The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: Lives of the poetsW. Pickering, 1825 |
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Page 7
... tion was to have joined Prior in the same commission , but that Shrewsbury refused to be associated with a man so meanly born . Prior , therefore , continued to act without a title , till the duke returned , next year , to England , and ...
... tion was to have joined Prior in the same commission , but that Shrewsbury refused to be associated with a man so meanly born . Prior , therefore , continued to act without a title , till the duke returned , next year , to England , and ...
Page 12
... tion , very few memorials have been left by his contempo- raries ; the account , therefore , must now be destitute of his private character and familiar practices . He lived at a time when the rage of party detected all which it was any ...
... tion , very few memorials have been left by his contempo- raries ; the account , therefore , must now be destitute of his private character and familiar practices . He lived at a time when the rage of party detected all which it was any ...
Page 16
... tion . Some of them , however , are preserved by their in- herent excellence . The burlesque of Boileau's Ode on Namur has , in some parts , such airiness and levity as will always procure it readers , even among those who cannot ...
... tion . Some of them , however , are preserved by their in- herent excellence . The burlesque of Boileau's Ode on Namur has , in some parts , such airiness and levity as will always procure it readers , even among those who cannot ...
Page 18
... tion of his name , and which he expected succeeding ages to regard with veneration . His affection was natural ; it had undoubtedly been written with great labour ; and who is willing to think that he has been labouring in vain ? He had ...
... tion of his name , and which he expected succeeding ages to regard with veneration . His affection was natural ; it had undoubtedly been written with great labour ; and who is willing to think that he has been labouring in vain ? He had ...
Page 19
... tion of any other agent , unless it be Abra ; the reader is only to learn what he thought , and to be told that he thought wrong . The event of every experiment is fore- seen , and , therefore , the process is not much regarded . Yet ...
... tion of any other agent , unless it be Abra ; the reader is only to learn what he thought , and to be told that he thought wrong . The event of every experiment is fore- seen , and , therefore , the process is not much regarded . Yet ...
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Popular passages
Page 325 - What his mind could supply at call, or gather in one excursion, was all that he sought and all that he gave. The dilatory caution of Pope enabled him to condense his sentiments, to multiply his images, and to accumulate all that study might produce or chance might supply.
Page 345 - After all this, it is surely superfluous to answer the question that has once been asked, Whether Pope was a poet ? otherwise than by asking in return, If Pope be not a poet, where is poetry to be found...
Page 323 - 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 by the author, that they might be fairly copied.
Page 160 - Wanderer,' the man of exalted sentiments, extensive views, and curious observations; the man whose remarks on life might have assisted the statesman, whose ideas of virtue might have enlightened the moralist, whose eloquence might have influenced senates, and whose delicacy might have polished courts.
Page 485 - To select a singular event, and swell it to a giant's bulk by fabulous appendages of spectres and predictions, has little difficulty; for he that forsakes the probable may always find the marvellous. And it has little use; we are affected only as we believe; we are improved only as we find something to be imitated or declined. I do not see that "The Bard" promotes any truth, moral or political.
Page 324 - 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 314 - Age," and are now the friendships only of children. Very few can boast of hearts which they dare lay open to themselves, and of which, by whatever accident exposed, they do not shun a distinct and continued view ; and certainly, what we hide from h 3 ourselves we do not shew to our friends.
Page 32 - Looking tranquillity! It strikes an awe And terror on my aching sight; the tombs And monumental caves of death look cold, And shoot a chillness to my trembling heart.
Page 67 - He began on it, and when first he mentioned it to Swift, the Doctor did not much like the project. As he carried it on, he showed what he wrote to both of us; and we now and then gave a correction, or a word or two of advice; but it was wholly of his own writing. When it was done, neither of us thought it would succeed. We showed it to Congreve, who, after reading it over, said, "It would either take greatly, or be damned confoundedly.
Page 379 - Liberty," when it first appeared, I tried to read, and soon desisted. I have never tried again, and therefore will not hazard either praise or censure. The highest praise which he has received ought not to be suppressed : it is said by Lord Lyttelton, in the Prologue to his posthumous play, that his works contained No line which, dying, he could wish to blot.