc. 2._ BURKE: The Present Discontents.
[451-1] See Heywood, page 10.
[452-1] To know her was to love her.--ROGERS: _Jacqueline, stanza 1._
[452-2] I weigh the man, not his title; 't is not the king's stamp can make the metal better.--WYCHERLEY: _The Plaindealer, act. i. sc. 1._
[452-3] See Southerne, page 282.
[452-4] This ballad first appeared in Johnson's "Museum," 1796. Sir Walter Scott was never tired of hearing it sung.
[453-1] Under the impression that this stanza is ancient, Scott has made very free use of it, first in "Rokeby" (1813), and then in the "Monastery" (1816). In "Rokeby" he thus introduces the verse:--
He turn'd his charger as he spake, Upon the river shore, He gave his bridle reins a shake, Said, "Adieu for evermore, my love, And adieu for evermore."
WILLIAM PITT. 1759-1806.
Necessity is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.[453-2]
Speech on the India Bill, November, 1783.
Prostrate the beauteous ruin lies; and all That shared its shelter perish in its fall.
The Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin. No. xxxvi.
FOOTNOTES:
[453-2] See Milton, page 232.
ANDREW CHERRY. 1762-1812.
Loud roared the dreadful thunder, The rain a deluge showers.
The Bay of Biscay.
As she lay, on that day, In the bay of Biscay, O!
The Bay of Biscay.
GEORGE COLMAN, THE YOUNGER. 1762-1836.
On their own merits modest men are dumb.
Epilogue to the Heir at Law.
And what 's impossible can't be, And never, never comes to pass.
The Maid of the Moor.
Three stories high, long, dull, and old, As great lords' stories often are.
The Maid of the Moor.
Like two single gentlemen rolled into one.
Lodgings for Single Gentlemen.
But when ill indeed, E'en dismissing the doctor don't always succeed.
Lodgings for Single Gentlemen.
When taken, To be well shaken.
The Newcastle Apothecary.
Thank you, good sir, I owe you one.
The Poor Gentleman. Act i. Sc. 2.
O Miss Bailey! Unfortunate Miss Bailey!
Love laughs at Locksmiths. Act ii. Song.
'T is a very fine thing to be father-in-law To a very magnificent three-tailed Bashaw!
Blue Beard. Act ii. Sc. 5.
I had a soul above buttons.
Sylvester Daggerwood, or New Hay at the Old Market. Sc. 1.
Mynheer Vandunck, though he never was drunk, Sipped brandy and water gayly.
Mynheer Vandunck.
JAMES HURDIS. 1763-1801.
Rise with the lark, and with the lark to bed.[454-1]
The Village Curate.
FOOTNOTES:
[454-1] To rise with the lark, and go to bed with the lamb.--BRETON: Court and Country (1618; reprint, p. 183).
SAMUEL ROGERS. 1763-1855.
Sweet Memory! wafted by thy gentle gale, Oft up the stream of Time I turn my sail.
The Pleasures of Memory. Part ii. i.
She was good as she was fair, None--none on earth above her! As pure in thought as angels are: To know her was to love her.[455-1]
Jacqueline. Stanza 1.
The good are better made by ill, As odours crushed are sweeter still.[455-2]
Jacqueline. Stanza 3.
A guardian angel o'er his life presiding, Doubling his pleasures, and his cares dividing.
Human Life.
Fireside happiness, to hours of ease Blest with that charm, the certainty to please.
Human Life.
The soul of music slumbers in the shell Till waked and kindled by the master's spell; And feeling hearts, touch them but rightly, pour A thousand melodies unheard before!
Human Life.
Then never less alone than when alone.[455-3]
Human Life.
Those that he loved so long and sees no more, Loved and still loves,--not dead, but gone before,[455-4]-- He gathers round him.
Human Life.
Mine be a cot beside the hill; A beehive's hum shall soothe my ear; A willowy brook that turns a mill, With many a fall, shall linger near.
A Wish.
That very law which moulds a tear And bids it trickle from its source,-- That law preserves the earth a sphere, And guides the planets in their course.
On a Tear.
Go! you may call it madness, folly; You shall not chase my gloom away! There 's such a charm in melancholy I would not if I could be gay.
To ----.
To vanish in the chinks that Time has made.[456-1]
Pæstum.
Ward has no heart, they say, but I deny it: He has a heart, and gets his speeches by it.
Epigram.
FOOTNOTES:
[455-1] See Burns, page 452.
None knew thee but to love thee.--HALLECK: On the Death of Drake.
[455-2] See Bacon, page 165.
[455-3] See Gibbon, page 430.
Numquam se minus otiosum esse, quam quum otiosus, nec minus solum, quam quum solus esset (He is never less at leisure than when at leisure, nor less alone than when he is alone).--CICERO: De Officiis, liber iii. c. 1.
[455-4] This is literally from Seneca, Epistola lxiii. 16. See Matthew Henry, page 283.
[456-1] See Waller, page 221.
JOHN FERRIAR. 1764-1815.
The princeps copy, clad in blue and gold.
Illustrations of Sterne. Bibliomania. Line 6.
Now cheaply bought for thrice their weight in gold.
Illustrations of Sterne. Bibliomania. Line 65.
Torn from their destined page (unworthy meed Of knightly counsel and heroic deed).
