The dew on his thin robe was heavy and chill;
For his country he sigh'd, when at twilight repairing
To wander alone by the wind-beaten hill.
_The Exile of Erin._
To bear is to conquer our fate.
_On visiting a Scene in Argyleshire._
The sentinel stars set their watch in the sky.[515-2]
_The Soldier's Dream._
In life's morning march, when my bosom was young.
_The Soldier's Dream._
But sorrow return'd with the dawning of morn,
And the voice in my dreaming ear melted away.
_The Soldier's Dream._
Triumphal arch, that fill'st the sky
When storms prepare to part,
I ask not proud Philosophy
To teach me what thou art.
_To the Rainbow._
A stoic of the woods,--a man without a tear.
_Gertrude of Wyoming. Part i. Stanza 23._
O Love! in such a wilderness as this.
_Gertrude of Wyoming. Part iii. Stanza 1._
The torrent's smoothness, ere it dash below!
_Gertrude of Wyoming. Part iii. Stanza 5._
Again to the battle, Achaians!
Our hearts bid the tyrants defiance!
Our land, the first garden of Liberty's tree,
It has been, and shall yet be, the land of the free.
_Song of the Greeks._
Drink ye to her that each loves best!
And if you nurse a flame
That 's told but to her mutual breast,
We will not ask her name.
_Drink ye to Her._
To live in hearts we leave behind
Is not to die.
_Hallowed Ground._
Oh leave this barren spot to me!
Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree![516-1]
_The Beech-Tree's Petition._
FOOTNOTES:
[512-3] See John Webster, page 181.
The mountains too, at a distance, appear airy masses and smooth,
but seen near at hand they are rough.--DIOGENES LAERTIUS: _Pyrrho,
ix._
[513-1]
At length, fatigued with life, he bravely fell,
And health with Boerhaave bade the world farewell.
CHURCH: _The Choice_ (1754).
[513-2] See Sterne, page 379.
[514-1] See Norris, page 281.
[514-2] See Freneau, page 443.
[514-3] See Coleridge, page 504.
[515-1] When the stormy winds do blow.--MARTYN PARKER: _Ye
Gentlemen of England._
[515-2] The starres, bright centinels of the skies.--HABINGTON:
_Castara, Dialogue between Night and Araphil._
[516-1]
Woodman, spare that tree!
Touch not a single bough!
G. P. MORRIS: _Woodman, spare that Tree._
HENRY CLAY. 1777-1852.
The gentleman [Josiah Quincy] cannot have forgotten his own
sentiment, uttered even on the floor of this House, "Peaceably if
we can, forcibly if we must."[516-2]
_Speech, 1813._
Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are
trustees; and both the trust and the trustees are created for the
benefit of the people.
_Speech at Ashland, Ky., March, 1829._
I have heard something said about allegiance to the South. I know
no South, no North, no East, no West, to which I owe any
allegiance.
_Speech, 1848._
Sir, I would rather be right than be President.
_Speech, 1850_ (referring to the Compromise Measures).
FOOTNOTES:
[516-2] See Quincy, page 505.
F. S. KEY. 1779-1843.
And the star-spangled banner, oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
_The Star-Spangled Banner._
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation![517-1]
Then conquer we must when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, "In God is our trust!"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
_The Star-Spangled Banner._
FOOTNOTES:
[517-1] It made and preserves us a nation.--MORRIS: _The Flag of
our Union._
HORACE SMITH. 1779-1849.
Thinking is but an idle waste of thought,
And nought is everything and everything is nought.
_Rejected Addresses. Cui Bono?_
In the name of the Prophet--figs.
_Johnson's Ghost._
And thou hast walked about (how strange a story!)
In Thebes's streets three thousand years ago,
When the Memnonium was in all its glory.
_Address to the Mummy at Belzoni's Exhibition._
THOMAS MOORE. 1779-1852.
When Time who steals our years away
Shall steal our pleasures too,
The mem'ry of the past will stay,
And half our joys renew.
