The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 31
Page xv
... skies ; to trace back the structure , through all its varieties , to the simplicity of the first plan ; to find what was projected , whence the scheme was taken , how it was improved , by what assistance it was executed , and from what ...
... skies ; to trace back the structure , through all its varieties , to the simplicity of the first plan ; to find what was projected , whence the scheme was taken , how it was improved , by what assistance it was executed , and from what ...
Page xx
... skies He seem'd to quit , ' twas but again to rise ; To mount once more to the bright source of day , And view the wonders of th ' ethereal way . The love of Fame his generous bosom fired ; Each Science hail'd him , and each Muse ...
... skies He seem'd to quit , ' twas but again to rise ; To mount once more to the bright source of day , And view the wonders of th ' ethereal way . The love of Fame his generous bosom fired ; Each Science hail'd him , and each Muse ...
Page 6
... skies ; the kid has forsaken the teat , and learned by degrees to climb the rocks in quest of inde- pendent sustenance . I only have made no ad- vances , but am still helpless and ignorant . The moon , by more than twenty changes , admo ...
... skies ; the kid has forsaken the teat , and learned by degrees to climb the rocks in quest of inde- pendent sustenance . I only have made no ad- vances , but am still helpless and ignorant . The moon , by more than twenty changes , admo ...
Page 36
... skies , but the practice of vir- tue is commanded . " " Surely , " said the princess , " this man is happy . " " I visited him , " said Imlac , " with more and more frequency , and was every time more enamoured of his conversation : he ...
... skies , but the practice of vir- tue is commanded . " " Surely , " said the princess , " this man is happy . " " I visited him , " said Imlac , " with more and more frequency , and was every time more enamoured of his conversation : he ...
Page 41
... skies fade gradually from his mind , and began to trust less to an opinion which he never could prove to others , and which he now found sub- ject to variation , from causes in which reason had no part . " If I am accidently left alone ...
... skies fade gradually from his mind , and began to trust less to an opinion which he never could prove to others , and which he now found sub- ject to variation , from causes in which reason had no part . " If I am accidently left alone ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
ancient appear Aristophanes Aspasia beauty Cali censure character comedy considered curiosity danger death desire diligence discovered Drake easily endeavoured English Euripides evil father favour fear genius Gentleman's Magazine give grant happiness Harleian library hast Holy Spirit honour hope human imagination Imlac inquiry Irene Jesus Christ Johnson kind king King of Prussia knowledge labour language learned less letters likewise live Lord Macbeth mankind Menander ment mercy mind nation nature necessary ness never night Nombre de Dios observed opinion passage passed passions Pekuah perhaps pinnaces Plautus play pleased pleasure Plutarch poet praise prayer prince queen Rasselas reader reason received Religio Medici SAMUEL JOHNSON says scenes seems Shakspeare ships Silesia Skie sometimes suffer suppose thee thing thou thought Thrale tion tragedy truth virtue words writer
Popular passages
Page 340 - He was the man who of all modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul. All the images of nature were still present to him, and he drew them not laboriously, but luckily: when he describes anything, you more than see it, you feel it too.
Page 248 - That the dead are seen no more," said Imlac, " I will not undertake to maintain, against the concurrent and unvaried testimony of all ages, and of all nations. There is no people, rude or learned, among whom apparitions of the dead are not related and believed. This opinion, which perhaps prevails as far as human nature is diffused, could become universal only by its truth : those, that never heard of one another, would not have agreed in a tale which nothing but experience can make credible. That...
Page 55 - Secure whate'er He gives, He gives the best. Yet when the sense of sacred presence fires, And strong devotion to the skies aspires, Pour forth thy fervours for a healthful mind, Obedient passions, and a will...
Page 85 - CONDEMN'D to hope's delusive mine, As on we toil from day to day, By sudden blasts, or slow decline, Our social comforts drop away. Well tried through many a varying year, See LEVET to the grave descend; Officious, innocent, sincere, Of every friendless name the friend.
Page 53 - Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes, And pause awhile from letters, to be wise; There mark what ills the scholar's life assail, Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail. See nations slowly wise, and meanly just, To buried merit raise the tardy bust. If dreams yet flatter, once again attend, Hear Lydiat's life, and Galileo's end.
Page 49 - Has Heaven reserved, in pity to the poor, No pathless waste, or undiscover'd shore? No secret island in the boundless main ? No peaceful desert yet unclaim'd by Spain6? Quick let us rise, the happy seats explore, And bear Oppression's insolence no more.
Page 304 - 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 11 - The business of a poet," said Imlac, "is to examine, not the individual, but the species ; to remark general properties and large appearances ; he does not number the streaks of the tulip, or describe the different shades in the verdure of the forest.
Page 12 - But the knowledge of nature is only half the task of a poet ; he must be acquainted likewise with all the modes of life. His character requires that he estimate the happiness and misery of every condition ; observe the power of all the passions in all their combinations, and trace the changes of the human mind as they are modified by various institutions and accidental influences of climate or custom, from the sprightliness of infancy to the despondence of decrepitude.
Page 324 - But love is only one of many passions; and as it has no great influence upon the sum of life, it has little operation in the dramas of a poet who caught his ideas from the living world, and exhibited only what he saw before him. He knew that any other passion, as it was regular or exorbitant, was a cause of happiness or calamity.