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Whatever creed be taught or land be trod, Man's conscience is the oracle of God.

BYRON—The Island. Canto I. St. 6.

Brave conquerors! for so you are
That war against your own affections,
And the huge army of the world's desires.

Love's Labour's Lost. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 8.

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2

The Past lives o'er again In its effects, and to the guilty spirit The ever-frowning Present is its image.

COLERIDGE-Remorse. Act I. Sc. 2.

13 The still small voice is wanted.

COWPER—The Task. Bk. V. L. 687.

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I sing the hymn of the conquered, who fell in

the battle of life, The hymn of the wounded, the beaten who died

overwhelmed in the strife; Not the jubilant song of the victors for whom

the resounding acclaim Of nations was lifted in chorus whose brows

wore the chaplet of fame, But the hymn of the low and the humble, the

weary, the broken in heart, Who strove and who failed, acting bravely a

silent and desperate part. W. W. STORY-10 Victis.

(See also SCARBOROUGH under FAILURE)

Oh, Conscience! Conscience! man's most faithful

friend, Him canst thou comfort, ease, relieve, defend; But if he will thy friendly checks forego, Thou art, oh! woe for me, his deadliest foe!

CRABBE-Struggles of Conscience. Last Lines.

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O dignitosa coscienza e netta,
Come t' è picciol fallo amaro morso.

O faithful conscience, delicately pure, how doth a little failing wound thee sore! DANTE—Purgatorio. III. 8.

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Se tosto grazia risolva le schiume
Di vostra conscienza, si che chiaro
Per essa scenda della mente il fiume.
So may heaven's grace

clear away the foam from the conscience, that the river of thy thoughts may roll limpid thenceforth. DANTE-Purgatorio. XIII. 88. (For “river of thy thought," see also BYRON and

LONGFELLOW under WOMAN)
17
Zwei Seelen wohnen, ach! in meiner Brust,
Die eine will sich von der andern trennen.

Two souls, alas! reside within my breast, and each withdraws from and repels its brother. GOETHE-Faust. 1. 2. 307.

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They have cheveril consciences that will stretch.
BURTON—Anatomy of Melancholy. Pt III.

Sec. IV. Memb. 2. Subsect. 3.
7
Why should not Conscience have vacation
As well as other Courts o' th' nation?
Have equal power to adjourn,
Appoint appearance and return?

BUTLER-Hudibras. Pt. II. Canto II. L. 317.

Conscience is a coward, and those faults it has not strength to prevent, it seldom has justice enough to accuse.

GOLDSMITH-Vicar of Wakefield. Ch. XIII.

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Hic murus aeneus esto, Nil conscire sibi, nulla pallescere culpa.

Be this thy brazen bulwark, to keep a clear conscience, and never turn pale with guilt. HORACE-Epistles. I. 1. 60.

20 A cleere conscience is a sure carde. LYLY-Euphues. P. 207. Arbor's reprint.

(1579) He that has light within his own clear breast, May sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day; But he that hides a dark soul, and foul thoughts, Benighted walks under the mid-day sun; Himself is his own dungeon.

MILTON—Comus. L. 381.

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Now conscience wakes despair That slumber'd, wakes the bitter memory, Of what he was, what is, and what must be Worse; of worse deeds worse sufferings must

ensue! MILTON—Paradise Lost. Bk. IV. L. 23.

Well, my conscience says, "Launcelot, budge not.” “Budge,” says the fiend: “budge not,” says my conscience. "Conscience," say I, “you counsel well.” “Fiend,” say I, "you counsel well.”

Merchant of Venice. Act II. Sc. 2.

17

I hate the murderer, love him murdered.
The guilt of conscience take thou for thy labour,
But neither my good word nor princely favour:
With Cain go wander through shades of night,
And never show thy head by day nor light.

Richard II. Act V. Sc. 6. L. 40.

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The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul! Thy friends suspect for traitors while thou liv'st, And take deep traitors for thy dearest friends!

Richard III. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 222.

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Conscia mens ut cuique sua est, ita concipit intra Pectora pro facto spemque metumque suo.

According to the state of a man's conscience, so do hope and fear on account of his deeds arise in his mind. OviD-Fasti. I. 485.

5 One self-approving hour whole years outweighs Of stupid starers and of loud huzzas.

POPE--Essay on Man. Ep. IV. L. 255.

6 True, conscious Honour is to feel no sin, He's arm'd without that's innocent within; Be this thy screen, and this thy wall of Brass.

POPE-First Book of Horace. Ep. I. L. 93. Some scruple rose, but thus he eas'd his thought, "I'll now give sixpence where I gave a groat; Where once I went to church, I'll now go

twice And am so clear too of all other vice."

PopE-Moral Essays. Ep. III. L. 365. Let Joy or Ease, let Affluence or Content, And the gay Conscience of a life well spent, Calm ev'ry thought, inspirit ev'ry grace, Glow in thy heart, and smile upon thy face.

POPE—To Mrs. M. B., on her Birthday.
What Conscience dictates to be done,

Or warns me not to do;
This teach me more than Hell to shun,

That more than Heav'n pursue.
POPE-Universal Prayer.

Sic vive cum hominibus, tanquem deus videat; sic loquere cum deo, tanquam homines audiant.

Live with men as if God saw you; converse with God as if men heard you. SENECA-Epistolæ Ad Lucilium. X.

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My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.

Richard III. Act V. Sc. 3. L. 193.

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Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.
Hamlet. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 83.

