Historical sketches of statesmen who flourished in the time of George iii, Volumes 3-4

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1845
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Page 7 - ... expectations or ruffle his repose. His natural abilities, too, were far above mediocrity ; he was quick, lively, gifted with a retentive memory, and even with a ready wit — endowed with an exquisite ear for music, and a justness of eye, that fitted him to attain refined taste in the arts — possessing, too, a nice sense of the ludicrous, which made his relish for humour sufficiently acute, and bestowed upon him the powers of an accomplished mimic. The graces of his person and his manners need...
Page 194 - To his latest breath did this great patriot maintain the noble character of a Captain the patron of Peace, and a Statesman the friend of Justice. Dying, he bequeathed to his heirs the sword which he had worn in the War for Liberty, and charged them " Never to take it from the scabbard but in self-defence, or in defence of their country and her freedom...
Page 75 - By these dogmas he abided through his whole life, with a steadfastness, and even to a sacrifice of power, which sets at defiance all attempts to question their perfect sincerity. Such as he was when he left Oxford, such he continued above sixty years after, to the close of his long and prosperous life; — the enemy of all reform, the champion of the throne and the altar, and confounding every abuse that surrounded the one, or grew up within the precincts of the other, with the institutions themselves...
Page 25 - I hope they have been perused with proper dispositions. I have prepared myself for this high profession rather by the study of a few good works, than by the composition of a great many bad ones.
Page 195 - It will be the duty of the historian and the sage of all nations," writes an eminent British statesman (Lord Brougham), " to let no occasion pass of commemorating this illustrious man, and until time shall be no more, will a test of the progress which our race has made in wisdom and virtue, be derived from the veneration paid to the immortal name of Washington.
Page 190 - ... his time. His natural acuteness no obstacle could impede ; his shrewdness was never to be lulled asleep ; his sagacity no man ever found at fault ; while his provident anticipations of future events seemed often beyond the reach of human penetration. We shall give a remarkable example of this in a matter of deep interest at the present moment.* When Lord Shelburne's peace (1783) was signed, and before the terms were made public, he sent for the Admiral, and, showing them, asked his opinion. "...
Page 74 - ... of sovereignty ! With all these apparent discrepancies between Lord Eldon's outward and inward man, nothing could be more incorrect than to represent him as tainted with hypocrisy, in the ordinary sense of the word. He had imbibed from his youth, and in the orthodox bowers which Isis waters, the dogmas of the Tory creed in all their purity and rigour. By these dogmas he abided through his whole life, with a steadfastness and even at a sacrifice of power, which sets at defiance all attempts to...
Page 195 - Vincent had nothing whatever j nor to such accomplishments did he lay any claim. Indeed he held the arts of rhetoric in supreme contempt ; always contenting himself with delivering his own opinion when required, in the plainest language -^-and often expressing what he felt in sufficiently unceremonious terms. Not that he had anything at all of the roughness often found in the members of the naval profession.
Page 190 - Toussaint,f have all been dwelt upon as the spots on his fame ; because the fortunes of individuals presenting a more definite object to the mind, strike our imaginations, and rouse our feelings more than wretchedness in larger masses, less distinctly perceived. But to the eye of calm reflection, the declaration of an unjustifiable war, or the persisting in it a day longer than is necessary, presents a more grievous object of contemplation, implies a disposition more pernicious to the world, and...
Page 101 - Mais il fallait mettre le feu à l'édifice social , pour que les portes des salons de Paris lui fussent ouvertes. Mirabeau, comme tous les hommes sans morale , vit d'abord son intérêt personnel dans la chose publique, et sa prévoyance fut bornée par son égoïsme.

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