The History of Fiction: Being a Critical Account of the Most Celebrated Prose Works of Fiction, from the Earliest Greek Romances to the Novels of the Present Day |
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The History of Fiction: Being a Critical Account of the Most Celebrated ... John Colin Dunlop No preview available - 2016 |
The History of Fiction: Being a Critical Account of the Most Celebrated ... John Colin 1785-1842 Dunlop No preview available - 2016 |
Common terms and phrases
13th century adventures afterwards Amadis Amadis de Gaul ancient appeared Apuleius arrived Arthur beautiful Boccaccio Britany brother castle celebrated century character Chariclea Charlemagne chiefly chivalry chronicle combat composition Constantinople court damsel Daphnis daughter death Decameron discovered duke emperor enamoured enchanted England Esclarmonde exploits fables Fabliaux fairy father favour fiction France French Galaor Gaul Gesta Romanorum giant Greece Greek Gyron hero heroine Huon husband imitated incidents informed Italian king knights lady Lancelot Lancelot du Lac length Lisuarte lover mance manners marriage Meliadus ment Merlin metrical mistress monarch novel Ogier origin Orlando palace Palmerin passion pastoral Perceforest Perceval person Petrus Alphonsus poem poet possessed prince princess prose queen racter received reign resemblance resided romances of chivalry romantic fiction Round Table Saracens seems seneschal soon Spanish species story tale Theagenes tion tournaments translated Tristan wife written young Ysaie Yseult
Popular passages
Page 295 - As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place where was a den,* and laid me down in that place to sleep ; and as I slept, I dreamed a dream. I dreamed, and behold, I saw a man clothed with rags standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back, Isa.
Page 296 - ... grown so crazy and stiff in his joints, that he can now do little more than sit in his cave's mouth, grinning at pilgrims as they go by, and biting his nails because he cannot come at them.
Page 296 - Now just as the Gates were opened to let in the men, I looked in after them, and behold, the City shone like the Sun; the Streets also were paved with Gold, and in them walked many men, with Crowns on their heads, Palms in their hands, and golden Harps to sing praises withal. There were also of them that had wings, and they answered one another without intermission, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord.
Page 44 - Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine; Or leave a kiss but in the cup And I'll not look for wine. The thirst that from the soul doth rise Doth ask a drink divine; But might I of Jove's nectar sup, I would not change for thine.
Page 96 - His champions, on' a milkwhite steed, From the battle's hurricane Bore him to Joseph's towered fane, In the fair vale of Avalon* : There, with chanted orison And the long blaze of tapers clear, The stoled fathers met the bier : Through the dim aisles, in order dread Of martial woe, the chief they led, And deep entomb'd in holy ground, Before the altar's solemn bound.
Page 405 - Lovelace; but he has excelled his original in the moral effect of the fiction. Lothario, with gaiety which cannot be hated, and bravery which cannot be despised, retains too much of the spectator's kindness.
Page 407 - I waked one morning, in the beginning of last June, from a dream, of which all I could recover was, that I had thought myself in an ancient castle (a very natural dream for a head like mine filled with Gothic story) and that on the uppermost banister of a great staircase I saw a gigantic hand in armour.
Page 296 - Now I saw in my dream, that these two men went in at the gate, and, lo! as they entered, they were transfigured; and they had raiment put on, that shone like gold. There were also that met them with harps and crowns, and gave them to them; the harps to praise withal, and the crowns in token of honour.
Page 212 - To remark the folly of the fiction, the absurdity of the conduct, the confusion of the names and manners of different times, and the impossibility of the events in any system of life, were to waste criticism upon unresisting imbecility, upon faults too evident for detection, and too gross for aggravation.
Page 408 - I completed in less than two months, that one evening, I wrote from the time I had drunk my tea, about six o'clock, till half an hour after one in the morning, when my hand and fingers were so weary, that I could not hold the pen to finish the sentence, but left Matilda and Isabella talking, in the middle of a paragraph.