[32] Part 1. sect. 6.
[33] Henry V. act 4. sc. 4.
[34] Merry Wives of Windsor, act 3. sc. 15.
[35] Lib. 4. l. 632.
[36] See Æneid. lib. 1. 188.—219.
[37] Montaigne, reflecting upon the then present modes, observes, that there never was at any other time so abject and servile prostitution of words in the addresses made by people of fashion to one another; the humblest tenders of life and soul, no professions under that of devotion and adoration; the writer constantly declaring himself a vassal, nay a slave: so that when any more serious occasion of friendship or gratitude requires more genuine professions, words are wanting to express them.
[38] Ch. 18. sect. 3.
[39] One can scarce avoid smiling at the blindness of a certain critic, who, with an air of self-sufficiency, condemns this expression as low and vulgar. A French poet, says he, would express the same thought in a more sublime manner: “Mais tout dort, et l’armée, et les vents, et Neptune.” And he adds, “The English poet may please at London, but the French every where else.”
[40] See chap. 4.
[41] Georg. l. ii. 468.