Readings in English Prose of the Eighteenth CenturyRaymond Macdonald Alden |
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Page iii
... poets of the several ages ; but to represent prose writings adequately is much more difficult , and those who have met this problem have found it one involving no little trouble and expense . Through the coöperation of the publishers ...
... poets of the several ages ; but to represent prose writings adequately is much more difficult , and those who have met this problem have found it one involving no little trouble and expense . Through the coöperation of the publishers ...
Page v
Raymond Macdonald Alden. the discussion of poetic justice by Dennis and Addison , in Johnson's final exposure of the ... poets . Those who care to do so may be enabled to go still further into the criticism of the century , making the ...
Raymond Macdonald Alden. the discussion of poetic justice by Dennis and Addison , in Johnson's final exposure of the ... poets . Those who care to do so may be enabled to go still further into the criticism of the century , making the ...
Page 54
... poets , from whom I am preparing a petition to your High- ness , to be subscribed with the names of one hundred and ... poet . We confess Immortality to be a great and powerful goddess , but in vain we offer up to her our devotions and ...
... poets , from whom I am preparing a petition to your High- ness , to be subscribed with the names of one hundred and ... poet . We confess Immortality to be a great and powerful goddess , but in vain we offer up to her our devotions and ...
Page 56
... poet , called John Dryden , whose translation of Virgil was lately printed in a large folio , well bound , and , if diligent search were made , for aught I know , is yet to be seen . There is another , called Na- hum Tate , who is ready ...
... poet , called John Dryden , whose translation of Virgil was lately printed in a large folio , well bound , and , if diligent search were made , for aught I know , is yet to be seen . There is another , called Na- hum Tate , who is ready ...
Page 142
... poet would bestow upon one of his audience . There are so many gratifications attend this public sort of obscurity , that some little distastes I daily receive have lost their anguish ; and I did , the other day , without the least dis ...
... poet would bestow upon one of his audience . There are so many gratifications attend this public sort of obscurity , that some little distastes I daily receive have lost their anguish ; and I did , the other day , without the least dis ...
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Common terms and phrases
admiration Æneid affected answered appear Bargrave beauty believe body called character Christianity Church Church of England COLLEY CIBBER common consider Coriolanus cried death discourse Duke of Bedford endeavor England English entertain eyes fancy genius gentleman give hand heard heart honor hope House of Hanover Houyhnhnm human Hylas Iliad imagination Johnson justice kind king lady language learning letter liberty live look Lord Lord Chesterfield mankind manner matter men of honor ment mind nation nature never observed occasion opinion passion perhaps persons Philonous pleasure poem poet poetry political Pope present pretend prince reader reason religion Samuel Johnson seems sense sentiments Shakespeare soul spirit suppose taste tell things thou thought tion told Torman true truth turned Veal virtue Whig whole words writing
Popular passages
Page 636 - Is not a patron, my Lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help ? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind: but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till I am known, and do not want it.
Page 545 - It was at Rome, on the 15th of October 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter,* that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind.
Page 546 - It was on the day, or rather night, of the 27th of June 1787, between the hours of eleven and twelve, that I wrote the last lines of the last page, in a summer-house in my garden. After laying down my pen, I took several turns in a berceau, or covered walk of acacias, which commands a prospect of the country, the lake, and the mountains. The air was temperate, the sky was serene, the silver orb of the moon was reflected from the waters, and all nature was silent.
Page 46 - Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day. Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness ; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
Page 362 - Dictionary was written with little assistance of the learned, and without any patronage of the great; not in the soft obscurities of retirement, or under the shelter of academic bowers, but amidst inconvenience and distraction, in sickness and in sorrow...
Page 370 - Shakespeare is, above all writers, at least above all modern writers, the poet of nature; the poet that holds up to his readers a faithful mirror of manners and of life. His characters are not modified by the customs of particular places, unpractised by the rest of the world; by the peculiarities of studies or professions, which can operate but upon small numbers; or by the accidents of transient fashions or temporary opinions: they are the genuine progeny of common humanity, such as the world will...
Page 193 - As I looked upon him he applied it to his lips, and began to play upon it. The sound of it was exceeding sweet, and wrought into a variety of tunes that were inexpressibly melodious, and altogether different from any thing I had ever heard. They put me in mind of those heavenly airs that are played to the departed souls of good men upon their first arrival in Paradise, to wear out the impressions of their last agonies, and qualify them for the pleasures of that happy place.
Page 406 - Of genius, that power which constitutes a poet; that quality without which judgment is cold, and knowledge is inert; that energy which collects, combines, amplifies, and animates; the superiority must, with some hesitation, be allowed to Dryden.
Page 195 - on man in the first stage of his existence, in his setting out for eternity; but cast thine eye on that thick mist into which the tide bears the several generations of mortals that fall into it.
Page 635 - I have been lately informed by the proprietor of ' The World,' that two papers, in which my ' Dictionary ' is recommended to the public, were written by your lordship. To be so distinguished, is an honour, which, being very little accustomed to favours from the great, I know not well how to receive, or in what terms to acknowledge. " When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your lordship, I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the enchantment of your...