NOTES

FREE THOUGHTS ON PUBLIC AFFAIRS

The title-page contained a motto fromTwelfth Night(ActI.Scene 5): ‘Come, draw the curtain, shew the picture,’

‘abashed the Devil stood,And felt how awful goodness is.’Paradise Lost,IV.846–7.

‘abashed the Devil stood,

And felt how awful goodness is.’

Paradise Lost,IV.846–7.

‘——that in quaternion runPerpetual circle, multiform, and mixAnd nourish all things,’ etc.Paradise Lost,V.181–3.

‘——that in quaternion run

Perpetual circle, multiform, and mix

And nourish all things,’ etc.

Paradise Lost,V.181–3.

‘What though the radiance which was once so bright,’ etc.

‘——Like to the Pontic sea,Whose icy current and compulsive courseNe’er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due onTo the Propontic and the Hellespont!’Othello, ActIII.Scene 3.

‘——Like to the Pontic sea,

Whose icy current and compulsive course

Ne’er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on

To the Propontic and the Hellespont!’

Othello, ActIII.Scene 3.

“Why, Sir, you know no house,Nor no such men as you have reckon’d up,As Stephen Sly, and Old John Naps of Greece,And Peter Turf, and Henry Pimpernel,And twenty more such names and men as these,Which never were, nor no man ever saw.”

“Why, Sir, you know no house,

Nor no such men as you have reckon’d up,

As Stephen Sly, and Old John Naps of Greece,

And Peter Turf, and Henry Pimpernel,

And twenty more such names and men as these,

Which never were, nor no man ever saw.”

“I’m glad thou set’st thy mercy and thy honourAt difference in thee: out of this I’ll workMyself a former fortune.”

“I’m glad thou set’st thy mercy and thy honour

At difference in thee: out of this I’ll work

Myself a former fortune.”

“Away, my disposition, and possess meSome harlot’s spirit: the smiles of knavesTent in my cheeks, and school-boys’ tears take upThe glasses of my sight: a beggar’s tongueMake motion through my lips.—I will not do it,Lest I surcease to honour mine own truth,And by my body’s action, teach my mindA most inherent baseness.”

“Away, my disposition, and possess me

Some harlot’s spirit: the smiles of knaves

Tent in my cheeks, and school-boys’ tears take up

The glasses of my sight: a beggar’s tongue

Make motion through my lips.—I will not do it,

Lest I surcease to honour mine own truth,

And by my body’s action, teach my mind

A most inherent baseness.”

‘Whoe’er offends at some unlucky timeSlides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme.’Pope,Imitations of Horace, Satire I. BookII.

‘Whoe’er offends at some unlucky time

Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme.’

Pope,Imitations of Horace, Satire I. BookII.

‘Thus Phalaris Perillus taught to low,And made him season first the brazen cow.A rightful doom, the laws of nature cry,’Tis, the artificers of death should die.’Dryden, Ovid’sArt of Love,I.737–40.

‘Thus Phalaris Perillus taught to low,

And made him season first the brazen cow.

A rightful doom, the laws of nature cry,

’Tis, the artificers of death should die.’

Dryden, Ovid’sArt of Love,I.737–40.

“In many a winding boutOf linked dulness long drawn-out.”[69]

“In many a winding bout

Of linked dulness long drawn-out.”[69]

‘Of Britain’s Court ... a proud assemblage there,Her Statesmen, and her Warriors, and her Fair.’Southey,Carmen Nuptiale, The Dream, Stanza 16.

‘Of Britain’s Court ... a proud assemblage there,

Her Statesmen, and her Warriors, and her Fair.’

Southey,Carmen Nuptiale, The Dream, Stanza 16.

‘That Love will not submit to be controlledBy mastery.’Wordsworth,The Excursion, BookVI.

‘That Love will not submit to be controlled

By mastery.’

Wordsworth,The Excursion, BookVI.

‘To the bare trees, and mountains bare,And grass in the green field.’Wordsworth,To my Sister.

‘To the bare trees, and mountains bare,

And grass in the green field.’

Wordsworth,To my Sister.

‘Thy letters have transported me beyondThis ignorant present.’Macbeth, ActI.Scene 5.

‘Thy letters have transported me beyond

This ignorant present.’

Macbeth, ActI.Scene 5.

‘Coleridge and Southey, Lloyd and Lamb and Co.,Tune all your mystic harps to praise Lepaux.’Canning’sThe New MoralityinThe Anti-Jacobin.

‘Coleridge and Southey, Lloyd and Lamb and Co.,

Tune all your mystic harps to praise Lepaux.’

Canning’sThe New MoralityinThe Anti-Jacobin.

‘When his periods hobble vilelyWhat “hear hims” burst from brother Hiley!’

‘When his periods hobble vilely

What “hear hims” burst from brother Hiley!’

‘—— or, if severe in aught,The love he bore to learning was in fault.’Goldsmith,The Deserted Village, ll. 205–6.

‘—— or, if severe in aught,

The love he bore to learning was in fault.’

Goldsmith,The Deserted Village, ll. 205–6.

‘Look to thy sire, and in his steady way,As in his Father’s he, learn thou to tread.’Southey’sCarmen Nuptiale, The Dream, Stanza 32.

‘Look to thy sire, and in his steady way,

As in his Father’s he, learn thou to tread.’

Southey’sCarmen Nuptiale, The Dream, Stanza 32.

‘But thouRevisit’st not these eyes, that roll in vainTo find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;So thick a drop serene hath quenched their orbs,Or dim suffusion veiled.’Paradise Lost,III.22–26.

‘But thou

Revisit’st not these eyes, that roll in vain

To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;

So thick a drop serene hath quenched their orbs,

Or dim suffusion veiled.’

Paradise Lost,III.22–26.

‘And Noise and Norton, Brangling and Breval,Dennis and Dissonance, and captious Art.’Pope,The Dunciad,II.238–9.

‘And Noise and Norton, Brangling and Breval,

Dennis and Dissonance, and captious Art.’

Pope,The Dunciad,II.238–9.

‘Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric,That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence.’Comus, ll. 790–1.

‘Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric,

That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence.’

Comus, ll. 790–1.

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