Selections from the Writings of Lord Macaulay

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Page 459 - ... a thousand spears in rest, A thousand knights are pressing close behind the snow-white crest; And in they burst, and on they rushed, while like a guiding star, Amidst the thickest carnage blazed the helmet of Navarre. Now, God be praised, the day is ours. Mayenne hath turned his rein. D'Aumale hath cried for quarter. The Flemish count is slain. Their ranks are breaking like thin clouds before a Biscay gale; The field is heaped with bleeding steeds, and flags, and cloven mail. And then we thought...
Page 156 - The place was worthy of such a trial. It was the great hall of William Rufus, the hall which had resounded with acclamations at the inauguration of thirty kings, the hall which had witnessed the just sentence of Bacon and the just absolution of Somers, the hall where the eloquence of...
Page 457 - And on, and on, without a pause untired they bounded still : All night from tower to tower they sprang ; they sprang from hill to hill : Till the proud peak unfurled the flag o'er Darwin's rocky dales, Till like volcanoes flared to heaven the stormy hills of Wales, Till twelve fair counties saw the blaze on Malvern's lonely height, Till streamed in crimson on the wind the Wrekin's crest of light...
Page 455 - And crushed and torn beneath his claws the princely hunters lay. Ho! strike the flagstaff deep, Sir Knight: ho! scatter flowers, fair maids: Ho! gunners, fire a loud salute: ho! gallants, draw your blades: Thou sun, shine on her joyously; ye breezes, waft her wide; Our glorious SEMPER EADEM, the banner of our pride.
Page 367 - While round the armed bands Did clap their bloody hands. He nothing common did or mean Upon that memorable scene: But with his keener eye The axe's edge did try. Nor called the gods with vulgar spite To vindicate his helpless right, But bowed his comely head, Down as upon a bed.
Page 160 - I impeach Warren Hastings of high crimes and misdemeanors. I impeach him in the name of the Commons' House of parliament, whose trust he has betrayed.
Page 327 - There is no book in our literature on which we would so readily stake the fame of the old unpolluted English language ; no book which shows so well how rich that language is in its own proper wealth, and how little it has been improved by all that it has borrowed.
Page 342 - We have not the least doubt that if Addison had written a novel, on an extensive plan, it would have been superior to any that we possess. As it is, he is 'entitled to be considered not only as the greatest of the English essayists, but as the forerunner of the great English novelists.
Page 160 - Having thus attempted to communicate to his hearers an idea of Eastern society, as vivid as that which existed in his own mind, he proceeded to arraign the administration of Hastings as systematically conducted in defiance of morality and public law. The energy and pathos of the great orator extorted expressions of unwonted admiration from the stern and hostile Chancellor, and, for a moment, seemed to pierce even the resolute heart of the defendant.
Page 158 - Fox and Sheridan, the English Demosthenes and the English Hyperides. There was Burke, ignorant, indeed, or negligent of the art of adapting his reasonings and his style to the capacity and taste of his hearers, but in amplitude of comprehension and richness of imagination superior to every orator, ancient or modern.

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