A Commonplace Book of Thoughts, Memories, and Fancies.: 2nd ed.Jameson, Mrs. (Anna)
General
A Commonplace Book of Thoughts, Memories, and Fancies.: 2nd ed.
Jameson, Mrs. (Anna)
Art and literature; Commonplace books; Ethics; Quotations
C—— told me, that some time ago, when poor Bethune the Scotch poet first
became known, and was in great hardship, C—— himself had collected a
little sum (about 30_l._), and sent it to him through his publishers.
Bethune wrote back to refuse it absolutely, and to say that, while he
had head and hands, he would not accept _charity_. C—— wrote to him in
answer, still anonymously, arguing against the principle, as founded in
false pride, &c. Now poor Bethune is dead, and the money is found
untouched,—left with a friend to be returned to the donors!
This sort of disgust and terror, which all finely constituted minds feel
with regard to pecuniary obligation,—my own utter repugnance to it, even
from the hands of those I most love,—makes one sad to think of. It gives
one such a miserable impression of our social humanity!
Goethe makes the same remark in the “Wilhelm Meister:—“Es ist sonderbar
welch ein wunderliches Bedenken man sich macht, Geld von Freunden und
Gönnern anzunehmen, von denen man jede andere Gabe mit Dank und Freude
empfangen würde.”
[Illustration]
55.
“In the celestial hierarchy, according to Dionysius Areopageta, the
angels of Love hold the first place, the angels of Light the second, and
the Thrones and Dominations the third. Among terrestrials, the
Intellects, which act through the imagination upon the heart of man—_i.
e._ poets and artists—may be accounted first in order; the merely
scientific intellects the second; and the merely ruling intellects—those
which apply themselves to the government of mankind, without the aid of
either science or imagination—will not be disparaged if they are placed
last.”
All government, all exercise of power—no matter in what form—which is
not based in love and directed by knowledge, is a tyranny. It is not of
God, and shall not stand.
“A time will come when the operations of charity will no longer be
carried on by machinery, relentless, ponderous, indiscriminate, but by
human creatures, watchful, tearful, considerate, and wise.”—_Westminster
Review._
[Illustration]
56.
“Those writers who never go further into a subject than is compatible
with making what they say indisputably clear to man, woman, and child,
may be the lights of _this_ age, but they will not be the lights of
_another_.”
“It is not always necessary that truth should take a bodily form,—a
material palpable form. It is sometimes better that it should dwell
around us spiritually, creating harmony,—sounding through the air like
the solemn sweet tone of a bell.”
[Illustration]
57.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account