The Spectator, Volume 4J. Tonson, 1729 - English essays |
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Page 12
... fince there is fomething fo moving in the very Image of weeping Beauty , it ' would be worth his Art to provide , that these eloquent Drops may no more be lavished on Trifles , or employed as Servants to their wayward Wills ; but ...
... fince there is fomething fo moving in the very Image of weeping Beauty , it ' would be worth his Art to provide , that these eloquent Drops may no more be lavished on Trifles , or employed as Servants to their wayward Wills ; but ...
Page 13
... fince they cannot raise themselves to the Reputation of their Fellow - Writers , they muft en- deavour to fink it to their own Pitch , if they would still keep themselves upon a Level with them . THE greatest Wits that ever were ...
... fince they cannot raise themselves to the Reputation of their Fellow - Writers , they muft en- deavour to fink it to their own Pitch , if they would still keep themselves upon a Level with them . THE greatest Wits that ever were ...
Page 14
... fince , and is a Mafter - piece in its kind . The Obfervations fol- low one another like those in Horace's Art of Poetry , with out that methodical Regularity which would have been requifite in a Profe Author . They are fome of them un ...
... fince , and is a Mafter - piece in its kind . The Obfervations fol- low one another like those in Horace's Art of Poetry , with out that methodical Regularity which would have been requifite in a Profe Author . They are fome of them un ...
Page 19
... fince informed has no Fortune . It would utterly ruin my Reputation for Difcretion to marry fuch a one , and by that I can learn fhe has a Character of great Modefty , fo that there is nothing to be thought on any other Way . My Mind ...
... fince informed has no Fortune . It would utterly ruin my Reputation for Difcretion to marry fuch a one , and by that I can learn fhe has a Character of great Modefty , fo that there is nothing to be thought on any other Way . My Mind ...
Page 20
... fince the proper and genuine Motives to thefe and the like great Actions , would only influence virtuous Minds ; there would be but fmall Improvenients in the World , were not there fome common Principle of Action work- ing equally with ...
... fince the proper and genuine Motives to thefe and the like great Actions , would only influence virtuous Minds ; there would be but fmall Improvenients in the World , were not there fome common Principle of Action work- ing equally with ...
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Common terms and phrases
Action Admirer Æneid Affembly againſt agreeable alfo Anfwer Beauty becauſe befides Behaviour Cafe Character Circumftances Confideration Converfation Criticks defcribed Defcription Defign Defire Difcourfe difcover Drefs Enville Fable faid fame Favour feems feen felf felves feve feveral fhall fhew fhort fhould fince firft firſt fome fomething fometimes foon Fortune fpeak Friend ftill fuch fufficient fuppofe give greateſt Happineſs Heart himſelf Homer Honour Houfe Houſe humble Servant ibid Iliad infert juft kind Lady laft lefs likewife look Love Mankind manner Marriage Milton Mind moft moſt muft muſt Nature neceffary Number obferved Occafion Ovid Paffage paffed Paffion Paradife Loft particular Perfon Place pleafed pleaſe Pleaſure Poem Poet poffible prefent publick racter raiſe Reader Reafon reprefented Senfe Sentiments ſeveral ſhe SPECTATOR thefe themſelves theſe thing thofe thoſe Thoughts tion uſe Virg Virgil Virtue whofe Woman World young
Popular passages
Page 154 - English, a glowing bold expression, and to turn it into ridicule by a cold ill-natured criticism. A little wit is equally capable of exposing a beauty, and of aggravating a fault; and though such a treatment of an author naturally produces indignation in the mind of an understanding reader, it has however its effect among the generality of those whose hands it falls into; the rabble of mankind being very apt to think that every thing which is laughed at, with any mixture of wit, is ridiculous in...
Page 15 - ... gently blows, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows ; But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar. When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, The line too labours, and the words move slow : Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the main.
Page 148 - The dervise told them he intended to take up his night's lodging in that caravansary. The guards let him know, in a very angry manner, that the house he was in was not a caravansary, but the king's palace. It happened that the king himself passed through the gallery during this debate, and smiling at the...
Page 67 - ... for preserving of this unity of action they follow them in the disposition of the poem. Milton, in imitation of these two great poets, opens his Paradise Lost with an infernal council plotting the fall of man, which is the action he proposed to celebrate...
Page 202 - Lucian relates concerning this river, viz. that this stream, at certain seasons of the year, especially about the feast of Adonis, is of a bloody colour ; •which the heathens looked upon as proceeding from a kind of sympathy in the river for the death of Adonis, who was killed by a wild boar in the mountains out of which this stream rises.
Page 112 - I shall show more at large in another paper ; though considering how all the poets of the age in which he writ were infected with this wrong way of thinking, he is rather to be admired that he did not give more into it, than that he did sometimes comply with the vicious taste which still prevails so much among modern writers.
Page 148 - Tartary, being arrived at the town of Balk, went into the king's palace by mistake, as thinking it to be a public inn or caravansary. Having looked about him for some time, he entered into a long gallery, where he laid down his wallet, and spread his carpet, in order to repose himself upon it, after the manner of the eastern nations. He had not been long in this posture before he was discovered by some of the guards, who asked him what was his business in that place?
Page 281 - In short, as the critics have remarked, that in those poems, wherein shepherds are actors, the thoughts ought always to take a tincture from the woods, fields, and rivers...
Page 112 - I have before said, these are rather to be imputed to the simplicity of the age in which he lived, to which I may also add, of that which he described, than to any imperfection in that divine poet.
Page 281 - O thou that, with surpassing glory crown'd, Look'st from thy sole dominion, like the god Of this new world, at whose sight all the stars Hide their diminish'd heads, to thee I call, But with no friendly voice, and add thy name, 0 sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams, That bring to my remembrance from what state 1 fell, how glorious once above thy sphere...