The Edinburgh Magazine, Or, Literary Miscellany, Volume 8; Volume 10

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J. Sibbald, Parliament-Square, 1797 - Books and bookselling

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Page 435 - It cannot be denied, but that he who is made judge to sit upon the birth or death of books, whether they may be wafted into this world or not, had need to be a man above the common measure, both studious, learned and judicious...
Page 121 - This power, which Rubens possessed in the highest degree, enabled him to represent whatever he undertook better than any other painter. His animals, particularly lions and horses, are so admirable, that it may be said they were never properly represented but by him. His portraits rank with the best works of the painters who have made that branch of the art the sole business of their lives; and of those he has left a great variety of specimens.
Page 128 - Though equal to all things, for all things unfit; Too nice for a statesman, too proud for a wit; For a patriot, too cool; for a drudge, disobedient; And too fond of the right to pursue the expedient. In short, 'twas his fate, unemploy'd or in place, sir, To eat mutton cold, and cut blocks with a razor.
Page 121 - ... the same may be said of his young men and children : his old men have that sort of dignity which a bushy beard will confer; but he never possessed a poetical conception of character.
Page 120 - ... every thing they did was the effect of great labour and pains. The productions of Rubens, on the contrary, seem to flow with a freedom and prodigality, as if they cost him nothing ; and to the general animation of the composition there is always a correspondent spirit in the execution of the work.
Page 120 - ... enthusiasm with which the painter was carried away. To this we may add the complete uniformity in all the parts of the work, so that...
Page 212 - They feem to have held that diverfity, nay univerfality, of excellence, at which the moderns frequently aim, to be a gift unattainable by man. We therefore of Great Britain have perhaps more...
Page 121 - He appears to have entertained a great abhorrence of the meagre dry manner of his predecessors, the old German and Flemish Painters; to avoid which, he kept his outline large and flowing: this, carried to an extreme, produced that heaviness which is so frequently found in his figures.
Page 359 - The eye that mocketh at his father, and defpifeth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley fhall pick it out, and the young eagles fhall eat it."* ' Are we not taught by the law of nature as well as that of chrif* Eph.
Page 382 - Thy patience, by no wrongs subdued, Thy gay good-humour — can they " fade ?" " Perhaps— but sorrow dims my eye : Cold turf, which I no more must view, Dear name, which I no more must sigh, A long, a last, a sad adieu...

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