The Lives of the English Poets, Volume 1J.F. Dove, and sold by all the booksellers in England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1826 - English poetry - 420 pages |
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Page 5
... character , not the life of Cowley ; for he writes with so little detail , that scarcely any thing is distinctly known , but all is shewn confused and enlarged through the mist of panegyric . ABRAHAM COWLEY was born in the year one ...
... character , not the life of Cowley ; for he writes with so little detail , that scarcely any thing is distinctly known , but all is shewn confused and enlarged through the mist of panegyric . ABRAHAM COWLEY was born in the year one ...
Page 8
... characters by which his heart was divided , he in reality was in love but once , and then never had resolution to tell his passion . This consideration cannot but abate , in some measure ... character from crimes which he was 8 COWLEY .
... characters by which his heart was divided , he in reality was in love but once , and then never had resolution to tell his passion . This consideration cannot but abate , in some measure ... character from crimes which he was 8 COWLEY .
Page 9
Samuel Johnson. rate purgation of his character from crimes which he was never within the possibility of committing , differs only by the infrequency of his folly from him who praises beauty which he never saw ; complains of jealousy ...
Samuel Johnson. rate purgation of his character from crimes which he was never within the possibility of committing , differs only by the infrequency of his folly from him who praises beauty which he never saw ; complains of jealousy ...
Page 11
... character of physician , still , according to Sprat , with intention to dissemble the main design of his coming over ; ' and , as Mr. Wood relates , ⚫ complying with the men then in power ( which was much taken notice of by the royal ...
... character of physician , still , according to Sprat , with intention to dissemble the main design of his coming over ; ' and , as Mr. Wood relates , ⚫ complying with the men then in power ( which was much taken notice of by the royal ...
Page 14
... , That Apollo gave heed to all he could say : Cutter of Coleman - street , ' and that because a merry sharking fellow about the town , named Cutter , is a principal character in it.-H. Nor would he have had , ' tis thought , 14 COWLEY .
... , That Apollo gave heed to all he could say : Cutter of Coleman - street , ' and that because a merry sharking fellow about the town , named Cutter , is a principal character in it.-H. Nor would he have had , ' tis thought , 14 COWLEY .
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Common terms and phrases
Addison admiration Æneid afterward ancient appears beauties better blank verse cæsura called Cato censure character Charles Dryden compositions Comus considered Cowley criticism death delight diction Dryden Duke Earl elegance English English poetry excellence fancy favour friends genius Georgics honour Hudibras images imagination imitation John Dryden Juvenal kind King known labour Lady language Latin learning lines lived Lord Lord Conway ment metaphysical poets Milton mind nature never nihil numbers observed opinion Paradise Lost passage passions performance perhaps Philips Pindar play pleasure poem poet poetical poetry Pope pounds praise preface produced published racter reader reason relates remarks reputation rhyme satire says seems Sempronius sent sentiments shew shewn sometimes Sprat supposed Syphax Tatler thing thou thought tion told tragedy translation verses versification Virgil virtue Waller whig words write written wrote
Popular passages
Page 69 - Memory and her siren daughters, but by 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 5 - Queen; in which he very early took delight to read, till by feeling the charms of verse, 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 389 - 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.
Page 28 - If they be two, they are two so As stiff twin compasses are two; Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show To move, but doth, if th' other do. And though it in the centre sit, Yet, when the other far doth roam, It leans, and hearkens after it, And grows erect, as that comes home. Such wilt thou be to me, who must, Like th' other foot, obliquely run; Thy firmness makes my circle just, And makes me end where I begun.
Page 316 - James, whose skill in physick will be long remembered ; and with David Garrick, whom I hoped to have gratified with this character of our common friend. But what are the hopes of man ! I am disappointed by that stroke of death, which has eclipsed the gaiety of nations, and impoverished the public stock of harmless pleasure.
Page 67 - 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...
Page 66 - Let not our veneration for Milton forbid us to look with some degree of merriment on great promises and small performance — on the man who hastens home because his countrymen are contending for their liberty, and, when he reaches the scene of action, vapours away his patriotism in a private boarding-school.
Page 96 - ... to learn some curious and ingenious sorts of manufacture, that are proper for women to learn, particularly embroideries in gold or silver.
Page 124 - But, of all the borrowers from Homer, Milton is perhaps the least indebted. He was naturally a thinker for himself, confident of his own abilities, and disdainful of help or hindrance: he did not refuse admission to the thoughts or images of his predecessors, but he did not seek them.
Page 272 - Blest above; So when the last and dreadful hour This crumbling pageant shall devour, The trumpet shall be heard on high, The dead shall live, the living die, And Music shall untune the sky!