Illustrations of Sterne. Bibliomania. Line 121.
How pure the joy, when first my hands unfold The small, rare volume, black with tarnished gold!
Illustrations of Sterne. Bibliomania. Line 137.
ANN RADCLIFFE. 1764-1823.
Fate sits on these dark battlements and frowns, And as the portal opens to receive me, A voice in hollow murmurs through the courts Tells of a nameless deed.[456-2]
FOOTNOTES:
[456-2] These lines form the motto to Mrs. Radcliffe's novel, "The Mysteries of Udolpho," and are presumably of her own composition.
ROBERT HALL. 1764-1831.
His [Burke's] imperial fancy has laid all Nature under tribute, and has collected riches from every scene of the creation and every walk of art.
Apology for the Freedom of the Press.
He [Kippis] might be a very clever man by nature for aught I know, but he laid so many books upon his head that his brains could not move.
Gregory's Life of Hall.
Call things by their right names. . . . Glass of brandy and water! That is the current but not the appropriate name: ask for a glass of liquid fire and distilled damnation.[457-1]
Gregory's Life of Hall.
FOOTNOTES:
[457-1] See Tourneur, page 34.
He calls drunkenness an expression identical with ruin.--DIOGENES LAERTIUS: Pythagoras, vi.
THOMAS MORTON. 1764-1838.
What will Mrs. Grundy say?
Speed the Plough. Act i. Sc. 1.
Push on,--keep moving.
A Cure for the Heartache. Act ii. Sc. 1.
Approbation from Sir Hubert Stanley is praise indeed.
A Cure for the Heartache. Act v. Sc. 2.
SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH. 1765-1832.
Diffused knowledge immortalizes itself.
Vindiciæ Gallicæ.
The Commons, faithful to their system, remained in a wise and masterly inactivity.
Vindiciæ Gallicæ.
Disciplined inaction.
Causes of the Revolution of 1688. Chap. vii.
The frivolous work of polished idleness.
Dissertation on Ethical Philosophy. Remarks on Thomas Brown.
LADY NAIRNE. 1766-1845.
There 's nae sorrow there, John, There 's neither cauld nor care, John, The day is aye fair, In the land o' the leal.
The Land o' the Leal.
Gude nicht, and joy be wi' you a'.
Gude Nicht, etc.[458-1]
Oh, we 're a' noddin', nid, nid, noddin'; Oh, we 're a' noddin' at our house at hame.
We 're a' Noddin'.
A penniless lass wi' a lang pedigree.
The Laird o' Cockpen.
FOOTNOTES:
[458-1] Sir Alexander Boswell composed a version of this song.
ANDREW JACKSON. 1767-1845.
Our Federal Union: it must be preserved.
Toast given on the Jefferson Birthday Celebration in 1830.
You are uneasy; you never sailed with me before, I see.[458-2]
Life of Jackson (Parton). Vol. iii. p. 493.
FOOTNOTES:
[458-2] A remark made to an elderly gentleman who was sailing with Jackson down Chesapeake Bay in an old steamboat, and who exhibited a little fear.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 1767-1848.
Think of your forefathers! Think of your posterity![458-3]
Speech at Plymouth, Dec. 22, 1802.
In charity to all mankind, bearing no malice or ill-will to any human being, and even compassionating those who hold in bondage their fellow-men, not knowing what they do.[458-4]
Letter to A. Bronson. July 30, 1838.
This hand, to tyrants ever sworn the foe, For Freedom only deals the deadly blow; Then sheathes in calm repose the vengeful blade, For gentle peace in Freedom's hallowed shade.[459-1]
Written in an Album, 1842.
This is the last of earth! I am content.
His Last Words, Feb. 21, 1848.
FOOTNOTES:
[458-3] Et majores vestros et posteros cogitate.--TACITUS: Agricola, c. 32. 31.
[458-4] With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right.--ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Second Inaugural Address.
[459-1] See Sidney, page 264.
DAVID EVERETT. 1769-1813.
You 'd scarce expect one of my age To speak in public on the stage; And if I chance to fall below Demosthenes or Cicero, Don't view me with a critic's eye, But pass my imperfections by. Large streams from little fountains flow, Tall oaks from little acorns grow.[459-2]
Lines written for a School Declamation.
FOOTNOTES:
[459-2] The lofty oak from a small acorn grows.--LEWIS DUNCOMBE (1711-1730): De Minimis Maxima (translation).
SYDNEY SMITH. 1769-1845.
It requires a surgical operation to get a joke well into a Scotch understanding.[459-3]
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 15.
That knuckle-end of England,--that land of Calvin, oat-cakes, and sulphur.
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 17.
No one minds what Jeffrey says: . . . it is not more than a week ago that I heard him speak disrespectfully of the equator.
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 17.
We cultivate literature on a little oatmeal.[460-1]
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 23.
Truth is its [justice's] handmaid, freedom is its child, peace is its companion, safety walks in its steps, victory follows in its train; it is the brightest emanation from the Gospel; it is the attribute of God.
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 29.
It is always right that a man should be able to render a reason for the faith that is within him.
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 53.
Avoid shame, but do not seek glory,--nothing so expensive as glory.[460-2]
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 88.
Let every man be occupied, and occupied in the highest employment of which his nature is capable, and die with the consciousness that he has done his best.
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 130.
Looked as if she had walked straight out of the ark.
