The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With An Essay on His Life and Genius, Volume 4Luke Hansard & Sons, 1810 |
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Page 1
... ELPHINSTON . ' HE difficulty of the first address on any new occasion , is felt by every man in his transactions with the world , and confessed by the settled and regular ' forms of salutation which necessity has introduced into all ...
... ELPHINSTON . ' HE difficulty of the first address on any new occasion , is felt by every man in his transactions with the world , and confessed by the settled and regular ' forms of salutation which necessity has introduced into all ...
Page 12
... ELPHINSTON . It may not be unfit for him who makes a new en- trance into the lettered world , so far to suspect his own powers , as to believe that he possibly may deserve neglect ; that nature may not have qualified him much to enlarge ...
... ELPHINSTON . It may not be unfit for him who makes a new en- trance into the lettered world , so far to suspect his own powers , as to believe that he possibly may deserve neglect ; that nature may not have qualified him much to enlarge ...
Page 14
... ELPHINSTON . THE task of an author is , either to teach what is not known , or to recommend known truths by his manner of adorning them ; either to let new light in upon the mind , and open new scenes to the prospect , or to vary the ...
... ELPHINSTON . THE task of an author is , either to teach what is not known , or to recommend known truths by his manner of adorning them ; either to let new light in upon the mind , and open new scenes to the prospect , or to vary the ...
Page 27
... ELPHINSTON . EVERY VERY man is sufficiently discontented with some circumstances of his present state , to suffer his imagination to range more or less in quest of future happiness , and to fix upon some point of time , in which , by ...
... ELPHINSTON . EVERY VERY man is sufficiently discontented with some circumstances of his present state , to suffer his imagination to range more or less in quest of future happiness , and to fix upon some point of time , in which , by ...
Page 33
... ELPHINSTON . man should never suffer his happiness to depend upon external circumstances , is one of the chief precepts of the Stoical philosophy ; a pre- cept , indeed , which that lofty sect has extended be- yond the condition of ...
... ELPHINSTON . man should never suffer his happiness to depend upon external circumstances , is one of the chief precepts of the Stoical philosophy ; a pre- cept , indeed , which that lofty sect has extended be- yond the condition of ...
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Common terms and phrases
acquaintance amusements appearance beauty calamity caution censure challenge of honours common consider contempt danger delight desire discover easily effects ELPHINSTON endeavour enjoy envy Epictetus equally errour evils excellence eyes fame faults favour fear flatter folly force fortune frequently friends future gain gayety genius give happen happiness heart hinder honour hope hopes and fears hour human imagination incited inclined indulge Jovianus Pontanus Jupiter kind knowledge labour lady learning lenitives less lest lives mankind March 20 marriage means ment mind miscarriage misery nature neglect nerally ness never NUMB objects observed once opinion ourselves OVID pain passions perhaps Periander pleasing pleasure praise precepts produce Prudentius publick RAMBLER reason reflection regard reproach reputation SATURDAY seldom sentiments soon sophism stone of Sisyphus suffer thing thought tion told topicks TUESDAY vanity virtue wish write young
Popular passages
Page 385 - But biography has often been allotted to writers, who seem very little acquainted with the nature of their task, or very negligent about the performance.
Page 416 - We then relax our vigour, and resolve no longer to be terrified with crimes at a distance, but rely upon our own constancy, and venture to approach what we resolve never to touch. We thus enter the bowers of ease, and repose in the shades of security.
Page 382 - ... no species of -writing seems more worthy of cultivation than biography, since none can be more delightful or more useful, none can more certainly enchain the heart by irresistible interest, or more widely diffuse instruction to every diversity of condition.
Page 415 - Thus, forlorn and distressed, he wandered . through the wild without knowing whither he was going, or whether he was every moment drawing nearer to safety or to destruction. At length, not fear but labour began to overcome him ; his breath grew short, and his knees trembled, and he was on the point of lying down, in resignation to his fate, when he beheld, through the brambles, the glimmer of a taper.
Page 24 - ... to teach the means of avoiding the snares which are laid by TREACHERY for INNOCENCE, without infusing any wish for that superiority...
Page 22 - They are the entertainment of minds unfurnished with ideas, and therefore easily susceptible of impressions; not fixed by principles, and therefore easily following the current of fancy; not informed by experience, and consequently open to every false suggestion and partial account.
Page 26 - In narratives, where historical veracity has no place, I cannot discover why there should not be exhibited the most perfect idea of virtue; of virtue not angelical, nor above probability, for what we cannot credit we shall never imitate, but the highest and purest that humanity can reach...
Page 20 - E works of fiction, with which the present generation seems more particularly delighted, are such as exhibit life in its true state, diversified only by accidents that daily happen in the world, and influenced by passions and qualities which are really to be found in conversing with mankind.
Page 22 - In the romances formerly written, every transaction and sentiment was so remote from all that passes among men, that the reader was in very little danger of making any applications to himself; the virtues and crimes were equally beyond his sphere of activity; and he amused himself with heroes and with traitors, deliverers and persecutors, as with beings of another species, whose actions were regulated upon motives of their own, and who had neither faults nor excellences in common with himself.
Page 412 - As he passed along, his ears were delighted with the morning song of the bird of paradise; he was fanned by the last flutters of the sinking breeze, and sprinkled with dew by groves of spices; he sometimes contemplated the towering height of the oak, monarch of the hills; and sometimes caught...