The Works of George Byron: With His Letters and Journals, and His Life, Volume 2

Front Cover

From inside the book

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 192 - Fair clime! where every season smiles Benignant o'er those blessed isles, Which, seen from far Colonna's height, Make glad the heart that hails the sight, And lend to loneliness delight. There mildly dimpling, Ocean's cheek Reflects the tints of many a peak Caught by the laughing tides that lave These Edens of the Eastern wave...
Page 316 - Be thou the rainbow to the storms of life ! The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray...
Page 216 - It was the comparative insignificance of ourselves and our world, when placed in comparison with the mighty whole, of which it is an atom, that first led me to imagine that our pretensions to eternity might be over-rated. " This, and being early disgusted with a Calvinistic Scotch school, where I was cudgelled to church for the first ten years of my life, afflicted me with this malady; for, after all, it is, I believe, a disease of the mind as much as other kinds of hypochondria."* LETTEB 123.
Page 270 - By the apostle Paul, shadows to-night Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard, Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers, Armed in proof, and led by shallow Richmond.
Page 11 - To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labour tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution.
Page 273 - Asiatics are not qualified to be republicans, but they have the liberty of demolishing despots, which is the next thing to it. To be the first man — not the Dictator — not the Sylla, but the Washington or the Aristides — the leader in talent and truth — is next to the Divinity i Franklin, Penn, and, next to these, either Brutus or Cassius — even Mirabeau — or St.
Page 286 - ... as the last breath of Brutus pronounced, and every day proves it. He is, perhaps, a little opiniated, as all men who are the centre of circles, wide or narrow — the Sir Oracles, in whose name two or three are gathered together — must be, and as even Johnson was ; but, withal, a valuable man, and less vain than success and even the consciousness of preferring ' the right to the expedient
Page 272 - I thought, if crushed, he would have fallen, when ' fractus illabitur orbis,' and not have been pared away to gradual insignificance ; that all this was not a mere jew of the gods, but a prelude to greater changes and mightier events. But men never advance beyond a certain point ; and here we are, retrograding to the dull, stupid old system, — balance of Europe — poising straws upon kings...
Page 32 - My poor mother died yesterday ! and I am on my way from town to attend her to the family vault. I heard one day of her illness, the next of her death. Thank God her last moments were most tranquil. I am told she was in little pain, and not aware of her situation. I now feel the truth of Mr. Gray's observation, ' That we can only have one mother.

Bibliographic information