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LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, _Reflexions_.
_ON THE HOUSE OF COMMONS_.
When lately Pym descended into h.e.l.l, Ere he the cups of Lethe did carouse, What place that was, he called loud to tell; To whom a Devil--"This is the Lower House."
WILLIAM DRUMMOND (1585-1649).
The working-man is a n.o.ble creature--when he is quite sober.
_Alexis_, in W. S. GILBERT's _Sorcerer_.
_DEFENDANT'S SONG._
When first my old, old love I knew, My bosom swelled with joy; My riches at her feet I threw,-- I was a love-sick boy!
No terms seemed too extravagant Upon her to employ-- I used to mope, and sigh, and pant, Just like a love-sick boy!
But joy incessant palls the sense, And love, unchanged, will cloy, And she became a bore intense Unto her love-sick boy!
With fitful glimmer burnt my flame, And I grew cold and coy, At last, one morning, I became Another's love-sick boy!
W. S. GILBERT, _Trial by Jury_.
Dining one day where the host became exceedingly excited and angry at not being able to find any stuffing in a roasted leg of pork, Poole quietly suggested, "Perhaps it is in the other leg?"
J. R. PLANCHe, _Recollections_.
In 1848, Feargus O'Connor was charged in the House with being a republican. He denied it, and said he did not care whether the Queen or the Devil was on the throne. Peel replied: "When the honourable gentleman sees the sovereign of his choice on the throne of these realms, I hope he'll enjoy, and I'm sure he'll deserve, the confidence of the Crown."
ABRAHAM HAYWARD, _Essays_.
I loiter down by thorp and town; For any job I'm willing; Take here and there a dusty brown, And here and there a s.h.i.+lling.
I deal in every ware in turn, I've rings for buddin' Sally, That sparkle like those eyes of her'n; I've liquor for the valet.
The things I've done 'neath moon and stars Have got me into messes; I've seen the sky through prison bars, I've torn up prison dresses.
But out again I come, and show My face, nor care a stiver; For trades are brisk and trades are slow, But mine goes on for ever.
C. S. CALVERLEY, _Fly Leaves_.
They may talk of the devotion of the s.e.x, but the most faithful attachment in life is that of a woman in love--with herself.
_Damas_, in LORD LYTTON's _Lady of Lyons_.
They may talk as they please about what they call pelf, And how one ought never to think of one's self, And how pleasures of thought surpa.s.s eating and drinking-- My pleasure of thought is the pleasure of thinking How pleasant it is to have money, heigh ho!
How pleasant it is to have money!
_Spirit_, in A. H. CLOUGH's _Dipsychus_.
Women are generally consistent in their insincerity, if in nothing else.
ANNA C. STEELE.
La plus perdue de toutes les journees est celle ou l'on n'a pas ri.
CHAMFORT, _Maximes_.
Oh, how can a modest young man E'er hope for the smallest progression-- The profession's already so full Of lawyers so full of profession?
JOHN G.o.dFREY SAXE, _Poems_.
I was speaking [to Charles Lamb] of my first brief, when he asked, "Did you not exclaim-- 'Thou great first cause, least understood'?"
CRABB ROBINSON, _Diary_.
Eye-gla.s.s--a toy which enables a c.o.xcomb to see others, and others to see that he is a c.o.xcomb.
HORACE SMITH, _The Tin Trumpet_.
Some brag of telegraphs and rails, Coals, steam, and gas, and a' that, But rattling mails and cotton bales Ne'er made a man for a' that; For a' that, and a' that, Their figures, facts, and a' that, The first of facts is Thought, and what High Thought begets, for a' that!
J. S. BLACKIE, _Musa Burschicosa_.
Virginia city--the wild young metropolis of the new Silver State. Fortunes are made there in a day. There are instances on record of young men going to this place without a s.h.i.+lling--poor and friendless--yet by energy, intelligence, and a careful disregard to business, they have been enabled to leave there, owing hundreds of pounds.
C. F. BROWNE, _Artemus Ward's Lecture_.
Nothing is accounted so proper in England as property.
_Guesses at Truth._
As the husband is, the wife is,--he is stomach-plagued and old; And his curry soups will make thy cheek the colour of his gold.
