The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.G. Walker ... [and 9 others], 1820 - English literature |
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Page 1
... elegance of language have deservedly set him high in the ranks of literature ; but his zeal of friendship , or ambition of eloquence , has produced a funeral oration rather than a history : he has given the character , not the life , of ...
... elegance of language have deservedly set him high in the ranks of literature ; but his zeal of friendship , or ambition of eloquence , has produced a funeral oration rather than a history : he has given the character , not the life , of ...
Page 3
... elegance , of a particular provision made by nature for literary politeness . But in the author's own honest relation , the marvel vanishes : he was , he says , such " an enemy to all constraint , that his master never could prevail on ...
... elegance , of a particular provision made by nature for literary politeness . But in the author's own honest relation , the marvel vanishes : he was , he says , such " an enemy to all constraint , that his master never could prevail on ...
Page 5
... elegance of his conversation , that he gained the kindness and confidence of those who attended the king , and amongst others of Lord Falkland , whose notice cast a lustre on all to whom it was extended . About the time when Oxford was ...
... elegance of his conversation , that he gained the kindness and confidence of those who attended the king , and amongst others of Lord Falkland , whose notice cast a lustre on all to whom it was extended . About the time when Oxford was ...
Page 7
... elegance , and to have known that the business of a statesman can be little forwarded by flowers of rhetoric . One passage , however , seems not unworthy of some notice . Speaking of the Scotch treaty then in agitation : " The Scotch ...
... elegance , and to have known that the business of a statesman can be little forwarded by flowers of rhetoric . One passage , however , seems not unworthy of some notice . Speaking of the Scotch treaty then in agitation : " The Scotch ...
Page 13
... elegance , accommodates the diction of Rome to his own conceptions . At the Restoration , after all the diligence of his long service , and with consciousness not only of the merit of fidelity , but of the dignity of great abilities ...
... elegance , accommodates the diction of Rome to his own conceptions . At the Restoration , after all the diligence of his long service , and with consciousness not only of the merit of fidelity , but of the dignity of great abilities ...
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Common terms and phrases
Absalom and Achitophel admired Æneid afterwards ancients appears beauties better blank verse called censure character Charles Charles Dryden Comus considered Cowley criticism death defend delight diction dramatick Dryden Duke Earl elegance English epick excellence fancy favour friends genius Heaven heroick honour Hudibras images imagination imitation Jacob Tonson John Dryden judgement kind King knowledge known labour Lady language Latin learning lines Lord Lord Conway Lord Roscommon Marriage à-la-mode Milton mind musick nature never NIHIL numbers opinion Paradise Lost parliament passions perhaps perusal Philips Pindar play pleasing pleasure poem poet poetical poetry pounds praise preface produced publick published racters reader reason relates remarks reputation rhyme satire says seems sentiments sometimes Sprat style supposed thee thing thou thought tion tragedy translation truth Tyrannick Love verses versification Virgil virtue Waller words write written wrote
Popular passages
Page 173 - The want* of human interest is always felt. Paradise Lost is one of the books which the reader admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again. None ever wished it longer than it is. Its perusal is a duty rather than a pleasure. We read Milton for instruction, retire harassed and overburdened, and look elsewhere for recreation ; we desert / our master, and seek for companions.
Page 417 - From harmony, from heavenly harmony This universal frame began : From harmony to harmony Through all the compass of the notes it ran, The diapason closing full in Man.
Page 2 - ... he became, as he relates, irrecoverably a poet. Such are the accidents which, sometimes remembered, and perhaps sometimes forgotten, produce that particular designation of mind, and propensity for some certain science or employment, which is commonly called genius. The true genius is a mind of large general powers, accidentally determined to some particular direction.
Page 173 - This, being necessary, was therefore defensible ; and he should have secured the consistency of his system, by keeping immateriality out of sight, and enticing his reader to drop it from his thoughts. But he has unhappily perplexed his poetry with his philosophy. His infernal and celestial powers are sometimes pure spirit, and sometimes animated body.
Page 63 - His spear, — to equal which, the tallest pine Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast Of some great ammiral, were but a wand...
Page 97 - ... wrong ; the next is an acquaintance with the history of mankind, and with those examples which may be said to embody truth, and prove by events the reasonableness of opinions. Prudence and justice are virtues and excellences of all times and of all places ; we are perpetually moralists, but we are geometricians only by chance.
Page 395 - There was, therefore, before the time of Dryden no poetical diction, no system of words at once refined from the grossness of domestic use, and free from the harshness of terms appropriated to particular arts. Words too familiar, or too remote, defeat the purpose of a poet. From those sounds which we hear on small or on coarse occasions, we do not easily receive strong impressions, or delightful images ; and words to which we are nearly strangers, whenever they occur, draw that attention on themselves...
Page 418 - As when some great and gracious monarch dies, Soft whispers, first, and mournful murmurs rise Among the sad attendants ; then the sound Soon gathers voice, and spreads the news around, Through town and country, till the dreadful blast Is blown to distant colonies at last...
Page 436 - I am as free as nature first made man, Ere the base laws of servitude began, When wild in woods the noble savage ran.
Page 408 - These fight like husbands, but like lovers those : These fain would keep, and those more fain enjoy...