James Henry Leigh Hunt, meglio noto come Leigh Hunt , è stato un saggista, poeta, scrittore e critico inglese. Wikipedia
“Che esista il dolore e il male, non significa | che io debba accrescerlo, come uno sciocco.”
Origine: Da A Thought or Two on Reading Pomfret's "Choice"; citato in Henry Salt, I diritti degli animali, traduzione di Cinzia Picchioni, in Aa. Vv., Diritti animali, obblighi umani, Gruppo Abele, Torino, 1987, p. 179. ISBN 88-7670-097-8
“I pray thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his fellow men.”
Abou Ben Adhem
Contesto: Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An Angel writing in a book of gold: Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?" The Vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord." "And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the Angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerily still; and said, "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his fellow men." The Angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And, lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest!
“The same people who can deny others everything are famous for refusing themselves nothing.”
Table Talk http://books.google.com/books?id=FSw3AAAAIAAJ&q="The+same+people+who+can+deny+others+everything+are+famous+for+refusing+themselves+nothing"&pg=PA62#v=onepage (1851)
Song of Fairies Robbing an Orchard.
Confer Colley Cibber: "Stolen sweets are best."
Abou Ben Adhem
Contesto: Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An Angel writing in a book of gold: Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?" The Vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord." "And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the Angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerily still; and said, "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his fellow men." The Angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And, lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest!
Revised edition, London, Smith, Elder & Co., 1889, p. 114
The Town: Its Memorable Characters and Events (1848)
Contesto: Fishes do not roar; they cannot express any sound of suffering; and therefore the angler chooses to think they do not suffer, more than it is convenient for him to fancy. Now it is a poor sport that depends for its existence on the want of a voice in the sufferer, and of imagination in the sportsman.
Leigh Hunt Jenny Kissed Me
"Jenny Kissed Me", in The Monthly Chronicle (November 1838)
Contesto: Jenny kissed me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in.
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and wealth have missed me;
Say I'm growing old, but add
Jenny kissed me.
“Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace”
Abou Ben Adhem
Contesto: Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An Angel writing in a book of gold: Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?" The Vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord." "And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the Angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerily still; and said, "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his fellow men." The Angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And, lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest!
“The two divinest things this world has got,
A lovely woman in a rural spot!”
Poem The Story of Rimini, iii, 257
“That there is pain and evil, is no rule
That I should make it greater, like a fool.”
A Thought or Two on Reading Pomfret's "Choice", in The Poetical Works of Leigh Hunt, London: Edward Moxon, 1846, p. 147 https://books.google.it/books?id=t7VYAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA147.
“With spots of sunny openings, and with nooks
To lie and read in, sloping into brooks.”
Leigh Hunt The Story of Rimini
The Story of Rimini
The Glove and the Lions http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1084.html
As quoted in The Farmer's Wife, Vol. 36 (1933), p. 72
“If you are ever at a loss to support a flagging conversation, introduce the subject of eating.”
Table-talk: To which are Added Imaginary Conversations of Pope and Swift
