The Life of Mrs. Jordan: Including Original Private Correspondence, and Numerous Anecdotes of Her Contemporaries, Volume 2

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E. Bull, 1831 - Actors

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Page 95 - Now, whether it be Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple Of thinking too precisely on the event, — A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom And ever three parts coward, — I do not know Why yet I live to say, " This thing 's to do," Sith I have cause and will and strength and means To do 't.
Page 269 - Can such things be, And overcome us like a summer cloud, Without our special wonder...
Page 95 - What is a man, If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed ? a beast, no more. Sure, he that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and god-like reason To fust in us unused.
Page 63 - tis a common proof, That lowliness is young ambition's ladder, Whereto the climber upward turns his face; But when he once attains the upmost round, He then unto the ladder turns his back, Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees By which he did ascend.
Page 161 - Weep with me, all you that read This little story: And know, for whom a tear you shed Death's self is sorry. 'Twas a child that so did thrive In grace and feature, As Heaven and Nature seem'd to strive Which own'd the creature. Years he number'd scarce thirteen When Fates turn'd cruel, Yet three fill'd zodiacs had he been The stage's jewel...
Page 144 - Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world, Like a Colossus ; and we petty men Walk under his huge legs, and peep about To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
Page 88 - And mark'd the clouds that drove before the wind, Ten thousand glorious systems would he build, Ten thousand great ideas fill'd his mind; But with the clouds they fled, and left no trace behind.
Page 146 - Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come, Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius, For Cassius is aweary of the world ; Hated by one he loves...
Page 7 - ... perfectly free. It is assumed, I know, to give dignity and variety to the style ; but whatever success the attempt may sometimes have, it is always obtained at the expense of purity and of the graces that are natural and appropriate to our language. It is true that when the exigence calls for auxiliaries of all sorts, and common language becomes unequal to the demands of extraordinary thoughts, something ought to be conceded to the necessities which make " ambition virtue ;" but the allowances...
Page 192 - What though no weeping Loves thy ashes grace, Nor polish'd marble emulate thy face ; 60 What though no sacred earth allow thee room, Nor hallow'd dirge be mutter'd o'er thy tomb ; Yet shall thy grave with rising flowers be drest, And the green turf lie lightly on thy breast : There shall the morn her earliest tears bestow, 65 There the first roses of the year shall blow ; While angels with their silver wings o'ershade The ground, now sacred by thy relics made.

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