Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, to the Works of the English Poets, Volume 1J. Nichols, 1779 - English poetry |
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Page 4
... had this defect in his memory at " that time , that his teachers never " could bring it to retain the ordinary " rules of grammar . This is an inftance of the natural defire of man It 4 COWLEY . mind, and propenfity for fome certain ...
... had this defect in his memory at " that time , that his teachers never " could bring it to retain the ordinary " rules of grammar . This is an inftance of the natural defire of man It 4 COWLEY . mind, and propenfity for fome certain ...
Page 5
Samuel Johnson. This is an inftance of the natural defire of man to propagate a wonder . It is furely very difficult to ... Nature for literary politeness . But in the author's own honeft relation , the marvel vanishes : he was , he fays ...
Samuel Johnson. This is an inftance of the natural defire of man to propagate a wonder . It is furely very difficult to ... Nature for literary politeness . But in the author's own honeft relation , the marvel vanishes : he was , he fays ...
Page 13
... natural ; it is natural like- wife for the lover to folicit reciprocal regard by an elaborate difplay of his own qualifications . The defire of pleafing has in different men produced actions of heroism , and effufions of wit ; but it ...
... natural ; it is natural like- wife for the lover to folicit reciprocal regard by an elaborate difplay of his own qualifications . The defire of pleafing has in different men produced actions of heroism , and effufions of wit ; but it ...
Page
... natural fources in the mind of man , paid their court to tempo- rary prejudices , has been at one time too much praised , and too much ne- glected at another . Wit , like all other things fubject by their nature Wit , 38 COWLEY ...
... natural fources in the mind of man , paid their court to tempo- rary prejudices , has been at one time too much praised , and too much ne- glected at another . Wit , like all other things fubject by their nature Wit , 38 COWLEY ...
Page 37
Samuel Johnson. Wit , like all other things fubject by their nature to the choice of man , has its changes and fashions , and at different times takes different forms . About the beginning of the feventeenth century appeared a race of ...
Samuel Johnson. Wit , like all other things fubject by their nature to the choice of man , has its changes and fashions , and at different times takes different forms . About the beginning of the feventeenth century appeared a race of ...
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Common terms and phrases
againſt allufions Anacreon anſwered becauſe Clarendon compofitions conceits confidered converfation copacy Cowley Cowley's Cromwel Davideis defcription deferved defire delight diction diſcovered Donne doth Engliſh expreffions fafe faid fame fatire fays fecond feems fent fentiments fhall fhew fhould filk fince fion firft firſt fome fomething fometimes foon ftile ftill ftudies fubject fuch fuffered fufficiently fupply fuppofes fure furpriſed fyllables Hampden heroick himſelf houſe itſelf juft king known lady laft laſt leaft learning lefs lines loft lord lord Conway meaſure metaphyfical poets Milton mind moft moſt muft muſt nature never numbers obferved occafion paffage parliament perufal Petrarch Pindar pleafing pleaſe pleaſure poem poetical poetry poets praife praiſe prefent promiſe publiſhed purpoſe racter reafon reprefented ſeems ſhe ſome Sprat Taffo thee thefe themſelves theſe thing thofe thoſe thou thought thouſand tion ufed uſed verfe verfification verſes Waller whofe whoſe writing
Popular passages
Page 38 - If the father of criticism has rightly denominated poetry, an imitative art, these writers will, without great wrong, lose their right to the name of poets for they cannot be said to have imitated any thing; they neither copied nature nor life; neither painted the forms of matter, nor represented the operations of intellect.
Page 4 - The true genius is a mind of large general powers, accidentally determined to some particular direction.
Page 59 - On a round ball A workman that hath copies by, can lay An Europe, Afric, and an Asia, And quickly make that, which was nothing, all...
Page 113 - ... running all beside, Make a long row of goodly pride, Figures, conceits, raptures, and sentences, In a well-worded dress, And innocent loves, and pleasant truths, and useful lies, In all their gaudy liveries.
Page 75 - The essence of poetry is invention; such invention as, by producing something unexpected, surprises and delights. The topics of devotion are few, and being few are universally known ; but, few as they are, they can be made no more ; they can receive no grace from novelty of sentiment, and very little from novelty of expression.
Page 32 - He was now,' says the courtly Sprat, 'weary of the vexations and formalities of an active condition. He had been perplexed with a long compliance to foreign manners. He was satiated with the arts of a court; which sort of life, though his virtue made it innocent to him, yet nothing could make it quiet.
Page 104 - The compositions are such as might have been written for penance by a hermit, or for hire by a philosophical rhymer who had only heard of another sex...
Page 161 - He doubtless praised some whom he would have been afraid to marry, and perhaps married one whom he would have been ashamed to praise. Many qualities contribute to domestic happiness, upon which poetry has no colours to bestow ; and many airs and sallies may delight imagination, which he who flatters them never can approve.
Page 145 - tis imposture all; And as no chemic yet the elixir got, But glorifies his pregnant pot If by the way to him befall Some odoriferous thing, or medicinal, So lovers dream a rich and long delight, But get a winter-seeming summer's night.