SPIRIT; SPIRITS (See also APPARITIONS) 10 Why, a spirit is such a little, little thing, that I have heard a man, who was a great scholar, say that he'll dance ye a hornpipe upon the point of a needle. ADDISON-The Drummer. Act I. Sc. 1. (See also CUDWORTH) 11 Not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. II Corinthians. III. 6. 12 Some who are far from atheists, may make themselves merry with that conceit of thousands of spirits dancing at once upon a needle's point. CUDWORTH-True Intellectual System of of the Universe. Vol. III. P. 497. Ed. 1829. ISAAC D'ISRAELI in Curiosities of Literature. Quodlibets, quotes from AQUINAS, "How many angels can dance on the point of a very fine needle without jostling each other." The idea, not the words, are in AQUINASSumma and Sentences. Credited also to BERNARDO DE CARPINO and ALAGONA. Aërial spirits, by great Jove design'd And mark our actions, good or bad, below: glide: They can reward with glory or with gold, 17 The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Matthew. XXVI. 41. 18 Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth 19 Teloque animus præstantior omni. A spirit superior to every weapon. OVID-Metamorphoses. III. 54. 20 Ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. I Peter. III. 4. Rustic odor, smiling hue, Bright and confident and true, Now the hedged meads renew And the clean air shines and twinkles as the Like torrents gush the summer rills; And my old love comes to meet me in the dawn- And glimpses to the April day. 16 'Tis spring-time on the eastern hills! Through winter's moss and dry dead leaves ing and the dew. WHITTIER-Mogg Megone. Pt. III. STEVENSON-Poem written in 1876. 17 And two by two in fairyland. And the crocus bed is a quivering moon of fire STEVENSON-Underwoods. It is the Season Girdled round with the belt of an amethyst ring. Now to Go. OSCAR WILDE-Magdalen Walks. |