Chapter 20

And rustic life and poverty Grow beautiful beneath his touch. _Burns_. T. CAMPBELL.

Evermore thanks, the exchequer of the poor. _King Richard II., Act_ ii. _Sc_. 1. SHAKESPEARE.

POWER.

Power, like a desolating pestilence, Pollutes whate'er it touches; and obedience, Bane of all genius, virtue, freedom, truth, Makes slaves of men, and of the human frame. A mechanized automaton. _Queen Mab, Pt. III_. P.B. SHELLEY.

Because the good old rule Sufficeth them, the simple plan, That they should take who have the power, And they should keep who can. _Rob Roy's Grave_. W. WORDSWORTH.

For what can power give more than food and drink, To live at ease, and not be bound to think? _Medal_. J. DRYDEN.

Patience and gentleness is power. _On a Lock of Milton's Hair_. L. HUNT.

Some novel power Sprang up forever at a touch, And hope could never hope too much, In watching thee from hour to hour. _In Memoriam, CXI_. A. TENNYSON.

A power is passing from the earth. _On the Expected Dissolution of Mr. Fox_. W. WORDSWORTH.

He hath no power that hath not power to use. _Festus, Sc. A Visit_. P.J. BAILEY.

PRAISE.

The love of praise, howe'er concealed by art, Reigns more or less, and glows in every heart. _Love of Fame, Satire I_. DR. E. YOUNG.

One good deed dying tongueless Slaughters a thousand waiting upon that. Our praises are our wages. _Winter's Tale, Act_ i. _Sc_. 2. SHAKESPEARE.

O Popular Applause! what heart of man Is proof against thy sweet, seducing charms? _The Task, Bk. II_. W. COWPER.

I would applaud thee to the very echo, That should applaud again. _Macbeth, Act_ v. _Sc_. 3. SHAKESPEARE.

To things of sale a seller's praise belongs. _Love's Labor's Lost, Act_ iv. _Sc_. 3. SHAKESPEARE.

If matters not how false or forced, So the best things be said o' the worst. _Hudibras, Pt. II_. S. BUTLER.

Of whom to be dispraised were no small praise. _Paradise Regained, Bk. III_. MILTON.

Praise from a friend, or censure from a foe, Are lost on hearers that our merits know. _Iliad, Bk. X_. HOMER. _Trans. of_. POPE.

Not in the clamor of the crowded street, Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, But in ourselves, are triumph and defeat. _The Poets_. H.W. LONGFELLOW.

PRAYER.

Prayer moves the Hand which moves the world. _There is an Eye that Never Sleeps_. J.A. WALLACE.

In prayer the lips ne'er act the winning part Without the sweet concurrence of the heart. _Hesperides: The Heart_. R. HERRICK.

As down in the sunless retreats of the ocean Sweet flowers are springing no mortal can see, So deep in my soul the still prayer of devotion, Unheard by the world, rises silent to Thee. _As Down in the Sunless Retreats_. T. MOORE.

Her eyes are homes of silent prayer. _In Memoriam, XXXII_. A. TENNYSON.

Be not afraid to pray--to pray is right. Pray, if thou canst, with hope; but ever pray, Though hope be weak or sick with long delay; Pray in the darkness, if there be no light. _Prayer_. H. COLERIDGE.

Pray to be perfect, though material leaven Forbid the spirit so on earth to be; But if for any wish thou darest not pray, Then pray to God to cast that wish away. _Prayer_. H. COLERIDGE.

And Satan trembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees. _Exhortation to Prayer_. W. COWPER.

Still raise for good the supplicating voice, But leave to Heaven the measure and the choice. _The Vanity of Human Wishes_. DR. S. JOHNSON.

You few that loved me

* * * * *

Go with me, like good angels, to my end; And, as the long divorce of steel falls on me, Make of your prayers one sweet sacrifice, And lift my soul to heaven. _King Henry VIII., Act ii. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.

PREACHING.

I venerate the man whose heart is warm, Whose hands are pure, whose doctrine and whose life, Coincident, exhibit lucid proof That he is honest in the sacred cause. _The Task, Bk. II_. W. COWPER.

God preaches, a noted clergyman, And the sermon is never long; So instead of getting to heaven at last, I'm going all along. _A Service of Song_. E. DICKINSON.

Skilful alike with tongue and pen, He preached to all men everywhere The Gospel of the Golden Rule, The new Commandment given to men, Thinking the deed, and not the creed, Would help us in our utmost need. _Tales of a Wayside Inn: Prelude_. H.W. LONGFELLOW.

