Word: mindful
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Dates: during 1890-1899
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...college, be met only failure and disgrace. It was not till he was settled as the secretary of Sir William Temple, one of the most diplomatic counsellors and elegant scholars of the realm, that Swift found himself in congenial circumstances. Out of the great library, he stocked his mind with the literary and political knowledge that made his after career possible...
Over Swift's private life hangs a most perplexing mystery. Because of this, to defame his character is not just, since honorable motives may at all times explain his actions. He lived a hard life, - a bitter one. His mind from early manhood gave signs of darkening, and finally was clouded entirely. Yet that mind, in its prime, one of the most strikingly original the world has seen and, if not sublime, certainly never commonplace and always possessed of universal strength and untainted sincerity...
That we may see better where the law of sacrifice comes on we may make the following subdivisions of man, first the perfect body, the ideal mind, the heart, that is the affectionate nature. We should always sacrifice the lower for the higher, the body for the mind, the mind for the heart where the love of others demands it. But above all is the soul and the grandest thing man can do is to sacrifice every thing for the integrity of his nature...
...time of sharp struggle between the Whigs and the Tories and each party, eager to strengthen its position, did its best to draw into its ranks the leading men. The leading writers especially were sought, for political pamphlets had much to do in swaying the popular mind. In this way such men as Newton, Steele, Prior and Addison found their way into high offices under the government...
...life was full of misfortunes to which the course of political events added many. He died a worn out man at fifty-six. In considering him as a man, full of craftiness and intrigue, with the love of fame as his superior passion, we must keep in mind his terrible physical deformities, which made his whole life one of pain, as well as the character of the age in which he lived...