JOSEPH ADDISON. 1672-1719. САТО. The dawn is overcast, the morning lowers, The great, the important day, big with the fate Of Cato, and of Rome. Act i. Sc. I. Thy steady temper, Portius, Can look on guilt, rebellion, fraud, and Cæsar, In the calm lights of mild philosophy. Act i. Sc. 1. 'Tis not in mortals to command success, But we'll do more, Sempronius; we'll deserve it. Act i. Sc. 2. Blesses his stars and thinks it luxury. Act i. Sc. 4. 'T is pride, rank pride, and haughtiness of soul; I think the Romans call it stoicism. Acti. Sc. 4. Were you with these, my prince, you'd soon forget The pale, unripened beauties of the north. Acti. Sc. 4. Beauty soon grows familiar to the lover, Fades in his eye, and palls upon the sense. The virtuous Marcia towers above her sex. Act i. Sc. 4. My voice is still for war. Gods! can a Roman senate long debate Which of the two to choose, slavery or death? Act ii. Sc. 1. A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty Act ii. Sc. 1. [Cato continued. The woman that deliberates is lost. Act iv. Sc. I. What pity is it That we can die but once to save our country. Act iv. Sc. 4 When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, The post of honour is a private station. It must be so Act iv. Sc. 4. Plato, thou reasonest well! — Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror, "T is heaven itself that points out an hereafter, And intimates eternity to man. Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought! I'm weary of conjectures, Thus am I doubly armed: my death and life, The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds. Cato continued.] From hence, let fierce contending nations know What dire effects from civil discord flow. Act v. Sc. 4. Unbounded courage and compassion joined, And, pleased the Almighty's orders to perform, And those that paint them truest praise them most.2 Ibid. Line ult. For wheresoe'er I turn my ravished eyes, Gay gilded scenes and shining prospects rise, Poetic fields encompass me around. And still I seem to tread on classic ground.3 A Letter from Italy. The spacious firmament on high, With all the blue ethereal sky, And spangled heavens, a shining frame, Ode. Their great Original proclaim. Soon as the evening shades prevail, The moon takes up the wondrous tale, I This line is frequently ascribed to Pope, as it is found in the Dunciad, Book iii. Line 261. 2 Compare Pope, Eloisa to Abelard, Last line. 3 Malone states that this was the first time the phrase "classic ground," since so common, was ever used. And nightly to the listening earth Repeats the story of her birth; While all the stars that round her burn, Confirm the tidings as they roll, And spread the truth from pole to pole. Ode. For ever singing, as they shine, The hand that made us is divine. Ibid. In all thy humours, whether grave or mellow, Thou 'rt such a touchy, testy, pleasant fellow; Hast so much wit, and mirth, and spleen about thee, There is no living with thee, nor without thee.1 Spectator. No. 68. Much may be said on both sides." Spectator. No. 122. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. 1676-1745. Flowery oratory he despised. He ascribed to the interested views of themselves or their relatives the declarations of pretended patriots, of whom he said, All those men have their price. From Coxe's Memoirs of Walpole. Vol. iv. p. 369. 1 This is a translation of Martial, xii. 47, who imitated Ovid, Amor iii. 11, 39. 2 Also found in Fielding, The Covent Garden Tragedy, Sc. viii. 3 The political axiom, All men have their price, is commonly ascribed to Walpole. Walpole.-Philips.- Watts. 269 Anything but history, for history must be false. Walpoliana. No. 141. The gratitude of place-expectants is a lively sense of future favours.1 AMBROSE PHILIPS. 1671 – 1749. Studious of ease and fond of humble things. From Holland to a Friend in England. ISAAC WATTS. 1674-1748. DIVINE SONGS. Whene'er I take my walks abroad, How many poor I see! What shall I render to my God 1 Hazlitt, in his Wit and Humour, says, "This is Wal pole's phrase." The gratitude of most men is but a secret desire of receiving greater benefit. Rochefoucauld, Maxim, 278. 2 Dare to be true, nothing can need a lie; A fault which needs it most grows two thereby. |