_Song. From Juvenile Poems._
Weep on! and as thy sorrows flow,
I 'll taste the luxury of woe.
_Anacreontic._
Where bastard Freedom waves
The fustian flag in mockery over slaves.
_To the Lord Viscount Forbes, written from the City of Washington._
How shall we rank thee upon glory's page,
Thou more than soldier, and just less than sage?
_To Thomas Hume._
I knew, by the smoke that so gracefully curl'd
Above the green elms, that a cottage was near;
And I said, "If there 's peace to be found in the world,
A heart that was humble might hope for it here."
_Ballad Stanzas._
Faintly as tolls the evening chime,
Our voices keep tune and our oars keep time.
_A Canadian Boat-Song._
Row, brothers, row, the stream runs fast,
The rapids are near, and the daylight 's past.
_A Canadian Boat-Song._
The minds of some of our statesmen, like the pupil of the human
eye, contract themselves the more, the stronger light there is
shed upon them.
_Preface to Corruption and Intolerance._
Like a young eagle who has lent his plume
To fledge the shaft by which he meets his doom,
See their own feathers pluck'd to wing the dart
Which rank corruption destines for their heart.[518-1]
_Corruption._
A Persian's heaven is eas'ly made:
'T is but black eyes and lemonade.
_Intercepted Letters. Letter vi._
There was a little man, and he had a little soul;
And he said, Little Soul, let us try, try, try!
_Little Man and Little Soul._
Go where glory waits thee![519-1]
But while fame elates thee,
Oh, still remember me!
_Go where Glory waits thee._
Oh, breathe not his name! let it sleep in the shade,
Where cold and unhonour'd his relics are laid,
_Oh breathe not his Name._
And the tear that we shed, though in secret it rolls,
Shall long keep his memory green in our souls.
_Oh breathe not his Name._
The harp that once through Tara's halls
The soul of music shed,
Now hangs as mute on Tara's walls
As if that soul were fled.
So sleeps the pride of former days,
So glory's thrill is o'er;
And hearts that once beat high for praise
Now feel that pulse no more.
_The Harp that once through Tara's Halls._
Who ran
Through each mode of the lyre, and was master of all.
_On the Death of Sheridan._
Whose wit in the combat, as gentle as bright,
Ne'er carried a heart-stain away on its blade.
_On the Death of Sheridan._
Good at a fight, but better at a play;
Godlike in giving, but the devil to pay.
_On a Cast of Sheridan's Hand._
Though an angel should write, still 't is devils must print.
_The Fudges in England. Letter iii._
Fly not yet; 't is just the hour
When pleasure, like the midnight flower
That scorns the eye of vulgar light,
Begins to bloom for sons of night
And maids who love the moon.
_Fly not yet._
Oh stay! oh stay!
Joy so seldom weaves a chain
Like this to-night, that oh 't is pain
To break its links so soon.
_Fly not yet._
When did morning ever break,
And find such beaming eyes awake?
_Fly not yet._
And the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers
Is always the first to be touch'd by the thorns.
_Oh think not my Spirits are always as light._
Rich and rare were the gems she wore,
And a bright gold ring on her wand she bore.
_Rich and rare were the Gems she wore._
There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet
As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet.
_The Meeting of the Waters._
Oh, weep for the hour
When to Eveleen's bower
The lord of the valley with false vows came.
_Eveleen's Bower._
Shall I ask the brave soldier who fights by my side
In the cause of mankind, if our creeds agree?
_Come, send round the Wine._
No, the heart that has truly lov'd never forgets,
But as truly loves on to the close;
As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets
The same look which she turn'd when he rose.
_Believe me, if all those endearing young Charms._
The moon looks
On many brooks
"The brook can see no moon but this."[521-1]
_While gazing on the Moon's Light._
And when once the young heart of a maiden is stolen,
The maiden herself will steal after it soon.
