The plain speaker: opinions on books, men, and things [by W. Hazlitt]. By W. Hazlitt, ed. by his son, Volume 1

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Page 220 - Return, Alpheus, the dread voice is past That shrunk thy streams ; return, Sicilian Muse, And call the vales, and bid them hither cast Their bells and flowerets of a thousand hues.
Page 120 - For time is like a fashionable host That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand, And, with his arms outstretch'd, as he would fly, Grasps in the comer: welcome ever smiles, And farewell goes out sighing.
Page 15 - British monarchy, not more limited than fenced by the orders of the state, shall, like the proud keep of Windsor, rising in the majesty of proportion, and girt with the double belt of its kindred and coeval towers...
Page 358 - The quality of mercy is not strained'; It droppeth as the gentle dew from heaven Upon the place beneath* : it is twice blessed* ; It blesseth him that gives', and him that takes*.
Page 203 - I ever looked on Lord Keppel as one of the greatest and best men of his age ; and I loved, and cultivated him accordingly. He was much in my heart, and I believe I was in his to the very last beat.
Page 120 - Perseverance, dear my lord, Keeps honour bright. To have done is to hang Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail In monumental mock'ry.
Page 311 - And time and place are lost: where eldest Night And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold Eternal Anarchy, amidst the noise Of endless wars, and by confusion stand. For Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry, four champions fierce Strive here for mastery...
Page 111 - The sounding cataract Haunted me like a passion ; the tall rock, The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood, Their colors and their forms were then to me An appetite: a feeling and a love, That had no need of a remoter charm, By thought supplied, nor any interest Unborrowed from the eye.
Page 15 - As long as our Sovereign Lord the King, and his faithful subjects, the Lords and Commons of this realm — the triple cord which no man can break; the solemn, sworn, constitutional frank-pledge of this nation; the firm guarantees of each other's being, and each other's rights; the joint and several securities, each in its place and order, for every kind, and every quality of property and of dignity...
Page 63 - On one occasion, he was for making out a list of persons famous in history that one would wish to see again — at the head of whom were Pontius Pilate, Sir Thomas Browne, and Dr. Faustus — but we black-balled most of his list ! But with what a gusto would he describe his favourite authors, Donne, or Sir Philip Sidney, and call their most crabbed passages...

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