The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: With and Essay on His Life and Genius, Volume 2A. V. Blake, 1842 |
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Page 3
... language have deservedly to propagate a wonder . It is surely very difficult set him high in the ranks of literature ; but his to tell any thing as it was heard , when Sprat zeal of friendship , or ambition of eloquence , has could not ...
... language have deservedly to propagate a wonder . It is surely very difficult set him high in the ranks of literature ; but his to tell any thing as it was heard , when Sprat zeal of friendship , or ambition of eloquence , has could not ...
Page 13
... language , and the familiar part of language continues long the same ; the dialogue of comedy , when it is transcribed from popular manners and real life , is read from age to age with equal pleasure . The artifices of inversion , by ...
... language , and the familiar part of language continues long the same ; the dialogue of comedy , when it is transcribed from popular manners and real life , is read from age to age with equal pleasure . The artifices of inversion , by ...
Page 17
... Language is the dress of thought : and as the noblest mien , or most graceful action , would be degraded and obscured by a garb ap- propriated to the gross employments of rustics or mechanics : so the most heroic sentiments will lose ...
... Language is the dress of thought : and as the noblest mien , or most graceful action , would be degraded and obscured by a garb ap- propriated to the gross employments of rustics or mechanics : so the most heroic sentiments will lose ...
Page 21
... language that does not express in- tellectual operations by material images , into that language they cannot be translated . But so much meaning is comprised in so few words ; the particulars of resemblances are so perspica- ciously ...
... language that does not express in- tellectual operations by material images , into that language they cannot be translated . But so much meaning is comprised in so few words ; the particulars of resemblances are so perspica- ciously ...
Page 28
... language with which prosperity had imboldened the advocates for rebellion to insult all that is venerable or great ; " Who would have imagined so little fear in him of the true all - seeing Deity - as , immediately before his death , to ...
... language with which prosperity had imboldened the advocates for rebellion to insult all that is venerable or great ; " Who would have imagined so little fear in him of the true all - seeing Deity - as , immediately before his death , to ...
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Addison afterwards appears blank verse censure character considered court Cowley criticism death declared delight desire diligence discovered Drake Dryden Duke Dunciad Earl easily elegance endeavoured enemies English excellence father favour fortune French friends genius honour hope Hudibras Iliad imagination kind King King of Prussia known labour Lady language Latin learning letter lines lived Lord ment Milton mind nation nature never Night Thoughts nihil Nombre de Dios numbers observed opinion Paradise Lost perhaps Pindar pinnaces pleasure poem poet poetical poetry Pope Port Egmont pounds praise Prince published Queen racter reader reason received Religio Medici remarks reputation rhyme Savage says seems sent ship sometimes soon Spaniards supposed Swift Syphax Tatler thing thought tion told tragedy translation verses Virgil virtue Waller whigs write written wrote Young
Popular passages
Page 150 - What he attempted, he performed ; he is never feeble, and he did not wish to be energetic ; he is never rapid, and he never stagnates. His sentences have neither studied amplitude, nor affected brevity ; his periods, though not diligently rounded, are voluble and easy. Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison, HUGHES.
Page 254 - ... himself. He spent no time in struggles to rouse latent powers ; he never attempted to make that better which was already good, nor often to mend what he must have known to be faulty. He wrote, as he tells us, with very little consideration ; when occasion or necessity called upon him, he poured out what the present moment happened to supply...
Page 261 - After all this, it is surely superfluous to answer the question that has once been asked, Whether Pope was a poet, otherwise than by asking in return, If Pope be not a poet, where is poetry to be found?
Page 27 - But the truth is that the knowledge of external nature, and the sciences which that knowledge requires or includes, are not the great or the frequent business of the human mind. Whether we provide for action or conversation, whether we wish to be useful or pleasing, the first requisite is the religious and moral knowledge of right and wrong ; the next is an acquaintance with the history...
Page 174 - He began on it ; and when first he mentioned it to Swift, the Doctor did not much like the project. As he carried it on, he showed what he wrote to both of us, and we now and then gave a correction, or a word or two of advice ; but it was wholly of his own writing. When it was done, neither of us thought it would succeed. We showed it to Congreve ; who, after reading it over, said, it would either take greatly, or be damned confoundedly.
Page 245 - Arbuthnot was a man of great comprehension, skilful in his profession, versed in the sciences, acquainted with ancient literature, and able to animate his mass of knowledge by a bright and active imagination; a scholar with great brilliance of wit, a wit who, in the crowd of life, retained and discovered a noble ardour of religious zeal.
Page 42 - Lost;" a poem, which, considered with respect to design, may claim the first place, and with respect to performance, the second, among the productions of the human mind.
Page 10 - ... for they never attempted that comprehension and expanse of thought which at once fills the whole mind, and of which the first effect is sudden astonishment, and the second rational admiration. Sublimity is produced by aggregation, and littleness by dispersion. Great thoughts are always general, and consist in positions not limited by exceptions, and in descriptions not descending to minuteness. It is with great propriety that subtlety, which in its original import means exility of particles,...
Page 235 - O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed, And tip with silver every mountain's head ; Then shine the vales, the rocks in prospect rise, A flood of glory bursts from all the skies ; The conscious swains, rejoicing in the sight, Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light.
Page 143 - No greater felicity can genius attain than that of having purified intellectual pleasure, separated mirth from indecency, and wit from licentiousness; of having taught a succession of writers to bring elegance and gaiety to the aid of goodness; and, if I may use expressions yet more awful, of having turned many to righteousness.