Seek to delight, that they may mend mankind. And, while they captivate, inform the mind. _Hope_. W. COWPER.

The gracious dew of pulpit eloquence, And all the well-whipped cream of courtly sense. _Satires: Epilogues, Dialogue I_. A. POPE.

The lilies say: Behold how we Preach without words of purity. _Consider the Lilies of the Field_. C.G. ROSSETTI.

Sow in the morn thy seed, At eve hold not thy hand; To doubt and fear give thou no heed, Broadcast it o'er the land. _The Field of the World_. J. MONTGOMERY.

His preaching much, but more his practice wrought-- A living sermon of the truths he taught. _Character of a Good Parson_. J. DRYDEN.

I preached as never sure to preach again, And as a dying man to dying men. _Love breathing Thanks and Praise_. R. BAXTER.

PRESENT, THE.

Lo! on a narrow neck of land, 'Twixt two unbounded seas I stand. _Hymn_. C. WESLEY.

This narrow isthmus 'twixt two boundless seas, The past, the future, two eternities! _Lalla Rookh: The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan_. T. MOORE.

Heaven from all creatures hides the book of Fate, All but the page prescribed, their present state. _Essay on Man, Epistle I_. A. POPE.

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 lived to-day. _Imitation of Horace, Bk. I. Ode_ 29. J. DRYDEN.

Defer not till to-morrow to be wise, To-morrow's sun to thee may never rise. _Letter to Cobham_. W. CONGREVE.

Nothing is there to come, and nothing past, But an eternal Now does always last. _Davideis, Vol. I. Bk. I_. A. COWLEY.

PRIDE.

Pride like an eagle builds amid the stars. _Night Thoughts, Night V_. DR. E. YOUNG.

Why, who cries out on pride, That can therein tax any private party? Doth it not flow as hugely as the sea? _As You Like It, Act ii. Sc. 7_. SHAKESPEARE.

'T is pride, rank pride, and haughtiness of soul; I think the Romans call it stoicism. _Cato, Act i. Sc. 4_. J. ADDISON.

Of all the causes which conspire to blind Man's erring judgment, and misguide the mind, What the weak head with strongest bias rules, Is pride, the never failing vice of fools. _Essay on Criticism, Pt. II_. A. POPE.

Where wavering man, betrayed by venturous pride To chase the dreary paths without a guide. As treacherous phantoms in the mist delude, Shuns fancied ills, or chases airy good. _The Vanity of Human Wishes_. DR. S. JOHNSON.

Pride (of all others the most dang'rous fault) Proceeds from want of sense or want of thought. _Essay on Translated Verse_. W. DILLON.

Oft has it been my lot to mark A proud, conceited, talking spark. _The Chameleon_. J. MERRICK.

Prouder than rustling in unpaid-for silk. _Cymbeline, Act iii. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.

Ask for whose use the heavenly bodies shine; Earth for whose use? Pride answers, 'T is for mine! _Essay on Man, Pt. I_. A. POPE.

PROGRESS.

From lower to the higher next, Not to the top, is Nature's text; And embryo good, to reach full stature, Absorbs the evil in its nature. _Festina Lente_. J.R. LOWELL.

Finds progress, man's distinctive mark alone, Not God's, and not the beast's; God is, they are, Man partly is, and wholly hopes to be. _A Death in the Desert_. R. BROWNING.

Progress is The law of life, man is not Man as yet. _Paracelsus, Pt. V_. R. BROWNING.

The Lord let the house of a brute to the soul of a man, And the man said, "Am I your debtor?" And the Lord--"Not yet: but make it as clean as you can, And then I will let you a better." _By an Evolutionist_. A. TENNYSON.

Eternal process moving on, From state to state the spirit moves. _In Memoriam, LXXXIII_. A. TENNYSON.

PROMISE.

Promise is most given when the least is said. _Musoeus of Hero and Leander_. G. CHAPMAN.

He was ever precise in promise-keeping. _Measure for Measure, Act i. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.

And be these juggling fiends no more believed, That palter with us in a double sense; That keep the word of promise to our ear, And break it to our hope. _Macbeth, Act v. Sc. 7_. SHAKESPEARE.

His promises were, as he then was, mighty; But his performance, as he is now, nothing. _King Henry VIII., Act iv. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.

There buds the promise of celestial worth. _The Last Day, Bk. III_. DR. E. YOUNG.

Thy promises are like Adonis' gardens That one day bloomed and fruitful were the next. _King Henry VI., Pt. I. Act i. Sc. 6_. SHAKESPEARE.

QUARREL.