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 157.
The Smiths never had any arms, and have invariably sealed their letters with their thumbs.
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 244.
Not body enough to cover his mind decently with; his intellect is improperly exposed.
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 258.
He has spent all his life in letting down empty buckets into empty wells; and he is frittering away his age in trying to draw them up again.[460-3]
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 259.
You find people ready enough to do the Samaritan, without the oil and twopence.
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 261.
Ah, you flavour everything; you are the vanilla of society.
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 262.
My living in Yorkshire was so far out of the way, that it was actually twelve miles from a lemon.
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 262.
As the French say, there are three sexes,--men, women, and clergymen.[461-1]
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 262.
To take Macaulay out of literature and society and put him in the House of Commons, is like taking the chief physician out of London during a pestilence.
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 265.
Daniel Webster struck me much like a steam-engine in trousers.
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 267.
"Heat, ma'am!" I said; "it was so dreadful here, that I found there was nothing left for it but to take off my flesh and sit in my bones."
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 267.
Macaulay is like a book in breeches. . . . He has occasional flashes of silence, that make his conversation perfectly delightful.
Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 363.
Serenely full, the epicure would say, Fate cannot harm me,--I have dined to-day.[461-2]
Recipe for Salad. P. 374.
Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea?--how did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea.
Recipe for Salad. P. 383.
If you choose to represent the various parts in life by holes upon a table, of different shapes,--some circular, some triangular, some square, some oblong,--and the persons acting these parts by bits of wood of similar shapes, we shall generally find that the triangular person has got into the square hole, the oblong into the triangular, and a square person has squeezed himself into the round hole. The officer and the office, the doer and the thing done, seldom fit so exactly that we can say they were almost made for each other.[461-3]
Sketches of Moral Philosophy.
The schoolboy whips his taxed top; the beardless youth manages his taxed horse with a taxed bridle on a taxed road; and the dying Englishman, pouring his medicine, which has paid seven per cent, into a spoon that has paid fifteen per cent, flings himself back upon his chintz bed which has paid twenty-two per cent, and expires in the arms of an apothecary who has paid a license of a hundred pounds for the privilege of putting him to death.
Review of Seybert's Annals of the United States, 1820.
In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book, or goes to an American play, or looks at an American picture or statue?
Review of Seybert's Annals of the United States, 1820.
Magnificent spectacle of human happiness.
America. Edinburgh Review, July, 1824.
In the midst of this sublime and terrible storm [at Sidmouth], Dame Partington, who lived upon the beach, was seen at the door of her house with mop and pattens, trundling her mop, squeezing out the sea-water, and vigorously pushing away the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic was roused; Mrs. Partington's spirit was up. But I need not tell you that the contest was unequal; the Atlantic Ocean beat Mrs. Partington.
Speech at Taunton, 1813.
Men who prefer any load of infamy, however great, to any pressure of taxation, however light.
On American Debts.
FOOTNOTES:
[459-3] See Walpole, page 389.
[460-1] Mr. Smith, with reference to the "Edinburgh Review," says: "The motto I proposed for the 'Review' was 'Tenui musam meditamur avena;' but this was too near the truth to be admitted; so we took our present grave motto from Publius Syrus, of whom none of us had, I am sure, read a single line."
[460-2] A favorite motto, which through life Mr. Smith inculcated on his family.
[460-3] See Cowper, page 419.
[461-1] Lord Wharncliffe says, "The well-known sentence, almost a proverb, that 'this world consists of men, women, and Herveys,' was originally Lady Montagu's."--Montagu Letters, vol. i. p. 64.
[461-2] See Dryden, p. 273.
[461-3] The right man to fill the right place.--LAYARD: _Speech, Jan. 15, 1855._
J. HOOKHAM FRERE. 1769-1846.
And don't confound the language of the nation With long-tailed words in osity and ation.
The Monks and the Giants. Canto i. Line 6.
A sudden thought strikes me,--let us swear an eternal friendship.[462-1]
The Rovers. Act i. Sc. 1.
FOOTNOTES:
[462-1] See Otway, page 280.
My fair one, let us swear an eternal friendship.--MOLIÈRE: Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, act iv. sc. 1.
DUKE OF WELLINGTON. 1769-1852.
Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won.
Despatch, 1815.
It is very true that I have said that I considered Napoleon's presence in the field equal to forty thousand men in the balance. This is a very loose way of talking; but the idea is a very different one from that of his presence at a battle being equal to a reinforcement of forty thousand men.
Mem. by the Duke,[463-1] Sept. 18, 1836.
Circumstances over which I have no control.[463-2]
I never saw so many shocking bad hats in my life.[463-3]
Upon seeing the first Reformed Parliament.
There is no mistake; there has been no mistake; and there shall be no mistake.[463-4]
Letter to Mr. Huskisson.
FOOTNOTES:
[463-1] STANHOPE: _Conversations with the Duke of Wellington, p. 81._
[463-2] This phrase was first used by the Duke of Wellington in a letter, about 1839 or 1840.--SALA: Echoes of the Week, in London Illustrated News, Aug. 23, 1884. Greville, Mem., ch. ii. (1823), gives an earlier instance.
[463-3] Sir William Fraser, in "Words on Wellington" (1889), p. 12, says this phrase originated with the Duke. Captain Gronow, in his "Recollections," says it originated with the Duke of York, second son of George III., about 1817.
