Chapter 26

[337-2] A mass enormous! which in modern days No two of earth's degenerate sons could raise.

_Book xx. line 337._

[338-1] As of the green leaves on a thick tree, some fall, and some grow.--_Ecclesiasticus xiv. 18._

[338-2] The same line, with "soul" for "heart," occurs in the translation of the Odyssey, book xiv. line 181.

[339-1] He serves his party best who serves the country best.--RUTHERFORD B. HAYES: _Inaugural Address, March 5, 1877._

[340-1] A friend is one soul abiding in two bodies.--DIOGENES LAERTIUS: _On Aristotle._

Two souls with but a single thought, Two hearts that beat as one.

BELLINGHAUSEN: _Ingomar the Barbarian, act ii._

[340-2] Divinely fair.--TENNYSON: _A Dream of Fair Women, xxii._

[341-1] See page 337.

[341-2] Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung.--SCOTT: _Lay of the Last Minstrel._

Unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown.--BYRON: _Childe Harold, canto iv. stanza 179._

[341-3] See Middleton, page 172.

[341-4] See Dryden, page 276.

[344-1] See page 337.

[344-2] Human face divine.--MILTON: _Paradise Lost, book iii. line 44._

[344-3] Then the Omnipotent Father with his thunder made Olympus tremble, and from Ossa hurled Pelion.--OVID: _Metamorphoses i._

[345-1] See Otway, page 280.

[345-2] See Shakespeare, page 79.

[346-1] See page 328.

[346-2] Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.--_Hebrews xiii. 2._

[347-1] Pope calls this the eighth beatitude (Roscoe's edition of Pope, vol. x. page 184).

[347-2] On the 14th of February, 1741, Macklin established his fame as an actor in the character of Shylock, in the "Merchant of Venice." . . . Macklin's performance of this character so forcibly struck a gentleman in the pit that he, as it were involuntarily, exclaimed,--

"This is the Jew That Shakespeare drew!"

It has been said that this gentleman was Mr. Pope, and that he meant his panegyric on Macklin as a satire against Lord Lansdowne.--_Biographia Dramatica, vol. i. part ii. p. 469._

JOHN GAY. 1688-1732.

'T was when the sea was roaring With hollow blasts of wind, A damsel lay deploring, All on a rock reclin'd.

_The What d' ye call it. Act ii. Sc. 8._

So comes a reckoning when the banquet 's o'er,-- The dreadful reckoning, and men smile no more.[348-1]

_The What d' ye call it. Act ii. Sc. 9._

'T is woman that seduces all mankind; By her we first were taught the wheedling arts.

_The Beggar's Opera. Act i. Sc. 1._

Over the hills and far away.[348-2]

_The Beggar's Opera. Act i. Sc. 1._

If the heart of a man is depress'd with cares, The mist is dispell'd when a woman appears.

_The Beggar's Opera. Act ii. Sc. 1._

The fly that sips treacle is lost in the sweets.

_The Beggar's Opera. Act ii. Sc. 2._

Brother, brother! we are both in the wrong.

_The Beggar's Opera. Act ii. Sc. 2._

How happy could I be with either, Were t' other dear charmer away!

_The Beggar's Opera. Act ii. Sc. 2._

The charge is prepar'd, the lawyers are met, The judges all ranged,--a terrible show!

_The Beggar's Opera. Act iii. Sc. 2._

All in the Downs the fleet was moor'd.

_Sweet William's Farewell to Black-eyed Susan._

Adieu, she cried, and waved her lily hand.

_Sweet William's Farewell to Black-eyed Susan._

Remote from cities liv'd a swain, Unvex'd with all the cares of gain; His head was silver'd o'er with age, And long experience made him sage.

_Fables. Part i. The Shepherd and the Philosopher._

Whence is thy learning? Hath thy toil O'er books consum'd the midnight oil?[348-3]

_Fables. Part i. The Shepherd and the Philosopher._

Where yet was ever found a mother Who 'd give her booby for another?

_Fables. Part i. The Mother, the Nurse, and the Fairy._

No author ever spar'd a brother.

_Fables. The Elephant and the Bookseller._

Lest men suspect your tale untrue, Keep probability in view.

_Fables. Part i. The Painter who pleased Nobody and Everybody._

In ev'ry age and clime we see Two of a trade can never agree.[349-1]

_Fables. Part i. The Rat-catcher and Cats._

Is there no hope? the sick man said; The silent doctor shook his head.

_Fables. Part i. The Sick Man and the Angel._

While there is life there 's hope, he cried.[349-2]

_Fables. Part i. The Sick Man and the Angel._

Those who in quarrels interpose Must often wipe a bloody nose.

_Fables. Part i. The Mastiffs._

That raven on yon left-hand oak (Curse on his ill-betiding croak!) Bodes me no good.[349-3]

_Fables. Part i. The Farmer's Wife and the Raven._

And when a lady 's in the case, You know all other things give place.

