Occasional Addresses, 1893-1916

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Macmillan, 1918 - 194 pages

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Page 50 - It was on the day, or rather night, of the 27th of June 1787, between the hours of eleven and twelve, that I wrote the last lines of the last page in a summer-house in my garden. After laying down my pen, I took several turns in a berccau, or covered walk of acacias, which commands a prospect of the country, the lake, and the mountains.
Page 80 - Still glides the Stream, and shall for ever glide ; The Form remains, the Function never dies ; While we, the brave, the mighty, and the wise, We Men, who in our morn of youth defied The elements, must vanish ; — be it so ! Enough, if something from our hands have power To live, and act, and serve the future hour ; And if, as toward the silent tomb we go, Through love, through, hope, and faith's transcendent dower, We feel that we are greater than we know.
Page 132 - If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the Scripture than thou doest.
Page 51 - I took several turns in a berceau, or covered walk of acacias, which commands a prospect of the country, the lake, and the mountains. The air was temperate, the sky was serene, the silver orb of the moon was reflected from the waters, and all nature was silent. I will not dissemble the first emotions of joy on the recovery of my freedom, and, perhaps, the establishment of my fame. But my pride was soon humbled, and a sober melancholy was spread over my mind, by the idea that I had taken an everlasting...
Page 173 - HOW happy is he born and taught That serveth not another's will; Whose armour is his honest thought, And simple truth his utmost skill...
Page 54 - Went to bed, and slept dreamlessly, but not refreshingly. Awoke, and up an hour before being called ; but dawdled three hours in dressing. When one subtracts from life infancy (which is vegetation), — sleep, eating, and swilling — buttoning and unbuttoning — how much remains of downright existence ? The summer of a dormouse.
Page 121 - The common law is not rigid and inflexible, a thing dead to all surrounding and changing conditions ; it does expand with reason. The common law is not a compendium of mechanical rules, written in fixed and indelible characters, but a living organism which grows and moves in response to the larger and fuller development of the nation.
Page 7 - I have said, simply to know the best that is known and thought in the world, and by in its turn making this known, to create a current of true and fresh ideas.
Page 52 - Nor is it always in the most distinguished achievements that men's virtues or vices may be best discerned; but very often an action of small note, a short saying, or a jest, shall distinguish a person's real character more than the greatest sieges, or the most important battles.
Page 47 - That at Will's coffee-house Dryden had a particular chair for himself, which was set by the fire in winter, and was then called his winter-chair; and that it was carried out for him to the balcony in summer, and was then called his summer-chair.' Gibber could tell no more but ' That he remembered him a decent old man, arbiter of critical disputes at Will's.' You are to consider that Gibber was then at a great distance from Dryden, had perhaps one leg only in the room, and durst not draw in the other.

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