Yes, a man in the nineteenth century must and morally ought to be
pre-eminently a characterless creature; a man of character, an active man is
pre-eminently a limited creature.
These qualities, it is true, are those
pre-eminently of the "Works and Days": the literary values of the "Theogony" are of a more technical character, skill in ordering and disposing long lists of names, sure judgment in seasoning a monotonous subject with marvellous incidents or episodes, and no mean imagination in depicting the awful, as is shown in the description of Tartarus (ll.
(Sperm Whale Fishery) to his visiting card, such a procedure would be deemed
pre-eminently presuming and ridiculous.
"I failed to mark anything
pre-eminently pretty about those foamy-mouthed beasts that raced me."
The number, tameness, and disgusting habits of the carrion-feeding hawks of South America make them
pre-eminently striking to any one accustomed only to the birds of Northern Europe.
The sight of this
pre-eminently national attribute was enough to convince anybody, without words, that it was a serious matter for those who should happen to come into contact with it.
But the party on Christmas-day, being a strictly family party, was not the
pre-eminently brilliant celebration of the season at the Red House.
And not only they but any who are deemed
pre-eminently good, whether they die from age, or in any other way, shall be admitted to the same honours.
It would, indeed, be a just punishment, as far as you are concerned, if Providence should take you at your word, and make you feel what others feel, that - ' She paused as a sudden burst of loud talking and laughter reached us from the dining-room, in which the voice of Hattersley was
pre-eminently conspicuous, even to my unpractised ear.
What I wished to declare was, that nothing can be a greater happiness to myself, myself-next to the happiness of being united to
pre-eminently the most glorious of girls--than to have the happiness of cultivating the affectionate acquaintance of Amy.
Badger, "'That's a man I should like to have seen!' It strikingly bespeaks the first-class man that Captain Swosser
pre-eminently was.
In the confidence that our fellow-townsmen have not lost that high appreciation of public utility and private worth, for which they have long been so
pre-eminently distinguished, we predict that this charming actress will be greeted with a bumper.' 'To Correspondents.--J.S.