The Correspondence of the Right Honourable Sir John Sinclair, Bart: With Reminiscences of the Most Distinguished Characters who Have Appeared in Great Britain, and in Foreign Countries, During the Last Fifty Years. Illustrated by Facsimiles of Two Hundred Autographs ...

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H. Colburn & R. Bentley, 1831 - Agriculturists

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Page 72 - ... order; but when the high roads are broken up, and the waters out, when a new and troubled scene is opened, and the file affords no precedent, then it is that a greater knowledge of mankind, and a far more extensive comprehension of things, is requisite than ever office gave, or than office can ever give.
Page 71 - But it may be truly said, that men too much conversant in office, are rarely minds of remarkable enlargement. Their habits of office are apt to give them a turn to think the substance of business not to be much more important than the forms in which it is conducted.
Page 72 - Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business...
Page 445 - His brothers, younger brothers, whom he scarce As equals deemed. All passions of all men, The wild and tame, the gentle and severe; All thoughts, all maxims, sacred and profane ; All creeds, all seasons, Time, Eternity; All that was...
Page 442 - Bold and erect the Caledonian stood; Old was his mutton, and his claret good ; Let him drink port, the English statesman cried— He drank the poison, and his spirit died.
Page 397 - ... consequently, the decay of population is the greatest evil that a state can suffer ; and the improvement of it the object which ought, in all countries, to be aimed at in preference to every other political purpose whatsoever.
Page 445 - As some fierce comet of tremendous size, To which the stars did reverence, as it passed...
Page 72 - ... to which they lead. When theoretical knowledge and practical skill are happily combined in the same person, the intellectual power of man appears in its full perfection, and fits him equally to conduct, with a masterly hand, the details of ordinary business, and to contend successfully with the ffi /u / * untried difficulties of new and hazardous situations.
Page 106 - The Secretary, after a short pause, replied, with some emotion, " I hope this year will be happier than the last, for I can scarcely recollect having spent one happy day in the whole of it." This confession, coming from an individual whose whole life hitherto had been a series of triumphs, and who appeared to stand secure upon the summit of political ambition, was often dwelt upon by Sir John, as exemplifying the vanity of human wishes.
Page 121 - Oh ! marked from birth, and nurtured for the skies ! In youth, with more than learning's wisdom wise ! As sainted martyrs, patient to endure ! Simple as...

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