("Away," not "awry” in folio)

Trust that man in nothing who has not a Conscience in STERNE Tristram Shandy. Bk. II. Ch.

XVII. 25 La conscience des mourants calomnie leur vie.

The conscience of the dying belies their life. VAUVENARGUES—Réflexions. CXXXVI.

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They are our outward consciences.

Henry V. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 8.

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called Conscience. GEORGE WASHINGTON—Moral Maxims. Vir

tue and Vice. Conscience.

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Now, if you can blush and cry, "guilty," car

dinal, You'll show a little honesty.

Henry VIII. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 306.

Men who can hear the Decalogue and feel
No self-reproach.
WORDSWORTH–The Old Cumberland Beggar.

L. 136.

1

11 Cantilenam eandem canis.

You are harping on the same string. TERENCE–Phormio. III. 2. 10.

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CONSIDERATION
Consideration, like an angel came
And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him,
Leaving his body as a paradise,
To envelope and contain celestial spirits.
Henry V. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 28.

What you have said
I will consider; what you have to say
I will with patience hear, and find a time
Both meet to hear and answer such high things.

Julius Cæsar. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 168.

3 A stirring dwarf we do allowance give Before a sleeping giant.

Troilus and Cressida. Act II. Sc. 3. L. 146.

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CONSPIRACY
Conspiracies no sooner should be formed
Than executed.
ADDISON—Cato. Act I. Sc. 2.

O conspiracy, Sham'st thou to show thy dang'rous brow by

night, When evils are most free? Julius Cæsar. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 76.

Take no care Who chafes, who frets; and where conspirers are: Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be.

Macbeth. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 89.

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CONSISTENCY (See also CONSTANCY)

Of right and wrong he taught Truths as refin'd as ever Athens heard; And (strange to tell) he practis'd' what he

preach'd. JOHN ARMSTRONG—Art of Preserving Health.

Bk. IV. L. 302.

Thou dost conspire against thy friend, lago,
If thou but think'st him wrong’d and mak'st his

ear

5

A stranger to thy thoughts.

Othello. Act III. Sc. 3. L. 142.

16 Open-eye conspiracy His time doth take. Tempest. Act II. Sc. 1. Song. L. 301.

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CONSTANCY
Through perils both of wind and limb,
Through thick and thin she follow'd him.

BUTLER—Hudibras. Pt. I. Canto II. L. 369. (See also SPENSER; also DRYDEN under POETRY and “THROUGH THICK AND THIN" under

PROVERBS) 'Tis often constancy to change the mind.

HOOLE—Metastasio. Sieves. (See also EMERSON under CONSISTENCY, and

CICERO under OPINION)

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Tush! Tush! my lassie, such thoughts resigne,
Comparisons are cruele:
Fine pictures suit in frames as fine,
Consistencie's a jewell.
For thee and me coarse cloathes are best,
Rude folks in homelye raiment drest,
Wife Joan and goodman Robin.
Jolly Robyn-Roughhead. (Fake ballad. Ap-

peared in American Newspaper, 1867.) Nemo doctus unquam mutationem consilii inconstantiam dixit esse.

No well-informed person has declared a change of opinion to be inconstancy. CICERO—Ep. ad Atticum. Bk. XVI. 8.

(See also EMERSON) A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.

EMERSON-Essays. Self-Reliance.

With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. * Speak what you think to-day in words as hard as cannon balls, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said to-day. EMERSON—Essays. Self-Reliance.

(See also HOOLE under CONSTANCY) 9 Gineral C. is a dreffle smart man:

He's been on all sides that give places or pelf;
But consistency still wuz a part of his plan;
He's been true to one party, and that is, him-

self;
So John P.

Robinson, he
Sez he shall vote for Gineral C.

LOWELL-The Biglow Papers. Series I. No. 3.

Changeless march the stars above,
Changeless morn succeeds to even;
And the everlasting hills,
Changeless watch the changeless heaven.
CHARLES KINGSLEY—Saint's Tragedy. Act

II. Sc. 2.

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*

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Abra was ready ere I call'd her name;
And, though I call’d another, Abra came.
PRIOR—Solomon on the Vanity of the World.
Bk. II. L. 364.

Now from head to foot
I am marble-constant: now the fleeting moon
No planet is of mine.

Antony and Cleopatra. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 238.
O constancy, be strong upon my side,
Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and tongue!
I have a man's mina, but a woman's might.

Julius Cæsar. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 7.

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Inconsistency is the only thing in which men are consistent. HORATIO SMITH-Tin Trumpet. Vol. I. P.

273.

I could be well moved if I were as you;
If I could pray to move, prayers would move me;
But I am constant as the northern star,
Of whose true fix'd and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.

Julius Cæsar. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 58.

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But first and chiefest, with thee bring
Him that yon soars on golden wing,
Guiding the fiery-wheeled throne,
The Cherub Contemplation.

MILTON-Il Penseroso. L. 51.

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In discourse more sweet, For Eloquence the Soul, Song charms the sense,) Others apart sat on a hill retir'd, In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high Of Providence, Foreknowledge, Will and Fate, Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute; And found no end, in wand'ring mazes lost.

MILTON—Paradise Lost. Bk. II. L. 555.

In Paris a queer little man you may see,

A little man all in gray; Rosy and round as an apple is he, Content with the present whate'er it may be, While from care and from cash he is equally free,

And merry both night and day! “Ma foi! I laugh at the world,” says he, “I laugh at the world, and the world laughs at

me!" What a gay little man in gray. BERANGER—The Little_Man all in Gray.

Trans. by AMELIA B. EDWARDS.