Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets: With Critical Observations on Their Works, Volume 1 |
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Page xi
... learning and genius of Parnell could be debased by it . " Indeed he was not always true to himself . When asked if it was not wrong in Orrery to 2 Idler , ' No. 84 . 3 Rambler , ' No. 2 . expose the defects of a man with whom he had.
... learning and genius of Parnell could be debased by it . " Indeed he was not always true to himself . When asked if it was not wrong in Orrery to 2 Idler , ' No. 84 . 3 Rambler , ' No. 2 . expose the defects of a man with whom he had.
Page xxii
... learning , and he loved his virtuous life ; yet he had little sympathy with him after all . They were contemporaries who never met . Gray 8 Boswell , ' by Croker , Ed . 1847 , p . 650 . EDITOR'S PREFACE . xxiii lived with Mason and ...
... learning , and he loved his virtuous life ; yet he had little sympathy with him after all . They were contemporaries who never met . Gray 8 Boswell , ' by Croker , Ed . 1847 , p . 650 . EDITOR'S PREFACE . xxiii lived with Mason and ...
Page 5
... learning , but refused the husks , had the appearance of an instinctive 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 ...
... learning , but refused the husks , had the appearance of an instinctive 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 ...
Page 18
... learning , and to show * There are several portraits of Cowley . The great Lord Clarendon's por- trait is now at Bothwell Castle ; a fair original ( but poorly engraved by Faithorne before his Works ) is in the Bodleian Gallery ; and at ...
... learning , and to show * There are several portraits of Cowley . The great Lord Clarendon's por- trait is now at Bothwell Castle ; a fair original ( but poorly engraved by Faithorne before his Works ) is in the Bodleian Gallery ; and at ...
Page 19
... learning was their whole endeavour ; but , unluckily re- solving to show it in rhyme , instead of writing poetry they only wrote verses , and very often such verses as stood the trial of the finger better than of the ear ; for the ...
... learning was their whole endeavour ; but , unluckily re- solving to show it in rhyme , instead of writing poetry they only wrote verses , and very often such verses as stood the trial of the finger better than of the ear ; for the ...
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Popular passages
Page 341 - All the images of nature were still present to him, and he drew them not laboriously, but luckily; when he describes anything, you more than see it, you feel it too. Those who accuse him to have wanted learning* give him the greater commendation: he was naturally learned; he needed not the spectacles of books to read nature; he looked inwards, and found her there.
Page 364 - 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 141 - Nothing can less display knowledge, or less exercise invention, than to tell how a shepherd has lost his companion, and must now feed his flocks alone, without any judge of his skill in piping ; and how one god asks another god what is become of Lycidas, and how neither god can tell. He who thus grieves will excite no sympathy ; he who thus praises will confer no honour.
Page 21 - To write on their plan it was, at least, necessary to read and think. No man could be born a metaphysical poet, nor assume the dignity of a writer, by descriptions copied from descriptions, by imitations borrowed from imitations, by traditional imagery, and hereditary similes, by readiness of rhyme, and volubility of syllables n.
Page 162 - How charming is divine Philosophy! Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, But musical as is Apollo's lute, And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets, Where no crude surfeit reigns.
Page 74 - O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream My great example, as it is my theme! Though deep, yet clear, though gentle, yet not dull, Strong without rage, without o'er-flowing full.
Page 380 - 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 364 - From harmony, from heavenly harmony, '• This universal frame began : ' When Nature underneath a heap of jarring atoms lay, And could not heave her head, ••;.-'• The timeful voice was heard from high. Arise ye more than dead.
Page 76 - Horace's wit, and Virgil's state, " He did not steal, but emulate ! " And, when he would like them appear, " Their garb, but not their cloaths, did wear.
Page xiv - If a life be delayed till interest and envy are at an end, we may hope for impartiality, but must expect little intelligence; for the incidents which give excellence to biography are of a volatile and evanescent kind, such as soon escape the memory, and are rarely transmitted by tradition.