CREED.

Sapping a solemn creed with solemn sneer. Childe Harold, Canto III.  LORD BYRON.

  But Faith, fanatic Faith, once wedded fast
  To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last.
Lalla Rookh:  Veiled Prophet of Khorassan.  T. MOORE.

  For fools are stubborn in their way,
  As coins are hardened by th’ allay;
  And obstinacy’s ne’er so stiff
  As when ’tis in a wrong belief.
Hudibras, Pt.  III.  Canto II.  S. BUTLER.

  You can and you can’t,
  You will and you won’t;
  You’ll be damned if you do,
  You’ll be damned if you don’t.
Chain (Definition of Calvinism).  L. DOW.

  They believed—­faith, I’m puzzled—­I think I may call
  Their belief a believing in nothing at all,
  Or something of that sort; I know they all went
  For a general union of total dissent.
A Fable for Critics.  J.R.  LOWELL.

  We are our own fates.  Our own deeds
  Are our doomsmen.  Man’s life was made
  Not for men’s creeds,
  But men’s actions.
Lucile, Pt.  II.  Canto V.  LORD LYTTON (Owen Meredith).

  Go put your creed into your deed. 
  Nor speak with double tongue.
Ode:  Concord, July 4, 1857.  R.W.  EMERSON.

CRIME.

There is a method in man’s wickedness,
It grows up by degrees.
A King and no King, Act v.  Sc. 4.  BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.

Foul deeds will rise,
Though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes.
Hamlet, Act i.  Sc. 2.  SHAKESPEARE.

Tremble, thou wretch,
That has within thee undivulged crimes,
Unwhipped of justice.
King Lear, Act iii.  Sc. 2.  SHAKESPEARE.

But many a crime deemed innocent on earth
Is registered in Heaven; and these no doubt
Have each their record, with a curse annexed.
The Task, Bk.  VI.  W. COWPER.

CRITICISM.

  And finds, with keen, discriminating sight,
  Black’s not so black;—­nor white so very white.
New Morality.  A. CANNING.

  In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold,
  Alike fantastic if too new or old: 
  Be not the first by whom the new are tried,
  Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.
Essay on Criticism, Pt.  II.  A. POPE.

  Poets lose half the praise they should have got,
  Could it be known what they discreetly blot.
Upon Roscommon’s Translation of Horace’s De Arte Poetica.  E. WALLER.

  Vex not thou the poet’s mind
    With thy shallow wit: 
  Vex not thou the poet’s mind: 
    For thou canst not fathom it.
The Poet’s Mind.  A. TENNYSON.

CUSTOM.

  Man yields to custom, as he bows to fate,
  In all things ruled—­mind, body, and estate.
Tale III., Gentleman Farmer.  G. CRABBE.