6
But yet she listen'd—'tis enough—
Who listens once will listen twice;
Her heart, be sure, is not of ice,
And one refusal no rebuff.
7
He holds him with his glittering eye—
And listens like a three years' child.
Coleridge—The Ancient Mariner. Pt. I. St. 4. Last line claimed by Wordsworth. See note to his We are Seven.
8
Listen, every one
That listen may, unto a tale
That's merrier than the nightingale.
Longfellow—
Tales of a Wayside Inn. Pt. III. The Sicilian's Tale. Interlude Before
the Monk of Casal-Maggiore.
9
In listening mood she seemed to stand,
The guardian Naiad of the strand.
Scott—The Lady of the Lake. Canto I. St. 17.
10
And this cuff was but to knock at your ear,
and beseech listening.
Taming of the Shrew. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 66.
11
Literature is the thought of thinking Souls.
Carlyle—Essays. Memoirs of the Life of Scott.
12
Literary Men are * * * a perpetual priesthood.
Carlyle—Essays. Stale of German Literature.
13
I made a compact with myself that in my person literature should stand by itself, of itself, and for itself.
Dickens. Speech at Liverpool Banquet, 1869.
(See also Lincoln under Government)
14
But, indeed, we prefer books to pounds; and we love manuscripts better than florins; and we prefer small pamphlets to war horses.
Isaac D'Israeli—Curiosities of Literature. Pamphlets.
15
Time the great destroyer of other men's happiness, only enlarges the patrimony of literature
to its possessor.
Isaac D'Israeli—Literary Character of Men of Genius. Ch.XXII.
16
Literature is an avenue to glory, ever open for those ingenious men who are deprived of honours or of wealth.
Isaac D'Israeli—Literary Character of Men of Genius. Ch.XXIV.
17
Republic of letters.
Henry Fielding—Tom Jones. Bk. XIV. Ch. I.
(See also Molière)
18
Our poetry in the eighteenth century was prose; our prose in the seventeenth, poetry.
J. C. and A. W. Hare—Guesses at Truth.
19
The death of Dr. Hudson is a loss to the republick of letters.
William King Letter. Jan. 7, 1719. Same phrase occurs in the Spectator. Commonwealth of letters is used by
Addison Spectator. No. 529. Nov. 6, 1712.
(See also Mol'ère)
20
- * * A man of the world amongst men
of letters, a man of letters amongst men of the
world.
Macaulay—On Sir William Temple.
21
La republique des lettres.
Molière—Le Manage force. Sc. 6. (1664) 22
(See also Fielding)
22
There is first the literature of knowledge, and secondly, the literature of power. The function of the first is—to teach; the function of the second is—to move, the first is a rudder, the second an oar or a sail. The first speaks to the mere discursive understanding; the second speaks ultimately, it may happen, to the higher understanding or reason, but always through affections of pleasure and sympathy.
Thomas De Quincey—Essays on the Poets. Alexander Pope.
23
La mode d'aimer Racine passera comme la mode du cafe.
The fashion of liking Racine will pass away like that of coffee.
Mme. de Sevigne According to Voliatre, Letters, Jan. 29, 1690, who connected two remarks of hers to make the phrase; one from a letter March 16, 1679, the other, March 10, 1672. La Harpe reduced the mot to "Racine passera comme le café."
24
We cultivate literature on a little oat-meal.
Sydney Smith—Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. I. P. 23.
25
The great Cham of literature. [Samuel Johnson.]
Smollett—Letter to Wilkes March 16, 1759.
