Selected Essays of Henry Fielding |
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Page xvi
... original of both Sophia Western and Amelia . The fact that he had been in love with her for some years previous to 17351 leads one to dis- count largely the stories of his wild life in London . From the descriptions in Tom Jones and ...
... original of both Sophia Western and Amelia . The fact that he had been in love with her for some years previous to 17351 leads one to dis- count largely the stories of his wild life in London . From the descriptions in Tom Jones and ...
Page xx
... original of Parson Adams in Joseph Andrews . This last was the first of a series of works projected by the translators , which through lack of support went no further than one volume . This can scarcely be regretted . Meanwhile , we ...
... original of Parson Adams in Joseph Andrews . This last was the first of a series of works projected by the translators , which through lack of support went no further than one volume . This can scarcely be regretted . Meanwhile , we ...
Page xxxviii
... original . His rendering is spirited in every part , though it scarcely need be said that he lacks the delicate brilliancy of Molière's style . Yet the play well deserved the enthusiastic reception which it obtained ; nor was The Miser ...
... original . His rendering is spirited in every part , though it scarcely need be said that he lacks the delicate brilliancy of Molière's style . Yet the play well deserved the enthusiastic reception which it obtained ; nor was The Miser ...
Page xlv
... original design , he never quite forgot his purpose . In the course of its composition he discovered the kingdom which he was to rule and announced as much in beginning Tom Jones . That was all . We can , I think , understand the ...
... original design , he never quite forgot his purpose . In the course of its composition he discovered the kingdom which he was to rule and announced as much in beginning Tom Jones . That was all . We can , I think , understand the ...
Page xlvi
... original design , though I think that we should be wrong in saying that he ever abandoned it . Instead of com- posing a burlesque , as he intended , he made a novel , the first novel of its kind , and some would say of xlvi INTRODUCTION.
... original design , though I think that we should be wrong in saying that he ever abandoned it . Instead of com- posing a burlesque , as he intended , he made a novel , the first novel of its kind , and some would say of xlvi INTRODUCTION.
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admiration Æneid Amelia appear Aristotle Austin Dobson believe Ben Johnson Book Booth burlesque called Cardenio Cenodoxus century chap character Cibber Cicero Colley Cibber comedy contempt conversation cries critic Dacier Dobson Don Quixote doth Dryden Dunciad edition endeavour English essay excellent fashion Fielding's former genius give Greek hath Henry Fielding hero Homer honour Horace humour Iliad imitation instance Jonathan Wild Jones Joseph Andrews Julius Cæsar kind ladies latter learning least less literary lived London Lord mankind manner means merit mind Miscellanies never novel observed opinion perhaps person Pharsalia play Plutarch poem poet Pope published reader reason reference ridiculous romance satire says scarcely scene sense Shakespeare shew story superior sure surprizing taken theatre thee thing thou thought tion Tom Jones Tom Thumb tragedy translation true truth vanity verse vice virtue word writing young
Popular passages
Page 21 - I declare here once for all, I describe not men, but manners ; not an individual, but a species. Perhaps it will be answered, Are not the characters then taken from life ? To which I answer in the affirmative ; nay, I believe I might aver, that I have writ little more than I have seen.
Page 18 - I shall not look on myself as accountable to any court of critical jurisdiction whatever; for as I am in reality the founder of a new province of writing, so I am at liberty to make what laws I please therein...
Page 8 - In reality, true nature is as difficult to be met with in authors, as the Bayonne ham or Bologna sausage is to be found in the shops.
Page ix - The successors of Charles V. may disdain their brethren of England: but the romance of 'Tom Jones,' that exquisite picture of human manners, will outlive the palace of the Escurial and the Imperial Eagle of Austria.
Page 114 - As when some one peculiar quality Doth so possess a man, that it doth draw All his affects, his spirits, and his powers, In their confluctions, all to run one way, This may be truly said to be a humour.
Page 39 - First, then, we warn thee not too hastily to condemn any of the incidents in this our history, as impertinent and foreign to our main design, because thou dost not immediately conceive in what manner such incident may conduce to that design. This work may, indeed, be considered as a great creation of our own...
Page 8 - In like manner, we shall represent human nature at first to the keen appetite of our reader, in that more plain and simple manner in which it is found in the country, and shall hereafter hash and ragoo it with all the high French and Italian seasoning of affectation and vice which courts and cities afford.
Page 61 - Vanbrugh and Congreve copied nature ; but they who copy them draw as unlike the present age as Hogarth would do if he was to paint a rout or a drum in the dresses of Titian and of Vandyke. In short, imitation here will not do the business. The picture must be after Nature herself. A true knowledge of the world is gained only by conversation, and the manners of every rank must be seen in order to be known.
Page 39 - This work may, indeed, be considered as a great creation of our own; and for a little reptile of a critic to presume to find fault with any of its parts, without knowing the manner in which the whole is connected, and before he comes to the final catastrophe, is a most presumptuous absurdity.
Page 10 - Now, a comic romance is a comic epic poem in prose, differing from comedy as the serious epic from tragedy, its action being more extended and comprehensive, containing a much larger circle of incidents, and introducing a greater variety of characters. It differs from the serious romance in its fable and action in this, that as in the one these are grave and solemn, so in the other they are light and ridiculous; it differs in its characters by introducing persons...