PREFACE.

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.

R. H. STODDARD

The Century,
NEW YORK, June 20, 1883.

A DIOTIONARY

OF

POETICAL QUOTATIONS.

A.
ARDICATION.

I give this heavy weight from off my head,
And this unwieldy sceptre from my hand,
The pride of kingly sway from out my heart;
With mine own tears I wash away my balm,
With mine own hands I give away my crown,
With mine own tongue deny my. sacred state,
With mine own breath release all duteous oathis.
1

Shaks.: Richard II. Act iv. Sc. I ABILITY.

I profess not talking: only this, Let each man do his best.

Shaks. : 1 Henry IV. Act v. Sc. Who does the best his circumstance allows, Does well, acts nobly — angels could no more. 3

Young : Night Thoughts. Night ii. Line 91. ABSENCE

What! keep a week away! Seven days and nights?
Eight score eight hours? and lovers' absent hours,
More tedious than the dial eight score times?
O weary reckoning!
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; buü, being lacked and lost,
Why then we rack’the value.
5

Shaks. : Much Ado. Act iv. Sc. l.
Though lost to sight, to memory dear
Thou ever wilt remain.
6

George Linley : Song. Though Lost to Sight

Condemn'd whole years in absence to deplore,
And image charms he must behold no more.
7

Pope : Eloisa to‘A. Line 361.
No happier task these faded eyes pursue ;
To read and weep is all they now can do.
8

Pope : Eloisa to A. Line 47. Of all affliction taught a lover yet 'Tis sure the hardest science to forget! 9

Pope : Eloisa to A. Line 189 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 : Autumn. Line 27 Where'er I roam, whatever realms to sec, My heart untravell’d, fondly turns to thee; Still to my brother turns, with ceaseless pain, And drags at each remove a lengthening chain. 11

Goldsmith : Traveller. Line 7 O Love, if you were onlyöhere Beside me in this mellow light, Though all the bitter winds should blow, And all the ways be choked with snow, 'Twould be a true Arabian night! 12

T. B. Aldricht: Latakia O last love! O first love! My love with the true heart, To think I have come to this your home, And yet — we are apart ! 13

Jean Ingelow : Sailing Beyond Seas Absence makes the heart grow fonder. 14

Thomas Haynes Bayly: Isle of Beautij.

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,
And memory, like a drop that, night and day,
Falls cold and ceaseless, wore my heart away!
15

Moore : Lalla Rookh. V. P. of Khorassar
ABSTINENCE.
Against diseases here the strongest fence
Is the defensive virtue abstinence.
16

TIerrick : Aph. Abstinence

ABUNDANCE - ACTION.

3

20

ABUNDANCE.

Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks
Of Vallombrosa.
17

Milton: Par. Lost. Book i. Line 302 ABUSE

see Curses. He is deformed, crooked, old, and sere, Ill-faced, worse-bodied, shapeless every where; Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind; Stigmatical in making, worse in mind. 18

Shaks.: Com. of Er. Act iv. Sc. 2 Thou thread, thou thimble, Thou yard, three quarters, half-yard, quarter, nail, Thou flea, thou nit, thou winter cricket thou: Away thou rag, thou quantity, thou remnant. 19

Shaks. : Tam. of the S. Act iv. Sc. 3. ACCIDENT.

I have shot mine arrow o'er the house,
And hurt my brother.

Shaks.: Hamlet. Act v. Sc. 2.
As the unthought-on accident is guilty
Of what we wildly do, so we profess
Ourselves to be the slaves of chance, and flies
Of every wind that blows.
21

Shaks.: Wint. Tale. Act iv. Sc. 3 Our wanton accidents take root, and grow To vaunt themselves God's laws.

22 Charles Kingsley : Saint's Tragedy. Act ii. Sc. 4. ACCOUNT.

No reckoning made, but sent to my account
"With all my imperfections on my head.
23

Shaks.: Hamlet. Act i. Sc. 5. And, how his audit stands, who knows, save heaven? 24

Shaks.: Hamlet. Act iii. Sc. 3. 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 iji. Sc. 2 Pleasure and action make the hours seem short. 27

Shaks.: Othello. Act ii. Sc. 3 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.