The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D..: Lives of the poetsTalboys and Wheeler; and W. Pickering, London., 1825 |
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Page 1
... written by Dr. Sprat , an author whose pregnancy of imagination and elegance of language have deservedly set him high in the ranks of literature ; but his zeal of friendship , or ambition of eloquence , has pro- duced a funeral oration ...
... written by Dr. Sprat , an author whose pregnancy of imagination and elegance of language have deservedly set him high in the ranks of literature ; but his zeal of friendship , or ambition of eloquence , has pro- duced a funeral oration ...
Page 2
... written , but printed , in his thirteenth year ; containing , with other poetical compositions , the Tragical History of Pyramus and Thisbe , written when he was ten years old ; and Constantia and Philetus , written two years after ...
... written , but printed , in his thirteenth year ; containing , with other poetical compositions , the Tragical History of Pyramus and Thisbe , written when he was ten years old ; and Constantia and Philetus , written two years after ...
Page 3
... written , while he was yet a young student , the greater part of his Davideis ; a work of which the mate- rials could not have been collected without the study of many years , but by a mind of the greatest vigour and activity . Two ...
... written , while he was yet a young student , the greater part of his Davideis ; a work of which the mate- rials could not have been collected without the study of many years , but by a mind of the greatest vigour and activity . Two ...
Page 5
... written , like those of other men , whose minds are more on things than words , contribute no otherwise to his reputa- tion , than as they show him to have been above the affec- tation of unseasonable elegance , and to have known , that ...
... written , like those of other men , whose minds are more on things than words , contribute no otherwise to his reputa- tion , than as they show him to have been above the affec- tation of unseasonable elegance , and to have known , that ...
Page 12
... written about that time on the choice of a laureate ; a mode of satire , by which , since it was first introduced by Suckling , perhaps , every generation of poets has been teased . Savoy - missing Cowley came into the court , Making ...
... written about that time on the choice of a laureate ; a mode of satire , by which , since it was first introduced by Suckling , perhaps , every generation of poets has been teased . Savoy - missing Cowley came into the court , Making ...
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acquaintance Addison admiration Æneid afterwards appears beauties better blank verse Cato censure character Charles Dryden compositions considered Cowley criticism death delight diction dramatick Dryden duke earl elegance English epick Euripides excellence fancy favour friends genius heroick honour Hudibras images imagination imitation Jacob Tonson John Dryden kind king known labour lady language Latin learning lines lived lord Marriage à-la-mode ment metaphysical poets Milton mind nature never NIHIL numbers observed opinion Paradise Lost passage passions performance perhaps Philips Pindar play pleasure poem poet poetical poetry Pope praise preface produced publick published reader reason remarks reputation rhyme satire says seems Sempronius sentiments sometimes Sprat supposed Syphax Tatler terrour thing thou thought tion told Tonson tragedy translation Tyrannick Love verses versification Virgil virtue Waller Westminster Abbey whig write written wrote
Popular passages
Page 78 - Daughters, but by devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, and sends out his seraphim with the hallowed fire of his altar to touch and purify the lips of whom he pleases.
Page 320 - From harmony, from heavenly harmony This universal frame began : From harmony to harmony Through all the compass of the notes it ran, The diapason closing full in Man.
Page 120 - In this poem there is no nature, for there is no truth ; there is no art, for there is nothing new. Its form is that of a pastoral — easy, vulgar, and therefore disgusting ; whatever images it can supply are long ago exhausted ; and its inherent improbability always forces dissatisfaction on the mind.
Page 178 - No put-offs, my lord; answer me presently.' 'Then, Sir,' said he, 'I think it is lawful for you to take my brother Neale's money, for he offers it.
Page 465 - What he attempted, he performed ; he is never feeble, and he did not wish to be energetickP; he is never rapid, and he never stagnates. His sentences have neither studied amplitude, nor affected brevity : his periods, though not diligently rounded, are voluble and easy. Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.
Page 125 - It is a drama in the epic style, inelegantly splendid and tediously instructive. The Sonnets were written in different parts of Milton's life upon different occasions. They deserve not any particular criticism; for of the best it can only be said that they are not bad, and perhaps only the eighth and the twenty-first are truly entitled to this slender commendation.
Page 120 - With these trifling fictions are mingled the most awful and sacred truths, such as ought never to be polluted with such irreverend combinations. The shepherd likewise is now a feeder of sheep, and afterwards an ecclesiastical pastor, a superintendent of a Christian flock. Such equivocations are always unskilful ; but here they are indecent, and at least approach to impiety, of which, however, I believe the writer not to have been conscious.
Page 324 - She thought this hour th' occasion would present To learn her secret cause of discontent, Which well she hop'd, might be with ease redress'd, Considering her a well-bred civil beast, And more a gentlewoman than the rest.
Page 61 - Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer; Willing to wound and yet afraid to strike, Just hint a fault and hesitate dislike; Alike...
Page 288 - He was extremely ready and gentle in his correction of the errors of any writer, who thought fit to consult him; and full as ready and patient to admit of the reprehension of others, in respect of his own oversight or mistakes.