ALPS-AMBITION.

15

ALPS-continued.

Gather around these summits, as to show
How earth may pierce to Heaven, yet leave vain man below.

Byron, Ch. H. III. 62.

Who first beholds the Alps,-that mighty chain
Of mountains, stretching on from east to west,
So massive, yet so shadowy, so ethereal,

As to belong rather to heaven than earth-
But instantly receives into his soul

A sense, a feeling that he loses not

A something that informs him 't is a moment
Whence he may date henceforward and for ever.

AMAZEMENT-see Astonishment. Surprise.

But look! Amazement on my mother sits;

O step between her and her fighting soul:

Rogers.

Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works. Sh. Ham. III. 4.

They spake not a word;

But, like dumb statues, or breathless stones,

Star'd on each other, and look'd deadly pale.

AMBER.

Pretty! in amber to observe the forms

Sh. Ric. III. III. 7.

Of hairs, or straws, or dirt, or grubs, or worms!

The things, we know, are neither rich nor rare.

But wonder how the devil they got there. Pope, Ep, to Arb.

AMBITION-see Fame, Glory, Pride.

Raleigh. Fain would I climb, but that I fear to fall.

[169.

Q. El. If thy mind fail thee, do not climb at all. Scott, Ken.xvII

Fling away ambition;

By that sin fell the angels: how can man then,

The image of his Maker, hope to win by't? Sh. H. VIII. III. 2,

I have ventur'd

Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders,
This many summers in a sea of glory.

But far beyond my depth; my high-blown pride
At length broke under me.

Sh. H. VIII. III. 2.

Men at some time are masters of their fates :
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Sh. Jul. C. 1. 2.

Lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber upward turns his face;
But when he once attains the utmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend.

Sh. Jul. C. 11. 1.

They that stand high, have many blasts to shake them;
And if they fall, they dash themselves to pieces. Sh. R. III. 1. 3.

Ambition's monstrous stomach does increase

By eating, and it fears to starve, unless

It still may feed, and all it sees devour.

To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell:

Davenant, Playhouse to let.

Milton, P. L. 1. 262.

But what will Ambition and Revenge

Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n.

Descend to? Who aspires, must down as low
As high he soar'd, obnoxious, first or last,

To basest things. Revenge, at first though sweet,

Bitter ere long, back on itself recoils.

Ambition is a lust that's never quench'd,

Milton, P. L. Ix. 168.

Grows more enflam'd, and madder by enjoyment.

Otway, Cai. Μα.

Ambition is the dropsy of the soul,

Whose thirst we must not yield to, but control.

Sedley.

Ambition! the desire of active souls,

That pushes them beyond the bounds of nature,
And elevates the hero to the Gods.

Rowe, Am. Step.

Ambition hath but two steps: the lowest,

Blood; the highest, envy.

Lilly, Midas.

Ambition hath one heel nail'd in hell,

Though she stretch her fingers to touch the heavens.

Ib.

Ambition is an idol, on whose wings

Great minds are carry'd only to extreme;

To be sublimely great, or to be nothing. Southern, Loy. Bro.

The fiery soul abhorr'd in Catiline,

In Decius charms, in Curtius is divine:

The same ambition can destroy or save,

And make a patriot, as it makes a knave.

Pope, Es. M.

AMBITION-continued.

Oh, sons of earth! attempt ye still to rise,
By mountains pil'd on mountains, to the skies?
Heaven still with laughter the vain toil surveys,
And buries madmen in the heaps they raise.

Ambition is a spirit in the world,

Pope, Es. M.

That causes all the ebbs and flows of nations,
Keeps mankind sweet by action: without that,
The world would be a filthy settled mud. Crowne, Amb. Statesm.

Oh, were I seated high as my ambition,

I'd place this naked foot on necks of monarchs!

Walpole, Myst. M.

The true ambition there alone resides,
Where justice vindicates, and wisdom guides;
Where inward dignity joins outward state,
Our purpose good, as our achievement great;
Where public blessings, public praise attend,
Where glory is our motive, not our end:

Wouldst thou be famed? have those high acts in view,
Brave men would act, though scandal would ensue. Young, L. F.

