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

Page 189

 
 
Robert Burton. (1577–1640) (continued)
 
2141
    We can make majors and officers every year, but not scholars; kings can invest knights and barons, as Sigismund the emperor confessed. 1
          Anatomy of Melancholy. Part i. Sect. 2, Memb. 3, Subsect. 15.
2142
    Hinc quam sic calamus sævior ense, patet. The pen worse than the sword. 2
          Anatomy of Melancholy. Part i. Sect. 2, Memb. 4, Subsect. 4.
2143
    Homer himself must beg if he want means, and as by report sometimes he did “go from door to door and sing ballads, with a company of boys about him.” 3
          Anatomy of Melancholy. Part i. Sect. 2, Memb. 4, Subsect. 6.
2144
    See one promontory (said Socrates of old), one mountain, one sea, one river, and see all. 4
          Anatomy of Melancholy. Part i. Sect. 2, Memb. 4, Subsect. 7.
2145
    Felix Plater notes of some young physicians, that study to cure diseases, catch them themselves, will be sick, and appropriate all symptoms they find related of others to their own persons.
          Anatomy of Melancholy. Part i. Sect. 3, Memb. 1, Subsect. 2.
2146
    Aristotle said melancholy men of all others are most witty.
          Anatomy of Melancholy. Part i. Sect. 3, Memb. 1, Subsect. 3.
2147
    Like him in Æsop, he whipped his horses withal, and put his shoulder to the wheel.
          Anatomy of Melancholy. Part ii. Sect. 1, Memb. 2.
2148
    Fabricius finds certain spots and clouds in the sun.
          Anatomy of Melancholy. Part ii. Sect. 2, Memb. 3.
 
Note 1.
When Abraham Lincoln heard of the death of a private, he said he was sorry it was not a general: “I could make more of them.” [back]
Note 2.
Tant la plume a eu sous le roi d’avantage sur l’épée (So far had the pen under the king the superiority over the sword).—Saint Simon: Mémoires, vol. iii. p. 517 (1702), ed. 1856.

The pen is mightier than the sword.—Edward Bulwer Lytton: Richelieu, act ii. sc. 2. [back]
Note 3.
Seven wealthy towns contend for Homer dead,
Through which the living Homer begged his bread.
Anonymous.

Great Homer’s birthplace seven rival cities claim,
Too mighty such monopoly of Fame.
Thomas Seward: On Shakespeare’s Monument at Stratford-upon-Avon.

Seven cities warred for Homer being dead;
Who living had no roofe to shrowd his head.
Thomas Heywood: Hierarchie of the Blessed Angells. [back]
Note 4.
A blade of grass is always a blade of grass, whether in one country or another.—Samuel Johnson: Piazzi, 52. [back]