Page 132, line 14. And MILTON's self (at that thrice-honoured name I began thus far to assent to an inward prompting which now grew daily upon me, that 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 aftertimes, as they should not willingly let it die.-MILTON. Nor can his Wish be unfulfilled. Calumniated in his lifetime and writing what few would read, He left it to a Voice which none could silence, a Voice which would deliver it to all nations-in the Old World and the New. A good book (to quote his own words) is the precious lifeblood of a master-spirit and to destroy it is to slay an immortality rather than a life. Page 133, line 30. 'twas at matin-time Love and devotion are said to be nearly allied. Boccaccio fell in love at Naples in the church of St. Lorenzo; as Petrarch had done at Avignon in the church of St. Clair. Page 134, line 24. Lovely before, oh, say how lovely now! Is it not true, that the young not only appear to be, but really are most beautiful in the presence of those they love? It calls forth all their beauty. Page 136, line 5. And feeling hearts-touch them but rightly-pour Xenophon has left us a delightful instance of conjugal affection. The King of Armenia not fulfilling his promise, Cyrus entered the country, and, having taken him and all his family prisoners, ordered them instantly before him. Armenian, said he, you are free; for you are now sensible of your error. And what will you give me, if I restore your wife to you?-All that I am able.-What, if I restore your children? -All that I am able.-And you, Tigranes, said he, turning to the Son, What would you do, to save your wife from servitude? Now Tigranes was but lately married, and had a great love for his wife. Cyrus, he replied, to save her from servitude, I would willingly lay down my life. Let each have his own again, said Cyrus; and, when he was departed, one spoke of his clemency; and another of his valour; and another of his beauty and the graces of his person. Upon which Tigranes asked his wife, if she thought him handsome. Really, said she, I did not look at him.-At whom then did you look?-At him who said he would lay down his life for me.-Cyropædia, L. III. Page 137, line 2. He turns their thoughts to Him who made them all; "When such is the ruling, the habitual sentiment of our minds," says Paley, "the world becomes a temple and life itself one continued act of worship."-We breathe aspirations all day long. Page 138, line 9. Through the night, Hers the mournful privilege, "adsidere valetudini, fovere deficientem, satiari vultu, complexu.”—TACITUS. Page 138, line 11. She sits silent by, We may have many friends in life; but we can only have one mother; "a discovery," says Gray, "which I never made till it was too late." The child is no sooner born than he clings to his mother; nor, while she lives, is her image absent from him in the hour of his distress. Sir John Moore, when he fell from his horse in the battle of Corunna, faltered out with his dying breath some message to his mother; and, who can forget the last words of Conradin, when, in his fifteenth year, he was led forth to die at Naples, "O my mother! how great will be your grief, when you hear of it?" Page 139, line 6. 'dust to dust' How exquisite are those lines of Petrarch! Page 139, line 15. He goes, and Night comes as it never came! These circumstances, as well as some others that follow, are happily, as far as they regard England, of an ancient date. To us the miseries inflicted by a foreign invader are now known only by description. Many generations have passed away since our country-women saw the smoke of an enemy's camp. But the same passions are always at work everywhere, and their effects are always nearly the same; though the circumstances that attend them are infinitely various. Page 140, line 3. Such as the heart delights in-and records Within how silently Si tout cela consistoit en faits, en actions, en paroles, on pourroit le décrire et le rendre en quelque façon: mais comment dire ce qui n'étoit ni dit, ni fait, ni pensé même, mais goûté, mais senti.-Le vrai bonheur ne se décrit pas.— ROUSSEAU. Page 140, line 26. A Walk in Spring-GRATTAN, like those with thee How welcome to an old man is the society of a young one! He, who is here mentioned, would propose a walk wherever we were, unworthy as I was of his notice; and One as great if not greater, when we were interrupted in his library at St. Anne's and I withdrew but for a moment to write down what I wished so much to remember, would say when I returned "Why do you leave me?" words which few would forget and which come again and again to me when half a century is gone by. Page 141, line 9. and, when all are there, So many pathetic affections are awakened by every exercise of social devotion, that most men, I believe, carry away from public worship a better temper towards the rest of mankind than they brought with them. Having all one interest to secure, one Lord to serve, one Judgment to look forward to, we cannot but remember our common relationship, and our natural equality is forced upon our thoughts. The distinctions of civil life are almost always insisted upon too much, and whatever conduces to restore the level, improves the character on both sides.-If ever the poor man holds up his head, it is at church; if ever the rich man looks upon him with respect it is there; and both will be the better the oftener they meet where the feeling of superiority is mitigated in the one and the spirit of the other is erected and confirmed, -PALEY. Page 141, line 11. That House with many a funeral-garland hung A custom in some of our country-churches. Page 142, line 3. Soon through the gadding vine, &c. An English breakfast; which may well excite in others what in Rousseau continued through life, un goût vif pour les déjeûnés. C'est le temps de la journée où nous sommes le plus tranquilles, où nous causons le plus à notre aise. The luxuries here mentioned, familiar to us as they now are, were almost unknown before the Revolution. Page 142, line 31. With honest dignity, He, who resolves to rise in the world by Politics or Religion, can degrade his mind to any degree, when he sets about it. Overcome the first scruple, and the work is done. "You hesitate," said one who spoke from experience. "Put on the mask, young man; and in a very little while you will not know it from your own face." Page 143, line 1. Like HAMPDEN struggling in his Country's cause, Zeuxis is said to have drawn his Helen from an assemblage of the most beautiful women; and many a Writer of Fiction, in forming a life to his mind, has recourse to the brightest moments in the lives of others. I may be suspected of having done so here, and of having designed, as it were, from living models; but, by making an allusion now and then to those who have really lived, I thought I should give something of interest to the picture, as well as better illustrate my meaning. Page 143, line 4. Careless of blame while his own heart approves, "By the Mass!" said the Duke of Norfolk to Sir Thomas More, By the Mass! master More, it is perilous striving with princes; the anger of a prince is death."-" And is that all, my lord? then the difference between you and me is but this that I shall die to-day, and you to-morrow.”— ROPER'S Life. Page 143, line 7. On thro' that gate misnamed, Traitor's gate, the water-gate in the Tower of London. Page 143, line 10. Then to the place of trial; This very slight sketch of Civil Dissension is taken from our own annals; but, for an obvious reason, not from those of our own Age. The persons, here immediately alluded to, lived more than a hundred years ago in a reign which Blackstone has justly represented as wicked, sanguinary, and turbulent; but such times have always afforded the most signal instances of heroic courage and ardent affection. Great reverses, like theirs, lay open the human heart. They occur indeed but seldom; yet all men are liable to them; all, when they occur to others, make them more or less their own; and, were we to describe our condition to an inhabitant of some other planet, could we omit what forms so striking a circumstance in human life? Page 143, line 10. and alone, A prisoner, prosecuted for high treason, may now make his defence by counsel. In the reign of William the Third the law was altered; and it was in rising to urge the necessity of an alteration, that Lord Shaftesbury, with such admirable quickness, took advantage of the embarrassment that seized him. "If I," said he, "who rise only to give my opinion of this bill, am so confounded that I cannot say what I intended, what must be the condition of that man, who, without any assistance, is pleading for his life?" Page 143, line 15. Like that sweet Saint who sate by RUSSELL's side Lord Russell. May I have somebody to write, to assist my memory? Mr. Attorney General. Yes, a Servant. |