[463-4] This gave rise to the slang expression, "And no mistake."--Words on Wellington, p. 122.
JOHN TOBIN. 1770-1804.
The man that lays his hand upon a woman, Save in the way of kindness, is a wretch Whom 't were gross flattery to name a coward.
The Honeymoon. Act ii. Sc. 1.
She 's adorned Amply that in her husband's eye looks lovely,-- The truest mirror that an honest wife Can see her beauty in.
The Honeymoon. Act iii. Sc. 4.
GEORGE CANNING. 1770-1827.
Story! God bless you! I have none to tell, sir.
The Friend of Humanity and the Knife-Grinder.
I give thee sixpence! I will see thee damned first.
The Friend of Humanity and the Knife-Grinder.
So down thy hill, romantic Ashbourn, glides The Derby dilly, carrying three INSIDES.
The Loves of the Triangles. Line 178.
And finds, with keen, discriminating sight, Black 's not so black,--nor white so very white.
New Morality.
Give me the avowed, the erect, the manly foe, Bold I can meet,--perhaps may turn his blow! But of all plagues, good Heaven, thy wrath can send, Save, save, oh save me from the candid friend![464-1]
New Morality.
I called the New World into existence to redress the balance of the Old.
The King's Message, Dec. 12, 1826.
No, here 's to the pilot that weathered the storm!
The Pilot that weathered the Storm.
FOOTNOTES:
[464-1] "Defend me from my friends; I can defend myself from my enemies." The French Ana assign to Maréchal Villars this aphorism when taking leave of Louis XIV.
WILLIAM ROBERT SPENCER. 1770-1834.
Too late I stayed,--forgive the crime! Unheeded flew the hours; How noiseless falls the foot of time[464-2] That only treads on flowers.
Lines to Lady A. Hamilton.
FOOTNOTES:
[464-2] See Shakespeare, page 74.
JOSEPH HOPKINSON. 1770-1842.
Hail, Columbia! happy land! Hail, ye heroes! heaven-born band! Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause, Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause, And when the storm of war was gone, Enjoyed the peace your valor won. Let independence be our boast, Ever mindful what it cost; Ever grateful for the prize, Let its altar reach the skies!
Hail, Columbia!
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.[465-1] 1770-1850.
Oh, be wiser thou! Instructed that true knowledge leads to love.
Lines left upon a Seat in a Yew-tree.
And homeless near a thousand homes I stood, And near a thousand tables pined and wanted food.
Guilt and Sorrow. Stanza 41.
Action is transitory,--a step, a blow; The motion of a muscle, this way or that.
The Borderers. Act iii.
Three sleepless nights I passed in sounding on, Through words and things, a dim and perilous way.[465-2]
The Borderers. Act iv. Sc. 2.
A simple child That lightly draws its breath, And feels its life in every limb, What should it know of death?
We are Seven.
O Reader! Had you in your mind Such stores as silent thought can bring, O gentle Reader! you would find A tale in everything.
Simon Lee.
I 've heard of hearts unkind, kind deeds With coldness still returning; Alas! the gratitude of men Hath oftener left me mourning.
Simon Lee.
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts Bring sad thoughts to the mind.
Lines written in Early Spring.
And 't is my faith, that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes.
Lines written in Early Spring.
Nor less I deem that there are Powers Which of themselves our minds impress; That we can feed this mind of ours In a wise passiveness.
Expostulation and Reply.
Up! up! my friend, and quit your books, Or surely you 'll grow double! Up! up! my friend, and clear your looks! Why all this toil and trouble?
The Tables Turned.
Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher.
The Tables Turned.
One impulse from a vernal wood May teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can.
The Tables Turned.
The bane of all that dread the Devil.
The Idiot Boy.
Sensations sweet, Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart.
Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey.
That best portion of a good man's life,-- His little, nameless, unremembered acts Of kindness and of love.
Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey.
That blessed mood, In which the burden of the mystery, In which the heavy and the weary weight Of all this unintelligible world, Is lightened.
Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey.
The fretful stir Unprofitable, and the fever of the world Have hung upon the beatings of my heart.
Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey.
The sounding cataract Haunted me like a passion; the tall rock, The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood, Their colours and their forms, were then to me An appetite,--a feeling and a love, That had no need of a remoter charm By thoughts supplied, nor any interest Unborrowed from the eye.
Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey.
But hearing oftentimes The still, sad music of humanity.
Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey.
A sense sublime Of something far more deeply interfused, Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, And the round ocean and the living air And the blue sky, and in the mind of man,-- A motion and a spirit, that impels All thinking things, all objects of all thought, And rolls through all things.
Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey.
Knowing that Nature never did betray The heart that loved her.
Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey.
Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all The dreary intercourse of daily life.
Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey.
Men who can hear the Decalogue, and feel No self-reproach.
The Old Cumberland Beggar.
As in the eye of Nature he has lived, So in the eye of Nature let him die!
The Old Cumberland Beggar.
There 's something in a flying horse, There 's something in a huge balloon.
Peter Bell. Prologue. Stanza 1.
The common growth of Mother Earth Suffices me,--her tears, her mirth, Her humblest mirth and tears.
Peter Bell. Prologue. Stanza 27.
Full twenty times was Peter feared, For once that Peter was respected.
