The British Essayists, Volume 19Alexander Chalmers J. Johnson, 1808 - English essays |
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Page ix
... success in a species of composition , which seemed to require the ease , and vivacity and humour of polished life ; and he had probably often heard it repeated that ADDISON and his X colleagues had anticipated all the subjects fit for a ...
... success in a species of composition , which seemed to require the ease , and vivacity and humour of polished life ; and he had probably often heard it repeated that ADDISON and his X colleagues had anticipated all the subjects fit for a ...
Page xx
... success in life he could not always look with complacency . " STRATFORD ( a mer- chant ) is worth a plum , and is now lending the government £ 40,000 , yet we were educated together at the same school and university * . " BUDGELL in ...
... success in life he could not always look with complacency . " STRATFORD ( a mer- chant ) is worth a plum , and is now lending the government £ 40,000 , yet we were educated together at the same school and university * . " BUDGELL in ...
Page xxxiv
... success , if they suffered not themselves to be misled by the desire of superfluous attainments , of accom- plishments which few can understand , or value , and of skill which they may sink into the grave without any conspicuous ...
... success , if they suffered not themselves to be misled by the desire of superfluous attainments , of accom- plishments which few can understand , or value , and of skill which they may sink into the grave without any conspicuous ...
Page xxxv
... success . But the distant hope of being one day useful or eminent , ought not to mislead us from that knowledge , which is equally requisite to the great and mean , to the celebrated and obscure ; the art of moderating the desires , of ...
... success . But the distant hope of being one day useful or eminent , ought not to mislead us from that knowledge , which is equally requisite to the great and mean , to the celebrated and obscure ; the art of moderating the desires , of ...
Page xxxvi
... success- fully against prejudice and passion ? Why should he give up his understanding to false appearances , and suffer himself , like the mean- est of the vulgar , to be dazzled with the glitter of prosperity , to be enslaved by fear ...
... success- fully against prejudice and passion ? Why should he give up his understanding to false appearances , and suffer himself , like the mean- est of the vulgar , to be dazzled with the glitter of prosperity , to be enslaved by fear ...
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Common terms and phrases
acquaintance amusements Anthea appearance beauty calamity censure character Cleobulus common consider contempt conversation danger delight desire dignity discover easily ELPHINSTON eminent endeavour envy Epictetus equally error evils excellence eyes favour fear folly force fortune frequently friends gain genius give happen happiness heart hinder honour hope hopes and fears hour human Ianthe imagination incited indulge innu JOHNSON Jovianus Pontanus Jupiter kind knowledge labour Lacedemon lady learning less lest lives mankind marriage means Melanthia ment mind miscarriages misery moral nature nerally never objects observed once opinion ourselves OVID pain passions pastoral Penthesilea perhaps Periander pleasing pleasure Plutus portunity praise precepts Prudentius publick racter RAMBLER reason reflection regard reproach reputation rest rience riety SATIETY SATURDAY seldom sentiments shew sometimes soon sophism suffer thing thou thought tion told TUESDAY vanity Virgil virtue write
Popular passages
Page 279 - I was surprised, after the civilities of my first reception, to find, instead of the leisure and tranquillity which a rural life always promises, and, if well conducted, might always afford, a confused wildness of care, and a tumultuous hurry of diligence, by which every face was clouded, and every motion agitated.
Page 18 - These books are written chiefly to the young, the ignorant, and the idle, to whom they serve as lectures of conduct, and introductions into life. They are the entertainment of minds unfurnished with ideas, and therefore easily susceptible of impressions; not fixed by principles, and therefore easily following the current of fancy; not informed by experience, and consequently open to every false suggestion and partial account.
Page 264 - Health is indeed so necessary to all the duties, as well as pleasures of life, that the crime of squandering it is equal to the folly ; and he that for a short gratification brings weakness and diseases upon himself, and for the pleasure of a few years passed in the tumults...
Page 22 - The Roman tyrant was content to be hated, if he was but feared ; and there are thousands of the readers of romances willing to be thought wicked, if they may be allowed to be wits.
Page 20 - ... it, to initiate youth by mock encounters in the art of necessary defence, and to increase prudence without impairing virtue.
Page 17 - THE works of fiction, with which the present generation seems more particularly delighted, are such as exhibit life in its true state, diversified only by accidents that daily happen in the world, and influenced by passions and qualities which are really to be found in conversing with mankind.
Page 6 - ... and losing itself in schemes of future felicity; and that we forget the proper use of the time now in our power to provide for the enjoyment of that which, perhaps, may never be granted us has been frequently remarked ; and as this practice is a commodious subject of raillery to the gay, and of declamation to the serious, it has been ridiculed with all the pleasantry of wit, and exaggerated with all the amplifications of rhetoric.
Page 230 - There is certainly no greater happiness, than to be able to look back on a life usefully and virtuously employed, to trace our own progress in existence, by such tokens as excite neither shame nor sorrow. Life, in which nothing has been done or suffered to distinguish one day from another, is to him that has passed it, as if it had never been, except that he is conscious how ill he has husbanded the great deposit of his Creator.
Page 18 - ... retire to his closet, let loose his invention, and heat his mind with incredibilities ; a book was thus produced without fear of criticism, without the toil of study, without knowledge of nature, or acquaintance with life.
Page 11 - What is new is opposed, because most are unwilling to be taught ; and what is known is rejected, because it is not sufficiently considered, that men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.