The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: The lives of the English poets (cont.) Lives of eminent personsG. Cowie & Company, 1825 |
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Page 10
... lines may be endured ; but who will hear of sheep and goats , and myrtle bowers , and purling rivulets , through five acts ? Such scenes please barbarians in the dawn of literature , and children in the dawn of life ; but will be for ...
... lines may be endured ; but who will hear of sheep and goats , and myrtle bowers , and purling rivulets , through five acts ? Such scenes please barbarians in the dawn of literature , and children in the dawn of life ; but will be for ...
Page 11
... lines , which though they begin with nonsense and end with dulness , excited in the authour a rapture of ac- knowledgment . young " In numbers such as Waller's self might use . " poem It was probably about this time that he wrote the to ...
... lines , which though they begin with nonsense and end with dulness , excited in the authour a rapture of ac- knowledgment . young " In numbers such as Waller's self might use . " poem It was probably about this time that he wrote the to ...
Page 18
... line ; but it is not always melodious , and the con- clusion is wretched . In his British Enchanters he has bidden defiance to all chronology , by confounding the inconsistent manners of different ages ; but the dialogue has often the ...
... line ; but it is not always melodious , and the con- clusion is wretched . In his British Enchanters he has bidden defiance to all chronology , by confounding the inconsistent manners of different ages ; but the dialogue has often the ...
Page 21
... lines : Illa suo præest nocturnis numine sacris- Perque vias errare novis dat spectra figuris , Manesque excitos medios ululare per agros Sub noctem , et questu notos complere penates . And again , at the conclusion : Illa suo senium ...
... lines : Illa suo præest nocturnis numine sacris- Perque vias errare novis dat spectra figuris , Manesque excitos medios ululare per agros Sub noctem , et questu notos complere penates . And again , at the conclusion : Illa suo senium ...
Page 25
... lines of Tickell's were rather to be preferred ; and Pope seems to have since borrowed something from them in the correction of his own . When the Hanover succession was disputed , Tickell gave what assistance his pen would supply . His ...
... lines of Tickell's were rather to be preferred ; and Pope seems to have since borrowed something from them in the correction of his own . When the Hanover succession was disputed , Tickell gave what assistance his pen would supply . His ...
Common terms and phrases
acquaintance Addison afterwards appeared Ascham authour blank verse Bohemia censure character considered contempt continued court criticks death declared degree desire diligence discovered Drake Dryden Dunciad easily EDWARD CAVE elegant endeavoured enemies English expected father favour fortune friends friendship gave genius Gentleman's Magazine honour hope Iliad imagination kind king of Prussia knowledge labour lady language learning letter lived lord mankind mind nature never Night Thoughts Nombre de Dios observed occasion opinion perhaps physick pinnaces pleased pleasure poem poet poetical poetry Pope Pope's pounds praise present prince printed procured publick published queen racter reader reason received Religio Medici remarkable reputation retired Savage says seems sent shew ships Silesia Sir Robert Walpole solicited sometimes soon Spaniards sufficient supposed Swift Symerons tion told translation Tyrconnel verses virtue write written wrote Young
Popular passages
Page 403 - The Church-yard abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo. The four stanzas, beginning " Yet even these bones," are to me original : I have never seen the notions in any other place ; yet he that reads them here persuades himself that he has always felt them. Had Gray written often thus, it had been vain to blame, and useless to praise him.
Page 329 - Whether to plant a walk in undulating curves, and to place a bench at every turn where there is an object to catch the view; to make water run where it will be heard, and to stagnate where it will be seen; to leave intervals where the eye will be pleased, and to thicken the plantation where there is something to be hidden, demands any great powers of mind, I will not enquire: perhaps a sullen and surly speculator may think such performances rather the sport than the business of human reason.
Page 251 - The style of Dryden is capricious and varied; that of Pope is cautious and uniform. Dryden i obeys the motions of his own mind ; Pope constrains his mind to his own rules of composition. Dryden is sometimes vehement and rapid ; Pope is always smooth, uniform, and gentle.
Page 131 - And to urge another argument of a parallel nature: if Christianity were once abolished, how could the free-thinkers, the strong reasoners, and the men of profound learning, be able to find another subject so calculated in all points whereon to display their abilities? What wonderful productions of wit should we be deprived of, from those whose genius by continual practice hath been wholly turned upon raillery and invectives against religion, and would therefore never be able to shine or distinguish...
Page 279 - Thy reliques, Rowe, to this fair urn we trust, And, sacred, place by Dryden's awful dust ; Beneath a rude and nameless stone he lies, To which thy tomb shall guide inquiring eyes. Peace to thy gentle shade, and endless rest ' Blest in thy genius, in thy love, too, blest ! One grateful woman to thy fame supplies What a whole thankless land to his denies.
Page 300 - The poet leads us through the appearances of things as they are successively varied by the vicissitudes of the year, and imparts to us so much of his own enthusiasm, that our thoughts expand with his imagery and kindle with his sentiments.
Page 325 - I have formerly said of his writings may be added, that his diction was often harsh, unskilfully laboured, and injudiciously selected. He affected the obsolete when it was not worthy of revival ; and he puts his words out of the common order, seeming to think, with some later candidates for fame, that not to write prose is certainly to write poetry.
Page 286 - Yet softer honours, and less noisy fame, Attend the shade of gentle Buckingham : In whom a race, for courage fam'd and art, Ends in the milder merit of the heart : And, chiefs or sages long to Britain given, Pays the last tribute of a saint to Heaven.
Page 206 - He was not without hopes that, by manifesting the dulness of those who had only malice to recommend them, either the booksellers would not find their account in employing them, or the men themselves, when discovered, want courage to proceed in so unlawful an occupation. This it was that gave birth to the 'Dunciad...
Page 402 - These odes are marked by glittering accumulations of ungraceful ornaments; they strike, rather than please; the images are magnified by affectation; the language is laboured into harshness. The mind of the writer seems to work with unnatural violence. " Double, double, toil and trouble.