_Ill Omens._
'T is sweet to think that where'er we rove
We are sure to find something blissful and dear;
And that when we 're far from the lips we love,
We 've but to make love to the lips we are near.
_'T is sweet to think._
'T is believ'd that this harp which I wake now for thee
Was a siren of old who sung under the sea.
_The Origin of the Harp._
But there 's nothing half so sweet in life
As love's young dream.
_Love's Young Dream._
To live with them is far less sweet
Than to remember thee.[521-2]
_I saw thy Form._
Eyes of unholy blue.
_By that Lake whose gloomy Shore._
'T is the last rose of summer,
Left blooming alone.
_The Last Rose of Summer._
When true hearts lie wither'd
And fond ones are flown,
Oh, who would inhabit
This bleak world alone?
_The Last Rose of Summer._
And the best of all ways
To lengthen our days
Is to steal a few hours from the night, my dear.
_The Young May Moon._
You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will,
But the scent of the roses will hang round it still.
_Farewell! But whenever you welcome the Hour._
Thus, when the lamp that lighted
The traveller at first goes out,
He feels awhile benighted,
And looks around in fear and doubt.
But soon, the prospect clearing,
By cloudless starlight on he treads,
And thinks no lamp so cheering
As that light which Heaven sheds.
_I 'd mourn the Hopes._
No eye to watch, and no tongue to wound us,
All earth forgot, and all heaven around us.
_Come o'er the Sea._
The light that lies
In woman's eyes.
_The Time I 've lost in wooing._
My only books
Were woman's looks,--
And folly 's all they 've taught me.
_The Time I 've lost in wooing._
I know not, I ask not, if guilt 's in that heart,
I but know that I love thee whatever thou art.
_Come, rest in this Bosom._
To live and die in scenes like this,
With some we 've left behind us.
_As slow our Ship._
Wert thou all that I wish thee, great, glorious, and free,
First flower of the earth and first gem of the sea.
_Remember Thee._
All that 's bright must fade,--
The brightest still the fleetest;
All that 's sweet was made
But to be lost when sweetest.
_All that 's Bright must fade._
Those evening bells! those evening bells!
How many a tale their music tells
Of youth and home, and that sweet time
When last I heard their soothing chime!
_Those Evening Bells._
Oft in the stilly night,
Ere slumber's chain has bound me,
Fond memory brings the light
Of other days around me;
The smiles, the tears,
Of boyhood's years,
The words of love then spoken;
The eyes that shone
Now dimmed and gone,
The cheerful hearts now broken.
_Oft in the Stilly Night._
I feel like one
Who treads alone
Some banquet-hall deserted,
Whose lights are fled,
Whose garlands dead,
And all but he departed.
_Oft in the Stilly Night._
As half in shade and half in sun
This world along its path advances,
May that side the sun 's upon
Be all that e'er shall meet thy glances!
_Peace be around Thee._
If I speak to thee in friendship's name,
Thou think'st I speak too coldly;
If I mention love's devoted flame,
Thou say'st I speak too boldly.
_How shall I woo?_
A friendship that like love is warm;
A love like friendship, steady.
_How shall I woo?_
The bird let loose in Eastern skies,
Returning fondly home,
Ne'er stoops to earth her wing, nor flies
Where idle warblers roam;
But high she shoots through air and light,
Above all low delay,
Where nothing earthly bounds her flight,
Nor shadow dims her way.
_Oh that I had Wings._
This world is all a fleeting show,
For man's illusion given;
The smiles of joy, the tears of woe,
Deceitful shine, deceitful flow,--
There 's nothing true but Heaven.
_This World is all a fleeting Show._
Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea!
Jehovah has triumph'd,--his people are free.
_Sound the loud Timbrel._
As down in the sunless retreats of the ocean
Sweet flowers are springing no mortal can see,
So deep in my soul the still prayer of devotion,
Unheard by the world, rises silent to Thee.
As still to the star of its worship, though clouded,
The needle points faithfully o'er the dim sea,
So dark when I roam in this wintry world shrouded,
The hope of my spirit turns trembling to Thee.