Peter Bell. Part i. Stanza 3.
A primrose by a river's brim A yellow primrose was to him, And it was nothing more.
Peter Bell. Part i. Stanza 12.
The soft blue sky did never melt Into his heart; he never felt The witchery of the soft blue sky!
Peter Bell. Part i. Stanza 15.
On a fair prospect some have looked, And felt, as I have heard them say, As if the moving time had been A thing as steadfast as the scene On which they gazed themselves away.
Peter Bell. Part i. Stanza 16.
As if the man had fixed his face, In many a solitary place, Against the wind and open sky!
Peter Bell. Part i. Stanza 26.[468-1]
One of those heavenly days that cannot die.
Nutting.
She dwelt among the untrodden ways Beside the springs of Dove,-- A maid whom there were none to praise And very few to love.
She dwelt among the untrodden ways.
A violet by a mossy stone Half hidden from the eye; Fair as a star, when only one Is shining in the sky.
She dwelt among the untrodden ways.
She lived unknown, and few could know When Lucy ceased to be; But she is in her grave, and oh The difference to me!
She dwelt among the untrodden ways.
The stars of midnight shall be dear To her; and she shall lean her ear In many a secret place Where rivulets dance their wayward round, And beauty born of murmuring sound Shall pass into her face.
Three years she grew in Sun and Shower.
May no rude hand deface it, And its forlorn hic jacet!
Ellen Irwin.
She gave me eyes, she gave me ears; And humble cares, and delicate fears; A heart, the fountain of sweet tears; And love and thought and joy.
The Sparrow's Nest.
The child is father of the man.[469-1]
My heart leaps up when I behold.
The cattle are grazing, Their heads never raising; There are forty feeding like one!
The Cock is crowing.
Sweet childish days, that were as long As twenty days are now.
To a Butterfly. I 've watched you now a full half-hour.
Often have I sighed to measure By myself a lonely pleasure,-- Sighed to think I read a book, Only read, perhaps, by me.
To the Small Celandine.
As high as we have mounted in delight, In our dejection do we sink as low.
Resolution and Independence. Stanza 4.
But how can he expect that others should Build for him, sow for him, and at his call Love him, who for himself will take no heed at all?
Resolution and Independence. Stanza 6.
I thought of Chatterton, the marvellous boy, The sleepless soul that perished in his pride; Of him who walked in glory and in joy, Following his plough, along the mountain-side. By our own spirits we are deified; We Poets in our youth begin in gladness, But thereof come in the end despondency and madness.
Resolution and Independence. Stanza 7.
That heareth not the loud winds when they call, And moveth all together, if it moves at all.
Resolution and Independence. Stanza 11.
Choice word and measured phrase above the reach Of ordinary men.
Resolution and Independence. Stanza 14.
And mighty poets in their misery dead.
Resolution and Independence. Stanza 17.
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep! The river glideth at his own sweet will; Dear God! the very houses seem asleep; And all that mighty heart is lying still!
Earth has not anything to show more fair.
The holy time is quiet as a nun Breathless with adoration.
It is a beauteous Evening.
Men are we, and must grieve when even the shade Of that which once was great is passed away.
On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic.
Thou has left behind Powers that will work for thee,--air, earth, and skies! There 's not a breathing of the common wind That will forget thee; thou hast great allies; Thy friends are exultations, agonies, And love, and man's unconquerable mind.[471-1]
To Toussaint L' Ouverture.
One that would peep and botanize Upon his mother's grave.
A Poet's Epitaph. Stanza 5.
He murmurs near the running brooks A music sweeter than their own.
A Poet's Epitaph. Stanza 10.
And you must love him, ere to you He will seem worthy of your love.
A Poet's Epitaph. Stanza 11.
The harvest of a quiet eye, That broods and sleeps on his own heart.
A Poet's Epitaph. Stanza 13.
Yet sometimes, when the secret cup Of still and serious thought went round, It seemed as if he drank it up, He felt with spirit so profound.
Matthew.
My eyes are dim with childish tears, My heart is idly stirred, For the same sound is in my ears Which in those days I heard.
The Fountain.
A happy youth, and their old age Is beautiful and free.
The Fountain.
And often, glad no more, We wear a face of joy because We have been glad of yore.
The Fountain.
The sweetest thing that ever grew Beside a human door.
Lucy Gray. Stanza 2.
A youth to whom was given So much of earth, so much of heaven.
Ruth.
Until a man might travel twelve stout miles, Or reap an acre of his neighbor's corn.
The Brothers.
Something between a hindrance and a help.
Michael.
Drink, pretty creature, drink!
The Pet Lamb.
Lady of the Mere, Sole-sitting by the shores of old romance.
A narrow Girdle of rough Stones and Crags.
And he is oft the wisest man Who is not wise at all.
The Oak and the Broom.
"A jolly place," said he, "in times of old! But something ails it now: the spot is cursed."
Hart-leap Well. Part ii.
Hunt half a day for a forgotten dream.
Hart-leap Well. Part ii.
Never to blend our pleasure or our pride With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels.
Hart-leap Well. Part ii.
Plain living and high thinking are no more. The homely beauty of the good old cause Is gone; our peace, our fearful innocence, And pure religion breathing household laws.
O Friend! I know not which way I must look.
