A Complete Collection

OF THE

Quotations and Inscriptions

IN THE

Library of Congress,

BY

Emily Loiseau Walter.

བན་རིན་

FIFTH REVISED EDITION.

Words are things; and a small drop of ink,

Falling like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.

BYRON. Don Juan.

Canto iii., Stanza 88.

The very leaf of the papyrus becomes a Shinar,
stately with towers, round which the Deluge of
ages shall roar in vain

BULWER-LYTTON. Zanoni. Bk. v., Ch. 7.

WASHINGTON, D. C.
WM. J. GALLERY & CO.,

1890.

CORNER STONE informally laid August 28,

BUILDING Completed March 1, 1897.

JOHN RUSSELL YOUNG appointed Librarian July 1, 1897.

AINSWORTH R. SPOFFORD appointed Chief Assistant Librarian July 1, 1897.

BERNARD R. GREEN appointed Superintendent of Building and Grounds July 1, 1897.

HERBERT

PUTNAM appointed Librarian,

(after death of Mr. Young January 17, 1899), April 5, 1899.

COPYRIGHT BY EMILY LOISEAU WALTER,

1902.

1

PREFACE.

Amidst the gleaming of white, polished marble, the gorgeous, golden ornamentation of the Vestibule touches, at once, the joyous keynote of coloring in the Congressional Library.

As we seem to be lifted, spell-bound, into a region of perpetual brightness, so by the various quotations and inscriptions, which cluster and wreathe about its exquisitely decorated halls and pavilionsglistening and glittering with every ray and hue of noble thought and elevating sentiment-the mind is flooded with sunshine.

Lingering, here and there, in a very aureola of glory, sunbeams of wisdom shed their lambent light around the deeply expressive, mural representations on every side. At first, we are lost in happy bewilderment, but soon we awaken to the sweeter consciousness of being gently led by some gracious Ariadne through all this brilliant maze of truth and beauty. For not only are painting and inscription ever charmingly interwoven; but the latter, in many