_The Heart's Prayer._
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish;
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.
_Come, ye Disconsolate._
Oh call it by some better name,
For friendship sounds too cold.
_Oh call it by some better Name._
When twilight dews are falling soft
Upon the rosy sea, love,
I watch the star whose beam so oft
Has lighted me to thee, love.
_When Twilight Dews._
I give thee all,--I can no more,
Though poor the off'ring be;
My heart and lute are all the store
That I can bring to thee.[525-1]
_My Heart and Lute._
Who has not felt how sadly sweet
The dream of home, the dream of home,
Steals o'er the heart, too soon to fleet,
When far o'er sea or land we roam?
_The Dream of Home._
To Greece we give our shining blades.
_Evenings in Greece. First Evening._
When thus the heart is in a vein
Of tender thought, the simplest strain
Can touch it with peculiar power.
_Evenings in Greece. First Evening._
If thou would'st have me sing and play
As once I play'd and sung,
First take this time-worn lute away,
And bring one freshly strung.
_If Thou would'st have Me sing and play._
To sigh, yet feel no pain;
To weep, yet scarce know why;
To sport an hour with Beauty's chain,
Then throw it idly by.
_The Blue Stocking._
Ay, down to the dust with them, slaves as they are!
From this hour let the blood in their dastardly veins,
That shrunk at the first touch of Liberty's war,
Be wasted for tyrants, or stagnate in chains.
_On the Entry of the Austrians into Naples, 1821._
This narrow isthmus 'twixt two boundless seas,
The past, the future,--two eternities!
_Lalla Rookh. The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan._
But Faith, fanatic Faith, once wedded fast
To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last.
_Lalla Rookh. The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan._
There 's a bower of roses by Bendemeer's stream.
_Lalla Rookh. The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan._
Like the stain'd web that whitens in the sun,
Grow pure by being purely shone upon.
_Lalla Rookh. The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan._
One morn a Peri at the gate
Of Eden stood disconsolate.
_Paradise and the Peri._
Take all the pleasures of all the spheres,
And multiply each through endless years,--
One minute of heaven is worth them all.
_Paradise and the Peri._
But the trail of the serpent is over them all.
_Paradise and the Peri._
Oh, ever thus, from childhood's hour,
I 've seen my fondest hopes decay;
I never loved a tree or flower
But 't was the first to fade away.
I never nurs'd a dear gazelle,
To glad me with its soft black eye,
But when it came to know me well
And love me, it was sure to die.
_The Fire-Worshippers._
Oh for a tongue to curse the slave
Whose treason, like a deadly blight,
Comes o'er the councils of the brave,
And blasts them in their hour of might!
_The Fire-Worshippers._
Beholding heaven, and feeling hell.
_The Fire-Worshippers._
As sunshine broken in the rill,
Though turned astray, is sunshine still.
_The Fire-Worshippers._
Farewell, farewell to thee, Araby's daughter!
Thus warbled a Peri beneath the dark sea.
_The Fire-Worshippers._
Alas! how light a cause may move
Dissension between hearts that love!
Hearts that the world in vain had tried,
And sorrow but more closely tied;
That stood the storm when waves were rough,
Yet in a sunny hour fall off,
Like ships that have gone down at sea
When heaven was all tranquillity.
_Lalla Rookh. The Light of the Harem._
Love on through all ills, and love on till they die.
_Lalla Rookh. The Light of the Harem._
And oh if there be an Elysium on earth,
It is this, it is this!
_Lalla Rookh. The Light of the Harem._
Humility, that low, sweet root
From which all heavenly virtues shoot.
_The Loves of the Angels. The Third Angel's Story._
FOOTNOTES:
[518-1] See Waller, page 220.
[519-1] This goin ware glory waits ye haint one agreeable
feetur.--LOWELL: _The Biglow Papers. First Series, No. 11._
[521-1] This image was suggested by the following thought, which
occurs somewhere in Sir William Jones's Works: "The moon looks
upon many night-flowers; the night-flower sees but one moon."
