He hath put a girdle 'bout the world
And sounded all her quicksands.
NAVY
(See also Soldiers, War)
Britain's best bulwarks are her wooden walls.
Our ships were British oak,
And hearts of oak our men.
The royal navy of England has ever been its greatest defence and ornament; it is its ancient and natural strength; the floating bulwark of the island.
Cooped in their winged sea-girt citadel.
Right—that will do for the marines.
Byron—The Island. II. XXI.
| seealso = (See also Scott)
The wooden walls are the best walls of this kingdom.
Lord Keeper Coventry—Speech to the Judges, June 17, 1635, given in Gardiner—History of England. Vol. III. P. 79.
Hearts of oak are our ships,
Gallant tars are our men.
Hearts of oak are our ships,
Hearts of oak are our men.
All in the Downs the fleet was moor'd.
Gay—Sweet William's Farewell to Black-Eyed Susan. </poem>
Now landsmen all, whoever you may be,
If you want to rise to the top of the tree,
If your soul isn't fettered to an office stool,
Be careful to be guided by this golden rule—
Stick close to your desks and never go to sea,
And you all may be Rulers of the Queen's Navee.
W. S. Gilbert—H. M. S. Pinafore.
Scarce one tall frigate walks the sea
Or skirts the safer shores
Of all that bore to victory
Our stout old Commodores.
Holmes—At a dinner given to Admiral Farragut, July 6, 1865.
The credite of the Realme, by defending the same with Wodden Walles, as Themistocles called the Ship of Athens.
Linschoten—London. Preface to English Trans.
Lysander when handing over the command of the fleet to Callicratidas, the Spartan, said to him, "I deliver you a fleet that is mistress of the seas."
Lysander. See Plutarch—Life of Lysander.
There were gentlemen and there were seamen in the navy of Charles the Second. But the
seamen were not gentlemen; and the gentlemen
were not seamen.
Macaulay—History of England. Vol. I. Ch. in. pt.xxxn.
Now the sunset breezes shiver,
And she's fading down the river,
But in England's song forever
She's the Fighting Temeraire.
Henry Newboldt—The Fighting Temeraire.
Tell that to the Marines—the sailors won't
believe it.
Old saying quoted by Sccrm—RedgaunQet.
Ch. XIII. Trollope—Small House at
Allington.
| seealso = (See also Byron)
NECESSITY
Necessity is stronger far than art.
<poem>
Thanne is it wysdom, as thynketh me, To maken vertu of necessity, And take it weel, that we may not eschu, And namely that that to us alle is due. Chaucer—Canterbury Tales. The Knighte's Tale. L. 2,182.
Necessity hath no law. Feigned necessities, imaginary necessities, are the greatest cozenage men can put upon the Providence of God, and make pretences to break known rules by.
Necessità c'induce, e non diletto.
It is necessity and not pleasure that compels us.
Art imitates nature, and necessity is the mother of invention.
Necessitatem in virtutem commutarum.
To make necessity a virtue (a virtue of necessity).
