Lives of the most eminent English poets, with critical observations on their works. With notes by P. Cunningham, Volume 11854 |
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Page xii
... Paradise Lost , ' originally published in ten books , was made into twelve by dividing the seventh and twelfth , " mean- ing of course the seventh and tenth . Where his preparations had been greater , he is still more inaccurate . Thus ...
... Paradise Lost , ' originally published in ten books , was made into twelve by dividing the seventh and twelfth , " mean- ing of course the seventh and tenth . Where his preparations had been greater , he is still more inaccurate . Thus ...
Page xvii
... Paradise Lost ' might have been pro- nounced at Sir Joshua's table , and his famous parallel between Dryden and Pope was , it is easy to see , and as his MS . shows us , written at a heat . As a piece of English composition there is no ...
... Paradise Lost ' might have been pro- nounced at Sir Joshua's table , and his famous parallel between Dryden and Pope was , it is easy to see , and as his MS . shows us , written at a heat . As a piece of English composition there is no ...
Page xviii
... Paradise Lost ' than Johnson in this Life . His alleged virulence is indeed always more in the manner of his matter than the matter itself . He had no inclination to narrate the events of Milton's career ; and tells us in the very ...
... Paradise Lost ' than Johnson in this Life . His alleged virulence is indeed always more in the manner of his matter than the matter itself . He had no inclination to narrate the events of Milton's career ; and tells us in the very ...
Page xxxi
... Paradise Lost ' and ' Para- dise Regained'- His three Wives - His Children and Nephews - Dies in London , and is buried in St. Giles ' , Cripplegate His Works and Cha- racter 81 SAMUEL BUTLER . - 1612-1680 . Born at Strensham , in ...
... Paradise Lost ' and ' Para- dise Regained'- His three Wives - His Children and Nephews - Dies in London , and is buried in St. Giles ' , Cripplegate His Works and Cha- racter 81 SAMUEL BUTLER . - 1612-1680 . Born at Strensham , in ...
Page 81
... Paradise Lost ' and ' Paradise Regained ' His Three Wives - His Children and Nephews - Dies in London , and is buried in St. Giles ' , Cripplegate His Works and Character . THE Life of Milton has been already written in so many forms ...
... Paradise Lost ' and ' Paradise Regained ' His Three Wives - His Children and Nephews - Dies in London , and is buried in St. Giles ' , Cripplegate His Works and Character . THE Life of Milton has been already written in so many forms ...
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Absalom and Achitophel admired Æneid afterwards Albion and Albanius appears Bishop censure character Charles Church Clarendon Court Cowley Cowley's criticism Cromwell daughter death delight Denham died Dryden Duke Earl EDMUND WALLER elegance English Essay excellence favour Fcap Feap friends genius Hampden History honour Hudibras images Jacob Tonson John John Dryden John Milton Johnson kind King King's known labour Lady language Latin learning letter lines Lives London Lord Lord Conway Milton mind nature never NIHIL numbers observed opinion Otway Paradise Lost Parliament passion perhaps Pindar play poet poetical poetry Pope Portrait Post 8vo pounds praise Preface printed published reader rhyme satire says Second Edition seems sentiments sometimes Sprat supposed Thomas Otway thou thought tion told Tonson tragedy translation Tyrannick Love verses versification Virgil Vols Waller Westminster Abbey Woodcuts write written wrote
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 76 - 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 143 - 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 164 - 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 xvi - If the biographer writes from personal knowledge, and makes haste to gratify the publick curiosity, there is danger lest his interest, his fear, his gratitude, or his tenderness, overpower his fidelity, and tempt him to conceal, if not to invent. There are many who think it an act of piety to hide the faults or failings of their friends, even when they can no longer suffer by their detection; we therefore see whole ranks of characters adorned with uniform panegyrick, and not to be known from one...
Page 379 - Next to argument, his delight was in wild and daring sallies of sentiment, in the irregular and eccentric violence of wit. He delighted to tread upon the brink of meaning, where light and darkness begin to mingle ; to approach the precipice of absurdity, and hover over the abyss of unideal vacancy.
Page 23 - 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.
Page 90 - ... that by labour and intent study, which I take to be my portion in- this life, joined with the strong propensity of nature, I might perhaps leave something so written to after-times, as they should not willingly let it die.
Page 63 - ... reader would not find it. For this reason, though he must always be thought a great poet, he is no longer esteemed a good writer; and for ten impressions, which his works have had in so many successive years, yet at present a hundred books are scarcely purchased once a twelvemonth; for, as my last Lord Rochester said, though somewhat profanely, Not being of God, he could not stand.
Page 120 - I have a particular reason," says he, " to remember ; for whereas I had the perusal of it from the very beginning, for some years, as I went from time to time to visit him, in parcels of ten, twenty, or thirty verses at a time (which, being written by whatever hand came next, might possibly want correction as to the orthography and pointing...