MONTAGU. From wine what sudden friendship springs! Life is a jest, and all things show it; The Squire and his Cur. My own Epitaph. LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU. Let this great maxim be my virtue's guide, The Lady's Resolve. And we meet, with champagne and a chicken, at last." Be plain in dress, and sober in your diet; The Lover. A Summary of Lord Lyttelton's Advice. Satire should, like a polished razor keen, But the fruit that can fall without shaking The Answer. 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 à la Mode. Act ii. Sc. 1. Every tub must stand upon its bottom. The Man of the World. Act i. Sc. 2. 1 A fugitive piece, written on a window by Lady Montagu, after her mar riage (1713). See Overbury, page 193. 2 What say you to such a supper with such a woman? - BYRON : Note to a Second Letter on Bowles. 8 See Bunyan, page 265. JOHN BYROM. 1691-1763. God bless the King, I mean the faith's defender! 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.1 Advice to Preach Slow Some say, compar'd to Bononcini, That Mynheer Handel's but a ninny; 'Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee. As clear as a whistle. On the Feuds between Handel and Bononcini.2 The point is plain as a pike-staff.3 Epistle to Lloyd. 1. Epistle to a Friend. Bone and Skin, two millers thin, 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. 1 See Walker, page 265. 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). See Middleton, page 172. None but himself can be his parallel.1 The Double Falsehood, What's not devoured by Time's devouring hand? Where's Troy, and where 's the Maypole in the Strand? Art of Politics. But Titus said, with his uncommon sense, Ibid. Man of Taste. EARL OF CHESTERFIELD. 1694-1773. Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well. Letter, March 10, 1746. I knew once a very covetous, sordid fellow, who used to say, "Take care of the pence, for the pounds will take care of themselves." Nov. 6, 1747. (Do you seek Alcides' equal? None is, except himself). — SENECA: Her cules Furens, i. 1; 84. And but herself admits no parallel. iv. sc. 3. MASSINGER: Duke of Milan, act 2 I hope, said Colonel Titus, we shall not be wise as the frogs to whom Jupiter gave a stork for their king. To trust expedients with such a king on the throne would be just as wise as if there were a lion in the lobby, and we should vote to let him in and chain him, instead of fastening the door to keep him out. - On the Exclusion Bill, Jan. 7, 1681, 8 W. Lowndes, Secretary of the Treasury in the reigns of King William, Queen Anne, and King George the Third. Sacrifice to the Graces.1 Letter, March 9, 1748. Manners must adorn knowledge, and smooth its way through the world. Like a great rough diamond, it may do very well in a closet by way of curiosity, and also for its intrinsic value. Style is the dress of thoughts. Despatch is the soul of business. Chapter of accidents.2 July 1, 1748. Nov. 24, 1749. Feb. 5, 1750. Feb. 16, 1753. I assisted at the birth of that most significant word "flirtation," which dropped from the most beautiful mouth in the world. The World. No. 101. Unlike my subject now shall be my song; Impromptu Lines. The dews of the evening most carefully shun,- Advice to a Lady in Autumn. The nation looked upon him as a deserter, and he shrunk into insignificancy and an earldom. Character of Pulteney. He adorned whatever subject he either spoke or wrote upon, by the most splendid eloquence. 8 Character of Bolingbroke. 1 Plato was continually saying to Xenocrates, "Sacrifice to the Graces." - DIOGENES LAERTIUS: Xenocrates, book iv. sect. 2. Let us sacrifice to the Muses. - PLUTARCH: The Banquet of the Seven Wise Men. (A saying of Solon.) 2 Chapter of accidents. - BURKE: Notes for Speeches (edition 1852), vol. ii. p. 426. John Wilkes said that "the Chapter of Accidents is the longest chapter in the book." -SOUTHEY: The Doctor, chap. cxviii. 8 Who left scarcely any style of writing untouched, And touched nothing that he did not adorn. Il embellit tout ce JOHNSON: Epitaph on Goldsmith. qu'il touche (He adorned whatever he touched).— FENELON: Lettre sur les Occupations de l'Académie Française, sect. iv. MATTHEW GREEN. 1696-1737. Fling but a stone, the giant dies. The Spleen. Line 93. Thus I steer my bark, and sail On even keel, with gentle gale. Though pleased to see the dolphins play, Ibid Ibid He lives to build, not boast, a generous race; The Bastard. Line 7. May see thee now, though late, redeem thy name, Character of Foster. ROBERT BLAIR. 1699–1747. The Grave, dread thing! Men shiver when thou 'rt named: Nature, appall'd, The schoolboy, with his satchel in his hand, Line 58. |