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 2
... moral and literary rank , not only be singularly curious , as affording a novel view of the progress of polite ... morals and the manners of the age . The facility , however , with which this mode of writing might be rendered a ...
... moral and literary rank , not only be singularly curious , as affording a novel view of the progress of polite ... morals and the manners of the age . The facility , however , with which this mode of writing might be rendered a ...
Page 3
... moral improvement , and to ascertain how far the peri- odical Essayists have contributed towards their promotion , I shall dwell on those productions alone which have been written , not only in the form , but with a portion of the ...
... moral improvement , and to ascertain how far the peri- odical Essayists have contributed towards their promotion , I shall dwell on those productions alone which have been written , not only in the form , but with a portion of the ...
Page 5
... moral . In number 72 , for instance , he has ridiculed Sir Richard's absence of mind and peculiarity of attitude in walking the streets . " I saw Mr. Bickerstaff going to the corner of St. James's in the beginning of December . It was a ...
... moral . In number 72 , for instance , he has ridiculed Sir Richard's absence of mind and peculiarity of attitude in walking the streets . " I saw Mr. Bickerstaff going to the corner of St. James's in the beginning of December . It was a ...
Page 45
... morals not correct ; but nothing can justify the base desertion of his employers , who ascended to power through the medium of his exertions . The Terræ Filius is a sharp and too frequently a virulent satire on the statutes , the ...
... morals not correct ; but nothing can justify the base desertion of his employers , who ascended to power through the medium of his exertions . The Terræ Filius is a sharp and too frequently a virulent satire on the statutes , the ...
Page 53
... moral worth ; but his wishes for the lon- gevity of his mental offspring are not likely to be gratified . Many of his best pieces were collected , shortly after his death , in four volumes octavo ; but they are little read , nor do they ...
... moral worth ; but his wishes for the lon- gevity of his mental offspring are not likely to be gratified . Many of his best pieces were collected , shortly after his death , in four volumes octavo ; but they are little read , nor do they ...
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.