Page images
PDF
EPUB

Praise.-PRAISE undeserved is scandal in disguise.-POPE, Horace.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

Prayer.-More things are wrought by PRAYER than this world dreams of.-TENNYSON, Idylls.

Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,
Uttered or unexpressed,

The motion of a hidden fire

That trembles in the breast.

J. MONTGOMERY, What is Prayer?

Prayeth. He PRAYETH well who loveth well

Both man and bird and beast.-COLERIDGE, Ancient Mariner.

He PRAYETH best who loveth best
All things both great and small. -Ibid.

Preached.-I PREACHED as never sure to preach again,

And as a dying man to dying men.

R. BAXTER, Love Breathing Thanks and Praise.

Precept.-PRECEPT must be upon precept.-Isaiah xxviii. 10.

Preparation.-Piercing the night's dull ear; and from the tents,
The armorers, accomplishing, the knights,
With busy hammers closing rivets up,

Give dreadful note of PREPARATION.-SHAKESPERE, Henry V. Presbyter.-New PRESBYTER is but old priest writ large.-MILTON.

Prey. Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind's sway,
That, hushed in grim repose, expects its ev'ning PREY.

Pride. And the devil did grin, for his darling sin
Is PRIDE that apes humility.

GRAY, The Bard

COLERIDGE, The Devil's Thoughts.

He passed a cottage with a double coach-house,

A cottage of gentility;

And he owned with a grin,

That his favorite sin

Is PRIDE that apes humility.-SOUTHEY, The Devil's Walk.

Pride.-In PRIDE, in reasoning pride, our error lies;
All quit their sphere, and rush into the skies.
Pride still is aiming at the blessed abodes,
Men would be angels, angels would be gods.

POPE, Essay on Man.

PRIDE, the never-failing vice of fools.

Ibid., Essay on Criticism.

Pauline, by PRIDE

Angels have fallen ere thy time; by pride-
That sole alloy of thy most lovely mould.

LYTTON, Lady of Lyons.

PRIDE goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.-Proverbs xvi. 18.

PRIDE in their port, defiance in their eye,
I see the lords of humankind pass by.

GOLDSMITH, Traveller.

Pride's Purge.-In English history, a name given to a violent invasion of Parliamentary right, in 1649, by Colonel Pride, who, at the head of two regiments, surrounded the House of Commons, and seized in the passage forty-one members of the Presbyterian party, whom he confined. Above one hundred and sixty others were excluded, and none admitted but the most furious and determined of the Independents. These privileged members were called the Rump.

Primrose.-A PRIMROSE by a river's brim

A yellow primrose was to him,

And it was nothing more.-WORDSWORTH, Peter Bell.

PRIMROSE, first-born child of Ver,

Merry spring-time's harbinger.

BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER, Two Noble Kinsmen.

Prince. The PRINCE of darkness is a gentleman.

SHAKESPERE, King Lear.

Princes.-Whose merchants are PRINCES.-Isaiah xxiii. 8.

Principle. I don't believe in PRINCIPLE,

But, oh! I du in interest.-LoWELL, Biglow Papers.

Principles. Their feet through faithless leather met the dirt,
And oftener changed their PRINCIPLES than shirt.

YOUNG, Epistle to Mr. Pope

Print. Fir'd that the house rejects him, "Sdeath! I'll PRINT it,
And shame the fools."--POPE, To Arbuthnot.

Print.-Some said, "John, PRINT it," others said,
Some said, "It might do good," others said, "No."

[ocr errors]

Not so.
BUNYAN, Pilgrim's Progress.

'Tis pleasant, sure, to see one's name in PRINT;
A book's a book, although there's nothing in 't.

Prison.-A PRISON is a house of care,

A place where none can thrive,
A touchstone true to try a friend,
A grave for one alive;

Sometimes a place of right,

Sometimes a place of wrong,

Sometimes a place of rogues and thieves,

And honest men among.

BYRON, English Bards,

Inscription on Edinburgh Old Tolbooth.

Procrastination.-PROCRASTINATION is the thief of time.

YOUNG, Night Thoughts.

Never leave that till to-morrow which you can do to-day.
B. FRANKLIN, Poor Richard.

Profession. I hold every man a debtor to his PROFESSION; from the which as men of course do seek to receive countenance and profit, so ought they of duty to endeavour themselves by way of amends to be a help and ornament thereunto.-BACON, Maxims of the Law. Promises.-PROMISES were the ready money that was first coined and made current by the law of nature, to support that society and commerce that was necessary for the comfort and security of mankind.-Clarendon.

