Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

examining our conduct, but as adversity leads us to think properly of our state, it is most beneficial to us.

DR. JOHNSON.

THE way to make thy son rich, is to fill
His mind with rest, before his trunk with riches;
For wealth without contentment climbs a hill,
To feed those tempests which fly over ditches.

GEORGE HERBERT.

It is observed of Gold by an old epigrammatist, that to have it is to be in fear, and to want it to be in sorrow.

THE knowing and the bold

Fall in the gen❜ral massacre of gold;
Wide-wasting pest that rages unconfined,

And crowds with crimes the records of mankind;

For gold his sword the hireling ruffian draws,
For gold the hireling judge distorts the laws;
Wealth heap'd on wealth, nor truth, nor safety buys,
The dangers gather as the treasures rise.

DR. JOHNSON.

'Tis true, w' have money th' only pow'r
That all mankind fall down before;
Money, that, like the swords of kings,
Is the last reason of all things.

Hudibras, Part III., Canto 2.

FOR gain has wonderful effects
T'improve the Factory of Sects;
The rule of faith in all professions,
The great Diana of the Ephesians;
Whence turning of Religions made.

Ibid., Part III., Canto 2.

O THOU Sweet king-killer, and dear divorce
'Twixt natural son and sire! thou bright defiler

Of Hymen's purest bed! that valiant Mars!

Thou ever young, fresh, loved, and delicate wooer,

Whose blush doth thaw the consecrated snow

That lies on Dian's lap! thou visible god,

That solder'st close impossibilities,

And mak'st them kiss! thou speak'st with every tongue,

To every purpose! O thou touch of hearts!

Think, thy slave man rebels; and by thy virtue

Set them into confounding odds, that beasts

May have the world in empire.

Timon of Athens.

COMPANY. ITS INFLUENCE.

"Tis not the modes of Civility alone, that are imprinted by Conversation. The tincture of Company sinks deeper than the outside, and possibly if a true estimate were made of the morality and Religions* of the world, we should find that the greater part of mankind received even those Opinions and Ceremonies they would die for, rather from the Fashions of their countries, and the constant practise of those about them, than from any conviction of their Reasons.

LOCKE. On Education.

†WHAT I saw in this place struck me at first with horror, but at length by insensible degrees it became familiar. I was no longer alarmed at the appearance of vice: the manners of the company had a kind of contagious influence upon me, my innocence was universally derided, and my modesty and reserve became the sport of impudence and buffoonery; every art was practised to excite my passions, to ensnare me by temptation, and to kindle the love of pleasure in my breast. I perceived that I was every day less capable of resistance, the influence of education was surmounted, my virtuous resolutions melted away; I could no longer struggle against the evils that pressed upon me on every side; from dreading vice I came at last to be ashamed of virtue.

FENELON. Telemachus in the Island of Cyprus.

Falstaff. It is a wonderful thing to see the semblable coherence of his men's spirits and his. They, by observing him, do bear themselves like foolish justices; he, by conversing with them, is turned into a justice-like serving-man; their spirits are so marred in conjunction with the participation of society, that they flock together in consent, like so many wild geese. If I had a suit to Master Shallow, I would humour his men, with

Many a one

Owes to his country his religion,

And in another would as strongly grow,

Had but his nurse or mother taught him so.

I. WALTON. Angler-Quotation.

+ Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As, to be hated, needs but to be seen,
Yet, seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

POPE. Essay on Man.

the imputation of being near their master; if to his men, I would curry with Master Shallow, that no man could better command his servants. It is certain, that either wise bearing or ignorant carriage is caught as men take diseases, one of another therefore, let men take heed of their company.

Henry IV., Second Part, Act 5. THREE days of uninterrupted company in a vehicle, will make you better acquainted with another, than one hour's conversation with him every day for three years.

