The Works of the English Poets: With Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, Volume 13

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Samuel Johnson
C. Bathurst, 1779 - English poetry

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Page 95 - Refuse his age the needful hours of rest? Punish a body which he could not please ; Bankrupt of life, yet prodigal of ease ? And all to leave what with his toil he won, To that unfeather'd two-legg'd thing, a son ; Got, while his soul did huddled notions try ; And born a shapeless lump, like anarchy.
Page 95 - Oh ! had he been content to serve the crown With virtues only proper to the gown, Or had the rankness of the soil been freed From cockle that oppressed the noble seed, David for him his tuneful harp had strung And Heaven had wanted one immortal song.
Page 118 - If ancient fabrics nod and threat to fall, To patch the flaws and buttress up the wall, Thus far 'tis duty; but here fix the mark: For all beyond it is to touch our Ark. To change foundations, cast the frame anew, Is work for rebels who base ends pursue: At once divine and human laws control, And mend the parts by ruin of the whole.
Page 225 - And, making narrower search, they found, though late, That what they thought the priest's, was their estate : Taught by the will produc'd, the written word, How long they had been cheated on record. Then every man who saw the title fair...
Page 91 - Of men, by laws less circumscribed and bound ; They led their wild desires to woods and caves, And thought that all but savages were slaves.
Page 120 - To learning and to loyalty were bred, For colleges on bounteous kings depend, And never rebel was to arts a friend.
Page 142 - Those are the only serpents he can write ; The height of his ambition is, we know, But to be master of a puppet-show, On that one stage his works may yet appear, And a month's harvest keeps him all the year.
Page 228 - Which each presum'd he best could understand, The common rule was made the common prey ; And at the mercy of the rabble lay. The tender page with horny...
Page 8 - Behold th' approaching cliffs of Albion : It is no longer motion cheats your view, As you meet it, the land approacheth you. The land returns, and, in the white it wears, The marks of penitence and sorrow bears.
Page 228 - Viands buz and swarm, The Fly-blown Text creates a crawling brood; And turns to Maggots what was meant for Food.

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