The Companion: After-dinner Table-talk |
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Page 13
... 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 , getting the laugh on his side , and ...
... 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 , getting the laugh on his side , and ...
Page 20
... 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 . Then you can find nothing you want for 20 AFTER - DINNER TABLE - TALK .
... 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 . Then you can find nothing you want for 20 AFTER - DINNER TABLE - TALK .
Page 26
... occasion , in 1756 , observing Mr. Pon- sonby , the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons , tossing about bank - bills at a hazard - table at New market- " Look how easily the Speaker passes the money 26 AFTER DINNER TABLE - TALK .
... occasion , in 1756 , observing Mr. Pon- sonby , the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons , tossing about bank - bills at a hazard - table at New market- " Look how easily the Speaker passes the money 26 AFTER DINNER TABLE - TALK .
Page 32
... occasion got Sir Philip Francis into a corner , and innocently mistaking his agitations and gestures for extreme interest in the narrative which he was administering to his patient , was somewhat confounded , when the latter , seizing ...
... occasion got Sir Philip Francis into a corner , and innocently mistaking his agitations and gestures for extreme interest in the narrative which he was administering to his patient , was somewhat confounded , when the latter , seizing ...
Page 34
... occasion to pay two very pretty compliments to Bolingbroke and Lord Peterborough . " There my retreat the best companions grace , Chiefs out of war , and statesmen out of place : There St. John mingles with my friendly bowl , The feast ...
... occasion to pay two very pretty compliments to Bolingbroke and Lord Peterborough . " There my retreat the best companions grace , Chiefs out of war , and statesmen out of place : There St. John mingles with my friendly bowl , The feast ...
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Common terms and phrases
admirable amusement anecdote asked beautiful better bottle Brouncker Bull called character Charles Lamb chimæra church Coleridge common conversation Curran dear death delight dinner Doctor dress Edinburgh Review England English exclaimed feeling flinty hills fool French genius gentleman George Selwyn give habit hand happy head heart honour Huddlestone human humour Kemble king Lady LADY BLESSINGTON late laugh live look Lord Brouncker Lord North Lord Thurlow mankind manner matter middle station mind Nathaniel Bowditch nature never occasion once passion persons pleasant pleasure poet Pope preached Rejected Addresses remark remember replied ridicule Selwyn Sir James Mackintosh Sir Joshua Sir William Temple soul speaking spirit story sure Swift Sydney Smith talk Talleyrand taste tell thing thou thought tion took true truth virtues Voltaire Walpole Wilkes wine witty word write
Popular passages
Page 34 - There St. John mingles with my friendly bowl The feast of reason and the flow of soul...
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 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 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 184 - Let him study the Holy Scriptures, especially the New Testament. Therein are contained the words of eternal life. It has God for its Author ; salvation for its end ; and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.
Page 30 - The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail; its roof may shake : the wind may blow through it; the storms may enter, the rain may enter - but the King of England cannot enter ! All his forces dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement.
Page 80 - Give a man this taste, and the 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 31 - Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves; but I give it fair quarter wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others that are within his sphere of action; and therefore, in many cases, it would not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his vanity among the other comforts of life.
Page 92 - I can say and will say, that as a peer of parliament, — as speaker of this right honourable house, — as keeper of the great seal, — as guardian of his majesty's conscience,' — as Lord High Chancellor of England, — nay, even in that character alone, in which the noble duke would think it an affront to be considered...
Page 28 - ... fruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently no culture of the earth, no navigation nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea, no commodious building, no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force, no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time, no arts, no letters, no society, and, which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.