Wherever literature consoles sorrow or assuages pain; wherever it brings gladness to eyes which fail with wakefulness and tears, and ache for the dark house and the long sleep,—there is exhibited in its noblest form the immortal influence of Athens.
The English Bible,—a book which if everything else in our language should perish, would alone suffice to show the whole extent of its beauty and power.
A man possessed of splendid talents, which he often abused, and of a sound judgment, the admonitions of which he often neglected; a man who succeeded only in an inferior department of his art, but who in that department succeeded pre-eminently.
On John Dryden. 1828.
Note 1. I wish I were as sure of anything as Macaulay is of everything. William Windham (1750–1810). [back]
