John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
Page 389
| Mrs. Greville. (c. 1793) |
| 4226 |
| Nor peace nor ease the heart can know Which, like the needle true, Turns at the touch of joy or woe, But turning, trembles too. |
| A Prayer for Indifference. |
| Horace Walpole. (1717–1797) |
| 4227 |
| Harry Vane, Pulteney’s toad-eater, |
| Letter to Sir Horace Mann, 1742. |
| 4228 |
| The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those who feel. |
| Letter to Sir Horace Mann, 1770. |
| 4229 |
| A careless song, with a little nonsense in it now and then, does not misbecome a monarch. 1 |
| Letter to Sir Horace Mann, 1774. |
| 4230 |
| The whole [Scotch] nation hitherto has been void of wit and humour, and even incapable of relishing it. 2 |
| Letter to Sir Horace Mann, 1778. |
| William Collins. (1721–1759) |
| 4231 |
| In numbers warmly pure and sweetly strong. |
| Ode to Simplicity. |
| 4232 |
| Well may your hearts believe the truths I tell: ’T is virtue makes the bliss, where’er we dwell. 3 |
| Oriental Eclogues. 1, Line 5. |
| 4233 |
| How sleep the brave who sink to rest By all their country’s wishes bless’d! |
| Ode written in the year 1746. |
| 4234 |
| By fairy hands their knell is rung; 4 By forms unseen their dirge is sung; |
| Note 1. A little nonsense now and then Is relished by the wisest men. Anonymous. [back] |
| Note 2. It requires a surgical operation to get a joke well into a Scotch understanding.—Sydney Smith: Lady Holland’s Memoir, vol. i. p. 15. [back] |
| Note 3. See Pope, Quotation 56. [back] |
| Note 4. Var. By hands unseen the knell is rung; By fairy forms their dirge is sung. [back] |