expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the morrow,-attend to the history of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia. Rasselas. Chap. i. "I fly from pleasure," said the prince, "because pleasure has ceased to please; I am lonely because I am miserable, and am unwilling to cloud with my presence the happiness of others." Chap. iii. A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected. Chap. xii. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Ibid. Chap. xiii. Chap. xvi. I live in the crowd of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to shun myself. Many things difficult to design prove easy to performance. Ibid. The first years of man must make provision for the last. Chap. xvii. Example is always more efficacious than precept. Chap. xxx. The endearing elegance of female friendship. Chap. xlvi. I am not so lost in lexicography as to forget that words are the daughters of earth, and that things are the sons of heaven.2 Preface to his Dictionary. Words are men's daughters, but God's sons are things.3 Boulter's Monument. (Supposed to have been inserted by Dr. Johnson, 1745.) 1 See Bacon, page 168. 2 The italics and the word "forget" would seem to imply that the saying was not his own. 3 Sir William Jones gives a similar saying in India: "Words are the daughters of earth, and deeds are the sons of heaven." See Herbert, page 206. Sir THOMAS BODLEY: Letter to his Librarian, 1604. Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison. Life of Addison. To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example. Life of Milton. The trappings of a monarchy would set up an ordinary commonwealth. Ibid. His death eclipsed the gayety of nations, and impoverished the public stock of harmless pleasure. Life of Edmund Smith (alluding to the death of Garrick). That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona. Journey to the Western Islands: Inch Kenneth. He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty. The Idler. No. 57. What is read twice is commonly better remembered than what is transcribed. No. 74. Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation; but no sooner does he take a pen in his hand than it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs all his faculties. Life of Johnson (Boswell).1 Vol. i. Chap. vii. 1743. Chap. 3. 1752. Wretched un-idea'd girls. This man [Chesterfield], I thought, had been a lord among wits; but I find he is only a wit among lords.2 Vol. ii. Chap. i. 1754. 1 From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell's intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell's!-CARLYLE: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. 2 See Pope, page 331. Sir, he [Bolingbroke] was a scoundrel and a coward: a scoundrel for charging a blunderbuss against religion and morality; a coward, because he had not resolution to fire it off himself, but left half a crown to a beggarly Scotchman to draw the trigger at his death. Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. i. Chap. i. 1754. Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and when he has reached ground encumbers him with help? I am glad that he thanks God for anything. Chap. ii. 1755. Ibid. If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair. Ibid. Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned. Chap. iii. 1759. Sir, I think all Christians, whether Papists or Protestants, agree in the essential articles, and that their differences are trivial, and rather political than religious.1 Chap. v. 1763. The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high-road that leads him to England. Ibid. If he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons. Ibid. Sir, your levellers wish to level down as far as themselves; but they cannot bear levelling up to themselves. Ibid. 1 I do not find that the age or country makes the least difference; no, nor the language the actor spoke, nor the religion which they professed, whether Arab in the desert, or Frenchman in the Academy. I see that sensible men and conscientious men all over the world were of one religion of well-doing and daring. — EMERSON: The Preacher. Lectures and Biographical Sketches, p. 215. A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good. Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ii. Chap. vi. 1763. Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it must have taken. him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an access of stupidity, sir, is not in Nature. Chap. ix. Sir, a woman preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all. Ibid. I look upon it, that he who does not mind his belly will hardly mind anything else.1 Ibid. This was a good dinner enough, to be sure, but it was not a dinner to ask a man to. A very unclubable man. Ibid. Ibid. 1764. I do not know, sir, that the fellow is an infidel; but if he be an infidel, he is an infidel as a dog is an infidel; that is to say, he has never thought upon the subject. Vol. iii. Chap. iii. 1769. It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. Chap. iv. That fellow seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one.2 Chap. v. 1770. I am a great friend to public amusements; for they keep people from vice. Chap. viii. 1772. Ibid. A cow is a very good animal in the field; but we turn her out of a garden. Much may be made of a Scotchman if he be caught young. Ibid. A man may write at any time if he will set himself doggedly to it. Vol. iv. Chap. ii. 1773. 1 Every investigation which is guided by principles of nature fixes its ultimate aim entirely on gratifying the stomach. - ATHENÆUS: Book vii. chap. ii. 2 Mr. Kremlin was distinguished for ignorance; for he had only one idea, and that was wrong. - DISRAELI: Sybil, book iv. chap. 5. Let him go abroad to a distant country; let him go to some place where he is not known. the devil, where he is known. Don't let him go to Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ir. Chap.ü. 1773. Was ever poet so trusted before? Vol. v. Chap. vi. 1774. Attack is the reaction. I never think I have hit hard unless it rebounds. 1775. A man will turn over half a library to make one book. Chap. viii. 1775. Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. Hell is paved with good intentions.1 Chap. ix. Ibid. Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.2 Ibid. I never take a nap after dinner but when I have had a bad night; and then the nap takes me. Vol. vi. Chap. i. 1775. In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath. Ibid. There is now less flogging in our great schools than formerly, but then less is learned there; so that what the boys get at one end they lose at the other. Ibid. There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn. Chap. iii. 1776. 1 See Herbert, page 205. Do not be troubled by Saint Bernard's saying that hell is full of good intentions and wills. - FRANCIS DE SALES: Spiritual Letters. Letter xii. (Translated by the author of " A Dominican Artist.") 1605. 2 Scire ubi aliquid invenire possis, ea demum maxima pars eruditionis est (To know where you can find anything, that in short is the largest part of learning). ANONYMOUS. 3 Whoe'er has travell'd life's dull round, Where'er his stages may have been, May sigh to think he still has found The warmest welcome at an inn. SHENSTONE: Written on a Window of an Inn. |