 |
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 famae videretur, quando etiam sapientibus cupido gloriae 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. Sec. 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. Aquae in vinum versae, 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.
Horae 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, epitre 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, AEneid, 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 AEsculapius, 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 a 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 dementiae (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 laesa saepius 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] Graecia Maeonidam, 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 legere, Passer du grave au doux, du plaisant au severe.
BOILEAU: L' Art Poetique, 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 laeserunt et oderunt (Whom they have injured they also hate).—SENECA: De Ira, lib. ii. cap. 33.
Proprium humani ingenii est odisse quem laeseris (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 veritable Amphitryon Est l'Amphitryon ou l'on dine (The true Amphitryon is the Amphitryon where we dine).
MOLIERE: 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 Irae.
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 Maccabaeus." 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 Stobaeus (Serm. cix.) ascribes it to Pindar, while AElian (Var. Hist. xiii. 29) refers it to Plato.
Et spes inanes, et velut somnia quaedam, 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 Caesar, 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]
Horae Lyricae. 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 Caesar, 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. |
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