Fame is the shade of immortality,

And in itself a shadow. Soon as caught,

[VII,

Contemn'd, it shrinks to nothing in the grasp. Young, N. T.

preferment's gate,

Unnumber'd suppliants crowd
Athirst for wealth, and burning to be great,

Delusive fortune hears the incessant call,

They mount, they shine, evaporate and fall.

[VII.

Johnson, V. H. W.

This sov'reign passion, scornful of restraint,
Even from the birth affects supreme command,
Swells in the breast, and with resistless force,
O'erbears each gentler motion of the mind.

Dream after dream ensues,

And still they dream that they shall still succeed,

Johnson, Ir.

And still are disappointed.

Cowper, Task. III. 127.

On the summit, see,

The seals of office glitter in his eyes;

He climbs, he pants, he grasps them. At his heels,

Close at his heels, a demagogue ascends,

And with a dextrous jerk soon twists him down,

And wins them, but to lose them in his turn. Cowper, T. IV. 58.

Ah! who can tell how hard it is to climb

The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar

Beattie. Mins. I. 1.

C

He who ascends on mountain-tops, shall find

The loftiest peaks most wrapt in clouds and snow;

He who surpasses or subdues mankind,

Must look down on the hate of those below.

Poor lost America, high honours missing,

Knows nought of smile and nod, and sweet hand-kissing;

Knows nought of golden promises of kings;

Knows nought of coronets, and stars, and strings.

Who can, with patience, for a moment see
The medley mass of pride and misery,
Of whips and charters, manacles and rights,
Of slaving blacks and democratic whites.

Peter Pindar.

Moore.

Well-peace to the land! may the people at length,
Know that freedom is bliss, but that honour is strength;
That though man have the wings of the fetterless wind,
Of the wantonest air that the north can unbind,
Yet if health do not sweeten the blast with her bloom,
Nor virtue's aroma its pathway perfume,
Unblest is the freedom and dreary the flight,
That but wanders to ruin and wantons to blight!

America! half brother of the world!
With something good and bad of every land;
Greater than thee have lost their seat-
Greater scarce none can stand.

Columbia, child of Britain, noblest child;
I praise the glowing lustre of thy youth,
And fain would see thy great heart reconciled
To love the mother of so blest a birth;
For we are one Columbia; still the same
In lineage, language, laws, and ancient fame,
The natural nobility of earth.

Thou, O, my country, hast thy foolish ways,
Too apt to purr at every stranger's praise, -
But if the stranger touch thy modes or laws,
Off goes the velvet, and out come the claws !

Moore.

Bailey, Festus.

Tupper, Lyrics.

Holmes.

ANCESTRY.

19

ANCESTRY.

I have no urns, no dusty monuments;

No broken images of ancestors,

Wanting an ear or nose; no forged tables

Of long descents, to boast false honours from. B. Jonson, Cat.

Boast not the titles of your ancestors, brave youth!
They're their possessions, none of yours.
When your own virtues equall'd have their names,
'Twill be but fair to lean upon their fames,
For they are strong supporters; but till then,
The greatest are but growing gentlemen.

Your kindred is not much amiss, 't is true,
Yet I am somewhat better born than you.
The deeds of long-descended ancestors
Are but by grace of imputation ours.

He that to ancient wreaths can bring no more
Form his own worth, dies bankrupt on the score.

Were honour to be scann'd by long descent
From ancestors illustrious, I could vaunt
A lineage of the greatest, and recount
Among my fathers, names of ancient story,
Heroes and god-like patriots, who subdued

Ben Jonson.

Dryden.

Dryden.

Cleveland.

The world by arms and virtue;

But that be their own praise:

Nor will I borrow merit from the dead,

Myself an undeserver.

Rowe.

What can ennoble sots, or slaves, or cowards,

Alas! not all the blood of all the Howards. Pope, E. M. 1V. 215.

He stands for fame on his forefather's feet,

By heraldry, prov'd valiant or discreet!

Young, L. F. s. 1.

Let high birth triumph! what can be more great ?

Nothing-but merit in a low estate.

Young.

They that on glorious ancestors enlarge,

Produce their debt, instead of their discharge.

Young

I am one,

Who finds within me a nobility

That spurns the idle pratings of the great,
And their mean boast of what their fathers were,

While they themselves are fools effeminate,
The scorn of all who know the worth of mind

And virtue.

Percival.