CURSES-CUSTOM.

CURSES-continued.
May sorrow, shame, and sickness overtake her,
And all her beauties, like my hopes, be blasted.

115

Byron, C. of M.

Rowe, Royal Convert, III, 1. So let him stand, through ages yet unborn, Fix'd statue on the pedestal of scorn! May the grass wither from thy feet; the woods Deny thee shelter! earth a home! the dust Agrave! and heaven her God!

Byron, Cain.

Byron,a Sketch.

Down to the dust! and as thou rott'st away,
Even worms shall perish on thy poisonous clay.
The cardinal rose with a dignified look,
He called for his candle, his bell, and his book!
In holy anger and pious grief,

He solemnly cursed that rascally thief;

He cursed him at board, he cursed him in bed,
From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head;
He cursed him eating, he cursed him drinking,
He cursed him in coughing, in sneezing, in winking;
He cursed him sitting, in standing, in lying!
He cursed him in walking, in riding, in flying,
He cursed him living, he cursed him dying!
Never was heard such a terrible curse :
But what gave rise

To no little surprise,

Nobody seemed one penny the worse! R.

CUSTOM.

How use doth breed a habit in a man !

New customs,

Though they be never so ridiculous,

Barham, Ing Leg. [Jackdaw of Rh. Sh. Two. G. v. 4.

Nay, let them be unmanly, yet are follow'd. Sh. H. VIII. I. 1.

It is a custom,

More honour'd in the breach than the observance.

Custom calls me to't;

Sh. Ham. 1. 4.

What custom wills, in all things should we do't? Sh.Corio.11 3.

Custom does often reason overrule,

And only

serves for reason to the fool.

All habits gather by unseen degrees,
As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas.
Custom, 'tis true, a venerable tyrant

Rochester.

Dryden, Ovid.

Thomson.

Our thoughts, our morals, our most fixed belief
Are consequences of our place of birth.

To follow foolish precedents, and wink

A. Hill, Zara.

With both our eyes, is easier than to think. Cowper, Tirocin.

The slaves of custom and establish'd mode,

With pack horse constancy we keep the road

Crooked or straight, through quags or thorny dells.

True to the jingling of our leaders' bells. Cowper, Tirocinium.
Such dupes are men to custom, and so prone

To rev'rence what is ancient, and can plead
A course of long observance for its use,
That even servitude, the worst of ills,
Because deliver'd down from sire to son,

Is kept and guarded as a sacred thing. Cowper, Task, v. 299.
Man yields to custom as he bows to fate,

In all things ruled-mind, body, and estate;

In pain, in sickness, we for cure apply

To them we know not, and we know not why. Crabbe, Tale IIL Habit with him was all the test of truth,

"It must be right: I've done it from my youth."

CUT.

Crabbe.

Sh. Jul. C. III. 2.

And easy it is,

Sh. Tit. An. II. 1.

This was the most unkindest cut of all. CUT LOAF.

Of a cut loaf to steal a shive, we know. CYNIC.

I do not know the man I should avoid

So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much;
He is a great observer, and he looks

Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays,
As thou dost, Anthony; he hears no music;
Seldom he smiles; and smiles in such a sort,
As if he mocked himself and scorned his spirit
That could be moved to smile at anything.
Such men as he be never at heart's ease,
Whiles they behold a greater than themselves;
And therefore are they very dangerous.
CYPRESS.

Sh. Jul. C. 1. 2.

Dark tree! still sad when others' grief is fled,
The only constant mourner o'er the dead. Byron, Giaour.

DAINTIES.

DAINTIES-DANCERS, DANCING.

Such dainties to them, their health it might hurt;
It's like sending them ruffles, when wanting a shirt.

DAMAGES.

117

Goldsmith, Haunch of Venison.

Sir, quoth the lawyer, not to flatter ye,
You have as good and fair a battery
As heart can wish, and need not shame
The proudest man alive to claim;
For if they've us'd you as you say,
Marry, quoth I, God give you joy;
I would it were my case,
I'd give

More than I'll say, or you'll believe. Butler, Hud. 3, 111. 675. DANCERS, DANCING-see Feet, Walking.

When you do dance, I wish you

A wave o' the sea, that you might ever do
Nothing but that.

Her feet beneath her petticoat,
Like little mice, stole in and out,

As if they feared the light;

But, oh! she dances such a way!
No sun upon an Easter-day
Is half so fine a sight.

Come and trip it as you go
On the light fantastic toe.

Sh. Wint. T. IV. 3.

Suckling, on a Wedding.

Alike all ages; dames of ancient days

Milton, L'Allegro, 34.

