Biographical and Critical Essays: Reprinted from Reviews, with Additions and Corrections. 1st [-3rd] Ser

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Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, 1874 - 411 pages

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Page 382 - But my pride was soon humbled, and a sober melancholy was spread over my mind, by the idea that I had taken an everlasting leave of an old and agreeable companion, and that whatsoever might be the future date of my History, the life of the historian must be short and precarious.
Page 53 - Romanus sum,' so also a British subject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful eye and the strong arm of England will protect him against injustice and wrong.
Page 257 - Who knows but He whose hand the lightning forms, Who heaves old ocean, and who wings the storms, Pours fierce ambition in a Caesar's mind...
Page 27 - No man ever spoke more neatly, more pressly, more weightily, or suffered less emptiness, less idleness, in what he uttered. No member of his speech but consisted of his own graces. His hearers could not cough or look aside from him without loss. He commanded where he spoke, and had his judges angry and pleased at his devotion. No man had their affections more in his power. The fear of every man that heard him was lest he should make an end.
Page 32 - Jotham of piercing wit and pregnant thought, Endued by nature and by learning taught To move assemblies...
Page 48 - I invoke the Genius of the Constitution. From the tapestry, that adorns these walls, the immortal ancestor of this Noble Lord frowns with indignation at the disgrace of his country. In vain did he defend the liberty, and establish the religion of Britain, against the tyranny of Rome, if these worse than Popish cruelties and Inquisitorial practices are endured among us.
Page 65 - Our present repose is no more a proof of inability to act, than the state of inertness and inactivity in which...
Page 390 - It seemed as if their mother Earth Had swallowed up her warlike birth. The wind's last breath had tossed in air Pennon, and plaid, and plumage fair — The next but swept a lone...
Page 77 - Gentlemen, we may hope to see for the first time in Parliament a party perfectly harmonious and distinguished by mutual and unbroken trust. But there is one difficulty which it is impossible to remove. This party of two reminds me of the Scotch terrier, which was so covered with hair that you could not tell which was the head and which was the tail of it.j The right hon.
Page 11 - He made an administration so checkered and speckled ; he put together a piece of joinery so crossly indented and whimsically dovetailed, a cabinet so variously inlaid, such a piece of diversified mosaic, such a tesselated pavement without cement, — here a bit of black stone, and there a bit of white, patriots and courtiers, king's friends and republicans, whigs and tories, treacherous friends and open enemies, — that it was indeed a very curious show, but utterly unsafe to touch, and unsure to...

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