Alas! it is not till time, with reckless hand, has torn out half the leaves from the Book of Human Life to light the fires of passion with from day to day, that man begins to see that the leaves which remain are few in number.
It would be superfluous in me to point out to your Lordship that this is war.
Despatch to Earl Russell. Sept. 5, 1863.
Note 1. Quoted from Cottons To-morrow. See Genesis xxx. 3. [back]
Note 2. Nessun maggior dolore Che ricordarsi del tempo felice Nella miseria. See Chaucer, page 5.
In omni adversitate fortunæ, infelicissimum genus est infortunii fuisse felicem (In every adversity of fortune, to have been happy is the most unhappy kind of misfortune).Boethius: De Consolatione Philosophiæ, liber ii.
This is truth the poet sings, That a sorrows crown of sorrow is remembering happier things. Tennyson: Locksley Hall, line 75. [back]