O, shame to men! devil with devil damned Firm concord holds; men only disagree Of creatures rational. _Paradise Lost, Bk. II_. MILTON.

O we fell out, I know not why, And kissed again with tears. _The Princess_. A. TENNYSON.

What dire offence from amorous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things. _Rape of the Lock, Canto I_. A. POPE.

Beware Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in, Bear 't that the opposèd may beware of thee. _Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.

Those who in quarrels interpose, Must often wipe a bloody nose. _Fables: The Mastiffs_.. J. GAY.

But greatly to find quarrel in a straw When honor's at the stake. _Hamlet, Act iv. Sc. 4_. SHAKESPEARE.

In a false quarrel there is no true valor. _Much Ado about Nothing, Act v. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.

I'm armed with more than complete steel, The justice of my quarrel. _Lust's Dominion, Act iii. Sc. 4_. C. MARLOWE.

RAIN.

The Clouds consign their treasures to the fields; And, softly shaking on the dimpled pool Prelusive drops, let all their moisture flow, In large effusion, o'er the freshened world. _The Seasons: Spring_. J. THOMSON.

Drip, drip, the rain comes falling, Rain in the woods, rain on the sea; Even the little waves, beaten, come crawling As if to find shelter here with me. _Waiting in the Rain_. J.H. MORSE.

The rain-drops' showery dance and rhythmic beat, With tinkling of innumerable feet. _The Microcosm: Hearing_. A. COLES.

And the hooded clouds, like friars, Tell their beads in drops of rain. _Midnight Mass for the Dying Year_. H.W. LONGFELLOW.

See where it smokes along the sounding plain, Blown all aslant, a driving, dashing rain; Peal upon peal, redoubling all around, Shakes it again and faster to the ground. _Truth_. W. COWPER.

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. _Anacreontiques_. A. COWLEY.

When that I was and a little tiny boy, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, A foolish thing was but a toy, For the rain it raineth every day. _Twelfth Night, Act v. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.

RAINBOW.

Rain, rain, and sun! a rainbow in the sky! _Idylls of the King: The Coming of Arthur_. A. TENNYSON.

Mild arch of promise! on the evening sky Thou shinest fair with many a lovely ray, Each in the other melting. _The Evening Rainbow_. R. SOUTHEY.

Triumphal arch, that fill'st the sky, When storms prepare to part; I ask not proud Philosophy To teach me what thou art. _To the Rainbow_. T. CAMPBELL.

What skilful limner e'er would choose To paint the rainbow's varying hues, Unless to mortal it were given To dip his brush in dyes of heaven? _Marmion, Canto VI_. SIR W. SCOTT.

Bright pledge of peace and sunshine! the sure tie Of thy Lord's hand, the object of His eye! When I behold thee, though my light be dim, Distinct, and low, I can in thine see Him Who looks upon thee from His glorious throne, And minds the covenant between all and One. _The Rainbow_. H. VAUGHAN.

READING.

I had found the secret of a garret room Piled high with cases in my father's name; Piled high, packed large,--where, creeping in and out Among the giant fossils of my past, Like some small nimble mouse between the ribs Of a mastodon, I nibbled here and there At this or that box, pulling through the gap, In heats of terror, haste, victorious joy, The first book first. And how I felt it beat Under my pillow, in the morning's dark, An hour before the sun would let me read! _Aurora Leigh, Bk. I_. E.B. BROWNING.

Come, and take choice of all my library, And so beguile thy sorrow. _Titus Andronicus, Act iv. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.

He furnished me From mine own library with volumes that I prize above my dukedom. _Tempest, Act i. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.

There studious let me sit, And hold high converse with the mighty dead; Sages of ancient time, as gods revered, As gods beneficent, who blest mankind With arts, with arms, and humanized a world. _The Seasons: Winter_. J. THOMSON.

POLONIUS.--What do you read, my lord? HAMLET.--Words, words, words. _Hamlet, Act ii. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.

O Reader! had you in your mind Such stores as silent thought may bring, O gentle Reader! you would find A tale in everything. _Simon Lee_. W. WORDSWORTH.

And choose an author as you choose a friend. _Essay on Translated Verse_. EARL OF ROSCOMMON.

When the last reader reads no more. _The Last Reader_. O.W. HOLMES.

REASONS.

All was false and hollow; though his tongue Dropped manna, and could make the worse appear The better reason, to perplex and dash Maturest counsels; for his thoughts were low; To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds Timorous and slothful: yet he pleased the ear, And with persuasive accent thus began. _Paradise Lost, Bk. II_. MILTON.

