The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With An Essay on His Life and Genius, Volume 11Luke Hansard & Sons, 1810 |
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Page 6
... letters . I have been told that Dryden , having perused these verses , said , " Cousin Swift , you will " never be a poet ; " and that this denunciation was the motive of Swift's perpetual malevolence to Dry- den . In 1699 Temple died ...
... letters . I have been told that Dryden , having perused these verses , said , " Cousin Swift , you will " never be a poet ; " and that this denunciation was the motive of Swift's perpetual malevolence to Dry- den . In 1699 Temple died ...
Page 12
... Letter to the Octo- " ber Club , " a number of Tory Gentlemen sent from the country to parliament , who formed them- selves into a club , to the number of about a hun- dred , and met to animate the zeal and raise the ex- pectations of ...
... Letter to the Octo- " ber Club , " a number of Tory Gentlemen sent from the country to parliament , who formed them- selves into a club , to the number of about a hun- dred , and met to animate the zeal and raise the ex- pectations of ...
Page 13
... Letter to the Earl of Ox- ford ; written without much knowledge of the gene- ral nature of language , and without any accurate enquiry into the history of other tongues . The cer- tainty and stability which , contrary to all experience ...
... Letter to the Earl of Ox- ford ; written without much knowledge of the gene- ral nature of language , and without any accurate enquiry into the history of other tongues . The cer- tainty and stability which , contrary to all experience ...
Page 22
... letters , took pleasure in directing and instructing ; till , from being proud of his praise , she grew fond of his person . Swift was then about forty- seven , at an age when vanity is strongly excited by the amorous attention of a ...
... letters , took pleasure in directing and instructing ; till , from being proud of his praise , she grew fond of his person . Swift was then about forty- seven , at an age when vanity is strongly excited by the amorous attention of a ...
Page 24
... Letters " in 1724. One Wood of Wolverhampton , in Staffordshire , a man enterprising and rapacious , had , as is said , by a pre- sent to the Duchess of Munster , obtained a patent , empowering him to coin one hundred and eighty ...
... Letters " in 1724. One Wood of Wolverhampton , in Staffordshire , a man enterprising and rapacious , had , as is said , by a pre- sent to the Duchess of Munster , obtained a patent , empowering him to coin one hundred and eighty ...
Common terms and phrases
Aaron Hill Addison afterwards appears beauties blank verse Bolingbroke Broome Busiris called censure character copy criticism Curll death delight diction diligence discovered Dryden Duke Dunciad edition Edward Young elegance endeavoured English English poetry Epistle epitaph Essay excellence fame father faults favour friendship genius Homer honour Iliad images Ireland kind King known labour Lady learning Letters lines lived Lord Lord Bolingbroke Lord Halifax lyrick Lyttelton Mallet Masque of Alfred ment mind nature never Night Thoughts numbers once opinion passage perhaps Philips Pindar pleased pleasure poem poet poetical poetry Pope Pope's pounds praise printed produced prose publick published racter reader reason reputation rhyme satire says seems sent shew shewn solicited sometimes soon stanza supposed Swift tell thing Thomson tion told tragedy translation truth Warburton Whigs write written wrote Young
Popular passages
Page 170 - If the flights of Dryden, therefore, are higher, Pope continues longer on the wing. If of Dryden's fire the blaze is brighter, of Pope's the heat is more regular and constant. Dryden often surpasses expectation, and Pope never falls below it. Dryden is read with frequent astonishment, and Pope with perpetual delight.
Page 134 - Who but must laugh if such a man there be ? Who would not weep if Atticus were he?
Page 235 - Seasons wonders that he never saw before what Thomson shows him, and that he never yet has felt what Thomson impresses.
Page 126 - ... you have made my system as clear as I ought to have done, and could not. It is indeed the same system as mine, but illustrated with a ray of your own, as they say our natural body is the same still when it is glorified. I am sure I like it better than I did before, and so will every man else. I know I meant just what you explain ; but I did not explain my own meaning so well as you. You understand me as well as I do myself; but you express me better than I could express myself.
Page 379 - Churchyard" 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 378 - In the character of his Elegy I rejoice to concur with the common reader; for by the common sense of readers uncorrupted with literary prejudices, after all the refinements of subtilty and the dogmatism of learning, must be finally decided all claim to poetical honours.
Page 169 - Dryden knew more of man in his general nature, and Pope in his local manners. The notions of Dryden were formed by comprehensive speculation, and those of Pope by minute attention. There is more dignity in the knowledge of Dryden, and more certainty in that of Pope.
Page 371 - ... You say you cannot conceive how Lord Shaftesbury came to be a philosopher in vogue ; I will tell you : first, he was a lord ; secondly, he was as vain as any of his readers ; thirdly, men are very prone to believe what they do not understand ; fourthly, they will believe any thing at all, provided they are under no obligation to believe it; fifthly, they love to take a new road, even when that road leads no where ; sixthly, he was reckoned a fine writer, and seems always to mean more than he...
Page 168 - ... none to himself. He examined lines and words with minute and punctilious observation, and retouched every part with indefatigable diligence, till he had left nothing to be forgiven. For this reason he kept his pieces very long in his hands, while he considered and reconsidered them. The only poems which can be supposed to have been written with such regard to the times as might hasten their publication were the two satires of Thirty-eight; of which Dodsley told me that they were brought to him...
Page 204 - To this sad shrine, whoe'er thou art, draw near, Here lies the friend most lov'd, the son most dear : Who ne'er knew joy, but friendship might divide, Or gave his father grief but when he dy'd.