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John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

Page 648

 
 
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (1807–1882) (continued)
 
6560
    I know a maiden fair to see,
    Take care!
She can both false and friendly be,
    Beware! Beware!
Trust her not,
    She is fooling thee.
          From the German (In Hyperion).
6561
    She knew the life-long martyrdom,
  The weariness, the endless pain
Of waiting for some one to come
  Who nevermore would come again.
          Vittoria Colonna.
6562
      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.
          Hyperion. Book iv. Chap. viii.
6563
    Hold the fleet angel fast until he bless thee. 1 
          Kavanagh.
6564
            There is no greater sorrow
Than to be mindful of the happy time
In misery. 2 
          Inferno. Canto v. Line 121.
 
Charles Francis Adams. (1807–1886)
 
6565
      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 Cotton’s “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 sorrow’s crown of sorrow is remembering happier things.
Tennyson: Locksley Hall, line 75. [back]