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Ballads: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

But what am I? An infant crying in the night: An infant crying for the light : And with no language but a cry.— TENNYSON — In Memoriam. Pt. LIV. St. 5.

Baby smiled, mother wailed, Earthward while the sweetling sailed; Mother smiled, baby wailed, When to earth came Viola.— FRANCIS THOMPSON — The Making of Viola. St. 9.

Smile, sweet baby, smile, For you will have weeping-while; Native in Heaven is your smile,- But your weeping, Viola?— FRANCIS THOMPSON — The Making of Viola. St. 10.

A babe in a house is a well-spring of pleasure.— TUPPER — Of Education.

Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber, Holy angels guard thy bed! Heavenly blessings without number Gently falling on thy head.— WATTS — A Cradle Hymn.

I've now got the music book ready, Do sit up and sing like a lady A recitative-from Tancredi, And something about "Palpiti!" Sing forte when first you begin it, Piano the very next minute, They'll cry "What expression there's in it!" Don't sing English ballads to me!— THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY — Don't Sing

English Ballads to Me. Thespis, the first professor of our art, At country wakes sung ballads from a cart.— DRYDEN — Prologue to Sophonisba.

I knew a very wise man that believed that *** if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation. T.— ANDREW FLETCHER — Letter to the

Marquis of Montrose, the Earl of Rothes. Some people resemble ballads which are only sung for a certain time. S.— LA ROCHEFOUCAULD — Maxims and Moral Sentences. No. 220.

*** I have a passion for ballads. They are the gypsy children of song, born under green hedgerows in the leafy lanes and bypaths of literature, -in the genial Summertime.— LONGFELLOW — Hyperion. Bk. II. Ch. II.

For a ballad's a thing you expect to find lies in.— SAMUEL LOVER — Paddy Blake's Echo.

I had rather be a kitten, and cry mew! Than one of these same metre ballad-mongers.— Shakespeare — Henry IV. Pt. I. Act III. Sc. 1 L. 129.

I love a ballad but even too well; if it be doleful matter, merrily set down, or a very pleasant thing indeed, and sung lamentably.— Shakespeare — Winter's Tale. Act IV. Sc. 4. L. 187.

C. A famous man is Robin Hood, The English ballad-singer's joy.— WORDSWORTH — Rob Roy's Grave.