Boswell's Life of Johnson: LifeClarendon Press, 1887 - Authors, English |
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Page 7
... Scotland . Dr. Johnson at the same time favoured me by marking the lines which he furnished to Goldsmith's Deserted Village , which are only the last four : ' That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay , As ocean sweeps the labour ...
... Scotland . Dr. Johnson at the same time favoured me by marking the lines which he furnished to Goldsmith's Deserted Village , which are only the last four : ' That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay , As ocean sweeps the labour ...
Page 20
... Scotland , I mentioned to him in a letter that ' On my first return to my native country , after some years of absence , I was told of a vast number of my acquaintance who were all gone to the land of forgetfulness , and I found myself ...
... Scotland , I mentioned to him in a letter that ' On my first return to my native country , after some years of absence , I was told of a vast number of my acquaintance who were all gone to the land of forgetfulness , and I found myself ...
Page 27
... Scotland for propagating Christian knowledge , had opposed the scheme of translating the holy scriptures into the Erse or Gaelick language , from political considerations of the disadvantage of keeping up the distinction between the ...
... Scotland for propagating Christian knowledge , had opposed the scheme of translating the holy scriptures into the Erse or Gaelick language , from political considerations of the disadvantage of keeping up the distinction between the ...
Page 46
... Scotland at his lodgings in Half - Moon Street , Picca- dilly . ' Ib . March 24 , 1768. Prior's Goldsmith , i . 449 . 3 Johnson was very ill during this visit . Mrs. Thrale had at the same time given birth to a daughter , and had been ...
... Scotland at his lodgings in Half - Moon Street , Picca- dilly . ' Ib . March 24 , 1768. Prior's Goldsmith , i . 449 . 3 Johnson was very ill during this visit . Mrs. Thrale had at the same time given birth to a daughter , and had been ...
Page 47
... Scotland , and that I had nothing to complain of but his being more indifferent to my anxiety than I wished him to be . Instead of giving , with the circumstances of time and place , such fragments of his conversation as I preserved ...
... Scotland , and that I had nothing to complain of but his being more indifferent to my anxiety than I wished him to be . Instead of giving , with the circumstances of time and place , such fragments of his conversation as I preserved ...
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Common terms and phrases
admiration Aetat Anec answered ante April April 15 April 28 asked authority Baretti Beauclerk believe BENNET LANGTON Boswell's Hebrides Burke Burney called character church compliments conversation Corsica Court Croker DEAR SIR dined edition England English favour Garrick gentleman give Goldsmith happy honour hope Horace Walpole humble servant Hume J. H. Burton JAMES BOSWELL John Johnson King lady Langton laugh learning Letters of Boswell Lichfield live London Lord Bute Lord Mansfield manner March March 21 Memoirs mentioned mind nation never observed opinion Oxford Paoli passage perhaps Piozzi Letters pleased pleasure poem Pope publick published reason Reynolds SAMUEL JOHNSON says Scotch Scotland seems Sept shewed Sir Joshua speak Streatham suppose talked tell thing thought Thrale tion told wish write written wrote
Popular passages
Page 317 - There are few ways in which a man can be more innocently employed than in getting money.
Page 78 - I happened soon after to attend one of his sermons in the course of which I perceived he intended to finish with a collection, and I silently resolved he should get nothing from me. I had in my pocket a handful of copper money, three or four silver dollars, and five pistoles in gold. As he proceeded I began to soften and concluded to give the coppers.
Page 338 - The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write : a man will turn over half a library to make one book.
Page 3 - The style of Dryden is capricious and varied; that of Pope is cautious and uniform. Dryden obeys the motions of his own mind; Pope constrains his mind to his own rules of composition. Dryden is sometimes vehement and rapid; Pope is always smooth, uniform, and gentle.
Page 119 - Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, he said, was the only book that ever took him out of bed two hours sooner than he wished to rise.
Page 360 - 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 313 - I wondered to hear him say of " Gulliver's Travels," " When once you have thought of big men and little men, it is very easy to do all the rest.
Page 84 - Shakespeare it is commonly a species. It is from this wide extension of design that so much instruction is derived. It is this which fills the plays of Shakespeare with practical axioms and domestic wisdom. It was said of Euripides that every verse was a precept; and it may be said of Shakespeare that from his works may be collected a system of civil and economical prudence.
Page 321 - He attacked Gray, calling him " a dull fellow." BOSWELL : " I understand he was reserved, and might appear dull in company ; but surely he was not dull in poetry." JOHNSON : " Sir, he was dull in company, dull in his closet, dull every where.' He was dull in a new way, and that made many people think him GREAT. He was a mechanical poet.
Page 446 - ... house, as if it were his own. Whereas, at a tavern, there is a general freedom from anxiety. You are sure you are welcome: and the more noise you make, the more trouble you give, the more good things you call for, the welcomer you are. No...