Men met each other with erected look, The steps were higher that they took; Friends to congratulate their friends made haste, And long inveterate foes saluted as they passd.
Our vows are heard betimes! and Heaven takes care To grant, before we can conclude the prayer: Preventing angels met it half the way, And sent us back to praise, who came to pray.5
Britannia Rediviva. Line 1.
Note 1. Furor fit læsa sæpius patientia (An over-taxed patience gives way to fierce anger.Publius Syrus: Maxim 289. [back]
Note 3. Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, As to be hated needs but to be seen. Alexander Pope: Essay on Man, epistle ii. line 217. [back]
Note 4. Quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat (Whom God wishes to destroy he first deprives of reason). The author of this saying is unknown. Barnes erroneously ascribes it to Euripides. [back]
Note 5. And fools who came to scoff remaind to pray.Oliver Goldsmith: The Deserted Village, line 180. [back]