upon trust, but would deliberately review such of our poets as had seemed to expire in fame, rather through length of time, and the variation of our language, than want of merit; one who had not only intelligence to know what compositions of value our country had produced, but leisure, patience, and attention to go through a vast diversity of reading; with judgment to discern peculiar beauties amidst the obscurity of antiquated speech, and the great superfluity of matter that surrounds them, like stars in winter nights, with gloom and void: In fine, sagacity to discover the gross and innumerable errors of the press; fidelity, not to obtrude the officious alterations of an editor, under the pretence of restoring the sense of an author; and capacity to dispose a great variety of select readings under their proper heads: All which attributes, as they rarely meet in the same person, seem to account for our not having had one collection of this kind of any great merit and utility. It is, however, by the idea of these qualifications the compiler of this work hath endeavored to conduct himself. How well he has succeeded will appear from the following sheets." I have nothing to add to this, except that I agree with Oldys in regard to the qualifications necessary in an editor of poetic anthologies, and that they are largely possessed by the reader-general for mankind who has digested whatever is most exquisite in our poets into this Dictionary of Poetical Quotations. The Century, NEW YORK, June 20, 1883. R. H. STODDARD A DICTIONARY OF POETICAL QUOTATIONS. ARDICATION. A. I give this heavy weight from off my head, 1 ABILITY. Shaks.: Richard II. Act iv. Sc. 1 I profess not talking: only this, Let each man do his best. 2 Shaks. Henry IV. Act v. Sc. Who does the best his circumstance allows, 3 ABSENCE. Young: Night Thoughts. Night ii. Line 91. What! keep a week away! Seven days and nights? 4 Shaks.: Othello. Act iii. Sc. 4. It so falls out, That what we have we prize not to the worth Whiles we enjoy it; 5 1 but, being lacked and lost, Shaks.: Much Ado. Act iv. Sc. 1. Though lost to sight, to memory dear 6 George Linley: Song. Though Lost to Sight 1 Overrate. Condemn'd whole years in absence to deplore, 7 Pope: Eloisa to A. Line 361. Pope: Eloisa to A. Line 47. No happier task these faded eyes pursue; Of all affliction taught a lover yet 9 Ye flowers that droop, forsaken by the spring; Ye birds that, left by summer, cease to sing; Ye trees that fade, when autumn heats remove, Say, is not absence death to those who love? 10 Pope: Eloisa to A. Line 189 Pope: Autumn. Line 27 Where'er I roam, whatever realms to see, Goldsmith: Traveller. Line 7 O Love, if you were only here Though all the bitter winds should blow, 12 O last love! O first love! My love with the true heart, T. B. Aldrich: Latakia To think I have come to this your home, 13 Jean Ingelow: Sailing Beyond Seas Absence makes the heart grow fonder. 14 Thomas Haynes Bayly: Isle of Beauty. Oh! couldst thou but know With what a deep devotedness of woe I wept thy absence-o'er and o'er again Thinking of thee, still thee, till thought grew pain, Falls cold and ceaseless, wore my heart away! 15 ABSTINENCE. Moore: Lalla Rookh. V. P. of Khorassan Against diseases here the strongest fence 16 Herrick: Aph. Abstinence ABUNDANCE. Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks 17 ABUSE-see Curses. Milton: Par. Lost. Book i. Line 302 He is deformed, crooked, old, and sere, 18 Shaks.: Com. of Er. Act iv. Sc. 2 Thou thread, thou thimble, Thou yard, three quarters, half-yard, quarter, nail, As the unthought-on accident is guilty 21 Shaks.: Wint. Tale. Act iv. Sc. 3. Our wanton accidents take root, and grow To vaunt themselves God's laws. 22 ACCOUNT. Charles Kingsley: Saint's Tragedy. Act ii. Sc. 4. No reckoning made, but sent to my account 'With all my imperfections on my head. 23 Shaks.: Hamlet. Act i. Sc. 5. Shaks.: Hamlet. Act iii. Sc. 3. And, how his audit stands, who knows, save heaven? 24 ACHIEVEMENTS. Great things thro' greatest hazards are achiev'd, And then they shine. 25 Beaumont and Fletcher: Loyal Subject. Act i. Sc. 5. ACTION -see Industry. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones. 26 Shaks.: Jul. Cæsar. Act iii. Sc. 2 Shaks.: Othello. Act ii. Sc. 3 Pleasure and action make the hours seem short. 27 Of every noble action, the intent Is to give worth reward - vice punishment. 28 Beaumont and Fletcher: Captain. Act v. Sc. 5 1 A beautiful vale about eighteen miles from Florence. |