Milton! thou should'st be living at this hour: England hath need of thee! . . . . . . Thy soul was like a star, and dwelt apart: So didst thou travel on life's common way In cheerful godliness.
London, 1802.
We must be free or die who speak the tongue That Shakespeare spake, the faith and morals hold Which Milton held.
It is not to be thought of.
A noticeable man, with large gray eyes.
Stanzas written in Thomson's Castle of Indolence.
We meet thee, like a pleasant thought, When such are wanted.
To the Daisy.
The poet's darling.
To the Daisy.
Thou unassuming commonplace Of Nature.
To the same Flower.
Oft on the dappled turf at ease I sit, and play with similes, Loose type of things through all degrees.
To the same Flower.
Sweet Mercy! to the gates of heaven This minstrel lead, his sins forgiven; The rueful conflict, the heart riven With vain endeavour, And memory of Earth's bitter leaven Effaced forever.
Thoughts suggested on the Banks of the Nith.
The best of what we do and are, Just God, forgive!
Thoughts suggested on the Banks of the Nith.
For old, unhappy, far-off things, And battles long ago.
The Solitary Reaper.
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain That has been, and may be again.
The Solitary Reaper.
The music in my heart I bore Long after it was heard no more.
The Solitary Reaper.
Yon foaming flood seems motionless as ice; Its dizzy turbulence eludes the eye, Frozen by distance.
Address to Kilchurn Castle.
A famous man is Robin Hood, The English ballad-singer's joy.
Rob Roy's Grave.
Because the good old rule Sufficeth them,--the simple plan, That they should take who have the power, And they should keep who can.
Rob Roy's Grave.
The Eagle, he was lord above, And Rob was lord below.
Rob Roy's Grave.
A brotherhood of venerable trees.
Sonnet composed at ---- Castle.
Let beeves and home-bred kine partake The sweets of Burn-mill meadow; The swan on still St. Mary's Lake Float double, swan and shadow!
Yarrow Unvisited.
Every gift of noble origin Is breathed upon by Hope's perpetual breath.
These Times strike Monied Worldlings.
A remnant of uneasy light.
The Matron of Jedborough.
Oh for a single hour of that Dundee Who on that day the word of onset gave![474-1]
Sonnet, in the Pass of Killicranky.
O Cuckoo! shall I call thee bird, Or but a wandering voice?
To the Cuckoo.
She was a phantom of delight When first she gleamed upon my sight, A lovely apparition, sent To be a moment's ornament; Her eyes as stars of twilight fair, Like twilights too her dusky hair, But all things else about her drawn From May-time and the cheerful dawn.
She was a Phantom of Delight.
A creature not too bright or good For human nature's daily food; For transient sorrows, simple wiles, Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.
She was a Phantom of Delight.
The reason firm, the temperate will, Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill; A perfect woman, nobly planned, To warn, to comfort, and command.
She was a Phantom of Delight.
That inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude.
I wandered lonely.
To be a Prodigal's favourite,--then, worse truth, A Miser's pensioner,--behold our lot!
The Small Celandine.
Stern Daughter of the Voice of God![475-1]
Ode to Duty.
A light to guide, a rod To check the erring, and reprove.
Ode to Duty.
Give unto me, made lowly wise, The spirit of self-sacrifice; The confidence of reason give, And in the light of truth thy bondman let me live!
Ode to Duty.
The light that never was, on sea or land; The consecration, and the Poet's dream.
Suggested by a Picture of Peele Castle in a Storm. Stanza 4.
Shalt show us how divine a thing A woman may be made.
To a Young Lady. Dear Child of Nature.
But an old age serene and bright, And lovely as a Lapland night, Shall lead thee to thy grave.
To a Young Lady. Dear Child of Nature.
Where the statue stood Of Newton, with his prism and silent face, The marble index of a mind forever Voyaging through strange seas of thought alone.
The Prelude. Book iii.
Another morn Risen on mid-noon.[476-1]
The Prelude. Book vi.
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven!
The Prelude. Book xi.
The budding rose above the rose full blown.
The Prelude. Book xi.
There is One great society alone on earth: The noble living and the noble dead.
The Prelude. Book xi.
Who, doomed to go in company with Pain And Fear and Bloodshed,--miserable train!-- Turns his necessity to glorious gain.
Character of the Happy Warrior.
Controls them and subdues, transmutes, bereaves Of their bad influence, and their good receives.
Character of the Happy Warrior.
But who, if he be called upon to face Some awful moment to which Heaven has joined Great issues, good or bad for humankind, Is happy as a lover.
Character of the Happy Warrior.
And through the heat of conflict keeps the law In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw.
Character of the Happy Warrior.
Whom neither shape of danger can dismay, Nor thought of tender happiness betray.
Character of the Happy Warrior.
Like,--but oh how different!
Yes, it was the Mountain Echo.
The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers: Little we see in Nature that is ours.
Miscellaneous Sonnets. Part i. xxxiii.
Great God! I 'd rather be A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn, So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea, Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.
Miscellaneous Sonnets. Part i. xxxiii.
Maidens withering on the stalk.[477-1]
Personal Talk. Stanza 1.
Sweetest melodies Are those that are by distance made more sweet.[477-2]
Personal Talk. Stanza 2.
Dreams, books, are each a world; and books, we know, Are a substantial world, both pure and good. Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood, Our pastime and our happiness will grow.