Give you a reason on compulsion! if reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion. I. _King Henry IV., Pt. I. Act ii. Sc. 4_. SHAKESPEARE.

Good reasons must, of force, give place to better. _Julius Cæsar, Act iv. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.

Whatever sceptic could inquire for, For every why he had a wherefore. _Hudibras, Pt. I_. S. BUTLER.

I was promised on a time To have reason for my rhyme; From that time unto this season, I received nor rhyme nor reason. _Lines on his Promised Pension_. E. SPENSER.

REGRET.

For who, alas! has lived, Nor in the watches of the night recalled Words he has wished unsaid and deeds undone? _Reflections_. S. ROGERS.

Thou wilt lament Hereafter, when the evil shall be done And shall admit no cure. _Iliad, Bk. IX_. HOMER. _Trans. of_ BRYANT.

The man who seeks one thing in life, and but one, May hope to achieve it before life be done; But he who seeks all things, wherever he goes, Only reaps from the hopes which around him he sows A harvest of barren regrets. _Lucile, Pt. 1. Canto II_. LORD LYTTON (_Owen Meredith_).

O lost days of delight, that are wasted in doubting and waiting! O lost hours and days in which we might have been happy! _Tales of a Wayside Inn: The Theologian's Tale_. H.W. LONGFELLOW.

Calmly he looked on either Life, and here Saw nothing to regret, or there to fear: From Nature's temp'rate feast rose satisfied. Thanked Heaven that he had lived, and that he died. _Epitaph X_. A. POPE.

RELIGION.

God is not dumb, that he should speak no more; If thou hast wanderings in the wilderness And find'st not Sinai, 't is thy soul is poor. _Bibliotres_. J.R. LOWELL.

Religion, if in heavenly truths attired, Needs only to be seen to be admired. _Expostulation_. W. COWPER.

In religion, What damnèd error, but some sober brow Will bless it and approve it with a text. _Merchant of Venice, Act iii. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.

I think while zealots fast and frown, And fight for two or seven, That there are fifty roads to town, And rather more to Heaven. _Chant of Brazen Head_. W.M. PRAED.

Religion stands on tiptoe in our land, Ready to pass to the American strand. _The Church Militant_. G. HERBERT.

A Christian is the highest type of man. _Night Thoughts, Night IV_. DR. E. YOUNG.

Remote from man, with God he passed the days, Prayer all his business, all his pleasure praise. _The Hermit_. T. PARNELL.

Religion's all. Descending from the skies To wretched man, the goddess in her left Holds out this world, and, in her right, the next. _Night Thoughts, Night IV_. DR. E. YOUNG.

My God, my Father, and my Friend, Do not forsake me at my end. _Translation of Dies Irae_. EARL OF ROSCOMMON.

REMORSE.

What exile from himself can flee? To zones though more and more remote Still, still pursues, where'er I be, The blight of life--the demon Thought. _Childe Harold, Canto I_. LORD BYRON.

Now conscience wakes despair That slumbered, wakes the bitter memory Of what he was, what is, and what must be. _Paradise Lost, Bk. IV_. MILTON.

Unnatural deeds Do breed unnatural troubles: infected minds To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets. _Macbeth, Act v. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.

MACBETH.--Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased, Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, Raze out the written troubles of the brain, And with some sweet oblivious antidote Cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff, Which weighs upon the heart? DOCTOR.-- Therein the patient Must minister to himself. _Macbeth, Act v. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.

O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon 't, A brother's murder. _Hamlet, Act iii. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.

How guilt once harbored in the conscious breast, Intimidates the brave, degrades the great. _Irene, Act iv. Sc. 8_. DR. S. JOHNSON.

High minds, of native pride and force, Most deeply feel thy pangs, Remorse! Fear for their scourge, mean villains have, Thou art the torturer of the brave! _Marmion, Canto III_. SIR W. SCOTT.

Amid the roses, fierce Repentance rears Her snaky crest; a quick-returning pang Shoots through the conscious heart. _The Seasons: Spring_. J. THOMSON.

There is no future pang Can deal that justice on the self-condemned He deals on his own soul. _Manfred, Act iii. Sc. 1_. LORD BYRON.

REPUTATION.

Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls: Who steals my purse, steals trash; 't is something, nothing; 'T was mine, 't is his, and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed. _Othello, Act iii. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.

Fear not the anger of the wise to raise, They best can bear reproof who merit praise. _Essay on Criticism_. A. POPE.

The purest treasure mortal times afford Is spotless reputation; that away, Men are but gilded loam or painted clay. _King Richard II., Act ii. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.