Promising.-PROMISING Opens the eyes of expectation.

SHAKESPERE, Timon.

Prophet.-A PROPHET is not without honour, save in his own country and in his own house.-Matthew xiii. 57.

Prophets.-Is Saul also among the PROPHETS?-1 Samuel x. 11.

PERVERTS the PROPHETS, and purloins the psalms.

BYRON, English Bards.

MILTON, Paradise Lost.

Prose. Things attempted yet in PROSE or rhyme.

Protest. The lady doth PROTEST too much, methinks.

SHAKESPERE, Hamlet.

Prove.-PROVE all things: hold fast that which is good.

1 Thess. v. 21.

Proverb.-A PROVERB and a by-word among all people.

[ocr errors]

1 Kings ix. 7.

My definition of a PROVERB is, the wit of one man, and the wis dom of many.-EARL RUSSELL, To Sir J. Macintosh.

Proverb'd. I am PROVERB'D with a grandsire phrase.

Proverbs.--Jewels five-words long,

SHAKESPERE, Romeo and Juliet.

That on the stretched forefinger of all time
Sparkle for ever.-TENNYSON, The Princess.

Providence. There is a special PROVIDENCE in the fall of a sparrow.

Pulpit. And PULPIT, drum ecclesiastick,

SHAKESPERE, Hamlet.

Was beat with fist instead of a stick.—BUTLER, Hudibras.

Pun.-A man who could make so vile a PUN would not scruple to pick a pocket.-J. DENNIS, 1734.

People that make PUNS are like wanton boys that put coppers on the railroad tracks. They amuse themselves and other children, but their little trick may upset a freight train of conversation for the sake of a battered witticism.-HOLMES, Autocrat of the Breakfast Table.

Pretend to be deaf; and after he has committed his PUN, and just before he expects people to laugh at it, beg his pardon, and request him to repeat it again. After you have made him do this three times, say, 66 Oh, that is a pun, I believe! " I never knew a punster venture a third exhibition under similar treatment. It requires a little nicety so as to make him repeat it in proper time. If well done the company laugh at the punster, and then he is ruined for ever.-MAGINN, Maxims.

Punishment.-Back to thy PUNISHMENT,

False fugitive, and to thy speed add wings.

MILTON, Paradise Lost.

Pure. Unto the PURE all things are pure.-Titus i. 15.

Puritans.-The PURITANS hated bearbaiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but beause it gave pleasure to the spectators.MACAULAY, History of England.

Pythagoras.-Clo. What is the opinion of PYTHAGORAS concerning wild-fowl?

Mal. That the soul of our grandam might haply inhabit a bird.
Clo. What thinkest thou of his opinion?

Mal. I think nobly of the soul, and no way approve his opinion.
SHAKESPERE, Twelfth Night.

Q.

Quality. Come give us a taste of your QUALITY.

Quarrel.—

SHAKESPERE, Hamlet, act iv. sc. 2.

Beware

Of entrance to a QUARREL; but, being in,
Bear 't that the opposer may beware of thee.

Greatly to find QUARREL in a straw,

Ibid., act i. sc. 3.

When honour's at the stake.-Ibid., act iv. sc. 4.

The QUARREL is a very pretty quarrel as it stands; we should only spoil it by trying to explain it.

SHERIDAN, The Rivals, act iv. sc. 3.

What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?
Thrice is he armed that hath his QUARREL just;
And he but naked, though lock'd up in steel,
Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.

SHAKESPERE, King Henry IV., part ii. act iii. sc. 2.

Quarrels. They who in QUARRELS interpose

Must often wipe a bloody nose. -J. GAY, The Mastiffs.

Thy head is as full of QUARRELS as an egg is full of meat.
SHAKESPERE, Romeo and Juliet, act iii. sc. 1.

Quarry. So scented the grim feature, and upturn'd
His nostrils wide into the murky air,
Sagacious of his QUARRY from so far.

MILTON, Paradise Lost, book x. 1. 279.

Queen o' the May.-You must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear;

To-morrow 'll be the happiest time of all the glad New Year;
Of all the glad New Year, mother, the maddest, merriest day;
For I'm to be QUEEN O' THE MAY, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the
May. TENNYSON, The May Queen.

Questions.-Ask me no QUESTIONS, and I'll tell you no fibs.

GOLDSMITH, She Stoops to Conquer, act iii.

Quips. Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee

Jest and youthful jollity;

QUIPS and cranks and wanton wiles,

Nods and becks and wreathed smiles. -MILTON, L'Allegro, 1. 2

« PreviousContinue »