WHEN chapman billies leave the street,
An drouthy neibors, neibors meet,
As market-days are wearing late,
An folk begin to tak the gate;
While we sit bousing at the nappy,
An gettin' fou an unco' happy,
We think na on the lang Scots miles,
The mosses, waters, slaps, and stiles,
That lie between us an our hame,
Whar sits our sulky sullen dame,
Gathrin' her brows like gathrin' storm,
Nursin' her wrath, to keep it warm.

LAVATER.

[blocks in formation]

PANTHEON.

SIMPLE, erect, severe, austere, sublime—
Shrine of all saints and temple of all gods,
From Jove to Jesus-spared and blest by time,
Looking tranquillity, while falls or nods

Arch, empire, each thing round thee, and man plods
His way through thorns to ashes-glorious dome !
Shalt thou not last? Time's scythe and tyrant's rods
Shiver
upon thee-sanctuary and home
Of art and piety-Pantheon !-pride of Rome!
Relic of nobler days, and noblest arts!
Despoil'd yet perfect, with thy circle spreads
A holiness appealing to all hearts—
To art a model; and to him who treads
Rome for the sake of ages, Glory sheds
Her light through thy sole aperture.

Childe Harold, Canto IV.

MARK, how the dread Pantheon stands,
Amid the domes of modern hands:
Amid the toys of idle state,

How simply, how severely great!

Then turn, and, while each western clime
Presents her tuneful sons to Time,

So mark thou Milton's name;

And add, "Thus differs from the throng
The spirit which informed thy awful song,

Which bade thy potent voice protect thy country's fame."
AKENSIDE. Ode.

THE DIFFERENCE OF WIT AND JUDGMENT.

IF in having our Ideas in the memory ready at hand consists quickness of parts; in this, of having them unconfused and being able nicely to distinguish one thing from another where there is but the least difference, consists in a great measure the exactness of Judgment and Clearness of Reason which is to be observed in one man above another. And hence perhaps may be given some reason of that common observation, That men who have a great deal of wit and prompt memories have not always the clearest judgment or deepest reason. For* Wit

* O man, but he was wutty, wutty,-and bricht thocts o' a maist extraordinary kind met thegether frae, the opposite poles o' the human understanding. Noctes Ambrosianæ.

lying most in the assemblage of Ideas, and putting those together with quickness and variety, wherein can be found any resemblance or congruity, thereby to make up pleasant pictures and agreeable visions in the fancy, Judgment, on the contrary, lies quite on the other side, in separating carefully one from another Ideas wherein can be found the least difference, thereby to avoid being misled by similitude and by affinity to take one thing for another. This is a way of proceeding quite contrary to metaphor and allusion, wherein for the most part lies that entertainment and pleasantry of wit which strikes so lively on the fancy, and therefore is so acceptable to all people, because its beauty appears at first sight, and there is required no labour of thought to examine what truth or reason there is in it. The mind, without looking any farther, rests satisfied with the agreeableness of the picture and the gaiety of the fancy. And it is a kind of an affront to go about to examine it by the severe rules of truth and good reason, whereby it appears that it consists in something that is not perfectly conformable to them. LOCKE. On the Understanding, Book II., Chap. 2.

SOME in discourse rather affect being commended for Wit in maintaining all arguments, than for Judgment in discerning the Truth, as if it were a praise to find what might be said and not what should be concluded.

BACON. Essays.

ENERGY.

BE great in act,* as you have been in thought;
Let not the world see fear or sad distrust

Govern the motion of a kingly eye.

+Be stirring with the time; be fire with fire;
Threaten the threat'ner, and outface the brow
Of bragging horror; so shall inferior

eyes,

All wit does but divert men from the road
In which things vulgarly are understood,
And force mistake and ignorance to own
A better sense than commonly is known.
BUTLER. Miscellaneous Thoughts.

*For courage mounteth with the occasion.

King John.

+ Action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant more learned than

their ears.

Coriolanus.

« AnteriorContinuar »