Familiar Quotations / A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to / Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature

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[364:1] Amiable weaknesses of human nature.—Gibbon: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xiv.

[364:2] See Bolingbroke, page [304].

[364:3] Illustrious predecessor.—Burke: The Present Discontents.

I tread in the footsteps of illustrious men. . . . In receiving from the people the sacred trust confided to my illustrious predecessor.—Martin Van Buren: Inaugural Address, March 4, 1837.

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WILLIAM PITT, EARL OF CHATHAM.  1708-1778.

Confidence is a plant of slow growth in an aged bosom.

Speech, Jan. 14, 1766.

A long train of these practices has at length unwillingly convinced me that there is something behind the throne greater than the King himself.[364:4]

Chatham Correspondence. Speech, March 2, 1770.