John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
Page 604
| Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay. (1800–1859) (continued) |
| 6159 |
| The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators. 1 |
| History of England. Vol. i. Chap. iii. |
| 6160 |
| An acre in Middlesex is better than a principality in Utopia. 2 |
| On Lord Bacon. |
| 6161 |
| I have not the Chancellor’s encyclopedic mind. He is indeed a kind of semi-Solomon. He half knows everything, from the cedar to the hyssop. 3 |
| Letter to Macvey Napier, Dec. 17, 1830. |
| 6162 |
| These be the great Twin Brethren To whom the Dorians pray. |
| The Battle of Lake Regillus. |
| 6163 |
| To every man upon this earth Death cometh soon or late; And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds For the ashes of his fathers And the temples of his gods? |
| Lays of ancient Rome. Horatius, xxvii. |
| 6164 |
| The Romans were like brothers In the brave days of old. |
| Lays of ancient Rome. Horatius, xxxii. |
| 6165 |
| How well Horatius kept the bridge. |
| Lays of ancient Rome. Horatius, lxx. |
| 6166 |
| The sweeter sound of woman’s praise. |
| Lines written in August, 1847. |
| 6167 |
| Oh! wherefore come ye forth in triumph from the north, With your hands and your feet and your raiment all red? |
| Note 1. Even bear-baiting was esteemed heathenish and unchristian: the sport of it, not the inhumanity, gave offence.—Hume: History of England, vol. i. chap. lxii. [back] |
| Note 2. See Tennyson: “Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay.” [back] |
| Note 3. I wish I were as sure of anything as Macaulay is of everything. William Windham (1750–1810). [back] |