Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, to the Works of the English Poets: Milton. ButlerJ. Nichols, 1779 - English poetry |
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Page 57
... kind were delighted to find him defied and infulted by a new name , not yet con- fidered as any one's rival . If Christina , as is faid , commended the Defence of the People , her purpose must be to tor- ment Salmafius , who was then at ...
... kind were delighted to find him defied and infulted by a new name , not yet con- fidered as any one's rival . If Christina , as is faid , commended the Defence of the People , her purpose must be to tor- ment Salmafius , who was then at ...
Page 83
... I cannot but remark a kind of refpect , perhaps unconsciously , paid to this great man by his biographers : every houfe in which he refided is historically men- tioned , as g 2 in MILTON . 83 in a pamphlet petulantly called No blind ...
... I cannot but remark a kind of refpect , perhaps unconsciously , paid to this great man by his biographers : every houfe in which he refided is historically men- tioned , as g 2 in MILTON . 83 in a pamphlet petulantly called No blind ...
Page 88
... kind of crime , efcaped with incapacitation ; and as exclufion from publick truft is a punishment which the power of govern- ment can commonly inflict without the help of a particular law , it required no great intereft to exempt Milton ...
... kind of crime , efcaped with incapacitation ; and as exclufion from publick truft is a punishment which the power of govern- ment can commonly inflict without the help of a particular law , it required no great intereft to exempt Milton ...
Page 119
... kind reception . Fancy can hardly forbear to conjec- ture with what temper Milton furveyed the filent progrefs of his work , and marked his reputation ftealing its way in a kind of fubterraneous current through fear and filence , I can ...
... kind reception . Fancy can hardly forbear to conjec- ture with what temper Milton furveyed the filent progrefs of his work , and marked his reputation ftealing its way in a kind of fubterraneous current through fear and filence , I can ...
Page 126
... and extent of comprehenfion , that en- title this great author to our veneration , may be added a kind of humble dig- nity , which did not difdain the meanest fervices to nity , 126 MILTON . lates, endure to hear Paradife Loft pre- ...
... and extent of comprehenfion , that en- title this great author to our veneration , may be added a kind of humble dig- nity , which did not difdain the meanest fervices to nity , 126 MILTON . lates, endure to hear Paradife Loft pre- ...
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Common terms and phrases
Adam againſt angels anſwer becauſe Butler caufe cenfure Chorus Comus confidered curiofity daugh daughter defcend defcribed defign defire delight diction diſcover epick poem Euripides exerciſe fafe faid fame fatire fays fecond fecretary fecure feems fent fentiments feven fhew fhort fhould firft firſt fome fomething fometimes fpirits ftate ftill ftudied fubject fuch fuffered fufficiently fufpect fupplied fuppofed fupport fure himſelf hiſtory houfe houſe Hudibras images John Milton kindneſs king labour laft Latin leaft learning lefs Lycidas meaſure ment Milton mind moft moſt mufick muft muſt neceffary nefs never numbers obferved occafion opinion paffed paffions Paradife Loft perfons perhaps perufal philofophy pleaſe pleaſure poet poetry poffible praife praiſe profe promiſes publick publiſhed puniſh purpoſe queftion racter radife raiſed reafon refidence regicides reprefented rhyme Salmafius ſtudy thefe theſe thofe thoſe thought tion underſtand univerfity uſe verfe verſe vifited Weft whofe write
Popular passages
Page 154 - In this poem there is no nature, for there is no truth ; there is no art, for there is nothing new. Its form is that of a pastoral, easy, vulgar, and therefore disgusting; whatever images it can supply are long ago exhausted ; and its inherent improbability always forces dissatisfaction on the mind.
Page 140 - To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant and which is animated only by Faith and Hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.
Page 35 - ... devout prayer to that eternal Spirit who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, and sends out his seraphim, with the hallowed fire of his altar, to touch and purify the lips of whom he pleases...
Page 155 - We know that they never drove a field, and that they had no flocks to batten; and though it be allowed that the representation may be allegorical, the true meaning is so uncertain and remote, that it is never sought because it cannot be known when it is found.
Page 197 - The plan of Paradise Lost has this inconvenience, that it comprises neither human actions nor human manners. The man and woman who act and suffer are in a state which no other man or woman can ever know. The reader finds no transaction in which he can be engaged, beholds no condition in which he can by any effort of imagination place himself; he has, therefore, little natural curiosity or sympathy.
Page 29 - 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 of mankind, and with those examples which may be said to embody truth and prove by events the reasonableness of...
Page 220 - ... and preserved by the artifice of rhyme. The variety of pauses, so much boasted by the lovers of blank verse, changes the measures of an English poet to the periods of a declaimer ; and there are only a few skilful and happy readers of Milton, who enable their audience to perceive where the lines end or begin. " Blank verse," said an ingenious critic, "seems to be verse only to the eye.
Page 172 - Bossu is of opinion, that the poet's first work is to find a moral, which his fable is afterwards to illustrate and establish.
Page 31 - It was his labour to turn philosophy from the study of nature to speculations upon life; but the innovators whom I oppose are turning off attention from life to nature. They seem to think that we are placed here to watch the growth of plants or the motions of the stars; Socrates was rather of opinion, that what we had to learn was how to do good and avoid evil.
Page 223 - From his contemporaries he neither courted nor received support : There is in his writings nothing by which the pride of other authors might be gratified, or favour gained ; no exchange of praise, nor solicitation of support.