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Thomas Percy. (1729–1811) (continued)

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    But in vayne shee did conjure him
  To depart her presence soe;
Having a thousand tongues to allure him,
  And but one to bid him goe.

Dulcina.

Edmund Burke. (1729–1797)

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The writers against religion, whilst they oppose every system, are wisely careful never to set up any of their own.

A Vindication of Natural Society. 1 Preface, vol. i, p. 7.

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“War,” says Machiavel, “ought to be the only study of a prince;” and by a prince he means every sort of state, however constituted. “He ought,” says this great political doctor, “to consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes ability to execute military plans.” A meditation on the conduct of political societies made old Hobbes imagine that war was the state of nature.

A Vindication of Natural Society. Vol. i. p. 15.

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I am convinced that we have a degree of delight, and that no small one, in the real misfortunes and pains of others. 2

On the Sublime and Beautiful. Sect. xiv. vol. i. p. 118.

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Custom reconciles us to everything.

On the Sublime and Beautiful. Sect. xviii. vol. i. p. 231.

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There is, however, a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue.

Observations on Late Publication on the Present State of the Nation. Vol. i. p. 273.

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The wisdom of our ancestors. 3

Ibid. p. 516. Also in the Discussion on the Traitorous Correspondence Bill, 1793.

Note 1.
Boston edition. 1865–1867. [back]

Note 2.
In the adversity of our best friends we always find something which is not wholly displeasing to us.—Francis, Duc de La Rochefoucauld: Reflections, xv. [back]

Note 3.
Lord Brougham says of Bacon, “He it was who first employed the well-known phrase of ‘the wisdom of our ancestor.’”

Sydney Smith: Plymley’s Letters, letter v. Lord Eldon: On Sir Samuel Romilly’s Bill, 1815. Cicero: De Legibus, ii. 2, 3. [back]

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