Sir Thomas More, Or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society, Volume 1

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J. Murray, 1829 - 868 pages
"...[A] calm exposition of [Southey's] mature social and political convictions: rejection of the Catholic claims and of constitutional reform, support for high taxation to redistribute wealth, and so on. The conversations are conducted with the ghost of Sir Thomas More, whose Utopia was a remote ancestor of pantisocracy. They are set in the neighbourhood of Keswick, and the beauty of the countryside tempers the generally gloomy tone of the conversation, as does the quiet of his splendid library." -- DNB.

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Page 384 - I care not, Fortune, what you me deny ; You cannot rob me of free Nature's grace ; You cannot shut the windows of the sky, Through which Aurora shows her brightening face ; You cannot bar my constant feet to trace The woods and lawns, by living stream, at eve...
Page 329 - Verily, I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter therein.
Page 24 - I beheld the distinct, individual, and, to all sense of sight, substantial form, . .the living, moving, reasonable image, . . . in that self-same instant it was gone, as if exemplifying the difference between to be and not to be. It was no dream, of this I was well assured : realities are never mistaken for dreams, though dreams may be mistaken for realities. Moreover I had long been accustomed in sleep to question my perceptions with a wakeful faculty of reason, and to detect their fallacy. But,...
Page 103 - ... rejects the lore Of nicely-calculated less or more ; So deemed the man who fashioned for the sense These lofty pillars, spread that branching roof Self-poised, and scooped into ten thousand cells, Where light and shade repose, where music dwells Lingering — and wandering on as loth to die; Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof That they were born for immortality.
Page 241 - Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
Page 308 - I think not that their witchcraft is any real power; but yet that they are justly punished for the false belief they have that they can do such mischief, joined with their purpose to do it if they can; their trade being nearer to a new religion than to a craft or science.
Page 397 - Is not this great Babylon which I have built by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty ?' but with David, Quid retribuam!
Page 6 - is a proof that a ghost knows our thoughts.' Now," laughing, "it is not necessary to know our thoughts, to tell that an attorney will sometimes do nothing. Charles Wesley, who is a more stationary man, does not believe the story. I am sorry that John did not take more pains to inquire into the evidence for it.
Page 198 - For he that once hath missed the right way, The further he doth goe, the further he doth stray. 44 Then do no further goe, no further stray; But here lie downe, and to thy rest betake, Th' ill to prevent, that life ensewen may.
Page 325 - Sir, quoth he, and I may remember the building of Tenterton steeple, and I may remember when there was no steeple at all there. And before that Tenterton steeple was in building, there was no manner of speaking of any flats or sands that stopped the haven ; and therefore I think that Tenterton steeple is the cause of the destroying and decay of Sandwich haven.

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