Grocott & Ward, comps. Grocott’s Familiar Quotations, 6th ed. 189-?.
Footprints
Lives of great men all remind us,
We can make our lives sublime;
And, departing leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.
Longfellow.—Psalm of Life, Verse 7.
A foot more light, a step more true,
Ne’er from the heath-flower dashed the dew;
E’en the slight harebell raised its head,
Elastic from her airy tread.
Scott.—The Lady of the Lake, Canto I. Stanza 18.
The flower she touched on dipped and rose.
Tennyson.—The Talking Oak, Verse 33.
The grass stoops not, she treads on it so light.
Shakespeare.—Venus and Adonis, Stanza 172.
Dance on the sands, and yet no footing seen.
Shakespeare.—Venus and Adonis, Stanza 25.
And ye that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune.
Shakespeare.—Tempest, Act V. Scene 1.
As if the wind, not she, did walk,
Nor pressed a flower, nor bowed a stalk.
Ben Jonson.—Vision of Delight.
For other print her airy step ne’er left,
Her treading would not bend a blade of grass,
Or shake the downy blow-ball from his stalk!
Ben Jonson.—The Sad Shepherd.
Whilst from off the waters fleet,
Thus I set my printless feet
O’er the cowslip’s velvet head,
That bends not as I tread.
Milton.—Comus. (Sabrina to the Spirit.)