Sketches of Eminent Statesmen and Writers: With Other Essays, Volume 2

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J. Murray, 1880 - Authors

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Page 55 - Like the vase in which roses have once been distilled — You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will, But the scent of the roses will hang round it still.
Page 319 - And I have loved thee, Ocean ! and my joy Of youthful sports was on thy breast to be Borne, like thy bubbles, onward : from a boy I wanton'd with thy breakers — they to me Were a delight ; and if the freshening sea Made them a terror — 'twas a pleasing fear, For I was as it were a child of thee, And trusted to thy billows far and near, And laid my hand upon thy mane — as I do here.
Page 319 - Thy waters wasted them while they were free. And many a tyrant since : their shores obey The stranger, slave, or savage; their decay Has dried up realms to deserts; — not so thou, Unchangeable save to thy wild waves
Page 322 - Rome ! my country ! city of the soul ! The orphans of the heart must turn to thee, Lone mother of dead empires ! and control In their shut breasts their petty misery. What are our woes and sufferance ? Come and see The cypress, hear the owl, and plod your way O'er steps of broken thrones and temples, ye Whose agonies are evils of a day ! — A world is at our feet as fragile as our clay.
Page 146 - Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses, whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings.
Page 324 - Next Anger rush'd ; his eyes on fire, In lightnings own'd his secret stings : In one rude clash, he struck the lyre, And swept with hurried hand the...
Page 291 - I've seen around me fall, Like leaves in wintry weather, I feel like one Who treads alone Some banquet hall deserted, Whose lights are fled, Whose garlands dead, And all but he departed.
Page 344 - I made them lay their hands in mine and swear To reverence the King, as if he were Their conscience, and their conscience as their King To break the heathen and uphold the Christ...
Page 328 - There methinks would be enjoyment more than in this march of mind, In the steamship, in the railway, in the thoughts that shake mankind. There the passions cramp'd no longer shall have scope and breathing-space ; I will take some savage woman, she shall rear my dusky race.
Page 344 - To lead sweet lives in purest chastity. To love one maiden only, cleave to her, And worship her by years of noble deeds, Until they won her; for indeed I knew Of no more subtle master under heaven Than is the maiden passion for a maid, Not only to keep down the base in man, But teach high thought, and amiable words And courtliness, and the desire of fame, And love of truth, and all that makes a man.

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