The Spectator, Volume 4

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W. Wilson, 1778

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Page 213 - ... a shout, that tore hell's concave, and beyond frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night.
Page 111 - Odyssey ; though at the same time, those who have treated this great poet with candour, have attributed this defect to the times in which he lived. It was the fault of the age, and not of Homer, if there wants that delicacy in some of his sentiments, which now appears in the works of men of a much inferior genius.
Page 137 - They heard, and were abashed, and up they sprung Upon the wing; as when men, wont to watch On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread, Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake. Nor did they not perceive the evil plight In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; Yet to their general's voice they soon obeyed, Innumerable.
Page 299 - O thou, for whom And from whom I was form'd, flesh of thy flesh, And without whom am to no end ; my guide And head ! what thou hast said is just and right. For we to him, indeed, all praises owe, And daily thanks ; I chiefly, who enjoy So far the happier lot, enjoying thee Pre-eminent by so much odds, while thou Like consort to thyself canst no where find.
Page 59 - But our female projectors were all the last summer so taken up with the improvement of their petticoats, that they had not time to attend to...
Page 268 - His only Son : on earth he first beheld Our two first parents, yet the only two Of mankind, in the happy garden plac'd, Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love, Uninterrupted joy, unrival'd love, In blissful solitude : he then survey'd Hell and the gulf between, and Satan there 70 Coasting the wall of heav'n on this side night...
Page 160 - Understanding would be thought a very odd book for a man to make himself master of, who would get a reputation by critical writings ; though at the same time it is very certain that an author, who has not learned the art of distinguishing between words and things, and of ranging...
Page 15 - Though oft the ear the open vowels tire; While expletives their feeble aid do join; And ten low words oft creep in one dull line, While they ring round the same unvaried chimes, With sure returns of still expected rhymes, Where'er you find "the cooling western breeze...
Page 67 - Roman empire, has described the birth of its great rival, the Carthaginian commonwealth, Milton with the like art in his poem on the fall of man has related the fall of those angels who are his professed enemies.
Page 14 - Poetry, he will find but few precepts in it which he may not meet with in Aristotle, and which were not commonly known by all the poets of the Augustan age. His way of expressing and applying them, not his invention of them, is what

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