Volume 1 — PRELUDES.
Reading edition
PRELUDES.
For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers: (for we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:) shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?'—Job viii. 8-10.
'Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us. The Lord hath wrought great glory by them through His great power from the beginning. Such as did bear rule in their kingdoms, men renowned for their power, giving counsel by their understanding, and declaring prophecies: leaders of the people by their counsels, and by their knowledge of learning meet for the people: wise and eloquent in their instructions: such as found out musical tunes, and recited verses in writing: rich men furnished with ability, living peaceably in their habitations: all these were honoured in their generations, and were the glory of their times. There be of them, that have left a name behind them, that their praises might be reported. And some there be, which have no memorial; who are perished, as though they had never been; and are become as though they had never been born; and their children after them. But these were merciful men, whose righteousness hath not been forgotten.'—Ecclesiasticus xliv. 1-10.
'Hic manus, ob patriam pugnando vulnera passi: Quique sacerdotes casti, dum vita manebat: Quique pii vates et Phœbo digna locuti: Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes: Quique sui memores alios fecere merendo: Omnibus his nivea cinguntur tempora vitta.'
Æneid, vi.
'Patriots who perished for their country's right, Or nobly triumphed in the field of fight: There holy priests and sacred poets stood, Who sung with all the raptures of a god: Worthies, who life by useful arts refined, With those who leave a deathless name behind, Friends of the world, and fathers of mankind.'
Pitt's Translation.
'* * yf I have sayed a misse, I am content that any man amende it, or if I have sayd to lytle, any man that wyl to adde what hym pleaseth to it. My mind is, in profitynge and pleasynge every man, to hurte or displease no man.'
Introduction to Roger Ascham's 'Toxophilus.'
''Tis opportune to look back upon old times, and contemplate our forefathers. Great examples grow thin, and to be fetched from the passed world.'
Sir Thomas Browne to Thomas Le Gros, in the Epistle Dedicatory to the 'Hydriotaphia.'
'It is a reverend thing to see an ancient castle or building not in decay; or to see a fair timber-tree sound and perfect;—how much more to behold an ancient noble family, which hath stood against the waves and weathers of time?'
Bacon.
'The Lord Bacon's Judgment of a Work of this Nature.'
* * * * *
'I do much admire that these times have so little esteemed the vertues of the times, as that the writing of Lives should be no more frequent. For although there be not many soveraign princes, or absolute commanders, and that states are most collected into monarchies; yet are there many worthy personages that deserve better than dispersed report, or barren elogies; for herein the invention of one of the late poets is proper, and doth well inrich the ancient fiction. For he faineth, that at the end of the thread or web of every man's life, there was a little medal containing the person's name; and that Time waiteth upon the Sheers, and as soon as the thread was cut, caught the medals, and carried them to the river Lethe; and about the bank there were many birds flying up and down, and would get the medals, and carry them in their beak a little while, and then let them fall into the river. Onely there were a few Swans, which if they got a name, would carry it to a temple where it was consecrate.'
In Lloyd's State Worthies, vol. i.
'It is a melancholy reflection to look back on so many great families as have formerly adorned the county of Cornwall, and are now no more: the Grenvilles, the Arundells, Carminows, Champernons, Bodrugans, Mohuns, Killegrews, Bevilles, Trevarions, which had great sway and possessions in these parts. The most lasting families have only their seasons, more or less, of a certain constitutional strength. They have their spring and summer sunshine glare, their wane, decline, and death: they flourish and shine perhaps for ages;—at last they sicken; their light grows pale, and, at a crisis when the off-sets are withered and the old stock is blasted, the whole tribe disappears, and leave the world as they have done Cornwall. There are limits ordained to everything under the sun: man will not abide in honour.'
Dr. Borlase (as quoted by Lysons in 'Magna Britannia,' vol. iii.—Cornwall, p. clxxiv.).
'Every man in the degree in which he has wit and culture finds his curiosity inflamed concerning the modes of living and thinking of other men.'
Emerson's 'Essay on Intellect.'
'"The biographical part of literature," said Dr. Johnson, "is what I love the best"; and his remark is echoed daily in the hearts, if not in the words, of hundreds of readers: * * * and though for the last half-century pure fiction has been in the ascendant, the popularity of biography, if not relatively, yet absolutely, seems to be continually increasing.'
Quarterly Review, No. 313, January, 1884.
