The British Essayists;: The worldJ. Johnson, J. Nichols and son, R. Baldwin, F. and C. Rivington, W. Otridge and son, W.J. and J. Richardson, A. Strahan, R. Faulder, ... [and 40 others], 1808 - English essays |
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able acquaintance admirer agreeable ALEXANDER CHALMERS appearance attend Bagnio called cards character chuse CICERO companion Cribbage daugh daughter death discovered double entendre dress endeavour entertaining expence fashion father favour Fitz-Adam fortune fretter genteel gentleman give happiness head Herodotus Highley honour hope humble servant husband imagine Julius Cæsar Jupiter laughed LABOURING lady late least lence letter live look Luke Hansard mankind manner marriage married master means ment mind nation nature never obliged observed occasion once pains paper passion PENTHESILEA persons play pleased pleasure polite poor POSTILLION present pride proper PTOLEMY racter readers reason ridiculous shew soon spirit stept sure surprize taste Tatlers TELETHUSA tell thing thought THURSDAY tion told town truth tural vice virtue Whist whole wife woman word XXIX young
Popular passages
Page 213 - Our GREAT CREATOR has wisely given us passions, to rouse us into action, and to engage our gratitude to him by the pleasures they procure us ; but, at the same time, he has kindly given us reason sufficient, if we will but give that reason fair play, to control those passions ; and has delegated authority to say to them, as he said to the waters, " thus far shall ye go, and no farther.
Page 209 - ... disposition, and who, in their lucid intervals, were allowed the liberty of walking about the hospital, would frequently, when they found the previous symptoms of their returning madness, voluntarily apply for confinement, conscious of the mischief which they might possibly do if at liberty. If those who pretend not to be mad, but who really are so, had the same fund of good-nature, they would make the same application to their friends, if they have any.
Page 214 - ... and contiguous, merit. Men of these mean sentiments have always been the satirists of their own, and the panegyrists of former times. They give this tone, which fools, like birds in the dark, catch by ear, and whistle all day long. As it has constantly been my endeavour to root out, if I could, or, if I could not, to expose, the vices of the human heart, it shall be the object of this day's paper to examine this strange inverted entail of virtue and merit upwards, according to priority of birth,...
Page 28 - But not to dwell any longer on particulars, which every one's reflections will naturally enlarge on, we have here a faint picture of that awful day, " when " the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the " heavens shall pass away with a great noise.
Page 217 - ... situation of our own. He traced with his finger upon the table, by the help of some coffee which he had spilt in the warmth of his exordium, the whole course of the Ohio, and the boundaries of the Russian, Prussian, Austrian, and Saxon dominions ; foresaw a long and bloody war upon the continent, calculated the supplies necessary for carrying it on, and pointed out the best methods of raising them, which, for that very reason, he intimated would not be pursued. He wound up his discourse with...
Page 285 - ... the place of his manly curiosity and penetration. To paint him with a cheerful open countenance would be a poor return of compliment for the flattery that his approbation bestows, which, by not being promised, doubly satisfies one's selflove.
Page 172 - ... who have neither the same strength of mind, nor the same advantages of education. Now it is certain that nothing would more contribute to that desirable end, than a strict observance of this decorum, which, as I have already hinted, does not extend to religious or moral duties, does not prohibit the solid enjoyments of vice, but only throws a veil of decency between it and the vulgar, conceals part of its native deformity, and prevents scandal, and bad example. It is a sort of pepper-corn quit-rent...
Page 66 - ... concluded with telling them that he had been exhorting them with all diligence for sixteen years, when he had hardly been with them as many weeks, and talked of his high dignity in the church, some of the congregation said he was mad, most of them that he was dreaming. " I could wish indeed that these dreamers in the pulpit would contrive to dream their own dreams, or that they would take care not to convert the serious thoughts of others into something more absurd than dreams, for want of reading...
Page 210 - ... they would make the same application to their friends, if they have any. There is in the Menagiana a very pretty story of one of these angry gentlemen, which sets their extravagancy in a very ridiculous light. Two gentlemen were riding together, one of whom, who was a choleric one, happened to be mounted on a high-mettled horse. The horse grew a little troublesome, at which the rider grew very angry, and whipped and spurred him with great fury, to which the horse, almost as wrong-headed as his...
Page 71 - David set apart a charge upon the revenue his son was to enjoy atter him, towards building a temple, which he found was not to be the glory of his own reign. Another error which I hope to set right, arises from the general idea of poverty, which seems not to be very well settled. The poor under your eye, and the poor unborn, stand in a very different relation of indigence together. Thus a crippled pennyless sister, or an infirm cousin, are thought by no means equal objects of bounty with the future...