Have led their children through the mirthful maze;
And the gay grandsire, skill'd in gestic lore,

Has frisk'd beneath the burden of threescore. Goldsmith, Tr.

Such a dancer!

Where men have souls or bodies she must answer.

Byron, Don Juan, Iv. 84.

And then he danced;-all foreigners excel
The serious Angles in the eloquence

Of pantomime;-he danced, I say, right well
With emphasis, and also with good sense-
A thing in footing indispensable:

He danced without theatrical pretence,

Not like a ballet-master in the van

Of his

A thousand hearts beat happily; and when

drill'd nymphs, but like a gentleman. Byron, Ib. xiv. 38.

Music

arose

with its voluptuous swell,

And all went merry as a marriage bell.

Soft eyes look'd love to eyes that spoke again,

Byron, Ch. Har. 3.

118

DANCERS, DANCING-DANGER.

DANCERS, DANCING-continued.

On with the dance! let joy be unconfined!

No sleep till morn, when youth and pleasure meet,

To chase the glowing hours with flying feet. Byron, Ch. Har.
The music, and the banquet, and the wine,—
The garlands, the rose-odours, and the flowers,—
The sparkling eyes, and flashing ornaments,—
The white arms, and the raven hair,-the braids
And bracelets-swan-like bosoms-the thin robes.

Byron, Mar. Fal.

The long carousal shakes th' illumined hall;
Well speeds alike the banquet and the ball:
And the gay dance of bounding beauty's train
Links grace and harmony in happiest chain.
Blest are the early hearts and gentle hands,
That mingle theirs in well-according bands;
It is a sight the careful brow might smooth,
And make age smile, and dream itself to youth,
And youth forget such hours were past on earth,-
So springs th' exulting bosom to that mirth.
Oh, a fancy ball's a strange affair!

Made up of silks and leathers,

Light heads, light heels, false hearts, false hair,
Pins, paint, and ostrich feathers.

The dullest duke in all the town

Byron, Lara.

To-day may shine a droll one;

And rakes, who have not half-a-crown,

Look royal in a whole one.

Praed, Fancy Ball.

Such grace and such beauty! dear creature! you'd swear,
When her delicate feet in the dance twinkle round,

That her steps are of light, that her home is the air,
And she only par complaisance touches the ground!
Moore, Fudge Family.

DANGER-see Caution, Peril.

He that stands upon a slippery place,

Makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up. Sh. K. John. III. 4.
Though I am not splenetive and rash,
Yet have I in me something dangerous.

Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!
I took thee, for thy better; take thy fortune;

Sh. Ham. v.

1.

Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger. Sh. Ham. 111. 4. They that stand high have many blasts to shake them,

And, if they fall, they dash themselves to pieces. Sh. R. III. 1. 3.

DANGER--DAUGHTER.

119

DANGER-continued.

We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it,
She'll close, and be herself! whilst our poor malice
Remains in danger of her former tooth.

Sh. Macb. III. 2.

Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.

The absent danger greater still appears;

Sh. Hen. IV. 1, II. 3.

And less he fears, who's near the thing he fears. Daniel, Cleo.
Our dangers and delights are near allies;
From the same stem the rose and prickle rise.
When men think they most in safety stand,

Daniel.

The greatest peril often is at hand. Drayton, Barons' Wars. Danger levels man and brute,

And all are fellows in their need.

DARE DARING.

I dare do all that doth become a man;

Who dares do more is none.

Byron.

Sh. Macb. 1. 7.

He that climbs the tall tree has won right to the fruit,

He that leaps the wide gulf should prevail in his suit. Scott.

He either fears his fate too much,

Or his deserts are small,

Who dares not put it to the touch,

To gain

DANDY

or lose it all.

see Coxcomb.

He was perfumed like a milliner;

Scott, Intro. Chron. Canong.

And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held

A pouncet-box, which ever and anon

He gave his nose.

DARK.

At one stride came the dark.

DAUGHTER.

Sh. Hen. IV. 1, 1. 3.

Coleridge, Ancient Mariner.

Thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter;
Or, rather, a disease that's in my flesh,

Which I must needs call mine; thou art a boil,

A plague-sore,

an embossed carbuncle,

In my corrupted blood. But I'll not chide thee;
Let shame come when it will, I do not call it.

If a

Mend when thou canst; be better at thy leisure. Sh. L. 11. 4.
No peace shall you know, though you've buried your wife!
daughter you have, she's the plague of your life,
At twenty she mocks at the duty you taught her;

Oh, what a plague is an obstinate daughter! Sheridan, D. 1. 3.