Personal Talk. Stanza 3.
The gentle Lady married to the Moor, And heavenly Una with her milk-white lamb.
Personal Talk. Stanza 3.
Blessings be with them, and eternal praise, Who gave us nobler loves, and nobler cares!-- The Poets, who on earth have made us heirs Of truth and pure delight by heavenly lays.
Personal Talk. Stanza 4.
A power is passing from the earth.
Lines on the expected Dissolution of Mr. Fox.
The rainbow comes and goes, And lovely is the rose.
Ode. Intimations of Immortality. Stanza 2.
The sunshine is a glorious birth; But yet I know, where'er I go, That there hath passed away a glory from the earth.
Ode. Intimations of Immortality. Stanza 2.
Where is it now, the glory and the dream?
Ode. Intimations of Immortality. Stanza 5.
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The soul that rises with us, our life's star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar. Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory, do we come From God, who is our home: Heaven lies about us in our infancy.
Ode. Intimations of Immortality. Stanza 5.
At length the man perceives it die away, And fade into the light of common day.
Ode. Intimations of Immortality. Stanza 5.
The thought of our past years in me doth breed Perpetual benediction.
Ode. Intimations of Immortality. Stanza 9.
Those obstinate questionings Of sense and outward things, Fallings from us, vanishings, Blank misgivings of a creature Moving about in worlds not realized, High instincts before which our mortal nature Did tremble like a guilty thing surprised.
Ode. Intimations of Immortality. Stanza 9.
Truths that wake, To perish never.
Ode. Intimations of Immortality. Stanza 9.
Though inland far we be, Our souls have sight of that immortal sea Which brought us hither.
Ode. Intimations of Immortality. Stanza 9.
Though nothing can bring back the hour Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower.
Ode. Intimations of Immortality. Stanza 10.
In years that bring the philosophic mind.
Ode. Intimations of Immortality. Stanza 10.
The clouds that gather round the setting sun Do take a sober colouring from an eye That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality.
Ode. Intimations of Immortality. Stanza 11.
To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.
Ode. Intimations of Immortality. Stanza 11.
Two voices are there: one is of the sea, One of the mountains,--each a mighty voice.
Thought of a Briton on the Subjugation of Switzerland.
Earth helped him with the cry of blood.[478-1]
Song at the Feast of Broughton Castle.
The silence that is in the starry sky.
Song at the Feast of Broughton Castle.
The monumental pomp of age Was with this goodly personage; A stature undepressed in size, Unbent, which rather seemed to rise In open victory o'er the weight Of seventy years, to loftier height.
The White Doe of Rylstone. Canto iii.
"What is good for a bootless bene?" With these dark words begins my tale; And their meaning is, Whence can comfort spring When prayer is of no avail?
Force of Prayer.
A few strong instincts, and a few plain rules.
Alas! what boots the long laborious Quest?
Of blessed consolations in distress.
Preface to the Excursion. (Edition, 1814.)
The vision and the faculty divine; Yet wanting the accomplishment of verse.
The Excursion. Book i.
The imperfect offices of prayer and praise.
The Excursion. Book i.
That mighty orb of song, The divine Milton.
The Excursion. Book i.
The good die first,[479-1] And they whose hearts are dry as summer dust Burn to the socket.
The Excursion. Book i.
This dull product of a scoffer's pen.
The Excursion. Book ii.
With battlements that on their restless fronts Bore stars.
The Excursion. Book ii.
Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop Than when we soar.
The Excursion. Book iii.
Wrongs unredressed, or insults unavenged.
The Excursion. Book iii.
Monastic brotherhood, upon rock Aerial.
The Excursion. Book iii.
The intellectual power, through words and things, Went sounding on a dim and perilous way![480-1]
The Excursion. Book iii.
Society became my glittering bride, And airy hopes my children.
The Excursion. Book iii.
And the most difficult of tasks to keep Heights which the soul is competent to gain.
The Excursion. Book iv.
There is a luxury in self-dispraise; And inward self-disparagement affords To meditative spleen a grateful feast.
The Excursion. Book iv.
Recognizes ever and anon The breeze of Nature stirring in his soul.
The Excursion. Book iv.
Pan himself, The simple shepherd's awe-inspiring god!
The Excursion. Book iv.
I have seen A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract Of inland ground, applying to his ear The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell, To which, in silence hushed, his very soul Listened intensely; and his countenance soon Brightened with joy, for from within were heard Murmurings, whereby the monitor expressed Mysterious union with his native sea.[480-2]
The Excursion. Book iv.
So build we up the being that we are.
The Excursion. Book iv.
One in whom persuasion and belief Had ripened into faith, and faith become A passionate intuition.
The Excursion. Book iv.
Spires whose "silent finger points to heaven."[481-1]
The Excursion. Book vi.
Ah, what a warning for a thoughtless man, Could field or grove, could any spot of earth, Show to his eye an image of the pangs Which it hath witnessed,--render back an echo Of the sad steps by which it hath been trod!
The Excursion. Book vi.
And when the stream Which overflowed the soul was passed away, A consciousness remained that it had left Deposited upon the silent shore Of memory images and precious thoughts That shall not die, and cannot be destroyed.
The Excursion. Book vii.
Wisdom married to immortal verse.[481-2]
The Excursion. Book vii.
