Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall,—
Queen Elizabeth, the instant she saw it, wrote under it,—
If thy heart fail thee, climb not at all.
Perhaps the most delicate flattery ever uttered was that of the ambassador, who, being asked by a beautiful queen, upon his introduction to her court, whether a celebrated beauty in his own country was the handsomest woman he had ever seen, replied, “I thought so yesterday.”
A party of gentlemen at Lord Macclesfield’s, one evening, agreed to amuse themselves by drawing tickets on which various uncomplimentary devices were written. These were extemporaneously turned into compliments by Cowper as follows:—
| Vanity.—Drawn by Lord Macclesfield. | |
| Be vain, my lord, you have a right; | |
| For who, like you, can boast this night, | |
| A group assembled in one place | |
| Fraught with such beauty, wit and grace? | |
| Insensibility.—Mr. Marsham. | |
| Insensible can Marsham be? | |
| Yes and no fault you must agree; | |
| His heart his virtue only warms, | |
| Insensible to vice’s charms. | |
| Inconstancy.—Mr. Adams. | |
| Inconstancy there is no harm in, | |
| In Adams where it looks so charming: | |
| Who wavers as, he well may boast, | |
| Which virtue he shall follow most. | |
| Impudence.—Mr. St. John. | |
| St. John, your vice you can’t disown: | |
| For in this age ’tis too well known, | |
| That impudent that man must be | |
| Who dares from folly to be free. | |
| Intemperance.—Mr. Gerard. | |
| Intemperance implies excess: | |
| Changed though the name, the fault’s not less; | |
| Yet, blush not, Gerard, there’s no need,— | |
| In all that’s worthy you exceed. | |
| A Blank was drawn by Mr. Legge. | |
| If she a blank for Legge designed, | |
| Sure Fortune is no longer blind; | |
| For we shall fill the paper given | |
| With every virtue under heaven. | |
| Cowardice.—Gen. Caillard. | |
| Most soldiers cowardice disclaim, | |
| But Caillard owns it without shame; | |
| Bold in whate’er to arms belong, | |
| He wants the courage to do wrong. | |
A traveller, upon reading the inscription affixed to the gates of Bandon, (a town in Ireland originally peopled by English Protestants,)—
Jew, Turk or Atheist enter here;
But let no Papist dare appear,—
wrote the following smart reply underneath:—