A DICTIONARY OF POETICAL QUOTATIONS. ABDICATION. I give this heavy weight from off my head, And this unwieldy sceptre from my hand, The pride of kingly sway from out my heart; With mine own tears I wash away my balm, With mine own hands I give away my crown, With mine own tongue deny my sacred state, With mine own breath release all duty's rites. ABSENCE. Shakespeare, Ric. II. IV. 1. What! keep a week away! Seven days and nights? Eight score eight hours ? and lover's absent hours, More tedious than the dial eight score times? O weary reckoning! It so falls out, That what we have we prize not to the worth Sh. Oth. II. 4. Sh. M. Ado, IV. 1. T. May, Henry II. Absence not long enough to root out quite Be swifter now; and, to redeem that wrong, Dry. Mar, a la M. Dry. Amphitrion. Love reckons hours for months, and days for years; And every little absence is an age. All flowers will droop in absence of the sun Dry. Aurengzebe. Condemn'd whole years in absence to deplore, * Overrate. Pope, Elvisa. B 2 ABSENCE-continued. ABSENCE ABSTINENCE. No happier task these faded eyes pursue; Pope, Elcisa. Pope, Eloisa. Pope. Goldsmith, Traveller, 7. Cowper, Task, VI. Not to understand a treasure's worth Byron, Bride of Ab. Byron, Don Juan, III. 22. O tell him I have sat these three long hours, Jo. Baillie, Raynor, 1. 1. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. With what a deep devotedness of woe Thinking of thee, still thee, till thought grew pain, ABSTINENCE. Moore, Lalla Rookh. Yet abstinence in things we must profess, Herrick, Aph. 331. ABUNDANCE. ABUNDANCE-ACTION. 3 Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks Of Vallombrosa.* ABUSE-see Curses. Milton, Par. Lost, 1. 303. He is deformed, crooked, old, and sere, Sh. Com. Er. IV. 2. Thou yard, three-quarters, half-yard, quarter, nail, I have shot mine arrow o'er the house, As the unthought-on accident is guilty Of what we wildly do, so we profess Ourselves to be the slaves of chance, and flies ACCOUNT. No reckoning made, but sent to my account Sh. T.S. IV. 3. Sh. Ham. V. 2. Sh. Wint. T. IV. 3. Sh. Ham. 1. 5. And how his audit stands, who knows, save Heaven? Ib. 111.3. ACHIEVEMENTS. Great things thro' greatest hazards are achiev'd, And then they shine. ACTION-see Promptitude. Beaumont, Loy. Sub. Away, then; work with boldness and with speed; On greatest actions greatest dangers feed. Marlowe, Lust. D. Daniel, Phil. Sh. Jul. C. III. 3. Sh. Oth. 11. 3. For who knows most, the most he knows to doubt; Donne. B. & F. Capt. * A beautiful vale eighteen miles from Florence. Some place the bliss in action, some in ease, Those call it pleasure, and contentment these. Pope, E. M.iv.21. The body sins not; 'tis the will That makes the action good or ill. Herrick, Aphor. ACTIVITY-see Decision, Despatch, Energy, Promptitude. Wise men ne'er sit and wail their loss, Sh. Mac. 1. 7. Sh. Hen. VI. pt. 3, v. 4. For emulation hath a thousand sons, Celerity is never more admired Sh. Troil. & Cress. III. 3. Sh. Ant. & Cleop. III. 7. The wise and active conquer difficulties, Rowe, Amb. Stepm. Run if you like, but try to keep your breath: Work like a man, but don't be worked to death. ACTORS. Holmes. Look to the players; see them well bestow'd : They say we live by vice; indeed 'tis true, Only to cure them. Boldly I dare say, There have been more by us in some one play Sh. Ham. II. 2. Randolph. By twenty tedious lectures drawn from sin, And foppish humours; hence the cause doth rise, Randolph. If we do meet again, why, we shall smile; ADIEU-see Farewell, Parting. If not, why then this parting was well made. Sh. Jul. C. v. 1. |