A man he seems of cheerful yesterdays And confident to-morrows.
The Excursion. Book vii.
The primal duties shine aloft, like stars; The charities that soothe and heal and bless Are scattered at the feet of man like flowers.
The Excursion. Book ix.
By happy chance we saw A twofold image: on a grassy bank A snow-white ram, and in the crystal flood Another and the same![481-3]
The Excursion. Book ix.
The gods approve The depth, and not the tumult, of the soul.
Laodamia.
Mightier far Than strength of nerve or sinew, or the sway Of magic potent over sun and star, Is Love, though oft to agony distrest, And though his favorite seat be feeble woman's breast.
Laodamia.
Elysian beauty, melancholy grace, Brought from a pensive though a happy place.
Laodamia.
He spake of love, such love as spirits feel In worlds whose course is equable and pure; No fears to beat away, no strife to heal,-- The past unsighed for, and the future sure.
Laodamia.
Of all that is most beauteous, imaged there In happier beauty; more pellucid streams, An ampler ether, a diviner air, And fields invested with purpureal gleams.
Laodamia.
Yet tears to human suffering are due; And mortal hopes defeated and o'erthrown Are mourned by man, and not by man alone.
Laodamia.
But shapes that come not at an earthly call Will not depart when mortal voices bid.
Dion.
But thou that didst appear so fair To fond imagination, Dost rival in the light of day Her delicate creation.
Yarrow Visited.
'T is hers to pluck the amaranthine flower Of faith, and round the sufferer's temples bind Wreaths that endure affliction's heaviest shower, And do not shrink from sorrow's keenest wind.
Weak is the Will of Man.
We bow our heads before Thee, and we laud And magnify thy name Almighty God! But man is thy most awful instrument In working out a pure intent.
Ode. Imagination before Content.
Sad fancies do we then affect, In luxury of disrespect To our own prodigal excess Of too familiar happiness.
Ode to Lycoris.
That kill the bloom before its time, And blanch, without the owner's crime, The most resplendent hair.
Lament of Mary Queen of Scots.
The sightless Milton, with his hair Around his placid temples curled; And Shakespeare at his side,--a freight, If clay could think and mind were weight, For him who bore the world!
The Italian Itinerant.
Meek Nature's evening comment on the shows That for oblivion take their daily birth From all the fuming vanities of earth.
Sky-Prospect from the Plain of France.
Turning, for them who pass, the common dust Of servile opportunity to gold.
Desultory Stanza.
Babylon, Learned and wise, hath perished utterly, Nor leaves her speech one word to aid the sigh That would lament her.
Ecclesiastical Sonnets. Part i. xxv. Missions and Travels.
As thou these ashes, little brook, wilt bear Into the Avon, Avon to the tide Of Severn, Severn to the narrow seas, Into main ocean they, this deed accursed An emblem yields to friends and enemies How the bold teacher's doctrine, sanctified By truth, shall spread, throughout the world dispersed.[483-1]
Ecclesiastical Sonnets. Part ii. xvii. To Wickliffe.
The feather, whence the pen Was shaped that traced the lives of these good men, Dropped from an angel's wing.[484-1]
Ecclesiastical Sonnets. Part iii. v. Walton's Book of Lives.
Meek Walton's heavenly memory.
Ecclesiastical Sonnets. Part iii. v. Walton's Book of Lives.
But who would force the soul tilts with a straw Against a champion cased in adamant.
Ecclesiastical Sonnets. Part iii. vii. Persecution of the Scottish Covenanters.
Where music dwells Lingering and wandering on as loth to die, Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof That they were born for immortality.
Ecclesiastical Sonnets. Part iii. xliii. Inside of King's Chapel, Cambridge.
Or shipwrecked, kindles on the coast False fires, that others may be lost.
To the Lady Fleming.
But hushed be every thought that springs From out the bitterness of things.
Elegiac Stanzas. Addressed to Sir G. H. B.
To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind that builds for aye.
A Volant Tribe of Bards on Earth.
Soft is the music that would charm forever; The flower of sweetest smell is shy and lowly.
Not Love, not War.
True beauty dwells in deep retreats, Whose veil is unremoved Till heart with heart in concord beats, And the lover is beloved.
To ----. Let other Bards of Angels sing.
Type of the wise who soar but never roam, True to the kindred points of heaven and home.
To a Skylark.
A Briton even in love should be A subject, not a slave!
Ere with Cold Beads of Midnight Dew.
Scorn not the sonnet. Critic, you have frowned, Mindless of its just honours; with this key Shakespeare unlocked his heart.[485-1]
Scorn not the Sonnet.
And when a damp Fell round the path of Milton, in his hand The thing became a trumpet; whence he blew Soul-animating strains,--alas! too few.
Scorn not the Sonnet.
But he is risen, a later star of dawn.
A Morning Exercise.
Bright gem instinct with music, vocal spark.
A Morning Exercise.
When his veering gait And every motion of his starry train Seem governed by a strain Of music, audible to him alone.
The Triad.
Alas! how little can a moment show Of an eye where feeling plays In ten thousand dewy rays: A face o'er which a thousand shadows go!
The Triad.
Stern Winter loves a dirge-like sound.
On the Power of Sound. xii.
The bosom-weight, your stubborn gift, That no philosophy can lift.
Presentiments.