Familiar Quotations, - [best romance ebooks .txt] 📗
- Author: -
- Performer: -
Book online «Familiar Quotations, - [best romance ebooks .txt] 📗». Author -
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.
[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.
[388]
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.
[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.
[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.
[389]
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.
[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.
[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;
[390]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.
[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.
[390:2] Μή μοι γένοιθ' ᾶ βούλομ' ἀλλ' ἂ συμφέρει (Let not that happen which I wish, but that which is right).—Menander: Fragment.
[391]
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.
[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.
[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.
[392]
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.
[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.
[393]
WILLIAM MASON. 1725-1797.The fattest hog in Epicurus' sty.[393:1]
Heroic Epistle.
[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.
[393:2]
Comments (0)