Part ii
. note._
FOOTNOTES:
[431-2] Probably this is the original of Napoleon's celebrated _mot_, "Du sublime au ridicule il n'y a qu'un pas" (From the sublime to the ridiculous there is but one step).
JOHN WOLCOT. 1738-1819.
What rage for fame attends both great and small! Better be damned than mentioned not at all.
_To the Royal Academicians._
No, let the monarch's bags and others hold The flattering, mighty, nay, al-mighty gold.[431-3]
_To Kien Long. Ode iv._
Care to our coffin adds a nail, no doubt, And every grin so merry draws one out.
_Expostulatory Odes. Ode xv._
A fellow in a market town, Most musical, cried razors up and down.
_Farewell Odes. Ode iii._
FOOTNOTES:
[431-3] See Jonson, page 178.
MRS. THRALE. 1739-1821.
The tree of deepest root is found Least willing still to quit the ground: 'T was therefore said by ancient sages, That love of life increased with years So much, that in our latter stages, When pain grows sharp and sickness rages, The greatest love of life appears.
_Three Warnings._
CHARLES MORRIS. 1739-1832.
Solid men of Boston, banish long potations! Solid men of Boston, make no long orations![432-1]
_Pitt and Dundas's Return to London from Wimbledon. American Song. From Lyra Urbanica._
O give me the sweet shady side of Pall Mall!
_Town and Country._
FOOTNOTES:
[432-1] Solid men of Boston, make no long orations! Solid men of Boston, banish strong potations!
_Billy Pitt and the Farmer. From Debrett's Asylum for Fugitive Pieces, vol. ii. p. 250._
A. M. TOPLADY. 1740-1778.
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee.
_Salvation through Christ._
THOMAS MOSS. 1740-1808.
Pity the sorrows of a poor old man, Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door, Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span; Oh give relief, and Heaven will bless your store.
_The Beggar._
A pampered menial drove me from the door.[433-1]
_The Beggar._
FOOTNOTES:
[433-1] This line stood originally, "A liveried servant," etc., and was altered as above by Goldsmith.--FORSTER: _Life of Goldsmith, vol. i. p. 215_ (fifth edition, 1871).
MRS. BARBAULD. 1743-1825.
Man is the nobler growth our realms supply, And souls are ripened in our northern sky.
_The Invitation._
This dead of midnight is the noon of thought, And Wisdom mounts her zenith with the stars.
_A Summer's Evening Meditation._
It is to hope, though hope were lost.[433-2]
_Come here, Fond Youth._
Life! we 've been long together Through pleasant and through cloudy weather; 'T is hard to part when friends are dear,-- Perhaps 't will cost a sigh, a tear; Then steal away, give little warning, Choose thine own time; Say not "Good night," but in some brighter clime Bid me "Good morning."
_Life._
So fades a summer cloud away; So sinks the gale when storms are o'er; So gently shuts the eye of day;[434-1] So dies a wave along the shore.
_The Death of the Virtuous._
Child of mortality, whence comest thou? Why is thy countenance sad, and why are thine eyes red with weeping?
_Hymns in Prose. xiii._
FOOTNOTES:
[433-2] Who against hope believed in hope.--_Romans iv. 18._
Hope against hope, and ask till ye receive.--MONTGOMERY: _The World before the Flood._
[434-1] See Chaucer, page 6.
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 1743-1826.
The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.
_Summary View of the Rights of British America._
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God[434-2] entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
_Declaration of Independence._
We hold these truths to be self-evident,--that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights;[434-3] that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
_Declaration of Independence._
We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.
_Declaration of Independence._
Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.
_First Inaugural Address. March 4, 1801._
Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations,--entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of the general government in its whole constitutional vigour, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; . . . freedom of religion; freedom of the press; freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected,--these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.
_First Inaugural Address. March 4, 1801._
In the full tide of successful experiment.
_First Inaugural Address. March 4, 1801._
Of the various executive abilities, no one excited more anxious concern than that of placing the interests of our fellow-citizens in the hands of honest men, with understanding sufficient for their stations.[435-1] No duty is at the same time more difficult to fulfil. The knowledge of character possessed by a single individual is of necessity limited. To seek out the best through the whole Union, we must resort to the information which from the best of men, acting disinterestedly and with the purest motives, is sometimes incorrect.
_Letter to Elias Shipman and others of New Haven, July 12, 1801._
If a due participation of office is a matter of right, how are vacancies to be obtained? Those by death are few; by resignation, none.[435-2]
_Letter to Elias Shipman and others of New Haven, July 12, 1801._
When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.[436-1]
_Life of Jefferson_ (Rayner), _p. 356._
Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.
_Notes on Virginia. Query xviii. Manners._
FOOTNOTES:
[434-2] See Bolingbroke, page 304.
[434-3] All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights.--_Constitution of Massachusetts._
[435-1] This passage is thus paraphrased by John B. McMaster in his "History of the People of the United States" (ii. 586): "One sentence will undoubtedly be remembered till our republic ceases to exist. 'No duty the Executive had to perform was so trying,' he observed, 'as to put the right man in the right place.'"
[435-2] Usually quoted, "Few die and none resign."
[436-1] See Appendix, page 859.
JOSIAH QUINCY, JR. 1744-1775.
Blandishments will not fascinate us, nor will threats of a "halter" intimidate. For, under God, we are determined that wheresoever, whensoever, or howsoever we shall be called to make our exit, we will die free men.
_Observations on the Boston Port Bill, 1774._
CHARLES DIBDIN. 1745-1814.
There 's a sweet little cherub that sits up aloft, To keep watch for the life of poor Jack.
_Poor Jack._
Did you ever hear of Captain Wattle? He was all for love, and a little for the bottle.
_Captain Wattle and Miss Roe._
His form was of the manliest beauty, His heart was kind and soft; Faithful below he did his duty, But now he 's gone aloft.
_Tom Bowling._
For though his body 's under hatches, His soul has gone aloft.
_Tom Bowling._
Spanking Jack was so comely, so pleasant, so jolly, Though winds blew great guns, still he 'd whistle and sing; Jack loved his friend, and was true to his Molly, And if honour gives greatness, was great as a king.
_The Sailor's Consolation._[436-2]
FOOTNOTES:
[436-2] A song with this title, beginning, "One night came on a hurricane," was written by William Pitt, of Malta, who died in 1840.
HANNAH MORE. 1745-1833.
To those who know thee not, no words can paint! And those who know thee, know all words are faint!
_Sensibility._
Since trifles make the sum of human things, And half our misery from our foibles springs.
_Sensibility._
In men this blunder still you find,-- All think their little set mankind.
_Florio. Part i ._
Small habits well pursued betimes May reach the dignity of crimes.
_Florio.