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Home  »  Familiar Quotations  »  MDonald Clarke 1798-1842 John Bartlett

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

MDonald Clarke 1798-1842 John Bartlett

 
1
    Whilst twilight’s curtain spreading far,
Was pinned with a single star. 1 
          Death in Disguise. Line 227. (Boston edition, 1833.)
2
    Ha! see where the wild-blazing Grog-shop appears,
  As the red waves of wretchedness swell;
How it burns on the edge of tempestuous years—
  The horrible Light-house of Hell!
          The Rum-hole.
 
Note 1.
Variant: While twilight’s curtain gathering far
Is pinned with a single diamond star.
  Mrs. Child says: “He thus describes the closing day:—
  ‘Now twilight lets her curtain down,
  And pins it with a star.’”
  See Hood: Dream of Eugene Aram. “And drew my midnight curtain with fingers bloody red.” Cf. W. R. Alger, The Use of the Moon.
  The moon is a silver pinhead vast
  That holds the heavens tent-hangings fast. [back]