The Spectator, Volume 4Tonson, 1738 |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 32
Page 16
... Quality have entertained , to the Hazard of their Characters , and the certain Misfortune of their Lives . The firft of the fol- lowing Letters may belt reprefent the Faults I would now point at , and the Answer to it the Temper of Mind ...
... Quality have entertained , to the Hazard of their Characters , and the certain Misfortune of their Lives . The firft of the fol- lowing Letters may belt reprefent the Faults I would now point at , and the Answer to it the Temper of Mind ...
Page 38
... Quality in the Church . This abfurd Custom had better be abolished than retained , if it were but to prevent Evils of no higher a Nature than this is ; but I am informed of Objections much more confiderable : A Diffenter of Rank and Dif ...
... Quality in the Church . This abfurd Custom had better be abolished than retained , if it were but to prevent Evils of no higher a Nature than this is ; but I am informed of Objections much more confiderable : A Diffenter of Rank and Dif ...
Page 57
... Quality are befpeaking Plays of me to be acted upon fuch a Day , and others , Hogfheads for their Houfes against fuch a Time ; I am wholly em- ploy'd in the agreeable Service of Wit and Wine : Sir , I have fent you Sir Roger de ...
... Quality are befpeaking Plays of me to be acted upon fuch a Day , and others , Hogfheads for their Houfes against fuch a Time ; I am wholly em- ploy'd in the agreeable Service of Wit and Wine : Sir , I have fent you Sir Roger de ...
Page 64
... Quality who dies for her . The Examination of a young Girl for Bufinefs , and the crying down her Value for being a flight Thing , together with every other Circumftance in the Scene , are inimitably ex- cellent , and have the true ...
... Quality who dies for her . The Examination of a young Girl for Bufinefs , and the crying down her Value for being a flight Thing , together with every other Circumftance in the Scene , are inimitably ex- cellent , and have the true ...
Page 94
... Quality , makes me acquaint you of an Affair that I hope will ⚫ oblige you to know . I have a Niece that came to Town ⚫ about a Fortnight ago . Her Parents being lately dead The came to me , expecting to a found me in fo good a ...
... Quality , makes me acquaint you of an Affair that I hope will ⚫ oblige you to know . I have a Niece that came to Town ⚫ about a Fortnight ago . Her Parents being lately dead The came to me , expecting to a found me in fo good a ...
Common terms and phrases
Action admired Æneid againſt agreeable alfo Anſwer Beauty becauſe befides Behaviour Cafe Character Circumftances confider Confideration Converfation Criticks defcribed Defcription Defign Defire Difcourfe difcovered Drefs Enville Fable faid fame feems feen felf felves feveral fhall fhew fhort fhould fince firft firſt fome fomething fometimes foon Fortune fpeak Friend ftill fuch fufficient give greateſt Happineſs himſelf Homer Honour Houfe Houſe humble Servant ibid Iliad juft kind Lady laft laſt lefs likewife Loft look Love Mafter Mankind manner Marriage Meaſure Milton Mind Miſtreſs moft moſt muft muſt Nature neceffary Number obferved Occafion Paffage paffed Paffion Paradife particular Perfon Place pleafing pleaſe Pleaſure Poem Poet poffible prefent publick racter raiſe Reader Reaſon Reflexion reprefented ſelf Senfe ſeveral ſhall ſhe ſpeak SPECTATOR thefe themſelves theſe thing thofe thoſe Thoughts tion underſtand uſe Virgil Virtue whofe Woman World young
Popular passages
Page 67 - Roman empire, has described the birth of its great rival, the Carthaginian commonwealth : Milton, with the like art in his poem on the fall of man, has related the fall of those angels who are his professed enemies.
Page 70 - Besides, it was easier for Homer and Virgil to dash the truth with fiction, as they were in no danger of offending the religion of their country by it. But as for Milton, he had not only a very few circumstances upon which to raise his poem, but was also obliged to proceed with the greatest caution in every thing that he added out of his own invention.
Page 134 - The great masters in composition know very well that many an elegant phrase becomes improper for a poet or an orator, when it has been debased by common use. For this reason the works of ancient authors, which are written in dead languages, have a great advantage over those which are written in languages that are now spoken. Were there any mean phrases or idioms in Virgil...
Page 205 - Being, he frequently confesses his omnipotence, that being the perfection he was forced to allow him, and the only consideration which could support his pride under the shame of his defeat. Nor...
Page 110 - ... other particulars as may not properly fall under any of them. This I thought fit to...
Page 235 - Death produces those monsters and hell-hounds which from time to time enter into their mother, and tear the bowels of her who gave them birth. These are the terrors of an evil conscience, and the proper fruits of Sin, which naturally rise from the apprehensions of Death.
Page 137 - Y, when it precedes a vowel. This, and some other innovations in the measure of his verse, has varied his numbers in such a manner, as makes them incapable of satiating the ear, and cloying the reader, which the same uniform measure would certainly have done, and which the perpetual returns of rhyme never fail to do in long narrative poems.
Page 88 - There is in these several characters of Homer, a certain dignity as well as novelty, which adapts them in a more peculiar manner to the nature of an heroic poem. Though at the same time, to give them the greater variety, he has described a Vulcan, that is a buffoon among his gods, and a Thersites among his mortals.
Page 112 - I shall show more at large in another paper ; though considering how all the poets of the age in which he writ were infected with this wrong way of thinking, he is rather to be admired that he did not give more into it, than that he did sometimes comply with the vicious taste which still prevails so much among modern writers.
Page 151 - A battle or a triumph are conjunctures in which not one man in a million is likely to be engaged; but when we see a person at the point of death, we cannot forbear being attentive to every thing he...