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 113
... Milton , he was pas- sionately fond of romances ; and Dr. Percy has recorded , that when a boy , and spending part of a summer at his parsonage - house in the country , he chose for his regular reading the old Spanish romance of ...
... Milton , he was pas- sionately fond of romances ; and Dr. Percy has recorded , that when a boy , and spending part of a summer at his parsonage - house in the country , he chose for his regular reading the old Spanish romance of ...
Page 145
... Milton , Addison , and Gray , he was , in early life , partial to Latin metri- cal composition ; but he has failed to rival the triumvirate . To the first and last he is inferior in originality , a character with difficulty obtained in ...
... Milton , Addison , and Gray , he was , in early life , partial to Latin metri- cal composition ; but he has failed to rival the triumvirate . To the first and last he is inferior in originality , a character with difficulty obtained in ...
Page 147
... Milton , we find few , if any , traces in the poetry of Johnson . That he had a strong conception , indeed , of the mighty genius of Shakspeare , may be drawn from the opening of his celebrated prologue ; but that he had no relish for ...
... Milton , we find few , if any , traces in the poetry of Johnson . That he had a strong conception , indeed , of the mighty genius of Shakspeare , may be drawn from the opening of his celebrated prologue ; but that he had no relish for ...
Page 205
... Milton thus : Milton , Mr. John . " Boswell's Life , vol . 4 , p . 340 . † Vol . 1 , p . 194 . Of The great reputation which Johnson had now ac- quired LITERARY LIFE OF DR . JOHNSON . 205.
... Milton thus : Milton , Mr. John . " Boswell's Life , vol . 4 , p . 340 . † Vol . 1 , p . 194 . Of The great reputation which Johnson had now ac- quired LITERARY LIFE OF DR . JOHNSON . 205.
Page 255
... Milton , our author has censured that great poet for his pedantry in attempting " to use English words with a foreign idiom . " There is assuredly , however , not less pedantry in the reverse of this , in the plan which Johnson has ...
... Milton , our author has censured that great poet for his pedantry in attempting " to use English words with a foreign idiom . " There is assuredly , however , not less pedantry in the reverse of this , in the plan which Johnson has ...
Common terms and phrases
Aaron Hill Addison admirable Æneid appeared beauty biographical booksellers Boswell Boswell's catalogue Cato's Letters celebrated character Cicero collection commenced composition correct critical death defects degree diction Dictionary Dunciad edition elegant English English Language entituled essays excellence fame 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 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.