Algernon Charles Swinburne Quotes
When I hear that a personal friend has fallen into matrimonial courses, I feel the same sorrow as if I had heard of his lapsing into theism — a holy sorrow, unmixed with anger.
Swinburne, Algernon Charles. The Swinburne Letters, edited by Cecil Y. Lang, vol. 3, Yale University Press, 1960, p. 56.
When Thomas Jefferson’s wife Mary died in 1804, Abigail wrote Jefferson a letter of condolence with this chilly signature. They had been close friends when her husband and Jefferson served together as Ambassadors to France. However, they became political opponents and then political enemies as Jefferson criticized Adams and his views while Adams was unusually over sensitive to criticism. Abigail sided with her husband regarding Jefferson. However, when Jefferson’s wife died, Abigail felt the obligation to write a condolence letter, but got her dig in with the ending line.
Algernon Charles Swinburne was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as Poems and Ballads, and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica.
