The Works of Samuel Johnson ...: Lives of the poetsTalboys and Wheeler, 1825 |
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Page 19
... never made any effort of invention : his greater pieces are only tissues of common thoughts ; and his smaller , which consist of light images , or single conceits , are not always his own . I have traced him among the French ...
... never made any effort of invention : his greater pieces are only tissues of common thoughts ; and his smaller , which consist of light images , or single conceits , are not always his own . I have traced him among the French ...
Page 20
... never low , nor very often sublime . It is said by Longinus of Euripides , that he forces himself sometimes into grandeur by violence of effort , as the lion kindles his fury by the lashes of his own tail . Whatever Prior obtains above ...
... never low , nor very often sublime . It is said by Longinus of Euripides , that he forces himself sometimes into grandeur by violence of effort , as the lion kindles his fury by the lashes of his own tail . Whatever Prior obtains above ...
Page 29
... never violated ; and when , upon the extru- sion of the whigs , some intercession was used lest Con- greve should be displaced , the earl of Oxford made this answer : " Non obtusa adeo gestamus pectora Pœni , Nec tam aversus equos ...
... never violated ; and when , upon the extru- sion of the whigs , some intercession was used lest Con- greve should be displaced , the earl of Oxford made this answer : " Non obtusa adeo gestamus pectora Pœni , Nec tam aversus equos ...
Page 40
... never mentioned , and was never seen by me till I borrowed it for the present occasion . Jacob says , " it is corrected and revised for another impression ; " but the labour of revision was thrown away . From this time he turned some of ...
... never mentioned , and was never seen by me till I borrowed it for the present occasion . Jacob says , " it is corrected and revised for another impression ; " but the labour of revision was thrown away . From this time he turned some of ...
Page 43
... Never did any one express more kindness and good - nature to young and unfinished authors ; he promotes their interests , protects their reputation , ex- tenuates their faults , and sets off their virtues , and , by his candour , guards ...
... Never did any one express more kindness and good - nature to young and unfinished authors ; he promotes their interests , protects their reputation , ex- tenuates their faults , and sets off their virtues , and , by his candour , guards ...
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acquaintance Addison afterwards appeared blank verse Bolingbroke censure character Cibber contempt criticism death delight diction diligence discovered Dryden duke Dunciad earl edition Edward Young elegant endeavoured English poetry epitaph Essay excellence expected faults favour Fenton fortune friends friendship genius honour Iliad imagination kind king known labour lady learning letter lines lived lord lord Halifax Lyttelton mankind ment mentioned mind nature never Night Thoughts numbers occasion once passion performance perhaps Pindar pleased pleasure poem poet poetical poetry Pope Pope's pounds praise present printed publick published queen racter reader reason received remarks reputation rhyme satire Savage says seems sir Robert Walpole solicited sometimes soon stanza sufficient supposed Swift Tatler Theophilus Cibber thing Thomson Tickell tion told tragedy translation Tyrconnel verses virtue Westminster Abbey whigs write written wrote Young
Popular passages
Page 267 - Then he instructed a young nobleman, that the best poet in England was Mr. Pope (a Papist), who had begun a translation of Homer into English verse, for which he must have them all subscribe. "For," says he, "the author shall not begin to print till I have a thousand guineas for him.
Page 294 - As fruits ungrateful to the planter's care, On savage stocks inserted, learn to bear, The surest virtues thus from passions shoot. Wild nature's vigour working at the root. What crops of wit and honesty appear From spleen, from obstinacy, hate, or fear ! See anger zeal and fortitude supply ; E'en avarice prudence, sloth philosophy ; Lust, through some certain strainers well refin'd, Is gentle love, and charms all womankind; Envy, to which th...
Page 325 - If the flights of Dryden therefore are higher, Pope continues longer on the wing. If of Dryden's fire the blaze is brighter, of Pope's the heat is more regular and constant. Dryden often surpasses expectation, and Pope never falls below it. Dryden is read with frequent astonishment, and Pope with perpetual delight.
Page 487 - Churchyard" abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo. The four stanzas, beginning "Yet even these bones," are to me original; I have never seen the notions in any other place, yet he that reads them here persuades himself that he has always felt them.
Page 487 - In the character of his Elegy I rejoice to concur with the common reader; for by the common sense of readers uncorrupted with literary prejudices, after all the refinements of subtilty and the dogmatism of learning, must be finally decided all claim to poetical honours.
Page 481 - You say you cannot conceive how Lord Shaftesbury came to be a philosopher in vogue ; I will tell you : first, he was a lord ; secondly, he was as vain as any of his readers ; thirdly, men are very prone to believe what they do not understand ; fourthly, they will believe any thing at all, provided they are under no obligation to believe it...
Page 324 - Dryden knew more of man in his general nature, and Pope in his local manners. The notions of Dryden were formed I 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 340 - Having exalted himself into the chair of wisdom, he tells us much that every man knows, and much that he does not know himself; that we see but little, and that the order of the universe is beyond our comprehension; an opinion not very uncommon ; and that there is a chain of subordinate beings "from infinite to nothing," of which himself and his readers are equally ignorant.
Page 270 - Pope's excavation was requisite, as an entrance to his garden ; and, as some men try to be proud of their defects, he extracted an ornament from an inconvenience, and vanity produced a grotto, where necessity enforced a passage.
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. Give me thy hand, and let me hear thy voice; Nay, quickly speak to me, and let me hear Thy voice — my own affrights me with its echoes.