_Fables. Part i. The Hare and many Friends._

Give me, kind Heaven, a private station, A mind serene for contemplation: Title and profit I resign; The post of honour shall be mine.[349-4]

_Fables. Part ii. The Vulture, the Sparrow, and other Birds._

From wine what sudden friendship springs!

_Fables. Part ii. The Squire and his Cur._

Life is a jest, and all things show it; I thought so once, but now I know it.

_My own Epitaph._

FOOTNOTES:

[348-1] The time of paying a shot in a tavern among good fellows, or Pantagruelists, is still called in France a "quart d'heure de Rabelais,"--that is, Rabelais's quarter of an hour, when a man is uneasy or melancholy.--_Life of Rabelais_ (Bohn's edition), _p. 13._

[348-2] O'er the hills and far away.--D'URFEY: _Pills to purge Melancholy_ (1628-1723).

[348-3] "Midnight oil,"--a common phrase, used by Quarles, Shenstone, Cowper, Lloyd, and others.

[349-1] Potter is jealous of potter, and craftsman of craftsman; and poor man has a grudge against poor man, and poet against poet.--HESIOD: _Works and Days, 24._

Le potier au potier porte envie (The potter envies the potter).--BOHN: _Handbook of Proverbs._

MURPHY: _The Apprentice, act iii._

[349-2] Elpides en zooisin, anelpistoi de thanontes (For the living there is hope, but for the dead there is none.)--THEOCRITUS: _Idyl iv. 42._

AEgroto, dum anima est, spes est (While the sick man has life, there is hope).--CICERO: _Epistolarum ad Atticum, ix. 10._

[349-3] It was n't for nothing that the raven was just now croaking on my left hand.--PLAUTUS: _Aulularia, act iv. sc. 3._

[349-4] See Addison, page 298.

LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU. 1690-1762.

Let this great maxim be my virtue's guide,-- In part she is to blame that has been tried: He comes too near that comes to be denied.[350-1]

_The Lady's Resolve._

And we meet, with champagne and a chicken, at last.[350-2]

_The Lover._

Be plain in dress, and sober in your diet; In short, my deary, kiss me, and be quiet.

_A Summary of Lord Lyttelton's Advice._

Satire should, like a polished razor keen, Wound with a touch that 's scarcely felt or seen.

_To the Imitator of the First Satire of Horace. Book ii._

But the fruit that can fall without shaking Indeed is too mellow for me.

_The Answer._

FOOTNOTES:

[350-1] A fugitive piece, written on a window by Lady Montagu, after her marriage (1713). See Overbury, page 193.

[350-2] What say you to such a supper with such a woman?--BYRON: _Note to a Second Letter on Bowles._

CHARLES MACKLIN. 1690-1797.

The law is a sort of hocus-pocus science, that smiles in yer face while it picks yer pocket; and the glorious uncertainty of it is of mair use to the professors than the justice of it.

_Love a la Mode. Act ii. Sc. 1._

Every tub must stand upon its bottom.[350-3]

_The Man of the World. Act i. Sc. 2._

FOOTNOTES:

[350-3] See Bunyan, page 265.

JOHN BYROM. 1691-1763.

God bless the King,--I mean the faith's defender! God bless--no harm in blessing--the Pretender! But who pretender is, or who is king,-- God bless us all!--that 's quite another thing.

_To an Officer of the Army, extempore._

Take time enough: all other graces Will soon fill up their proper places.[351-1]

_Advice to Preach Slow._

Some say, compar'd to Bononcini, That Mynheer Handel 's but a ninny; Others aver that he to Handel Is scarcely fit to hold a candle. Strange all this difference should be 'Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

_On the Feuds between Handel and Bononcini._[351-2]

As clear as a whistle.

_Epistle to Lloyd. I._

The point is plain as a pike-staff.[351-3]

_Epistle to a Friend._

Bone and Skin, two millers thin, Would starve us all, or near it; But be it known to Skin and Bone That Flesh and Blood can't bear it.

_Epigram on Two Monopolists._

Thus adorned, the two heroes, 'twixt shoulder and elbow, Shook hands and went to 't; and the word it was bilbow.

_Upon a Trial of Skill between the Great Masters of the Noble Science of Defence, Messrs. Figg and Sutton._

FOOTNOTES:

[351-1] See Walker, page 265.

[351-2] Nourse asked me if I had seen the verses upon Handel and Bononcini, not knowing that they were mine.--_Byrom's Remains_ (Chetham Soc.), _vol. i. p. 173._

The last two lines have been attributed to Swift and Pope (see Scott's edition of Swift, and Dyce's edition of Pope).

[351-3] See Middleton, page 172.

LOUIS THEOBALD. 1691-1744.

None but himself can be his parallel.[352-1]

_The Double Falsehood._

FOOTNOTES:

[352-1] Quaeris Alcidae parem? Nemo est nisi ipse

(Do you seek Alcides' equal? None is, except himself).--SENECA: _Hercules Furens, i. 1; 84._

And but herself admits no parallel.--MASSINGER: _Duke of Milan,