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John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

Page 280

 
 
Duke of Buckinghamshire Sheffield. (1649–1720) (continued)
 
3044
    Read Homer once, and you can read no more;
For all books else appear so mean, so poor,
Verse will seem prose; but still persist to read,
And Homer will be all the books you need.
          Essay on Poetry.
 
Thomas Otway. (1652–1685)
 
3045
    O woman! lovely woman! Nature made thee
To temper man: we had been brutes without you.
Angels are painted fair, to look like you:
There ’s in you all that we believe of heaven,—
Amazing brightness, purity, and truth,
Eternal joy, and everlasting love.
          Venice Preserved. Act i. Sc. 1.
3046
    Dear as the vital warmth that feeds my life;
Dear as these eyes, that weep in fondness o’er thee. 1
          Venice Preserved. Act v. Sc. 1.
3047
    And die with decency.
          Venice Preserved. Act v. Sc. 3.
3048
    What mighty ills have not been done by woman!
Who was ’t betrayed the Capitol?—A woman!
Who lost Mark Antony the world?—A woman!
Who was the cause of a long ten years’ war,
And laid at last old Troy in ashes?—Woman!
Destructive, damnable, deceitful woman! 2
          The Orphan. Act iii. Sc. 1.
3049
    Let us embrace, and from this very moment vow an eternal misery together. 3
          The Orphan. Act iv. Sc. 2.
 
Note 1.
See Shakespeare, page 112.
Dear as the light that visits these sad eyes;
Dear as the ruddy drops that warm my heart.
Thomas Gray: The Bard, part i. stanza 3. [back]
Note 2.
O woman, woman! when to ill thy mind
Is bent, all hell contains no fouler fiend.
Alexander Pope: Homer’s Odyssey, book xi. line 531. [back]
Note 3.
Let us swear an eternal friendship.—J. Hookham Frere: The Rovers, act i. sc. 1. [back]