Thy death-bed is no lesser than thy land Wherein thou liest in reputation sick. _King Richard II., Act ii. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.

Convey a libel in a frown, And wink a reputation down! _Journal of a Modern Lady_. J. SWIFT.

After my death I wish no other herald, No other speaker of my living actions, To keep mine honor from corruption. But such an honest chronicler as Griffith. _King Henry VIII., Act v. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.

I pray you, in your letters, When you shall these unlucky deeds relate, Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, Nor set down aught in malice: then, must you speak Of one that loved, not wisely, but too well: Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought, Perplexed in the extreme; of one, whose hand,

Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away, Richer than all his tribe; of one, whose subdued eyes, Albeit unused to the melting mood, Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees Their medicinal gum. Set you down this. _Othello, Act v. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.

O God!--Horatio, what a wounded name, Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me! If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, Absent thee from felicity awhile, And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, To tell my story. _Hamlet, Act v. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.

RESIGNATION.

Behold, how brightly breaks the morning, Though bleak our lot, our hearts are warm. _Behold how brightly breaks_. J. KENNEY.

God is much displeased That you take with unthankfulness his doing: In common worldly things, 't is called ungrateful, With dull unwillingness to repay a debt Which with a bounteous hand was kindly lent; Much more to be thus opposite with heaven, For it requires the royal debt it lent you. _King Richard III., Act ii. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.

Thus ready for the way of life or death, I wait the sharpest blow. _Pericles, Act i. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.

What's gone and what's past help Should be past grief. _Winter's Tale, Act iii. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.

But hushed be every thought that springs From out the bitterness of things. _Addressed to Sir G.H.B_. W. WORDSWORTH.

Down, thou climbing sorrow, Thy element's below! _King Lear, Act ii. Sc 4_. SHAKESPEARE.

'T is impious in a good man to be sad. _Night Thoughts, Night IV_. DR. E. YOUNG.

The path of sorrow, and that path alone, Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown. _To an Afflicted Protestant Lady_. W. COWPER.

Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy. _Romeo and Juliet, Act iii. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.

Now let us thank the Eternal Power: convinced That Heaven but tries our virtue by affliction,-- That oft the cloud which wraps the present hour Serves but to brighten all our future days. _Barbarossa, Act v. Sc. 3_. J. BROWN.

RESOLUTION.

Be stirring as the time: be fire with fire: Threaten the threatener and outface the brow Of bragging horror: so shall inferior eyes, That borrow their behaviors from the great, Grow great by your example and put on The dauntless spirit of resolution. _King John, Act v. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.

My resolution 's placed, and I have nothing Of woman in me: now from head to foot I am marble--constant. _Antony and Cleopatra, Act v. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.

When two Join in the same adventure, one perceives Before the other how they ought to act; While one alone, however prompt, resolves More tardily and with a weaker will. _Iliad, Bk. X_. HOMER. _Trans. of_ BRYANT.

I pull in resolution, and begin To doubt the equivocation of the fiend That lies like truth: "Fear not, till Birnam wood Do come to Dunsinane." _Macbeth, Act v. Sc. 5_. SHAKESPEARE.

In life's small things be resolute and great To keep thy muscle trained: know'st thou when Fate Thy measure takes, or when she'll say to thee, "I find thee worthy; do this deed for me"? _Epigram_. J.R. LOWELL.

REST.

Take thou of me, sweet pillowes, sweetest bed; A chamber deafe of noise, and blind of light, A rosie garland, and a weary hed. _Astrophel and Stella_. SIR PH. SIDNEY.

And to tired limbs and over-busy thoughts, Inviting sleep and soft forgetfulness. _The Excursion, Bk. IV_. W. WORDSWORTH.

The wind breathed soft as lover's sigh, And, oft renewed, seemed oft to die, With breathless pause between, O who, with speech of war and woes, Would wish to break the soft repose Of such enchanting scene! _Lord of the Isles, Canto IV_. SIR W. SCOTT.

Our foster-nurse of Nature is repose, The which he lacks; that to provoke in him, Are many simples operative, whose power Will close the eye of anguish. _King Lear, Act iv. Sc. 4_. SHAKESPEARE.

These should be hours for necessities, Not for delights; times to repair our nature With comforting repose, and not for us To waste these times. _King Henry VIII., Act v. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.

Who pants for glory finds but short repose; A breath revives him, or a breath o'erthrows. _Epistles of Horace, Ep. I. Bk. I_. J. DRYDEN.

Where peace And rest can never dwell, hope never comes That comes to all. _Paradise Lost, Bk. I_. MILTON.