Essays: Biographical, Critical, and Historical; Illustrative of the Rambler, Adventurer & Idler ; and of the Various Periodical Papers Which, in Imitation of the Writings of Steele and Addison, Have Been Published Between the Close of the Eight Volume of the Spectator and the Commencement of the Year 1809, Volume 1J. Seeley, 1809 |
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Page 111
... Lichfield , in Staffordshire , on September the 7th , 1709. From his father , who was a native of Cubley in Derby- shire , and a bookseller at Lichfield , he inherited that morbid melancholy which so frequently embittered his existence ...
... Lichfield , in Staffordshire , on September the 7th , 1709. From his father , who was a native of Cubley in Derby- shire , and a bookseller at Lichfield , he inherited that morbid melancholy which so frequently embittered his existence ...
Page 112
... Lichfield , where , under the care of two very able masters , he made a rapid progress in classical literature . At the age of fifteen , and in the year 1725 , he resided for some months with the Rev. Cornelius Ford , his cousin ; a man ...
... Lichfield , where , under the care of two very able masters , he made a rapid progress in classical literature . At the age of fifteen , and in the year 1725 , he resided for some months with the Rev. Cornelius Ford , his cousin ; a man ...
Page 113
... Lichfield he spent two years in a very de- sultory course of reading , a mode of acquiring knowledge to which he had been attached whilst a very young boy , and which was after- wards confirmed by the advice of Mr. Ford ; " obtain ...
... Lichfield he spent two years in a very de- sultory course of reading , a mode of acquiring knowledge to which he had been attached whilst a very young boy , and which was after- wards confirmed by the advice of Mr. Ford ; " obtain ...
Page 116
... Lichfield without the consent of his son , and it afterwards appeared in a Poetical Miscellany at Oxford , in 1731. With this version Pope was so much delighted , that he returned a copy of it to Mr. Arbuthnot , with this declaration ...
... Lichfield without the consent of his son , and it afterwards appeared in a Poetical Miscellany at Oxford , in 1731. With this version Pope was so much delighted , that he returned a copy of it to Mr. Arbuthnot , with this declaration ...
Page 117
... Lichfield , and in his twentieth year , that he was first violently attacked with that hypochondriac affection from which , during the residue of life , he was seldom alto- gether free . Like Cowper , though by no means in so intense a ...
... Lichfield , and in his twentieth year , that he was first violently attacked with that hypochondriac affection from which , during the residue of life , he was seldom alto- gether free . Like Cowper , though by no means in so intense a ...
Common terms and phrases
Aaron Hill Addison admirable appeared beauty biographical booksellers Boswell Boswell's catalogue Cato's Letters celebrated character Cicero collection commenced composition contributed correct critical death defects degree diction Dictionary Dunciad edition elegant English English Language entituled essays excellence favour genius Gentleman's Magazine given honour humour Idler imagination imitation Isaac Bickerstaff Journal justly labour language Latin learning letter Lichfield likewise literary literature Lives London Lord Lord Chesterfield manner ment merit Milton mind moral nature never observes occasion occasionally octavo opinion original passage passion periodical papers perspicuous poem poetical poetry poets political Pope possess powers praise Preface printed production published racter Rambler Rasselas reader remarks Samuel Johnson satire satire of Juvenal says sentiments Shakspeare shew Sir John Hawkins soon specimens Spectator spirit Steele style taste Tatler thought tion translation volume writer written
Popular passages
Page 339 - I have protracted my work till most of those whom I wished to please have sunk into the grave; and success and miscarriage are empty sounds. I therefore dismiss it with frigid tranquillity, having little to fear or hope from censure or from praise.
Page 301 - tis too horrible ! The weariest and most loathed worldly life, That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment Can lay on nature, is a paradise To what we fear of death.
Page 248 - I have laboured to refine our language to grammatical purity, and to clear it from colloquial barbarisms, licentious idioms, and irregular combinations. Something, perhaps, I have added to the elegance of its construction, and something to the harmony of its cadence.
Page 330 - Is not a patron, my Lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water," and when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help ? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind ; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it ; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it ; till I am known, and do not want it.
Page 132 - Yet, when the sense of sacred presence fires, And strong devotion to the skies aspires, Pour forth thy fervours for a healthful mind, Obedient passions, and a will resign'd ; For love, which scarce collective man can fill ; For patience, sov'reign o'er transmuted ill ; For faith, that, panting for a happier seat, Counts death kind Nature's signal of retreat...
Page 367 - DISORDERS of intellect,' answered Imlac, ' happen much more often than superficial observers will easily believe. Perhaps, if we speak with rigorous exactness, no human mind is in its right state. There is no man whose imagination does not sometimes predominate over his reason, who can regulate his attention wholly by his will, and whose ideas will come and go at his command.
Page 332 - This man (said he) I thought had been a Lord among wits; but, I find, he is only a wit among Lords.
Page 167 - I have often thought that there has rarely passed a life of which a judicious and faithful narrative would not be useful.
Page 338 - ... author, and the world is little solicitous to know whence proceeded the faults of that which it condemns, yet it may gratify curiosity to inform it that the English Dictionary was written with little assistance of the learned, and without any patronage of the great...
Page 368 - He who has nothing external that can divert him must find pleasure in his own thoughts, and must conceive himself what he is not ; for who is pleased with what he is? He then expatiates in boundless futurity, and culls from all imaginable conditions that which for the present moment he should most desire, amuses his desires with impossible enjoyments, and confers upon his pride unattainable dominion.