[521-2] In imitation of Shenstone's inscription, "Heu! quanto
minus est cum reliquis versari quam tui meminisse."
[525-1] This song was introduced in Kemble's "Lodoiska," act iii.
sc. 1.
LORD DENMAN. 1779-1854.
A delusion, a mockery, and a snare.
_O'Connell v. The Queen, 11 Clark and Finnelly Reports._
The mere repetition of the _Cantilena_ of lawyers cannot make it
law, unless it can be traced to some competent authority; and if
it be irreconcilable, to some clear legal principle.
_O'Connell v. The Queen, 11 Clark and Finnelly Reports._
CLEMENT C. MOORE. 1779-1863.
'T was the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring,--not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
_A Visit from St. Nicholas._
LORD BROUGHAM. 1779-1868.
Let the soldier be abroad if he will, he can do nothing in this
age. There is another personage,--a personage less imposing in
the eyes of some, perhaps insignificant. The schoolmaster is
abroad, and I trust to him, armed with his primer, against the
soldier in full military array.
_Speech, Jan. 29, 1828._
In my mind, he was guilty of no error, he was chargeable with no
exaggeration, he was betrayed by his fancy into no metaphor, who
once said that all we see about us, kings, lords, and Commons,
the whole machinery of the State, all the apparatus of the
system, and its varied workings, end in simply bringing twelve
good men into a box.
_Present State of the Law, Feb. 7, 1828._
Pursuit of knowledge under difficulties.[528-1]
Death was now armed with a new terror.[528-2]
FOOTNOTES:
[528-1] The title given by Lord Brougham to a book published in
1830.
[528-2] Brougham delivered a very warm panegyric upon the
ex-Chancellor, and expressed a hope that he would make a good end,
although to an expiring Chancellor death was now armed with a new
terror.--CAMPBELL: _Lives of the Chancellors, vol. vii. p. 163._
Lord St. Leonards attributes this phrase to Sir Charles Wetherell,
who used it on the occasion referred to by Lord Campbell.
From Edmund Curll's practice of issuing miserable catch-penny
lives of every eminent person immediately after his decease,
Arbuthnot wittily styled him "one of the new terrors of
death."--CARRUTHERS: _Life of Pope_ (second edition), _p. 149_.
PAUL MOON JAMES. 1780-1854.
The scene was more beautiful far to the eye
Than if day in its pride had arrayed it.
_The Beacon._
And o'er them the lighthouse looked lovely as hope,--
That star of life's tremulous ocean.
_The Beacon._
CHARLES MINER. 1780-1865.
When I see a merchant over-polite to his customers, begging them
to taste a little brandy and throwing half his goods on the
counter,--thinks I, that man has an axe to grind.
_Who 'll turn Grindstones._[528-3]
FOOTNOTES:
[528-3] From "Essays from the Desk of Poor Robert the Scribe,"
Doylestown, Pa., 1815. It first appeared in the "Wilkesbarre
Gleaner," 1811.
JOHN C. CALHOUN. 1782-1850.
The very essence of a free government consists in considering
offices as public trusts,[529-1] bestowed for the good of the
country, and not for the benefit of an individual or a party.
_Speech, Feb. 13, 1835._
A power has risen up in the government greater than the people
themselves, consisting of many and various and powerful
interests, combined into one mass, and held together by the
cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks.[529-2]
_Speech, May 27, 1836._
FOOTNOTES:
[529-1] See Appendix, page 859.
[529-2] From this comes the phrase, "Cohesive power of public
plunder."
DANIEL WEBSTER. 1782-1852.
(_From Webster's Works. Boston. 1857._)
Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens.
