The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.G. Walker ... [and 9 others], 1820 |
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Page 4
... considered , that it was not wholly impossible to surmount , at least in part , the difficulties which had stopt me , and to go somewhat farther than the learned writers * , who have published in French some pieces of Aristophanes ; not ...
... considered , that it was not wholly impossible to surmount , at least in part , the difficulties which had stopt me , and to go somewhat farther than the learned writers * , who have published in French some pieces of Aristophanes ; not ...
Page 24
... purer air gratifies the sense ; that , notwith- standing the powers of the other comic poets of Athens , Menander has always been considered as possessing a salt peculiar to himself , drawn from the same waters that 24 A DISSERTATION ON ...
... purer air gratifies the sense ; that , notwith- standing the powers of the other comic poets of Athens , Menander has always been considered as possessing a salt peculiar to himself , drawn from the same waters that 24 A DISSERTATION ON ...
Page 38
... considered as times that enjoyed a particular privilege of excel- lence , though we may distinguish , the good authors from the bad , as in our days , yet we ought to suspend the vehemence of criticism , and proceed with caution and ...
... considered as times that enjoyed a particular privilege of excel- lence , though we may distinguish , the good authors from the bad , as in our days , yet we ought to suspend the vehemence of criticism , and proceed with caution and ...
Page 54
... considered as ridi- culous . It would be safer to double and treble all the tragedies of our greatest poets , and use all their subjects over and over , as has been done with Oedipus and Sophonisba , than to bring again upon the stage ...
... considered as ridi- culous . It would be safer to double and treble all the tragedies of our greatest poets , and use all their subjects over and over , as has been done with Oedipus and Sophonisba , than to bring again upon the stage ...
Page 58
... considered , it will require deeper thoughts to form a plan just and simple ; to produce happy surprises without apparent contrivance ; to carry a passion skilfully through its gradations to its height ; to arrive happily to the end by ...
... considered , it will require deeper thoughts to form a plan just and simple ; to produce happy surprises without apparent contrivance ; to carry a passion skilfully through its gradations to its height ; to arrive happily to the end by ...
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Common terms and phrases
ADVENTURER amuse ancient appear Aristophanes Athens Banquo beauty censure CHAP character comedy common considered danger delight desire died hereafter discovered easily elegance endeavoured equally Eupolis Euripides evil expected eyes favour fear felicity folly fortune friends gain genius give gratified Greek comedy happiness happy valley honour hope hour human imagine Imlac inquire kayah kind knowledge labour learned less likewise live look Macbeth mankind manner Menander ment mind misery Moliere nature Nekayah ness never observed once opinion passage passed passions Pekuah perhaps perpetual phanes Plautus pleased pleasure Plutarch poet praise present prince PRINCE OF ABISSINIA princess racter Rasselas reader reason rest scarcely scene sentiments Serenus Shakespeare shew Socrates solitude sometimes success suffered supposed surely taste Theocritus thing thou thought Tibullus tion tragedy truth ulmo virtue writers
Popular passages
Page 98 - Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full Of direst cruelty...
Page 130 - She should have died hereafter ; There would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death.
Page 299 - YE who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of hope ; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the morrow ; attend to the history of Rasselas, prince of Abyssinia.
Page 329 - 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 spriteliness of infancy to the despondence of decrepitude.
Page 149 - Just in the gate, and in the jaws of hell, Revengeful Cares and sullen Sorrows dwell, And pale Diseases, and repining Age, Want, Fear, and Famine's unresisted rage; Here Toils, and Death, and Death's half-brother, Sleep, (Forms terrible to view) their sentry keep; With anxious Pleasures of a guilty mind, Deep Frauds before, and open Force behind; The Furies' iron beds; and Strife, that shakes Her hissing tresses, and unfolds her snakes.
Page 353 - I have found, said the prince, at his return to Imlac, a man who can teach all that is necessary to be known, who, from the unshaken throne of rational fortitude, looks down on the scenes of life changing beneath him. He speaks, and attention watches his lips. He reasons, and conviction closes his periods. This man shall be my future guide: I will learn his doctrines, and imitate his life." "Be not too hasty, said Imlac, to trust, or to admire, the teachers of morality: they discourse like angels,...
Page 98 - Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear; And chastise with the valour of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round, Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crown'd withal.
Page 360 - ... sometimes ashamed to think that I could not secure myself from vice, but by retiring from the exercise of virtue, and begin to suspect that I was rather impelled by resentment than led by devotion into solitude. My fancy riots in scenes of folly, and I lament that I have lost so much, and have gained so little. In solitude, if I escape the example of bad men, I want likewise the counsel and conversation of the good. I have been long comparing the evils with the advantages of society, and resolve...
Page 121 - Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg and howlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Page 442 - The prince desired a little kingdom, in which he might administer justice in his own person, and see all the parts of government with his own eyes ; but he could never fix the limits of his dominion, and was always adding to the number of his subjects. Imlac and the astronomer were contented to be driven along the stream of life without directing their course to any particular port.