The works of Samuel Johnson [ed. by F.P. Walesby].Talboys and Wheeler, 1825 |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 52
Page 3
... rule of distinction the words of this dictionary were to be chosen . The chief in- tent of it is to preserve the purity , and ascertain the mean- ing of our English idiom ; and this seems to require no- thing more than that our language ...
... rule of distinction the words of this dictionary were to be chosen . The chief in- tent of it is to preserve the purity , and ascertain the mean- ing of our English idiom ; and this seems to require no- thing more than that our language ...
Page 6
... rule by which we may decide between custom and reason , or between the equi- ponderant authorities of writers alike eminent for judg- ment and accuracy . The great orthographical contest has long subsisted be- tween etymology and ...
... rule by which we may decide between custom and reason , or between the equi- ponderant authorities of writers alike eminent for judg- ment and accuracy . The great orthographical contest has long subsisted be- tween etymology and ...
Page 7
... rule ; the etymologist was often forced to spell with the people ; and - the advocate for the authority of pronunciation found it sometimes deviating so capriciously from the received use of writing , that he was constrained to comply ...
... rule ; the etymologist was often forced to spell with the people ; and - the advocate for the authority of pronunciation found it sometimes deviating so capriciously from the received use of writing , that he was constrained to comply ...
Page 8
... rules for the pronunciation of former ages , has made us wholly ignorant of the metrical art of our ancient poets ; and since those who study their sentiments regret the loss of their numbers , it is surely time to provide that the har ...
... rules for the pronunciation of former ages , has made us wholly ignorant of the metrical art of our ancient poets ; and since those who study their sentiments regret the loss of their numbers , it is surely time to provide that the har ...
Page 11
... rules they are governed , and how they are in- flected through their various terminations . The termina- tions of the English are few , but those few have hitherto remained unregarded by the writers of our dictionaries . Our ...
... rules they are governed , and how they are in- flected through their various terminations . The termina- tions of the English are few , but those few have hitherto remained unregarded by the writers of our dictionaries . Our ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
ancient appear Aristophanes Athenians Athens attempt Banquo beauty better censure character comedy comick common considered copy corruption Cratinus criticism curiosity degree dictionary died hereafter diligence discovered drama easily editions elegance endeavoured English equally errour Essay Eupolis Euripides excellence exhibit expected favour genius Gentleman's Magazine give Greek Greek comedy happy Harleian library Henry honour hope human imagined imitation inquire judgment justly kind king knowledge known labour language learned less likewise lord Macbeth mankind manner Menander ment Milton mind Molière nation nature necessary neral never obscure observed occasion opinion Paradise Lost particular passage passions perhaps Plato Plautus play Plutarch poet Portuguese praise produced publick racters reader reason Roman scenes sense sentiments Shakespeare sometimes Sophocles sufficient supposed things thought tion tragedy tragick truth words writers written
Popular passages
Page 107 - His first defect is that to which mav be imputed most of the evil in books or in men. He sacrifices virtue to convenience, and is so much more careful to please than to instruct, that he seems to write without any moral purpose.
Page 97 - Nothing can please many, and please long, but just representations of general nature. Particular manners can be known to few, and therefore few only can judge how nearly they are copied. The irregular combinations of fanciful invention may delight...
Page 145 - I cannot say he is everywhere alike; were he so, I should do him injury to compare him with the greatest of mankind. He is many times flat, insipid; his comic wit degenerating into clenches, his serious swelling into bombast. But he is always great when some great occasion is presented to him...
Page 105 - His comedy pleases by the thoughts and the language, and his tragedy for the greater part by incident and action. His tragedy seems to be skill, his comedy to be instinct.
Page 48 - To deny the possibility, nay, actual existence, of witchcraft and sorcery is at once flatly to contradict the revealed word of God, in various passages both of the Old and New Testament : and the thing itself is a truth to which every nation in the world hath in its turn borne testimony, either by examples seemingly well attested or by prohibitory laws; which at least suppose the possibility of commerce with evil spirits.
Page 113 - The truth is that the spectators are always in their senses and know from the first act to the last that the stage is only a stage and that the players are only players.
Page 82 - She should have died hereafter ; There would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death.
Page 65 - The night has been unruly : where we lay, Our chimneys were blown down : and, as they say, Lamentings heard i...
Page 102 - Shakespeare's plays are not in the rigorous and critical sense either tragedies or comedies, but compositions of a distinct kind; exhibiting the real state of sublunary nature, which partakes of good and evil, joy and sorrow, mingled with endless variety of proportion and innumerable modes of combination ; and expressing the course of the world, in which the loss of one is the gain of another; in which, at the same time, the reveller is hasting to his wine, and the mourner burying his friend...
Page 107 - When he found himself near the end of his work and in view of his reward, he shortened the labour to snatch the profit. He therefore remits his efforts where he should most vigorously exert them, and his catastrophe is improbably produced or imperfectly represented.