Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, to the Works of the English Poets: Milton. ButlerJ. Nichols, 1779 - English poetry |
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Page 14
... lived five years ; in which time he is faid to have read all the Greek and La- tin writers . With what limitations this univerfality is to be understood , who fhall inform us ? It might be fuppofed that he who read fo much It 14 MILTON ...
... lived five years ; in which time he is faid to have read all the Greek and La- tin writers . With what limitations this univerfality is to be understood , who fhall inform us ? It might be fuppofed that he who read fo much It 14 MILTON ...
Page 16
... lived at Horton he used fometimes to steal from his ftudies a few days , which he spent at Harefield , the house of the countefs dowager of Derby , where where the Arcades made part of a dra- matick entertainment 7 16 MILTON . fecretary ...
... lived at Horton he used fometimes to steal from his ftudies a few days , which he spent at Harefield , the house of the countefs dowager of Derby , where where the Arcades made part of a dra- matick entertainment 7 16 MILTON . fecretary ...
Page 95
... lived longer in this place than in any other . He was now bufied by Paradife Loft . Whence he drew the original defign has been variously conjectured , by men who cannot bear to think themselves igno- rant of that which , at last ...
... lived longer in this place than in any other . He was now bufied by Paradife Loft . Whence he drew the original defign has been variously conjectured , by men who cannot bear to think themselves igno- rant of that which , at last ...
Page 140
... full con- viction of the truth of Christianity , and to have regarded the Holy Scriptures with the profoundest veneration , to have been untainted by any heretical pecu- liarity liarity of opinion , and to have lived in a 140 MILTO N.
... full con- viction of the truth of Christianity , and to have regarded the Holy Scriptures with the profoundest veneration , to have been untainted by any heretical pecu- liarity liarity of opinion , and to have lived in a 140 MILTO N.
Page 141
... parents as pray- ing acceptably in the state of innocence , and effiaciously after their fall . That he lived without prayer can hardly be af- firmed ; firmed ; his ftudies and meditations were an habitual prayer MILT O N. 141.
... parents as pray- ing acceptably in the state of innocence , and effiaciously after their fall . That he lived without prayer can hardly be af- firmed ; firmed ; his ftudies and meditations were an habitual prayer MILT O N. 141.
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Common terms and phrases
Adam againſt anfwer angels becauſe Butler cenfure Chorus Comus Confcience confidered curiofity daugh daughter defcended defign defire delight diction diſcover eafily Engliſh epick poem Euripides exercifes fafe faid fame fatire fays fchool fecretary feems fent fentiments feven fhew fhort fhould fince firft firſt fome fomething fometimes fpirits ftate ftill ftudies fubject fuch fuffered fufficiently fufpected fupplied fuppofed fure heroick himſelf houfe houſe Hudibras images inftruction JOHN MILTON Juftice kindneſs king labour laft laſt Latin learning lefs Lycidas ment Milton mind moft moſt mufick muft muſt neceffary never numbers obfervation occafion opinion paffions Paradife Loft perfons perhaps philofophy pleaſe pleaſure poet poetry poffible praiſe prefent profe promife publick publiſhed puniſh purpoſe queftion racter raiſed reaſon refidence regicides reprefented rhyme Salmafius ſcenes ſeem ſtate ſtudy themſelves theſe thofe thoſe thought tion underſtand univerfity uſe verfe vifited whofe write
Popular passages
Page 146 - Milton's morals as well as his poetry, the invitations to pleasure are so general, that they excite no distinct images of corrupt enjoyment, and take no dangerous hold on the fancy.
Page 203 - 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.
Page 120 - 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 199 - ... 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 critick, seems to be verse only to the eye.
Page 17 - ... 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 203 - ... 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. His great works were performed under discountenance, and in blindness ; but difficulties vanished at his touch ; he was born for whatever is arduous ; and his work is not the greatest of heroic poems, only because it is not the first.
Page 136 - 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 123 - He hated monarchs in the state, and prelates in the church; for he hated all whom he was required to obey. It is to be suspected, that his predominant desire was to destroy, rather than establish, and that he felt not so much the love of liberty, as repugnance to authority.
Page 153 - Milton must be confessed to have equalled every other poet. He has involved in his account of the Fall of Man the events...
Page 152 - Bossu is of opinion, that the poet's first work is to find a moral, which his fable is afterwards to illustrate and establish.