_Speech at Plymouth, Dec. 22, 1820._[529-3] _Vol. i. p. 44._
We wish that this column, rising towards heaven among the pointed
spires of so many temples dedicated to God, may contribute also
to produce in all minds a pious feeling of dependence and
gratitude. We wish, finally, that the last object to the sight of
him who leaves his native shore, and the first to gladden his who
revisits it, may be something which shall remind him of the
liberty and the glory of his country. Let it rise! let it rise,
till it meet the sun in his coming; let the earliest light of the
morning gild it, and parting day linger and play on its summit!
_Address on laying the Corner-Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, 1825. P.
62._
Venerable men! you have come down to us from a former generation.
Heaven has bounteously lengthened out your lives, that you might
behold this joyous day.
_Address on laying the Corner-Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, 1825.
Vol. i. p. 64._
Mind is the great lever of all things; human thought is the
process by which human ends are ultimately answered.
_Address on laying the Corner-Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, 1825.
Vol. i. p. 71._
Knowledge, in truth, is the great sun in the firmament. Life and
power are scattered with all its beams.
_Address on laying the Corner-Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, 1825.
Vol. i. p. 74._
Let our object be our country, our whole country, and nothing but
our country.
_Address on laying the Corner-Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, 1825.
Vol. i. p. 78._
Knowledge is the only fountain both of the love and the
principles of human liberty.
_Completion of Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 1843. P. 93._
The Bible is a book of faith, and a book of doctrine, and a book
of morals, and a book of religion, of especial revelation from
God.
_Completion of Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 1843. P. 102._
America has furnished to the world the character of Washington.
And if our American institutions had done nothing else, that
alone would have entitled them to the respect of mankind.
_Completion of Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 1843. P. 105._
Thank God! I--I also--am an American!
_Completion of Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 1843. P. 107._
Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and
my heart to this vote.[530-1]
_Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, Aug. 2, 1826. P. 133._
It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God it shall be
my dying sentiment,--Independence now and Independence
forever.[531-1]
_Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, Aug. 2, 1826. Vol. i. p. 136._
Although no sculptured marble should rise to their memory, nor
engraved stone bear record of their deeds, yet will their
remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored.
_Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, Aug. 2, 1826. Vol. i. p. 146._
Washington is in the clear upper sky.[531-2]
_Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, Aug. 2, 1826. Vol. i. p. 148._
He smote the rock of the national resources, and abundant streams
of revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead corpse of Public
Credit, and it sprung upon its feet.[531-3]
_Speech on Hamilton, March 10, 1831. P. 200._
One country, one constitution, one destiny.
_Speech, March 15, 1837. P. 349._
When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers therefore are
the founders of human civilization.
_Remarks on Agriculture, Jan. 13, 1840. P. 457._
Sea of upturned faces.[531-4]
_Speech, Sept. 30, 1842. Vol. ii. p. 117._
Justice, sir, is the great interest of man on earth.
_On Mr. Justice Story, 1845. P. 300._
Liberty exists in proportion to wholesome restraint.
_Speech at the Charleston Bar Dinner, May 10, 1847. Vol. ii. p. 393._
The law: It has honored us; may we honor it.
_Toast at the Charleston Bar Dinner, May 10, 1847. Vol. ii. p. 394._
I have read their platform, and though I think there are some
unsound places in it, I can stand upon it pretty well. But I see
nothing in it both new and valuable. "What is valuable is not
new, and what is new is not valuable."
_Speech at Marshfield, Sept. 1, 1848. P. 433._
Labour in this country is independent and proud. It has not to
ask the patronage of capital, but capital solicits the aid of
labor.
_Speech, April, 1824. Vol. iii. p. 141._
The gentleman has not seen how to reply to this, otherwise than
by supposing me to have advanced the doctrine that a national
debt is a national blessing.[532-1]
_Second Speech on Foot's Resolution, Jan. 26, 1830. P. 303._
I thank God, that if I am gifted with little of the spirit which
is able to raise mortals to the skies, I have yet none, as I
trust, of that other spirit which would drag angels down.
_Second Speech on Foot's Resolution, Jan. 26, 1830. P. 316._