Table-talk on Books, Men, and MannersRobert Conger Pell |
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Page 10
... person of light and frivolous understanding . His business is not to discover relations of ideas that are useful , and have a real influence upon life , but to discover the more trifling relations which are only amusing ; he never looks ...
... person of light and frivolous understanding . His business is not to discover relations of ideas that are useful , and have a real influence upon life , but to discover the more trifling relations which are only amusing ; he never looks ...
Page 13
... person or un- derstanding ; on all which occasions , he is obliged not to be angry , to avoid the imputation of not being able to take a jest . It is admirable to observe one who is dexterous at this art , singling out a weak adversary ...
... person or un- derstanding ; on all which occasions , he is obliged not to be angry , to avoid the imputation of not being able to take a jest . It is admirable to observe one who is dexterous at this art , singling out a weak adversary ...
Page 14
... person flattered receives you into his closet at once ; and the sudden change of his heart , from the expectation of an ill - wisher , to find you his friend , makes you in his full favour in a moment , more so than if you had paid him ...
... person flattered receives you into his closet at once ; and the sudden change of his heart , from the expectation of an ill - wisher , to find you his friend , makes you in his full favour in a moment , more so than if you had paid him ...
Page 17
... person , at the same time that it is absolutely impossible to convey , by words or manner the most distant suspicion of the discovery ? And , then , who punishes this bore ? What sessions or what assizes for him ? What bill is found ...
... person , at the same time that it is absolutely impossible to convey , by words or manner the most distant suspicion of the discovery ? And , then , who punishes this bore ? What sessions or what assizes for him ? What bill is found ...
Page 20
... person can ever want , but which the women , who preside on these occasions , will not leave behind , if it was to save your soul : they'd keep the cart ten minutes , to stow in dirty pipes and broken matches , to show their economy ...
... person can ever want , but which the women , who preside on these occasions , will not leave behind , if it was to save your soul : they'd keep the cart ten minutes , to stow in dirty pipes and broken matches , to show their economy ...
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Common terms and phrases
admirable amuse anecdote beautiful better bottle bulls called character CHARLES DICKENS Charles Lamb church conversation countenance court Curran dear death delight dinner Doctor dress duke England English exclaimed eyes favourite feeling fools French genius gentleman George Selwyn give hand happy head hear honour House of Commons human humour James John Kemble king labour lady laugh LEIGH HUNT live look Lord Lord Brouncker Lord North Lord Thurlow MADAME D'EPINAY manner mind nature never noble observed occasion once passion person pleasant pleasure poet Pope relations of ideas religion remark remember replied ridicule Selwyn Sir James Mackintosh SOAME JENYNS society soul speaking story sure Swift Sydney Smith talk taste tell thing thou thought tion took true truth turned vanity virtues Voltaire Walpole Wilkes wine witty wonder word
Popular passages
Page 127 - And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep : and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.
Page 209 - That the remaining hundred thousand may at a year old be offered in sale to the persons of quality, and fortune, through the kingdom, always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump, and fat for a good table. A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends, and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish...
Page 40 - ... everybody should be easy ; in the nature of things it cannot be : there must always be some degree of care and anxiety. The master of the house is anxious to entertain his guests ; the guests are anxious to be agreeable to him : and no man, but a very impudent dog...
Page 81 - Give a man this taste and a means of gratifying it, and you can hardly fail of making a happy man, unless indeed, you put into his hands a most perverse selection of books. "You place him in contact with the best society in every period of history; with the wisest, the wittiest, with the tenderest, the bravest, and the purest characters who have adorned humanity. " You make him a denizen of all nations, a contemporary of all ages. The world has been created for him.
Page 91 - I am amazed at his grace's speech. The noble duke cannot look before him, behind him, or on either side of him, without seeing some noble peer who owes his seat in this house to his successful exertions in the profession to which I belong. Does he not feel that it is as honourable to owe it to these, as to being the accident of an accident...
Page 152 - Reader, if haply thou art blessed with a moderate collection, be shy of showing it; or if thy heart overfloweth to lend them, lend thy books; but let it be to such a one as STC — he will return them (generally anticipating the time appointed) with usury; enriched with annotations, tripling their value.
Page 101 - With peculiar fondness they will recall that venerable chamber, in which all the antique gravity of a college library was so singularly blended with all that female grace and wit could devise to embellish a drawing-room.
Page 210 - I profess, in the sincerity of my heart, that I have not the least personal interest in endeavouring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the public good of my country, by advancing our trade ; providing for infants, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich. I have no children by which I can propose to get a single penny; the youngest being nine years old, and my wife past child-bearing.
Page 136 - You meaner beauties of the night, That poorly satisfy our eyes More by your number than your light, You common people of the skies; What are you when the moon shall rise?
Page 45 - When all is done, (he concludes,) human life is at the greatest and the best but like a froward child, that must be played with and humoured a little to keep it quiet, till it falls asleep, and then the care is over.